Small Steps - Demongodhunter - 機動戦士ガンダム 水星の魔女 (2024)

Chapter 1: From the Ashes

Chapter Text

Small Steps

AMobile Suite Gundam: The Witch from Mercury story

Thisstory came through the front door one day and announced that I amgoing to be its stenographer, so I can take little credit. Whatmodest contributions I might have made along the way came from aplace of love and respect for everyone who was involved in the makingof The Witch From Mercury. It has been an immense pleasure, honourand privilege to have participated in the unfolding of theirwonderful work into a new form. Sunrise retains the rights to MobileSuit Gundam and all characters therein.

SPOILERALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

SPOILERALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

Thisentire story is basically one continuous spoiler. If you have notfinished watching The Witch From Mercury series, you should stopright here.

SPOILERALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

SPOILERALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

PARTONE

FromThe Ashes

Theintensive care ward which contained this windowless private room layin a module of the Front that was mounted inward from the main ring,placing at at the two-thirds gee level. This was the optimal place tomake it easier for patients to move or be moved while avoiding theproblems of medical care in micro-gravity. At least that is whatMiorine vaguely recalled a doctor saying to her while she wasanxiously following the gurney Suletta was being transported on.

Sulettalay on the bed, her upper body slightly elevated. They had changedher into a grey hospital gown, and a sheet covered her up to herchest. Her left arm had an IV drip and sensors taped to her skin. Animmersive sensor array which had been covering most of her body hadbeen removed in place of the less intrusive monitors. Earlier todayshe thought, though time was a bit of a blur. They had assuredMiorine this was a good sign, it meant they regarded her as being instable condition.

Sincethen, Miorine had held onto Suletta’s right hand and had neverlet go yet.

Miorineonly took her eyes off Suletta’s face when she felt the urge toglance at the vital signs being displayed quietly on the screenacross the bed. The curse of the Gundam still lay upon her face, andher bare arms. And the rest of her body, as Miorine had seen asSuletta’s EVA suit and clothing had been removed in theaftermath of that terrible day. The intricate, sickly orange markingswere like some accursed alien circuit diagram. Rather than being onher skin they seemed to be something that glowed from within her.Miorine was mesmerized by them, unable to take her eyes away, hopingbeyond hope that maybe they were starting to fade, maybe the cursewas lifting. But about the only sign of improvement was that herbreathing was calmer and more regular than it had been. The wavy redhair framing her face seemed the only part of her not corrupted bythe damnable curse.

Whenthey had pulled her into the shuttle and removed her helmet, Miorinehad briefly heard Suletta’s voice. Maybe she had calledMiorine’s name, though she probably imagined that. Then peoplewere giving her medications and she slipped into a coma that hadstill not lifted. She remained still, her eyes remained closed.

Thepanic and dread of that first day had slowly settled into a grim lowburn of anxiety that wavered between hope and despair. Her world washeld in a shimmering superposition of the incompatible options thather beloved was getting better and her beloved was dying.

Miorineheard the door open. She turned to see Lilique enter the room. Shesmiled warmly and walked over to where Miorine was sitting. Liliquewas a stout girl with a pleasant round face that somehow seemed bothtoo large and perfect. Her short brown hair held in curls behind herears helped give her a sort of innocent, girlish appearance. Like theother members of the Earthian House she had accompanied Miorine onthe mission to destroy Quiet Zero, then had joined in Suletta’scare until she could be transported to the hospital. Since then shehad been making regular appearances to be with Miorine as she watchedover her stricken fiancee.

Liliqueheld out a box lunch to her. “I’ve brought you somethingto eat,” she said in the soft tones that seemed to be the normwhen conversing in this room. “I’ll take over for a bit,okay?”

“Okay.Thanks.” Miorine took the box, walked over to the sofa againstthe wall, sat down, placed the box on the low table and opened it.She absently noted that it was hot noodles. She separated thechopsticks, lifted up the box and started eating. She tried to justthink of nothing else, but could not help looking over to whereSuletta lay. Lilique was already sitting where Miorine had been,holding Suletta’s hand. It was something Miorine had beenadamant about from the beginning. When Suletta woke she wantedSuletta to feel her hand and see her face, but barring that it wouldbe the hand and face of one of her friends. That was three days ago.Maybe four, it was hard to remember.

WhenMiorine was done eating they traded places. Lilique remained on thesofa. They rarely talked now. It was starting to feel more and morelike a wake. There was plenty of time to brood, to regret, to ponderhow she could have made things turn out differently. But the thingthat had lain this curse on Suletta was so far beyond herunderstanding that any such speculation had to be placed in the samecategory as prayer.

Aftersome hours passed, the door opened again. Aliya came into the room,with a knapsack over her shoulder. She nodded to Miorine, then wentover to speak softly with Lilique. The two of them seemed to havesettled on a sort of tag-team schedule, staying with Miorine on whatwere probably twelve-hour shifts. Miorine herself had just beentaking the occasional cat-nap on the couch or just dozing in thechair now and then.

WhenLilique had said goodbye and left the room, Aliya walked over towhere Miorine sat. Aliya was a slim girl with an oval face and longstraight black hair tied in a ponytail down her back, and alsopigtails that were tied and draped down her shoulders. Like Liliqueshe wore the grey-green school uniform of the Asticassia School ofTechnology. In contrast to the cheerful, outgoing Lilique, Aliya wasmore quiet and reserved. She rarely smiled... no that wasn’treally true. She only smiled when it seemed appropriate. Now, itseemed, was not appropriate.

“Miorine,I’ve brought you some changes of clothes,” she said.“There’s a women’s change-room and shower down thehall. You’ve been here for days. You should go get cleaned up,it will make you feel better. You have your phone, if there’sany change I promise I’ll call you right away.”

Miorinevaguely recalled that during her last time here Aliya had asked herfor the passkey to her apartment, to go get some of her things. Sinceshe had gone to the trouble, Miorine felt compelled to agree. Shewent over to sling the knapsack over her shoulder. Aliya was alreadysitting down with Suletta’s hand in hers.

Thehallway was deserted and quiet. She had lost track but she thought itmust be night. The change-room was small but she had it to herself.When she stripped down she just stood there and looked into themirror. Her pale skin seemed transparent. It had not been long enoughfor her to lose weight, but her petite frame somehow looked frail,her delicate pixie face gaunt. Her grey eyes looked tired andbloodshot. Some of her long platinum blonde hair tied behind her headand come loose.

Shewas right to send you here, you look like hell.

Miorine took her time, findingshe did not feel as compelled to hurry back as she thought she would.It would be an exaggeration to say that the shower rejuvenated herbut she did feel a bit more alive. She dressed and examined theresult in the mirror. Aliya had chosen sensibly, a business casualoutfit with dark slacks and a white blouse. She even took the time tocomb out her hair carefully.

Okay,this is more like what I want Suletta to see when she wakes.

She stuffed her wrinkled,grungy old clothes into the knapsack and carried it back to Suletta’sroom. Aliya looked her up and down and smiled, appearing to approveof the change. “Do you feel better now?”

“A little. Thanks, Iappreciate this.”

“Have the doctors saidanything?”

“Nothing new. They justcome in with the same regular checkups.”

“Do you want to get somesleep?”

“No, I’ll sit withher a bit first.”

Shortly after Miorine had satdown and took Suletta’s hand, she felt Aliya’s hands onher shoulders. “Aliya?”

“I can see from yourposture that your shoulders are stiff. This will help you relax.”

Miorine just hummed amonosyllable acknowledgement. In short order it became apparent howright Aliya was. Miorine had hardly noticed how hard those muscleshad become. Aliya slowly and methodically worked on them.

It also worked on her mood.She was feeling a bit more animated now. Animated enough to actuallyspeak out spontaneously. “This is another talent of yours Ididn’t know about.”

“I’ll teach yousometime. Or maybe you’d prefer I teach your groom.”

“Thatwould be nice.” Miorine could not help feeling, did Aliyareally have hope or was she just trying to give Miorine hope? Eitherway, she felt grateful. It was so hard to feel it now, all the thingsthat she should be grateful for. Her friends... no, theirfriends.

But she would gladly trade itall for just one thing, just one person. How had it taken her so longto realize? It had been there all along, the red-headed miracle thathad walked into her life and turned her world upside down.

After a while Aliya finishedand then gently stroked Miorine’s hair. “I’ll leaveyou two for a bit, okay?”

Miorine impulsively took herhand and squeezed it, looking up with a smile. “Okay. Thanks.”Both her and Lilique would do this, alternately staying with her andleaving her alone with Suletta. Maybe they thought she needed time tocry in private. It was certainly tempting.

More time passed. When Aliyareturned, she was not alone. She was accompanied by a tall,pear-shaped man with black hair and a goatee, dressed in the darkblue-grey uniform of a Dominicus officer. Kenanji Avery, the officerwho had commanded their operation against Quiet Zero.

Forthe past few days Miorine’s whole universe had been this roomand the comatose girl she watched over. But the arrival of thisDominicus officer suddenly brought her mind back to the largercontext of her own private tragedy. Suletta’s mother hadunleashed Quiet Zero, a weapon that could have reshaped or collapsedthe entire technological infrastructure upon which human civilizationdepended. Miorine and Suletta had joined a mission to destroy it.Another doomsday weapon had fired upon them, but had been disabled bySuletta’s final act before succumbing to the curse of theGundam. And as her own parting shot, Miorine’s final act aspresident of the largest commercial entity ever known had dissolvedit and sold off its assets to its Earthian subsidiaries, transactingthe largest commercial transfer in history and triggering thegreatest financial collapse in generations.

Miorine had rather forgottenabout all that.

Aliya’s expression wasneutral, Kenanji’s was warm and friendly. There were a numberof possible reasons the Dominicus inspector might want to see her,few of them any good. He was not accompanied by guards, so at leastit appeared he was not here to arrest her. Miorine got the impressionthey had not really spoken, except perhaps for Aliya to confirm thatMiorine was still here. She released Suletta’s hand and rose togreet him.

“Hello Miss Miorine,”Kenanji said gently. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay. Isthere a problem?”

“No. I won’t takemuch of your time but I’d like to discuss some things with youin private. Would it be okay for us to go into the next room and letMiss Aliya watch over Suletta for a while?”

“Sure.” The nextroom was another single room which had the same sort of hospital bedand furniture, but at the moment had no medical equipment set up.

Kenanji invited her to sit onthe sofa, he pulled up a chair and sat across the low table from her.“Have your friends told you anything about what’s beengoing on?”

“Not really, just thateveryone in the Earthian House is fine. I’m sure they’redoing their best not to give me anything else to worry about.”She shut her eyes and sighed. Might as well just face the music.“Okay, so how badly have I messed things up and who wants tokill me?”

Astonishingly, Kenanjiactually chuckled happily. “High finance is above my pay gradebut it looks like you have triggered continuing rounds of panicbuying and selling, and every broker and bean-counter from here toEarth wants your head.”

“Are there any formalcharges?”

“No, and for theforeseeable future there won’t be. Dominicus has most of theFronts in this sector under martial law. Even if the Assembly Leagueor any of the Houses want to see you charged, you are under ourjurisdiction until we say otherwise. They’ve all beenremarkably quiet on this point, so I think they’re stillscrambling to see whether or not you actually did something illegal.”He seemed rather pleased at describing this chaos among the tradingclasses. His expression now sobered somewhat. “There is anotherreason we will have to keep you on this Front under our care. Allthose involved with Quiet Zero have been arrested and are beinginterrogated, but you and Suletta and the Earthian House are ourprimary friendly witnesses to what happened at Quiet Zero and...”He hesitated. “What it was that ultimately destroyed it.”

“Of course I am at yourdisposal. But I only witnessed the operation to shut down Quiet Zero.As to how Suletta unleashed the data storm that dissolved it...”She had to look away. “All I know is the price she’spayed for it. Anything else, you’ll have to ask her when shewakes up.” It had been impossible for her to keep thebitterness out of her voice.

Kenanji’s expression andvoice were remarkably gentle. “There is one point everyoneagrees on. You, the Earthian House, and especially Suletta saved theDominicus fleet from utter defeat and possibly from completeannihilation. And we barely understand what it is you saved everyoneelse from. Yes we will want to speak with Suletta, but the only thingwe are in a hurry to do is to thank her. The rest can wait until shegets the care she needs. Everyone in Dominicus acknowledges her as ahero.” He smiled. “Even the sour-faced soldiers I havestationed in this ward.”

“I haven’t seenthem. And my friends haven’t said anything.”

“They’re outsidethe door, and at the bottom of the elevator. Your friends have allbeen given clearance to come and go.”

Miorine smiled. “Thankyou. For everything.”

Kenanji nodded. “Havethe doctors said anything about her progress?”

“Not really, they’rebeing cagey.”

“Theyalways are. I’m no doctor, but I’ve seen my share ofpilots with acute Data Storm sickness. Suletta has a lot going forher. She’s only had the one exposure, and having one badday...” He looked somewhat apologetic, as if over trivializingSuletta’s experience, “Even one reallybad day, is a whole lot better than repeated exposures. You and yourfriends got her the first aid meds early, that’s important.”

“That was my friends’work, I was mostly panicking. I barely remember.”

Kenanji noddedsympathetically. “She’s young and strong, that makes abig difference too. In my experience, if they’ve made itthrough the first couple of days then they’ll pull through.”His face fell a touch. “But I’ve seen what the recoverycan look like. I won’t sugar-coat it, she’s in for a longand difficult rehab. A full recovery might take months or even years.She’s going to need a lot of help. Let’s both make sureshe gets it, okay?”

Miorine’s lip quivered.She just smiled and nodded. Her voice could not manage more than alittle sound of acknowledgement.

“There is one morething. Suletta’s mother is in confinement, and that’sunlikely to change any time soon. As Suletta’s betrothed, youare the closest she has to a medical proxy, so I have seen to it thatis now official. You are now authorized to make medical decisions onher behalf.”

That brought up another pointMiorine had not been thinking about. “I presume she is beingcharged.”

“Yes, though as to whatthose charges will be, that’s going to be complicated.”He had something of a wry expression. “Made even morecomplicated by the fact that the crime scene and everything in itdissolved and got blown away by the solar winds.”

There was one last pointMiorine felt some modicum of obligation to ask about. “Myfather was in stable condition the last time I saw him, do you knowanything about his condition?”

“They hauled him out tomake an appeal to the League, but he’s back in the hospitalnow. Still stable and resting. He’s been asking to speak withyou.”

Miorine sniffed. “I gothis notes, haven’t read them. No doubt worried about what Ihave done to his investment portfolio. He can wait.”

Kenanji smiled. “I’llbe sure to pass that on.” He leaned back and took on a bit moreof the air of the commanding officer she had seen from them when hewas planning their operation. “When was the last time you gotany decent sleep, soldier?”

Miorine blinked. “Soldier?”

“Understand, neither younor Suletta have been demobilized. As far as we are concerned, youare one of us now. You might not have rank, but you have walked intothe fire and paid the price to keep your loved ones safe. We lookafter our own, but we expect them to look after themselves as well.So, when was the last time?”

Miorine shook her head. “Notsince...” She did not know what name to give to the insanecatastrophe that had struck her betrothed down. “Before theoperation I guess.”

Kenanji made a gesture thatencompassed the room. “I had them reserve this room for you. Gosee Suletta when you can, but you need to be prepared to wait fordays before she will be able to see or hear you. We hardly understandwhat the Data Storm does to the body, but one thing that seems clearis that every cell of her body is telling her that she needs to shutdown for a while. You’re going to need your down time too. Iknow nothing I can say is going to make it easy, but you’regoing to have to be patient. Both in the coming days, and beyondthat.”

There only seemed oneappropriate answer. “Yes sir.”

“Good. I’ll letAliya know where you are and bring over your things.”

That seemed to settle thematter. As soon as Kenanji left the room again Miorine prepared forbed. Once again, Aliya had packed sensibly, there were some slippers,a light robe and comfortable nightwear. There was less anxiety thanshe had thought there would be, separated from Suletta like this. Shehad been given little reason for hope lately, but Kenanji’swords had held the feeling of both honesty and hard experience. Shefound herself believing that things might turn out for them.

“Mommy?”

Miorineblinked. Thehell?She looked around, unsure where that might have come from. Her eyesrested on the key-chain plushy that Suletta had given her, seeminglyan eternity ago. It was a silly little white fluffy pancake of athing with a tiny body hanging below it, whose two little beadsbegged to be seen as the eyes of a face. Without thinking she hadplaced it on top of the cabinet by the bed. Its eyes were glowingred. Had it been doing that before? She had not thought there wereany electronics in it.

Miorinesqueezed her eyes shut and pinched the base of her nose against thebeginnings of a tension headache. You’restrung-out, no surprise that you’re hearing things. Do as theman said and get some sleep.

She slept fitfully, and itseemed not long. When she returned to Suletta’s room Aliya wasstill there. Miorine was astonished to learn that she had in factslept right through one of Lilique’s shifts by a wide margin.With equal measures gratitude and reluctance, Miorine resumedsomething like a normal sleep cycle.

#-#-#-#-#

It was shortly after the startof Lilique’s sixth shift that Suletta began to stir. Theycalled for a nurse, and before long one of the doctors joined them.As they had explained to Miorine previously, they wanted to monitorfor a while before doing anything to encourage her to fully awaken.Miorine was only allowed to hold her hand. It was maddening. Hermovements were sporadic, something between a twitch and a spasm. Theyhad told her to expect that too. In the past couple of days Miorinehad taken the time to speak with the doctors in more detail aboutwhat to expect with a recovery from a Data Storm.

When they were satisfied thatshe was really trying to wake up, they gave her a mild stimulant. Afew minutes later her eyes fluttered open. At a nod of permissionfrom the doctor, Miorine lifted Suletta’s forearm up, graspedher hand tightly in both of her own hands and leaned close. “Suletta,can you hear me?”

Suletta’s sleepy greeneyes met hers. She seemed confused. Then, recognition. “Miorine?”she croaked.

Miorine smiled like she hadnot done in many days. She wanted so much to scoop up Suletta intoher arms, but she managed to compose herself the way the doctors hadcautioned her. They needed to take this awakening slowly andcarefully. “Yes Suletta, it’s me. It’s Miorine. Howdo you feel?”

She seemed to search for ananswer. “Weird.” Miorine felt Suletta’s arm twitch.“I want... I want to touch you. I’m sorry. It’shard to move.”

“You’re still sickfrom the Data Storm. It’s going to be hard for you to move fora while.” A long while, most likely. But that was for anothertime. “You don’t need to do anything right now.”

Suletta seemed to take in therest of the room now. She smiled. “Lilique is here too.”

“Yes, I’m here.”Lilique said brightly. She seemed to be barely holding back tears.Miorine knew exactly how she felt. “It’s wonderful tohear your voice again.”

“Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone is fine,Suletta,” Miorine said. She felt obliged to add one thing.“Your mother can’t be here right now, but we’ll lether know that you’re awake. I’m sure she’ll behappy to hear that.”

“Where’s Eri?”

Miorine hesitated. She shouldhave been prepared for that question, but she was not. The doctorshad said to try and avoid anything that might upset her, but... “I’msorry, Suletta. Ariel was dissolved by the Data Storm. Eri isn’twith us any more.”

“Eri isn’t inAriel any more,” Suletta said, sounding more anxious andinsistent.

Miorinetook in a breath. Theysaid she might be confused. Try to work with it.“We don’t know where Eri is.”

Suletta was becoming morevisibly upset. “Did we lose them?”

Miorine was very much at aloss. “Lose what, Suletta?”

“Our key-chains.”

All Miorine understood at thispoint was that Suletta was very attached to those key-chains, so onceagain she decided to just work with that. “They’re bothhere, Suletta. Look.” She unhooked her own from her belt loop,where it had been since it had been retrieved. Suletta was no longerthe only one attached to them, it had to be admitted. She picked upSuletta’s matching key-chain from the bedside cabinet where ithad rested since Suletta had been admitted. Miorine held up the twolittle white, round things with silly faces in front of Suletta.“See, here they are.”

Suletta smiled and relaxed.“Thank goodness. Eri, can you hear me?”

Miorine was becoming alarmednow. What was this, confusion? Projection? Denial? Hallucination?Should she let the doctors handle this?

“Suletta! I can see you!You look funny!”

Suddenly there was deadsilence in the room. Everyone was looking around the room and at eachother, no doubt wondering the same thing Miorine was. Where had thatcome from?

Suletta seemed to be the onlyone not utterly perplexed, in fact she even laughed a little. “Youlook even more funny!”

“I know! I’mreally small!” It was that same little tinny, vaguely girlishvoice. It seemed to be coming from... Miorine turned her own plushyaround and looked into that funny little face. Its two beady littleeyes were flashing red. “Hey! Turn me around! I can’t seemy sister any more!”

Utterly dumbfounded, Miorinedid as she was told. Suletta’s smile was practically rapturous.“I’m sorry you’re so small now. That was all Icould find.”

“It took me a while, butI’m used to it now. I looked for you and Mommy but all I sawwas this lady who’s holding me so I went back to sleep.”

“That’s Miorine.She’s my fiancee.”

“You mean, you’regetting married?”

“Yes.”

“Wow! She’s reallypretty!”

Suletta nodded, “Yes,”she said, her voice choked up now. A tear streamed down her cheek.“Yes, she’s the prettiest girl in the world!” Shestarted laughing and crying at the same time. The little voice fromthe plushy was also laughing. All Miorine could think to do was toreach out and wipe the tears from her fiancee’s face.

#-#-#-#-#

The nurse emerged fromSuletta’s room. “She’s asleep now,” sheconfirmed. “Miss Lilique said she would watch her.”

Miorine took a deep breath totry and calm herself. She pointed to the plushy dangling from thekey-chain in her hand. In a low, dangerous voice she said “If Ifind out this is somebody’s idea of a joke I swear on mymother’s grave I will drag them straight to the nearest airlockand space them right now.”

From the looks on the faces ofthe impressive collection of specialists gathered in the hallway,there was nobody here who did not believe her. After a few seconds,one of the technicians was brave enough to speak. “We have noidea how that could be done,” he said nervously. “Each ofthese rooms is basically a Faraday cage, no wireless signals can getin or out. When the Dominicus turned this into a high security areaall the rooms were swept for devices.” He pointed to theplushy. “And that thing is just too small for a Permet device.”

“I’m not a Permetdevice!” the plushy protested. “I’m in a data stormthat’s been entangled with the place Suletta put me. Sheexplained that to you.”

Suletta had indeed saidsomething to that effect. She had been rather apologetic about notbeing able to explain it better, confessing that she did notunderstand it very well herself. The incessant questions fromMiorine, then the doctors, then other specialists that had beenbrought in had eventually tired Suletta out. The doctor had everybodyexcept for Miorine, Lilique and a nurse cleared from the room, andthey had told Suletta she should take a nap. And now here they werewith no more idea what was going on than they had at the start.

Miorine tried to thinkclearly. “Okay, we already know that Prospera transferred herdaughter’s biometric code into Ariel to keep her alive. Sowe’re talking about something that’s possible. Inprinciple this is no different.”

“That’s darktech,” the same technician said. “Nothing like that onthe open market. Who knows where the Quiet Zero project team gottheir hands on that. One of the people in custody might know.”

Miorine nodded. “Wellthen, let’s ask the obvious person. Let’s ask Prospera.”

“Are we going to seeMommy?” The eyes on the plushy flashed more quickly. “Yay!”

Miorine sighed. “I needto contact somebody in Dominicus. Are those guards still outside thedoor?”

#-#-#-#-#

Miorineand Kenanji sat in the meeting room, watching and listening to thevideo feed from another nearby room. In contrast to this functionalspace, that one was was a bright, cheery looking little room that wasclearly designed to be a comforting place for children. The femalechild psychologist sitting in one of the chairs was continuing herinterview in that perfect friendly but professional manner she hadbeen using throughout. Miorine had to admire her. I’llbet when she woke up this morning she did not think that she would beasked to do an evaluation of a key-chain.

“Your fiancee iscertainly full of surprises,” Kenanji quipped.

Miorine continued tohalf-listen to the interview, which at some time had slid from thelevel of the surreal to the rather banal. “I’m not evensure how to think about this.”

“Well, you can count meas one of the believers now. Suletta really did what she claimed.”He glanced over at Miorine. “I’m sorry, but we’veprobably got a few more hoops to go through before we can authorizethis meeting.”

Miorineshook her head. “No, it’s okay. I think you’reright to be cautious.” Once she had informed Kenanji of whatthey thought happened and who Miorine wanted to speak with, that hadtriggered a series of reactions within the Dominicus organization, ofwhich this had been just one step. The subtext of this innocentsounding conversation was them trying to assuage a deep suspicion ofthe nature and motivation behind anything that had originated fromProspera Mercury’s mad, mad scheme to give her daughter somesort of embodied existence. Miorine certainly shared their mistrustof her fiancee’s mother, the madwoman’s scheme had nearlycost Suletta her life. But Miorine’s current feeling ofresentment had a more immediate source. Iknow Suletta’sin good hands, but I just want to be with her. And here I am tryingto deal with this new piece of madness.

Sulettahad actually been happy at the prospect of this thing she called Erimeeting with her mother... theirmother. Miorine was relieved that her spirits remained high, evenafter it had been made clear to her how long her recovery wouldlikely take. She was being very understand and cooperative with thedoctors and their brand new battery of tests and evaluations. Thehigh point so far had been a happy reunion with the entire EarthianHouse. They had brought flowers and cards and balloons and great bigsigns to hang on the walls, all to welcome her back to the land ofthe living. It had been a happy, teary, cathartic moment that Miorinecould lose herself in for a brief moment, before returning to herpatrol of the shark-infested waters that surrounded them.

There was a knock on the door,it opened and a man wearing the ubiquitous white lab coat of thecare-givers entered. Miorine recognized him, Doctor Anton Battia. Shehad met him early on when Dominicus was putting together theinvestigation team for this new mystery, he was now pretty much itspoint man. She had already known about him, even attended asupplementary lecture he had given at her school. By reputation hewas something of a polymath, both a researcher and a clinician withbroad expertise but focusing on neuroscience. He was a tall, fitmiddle-aged man with greying brown short hair and beard framing ahandsome face with a ready smile. Miorine had immediately taken aliking to him, both for his warmth and his no-nonsense approach touncovering the truth. She had already made a mental note to probe himabout the possibility of taking a role in Suletta’s evaluationand care.

They both stood to greet him.“I’m between meetings,” he explained. “Iheard you were both here so I thought it was a good time to touchbase.” He glanced at the video feed. “I’ve gotsomebody else monitoring this, talked about what to look for and pageme if there are any surprises.”

Kenanji appeared to take thehint and turn down the volume on the feed as the doctor joined themat the table. “Honestly I had almost stopped listening, it justsounded so... ordinary.” He pointed to the now silent video.“Does the psychologist...?”

“Knowexactly what she’s interviewing? In this case no. We made upthe best story we could about both the remote interview and theunorthodox interface, basically the aftermath of a black techexperiment gone wrong, which I guess is not far from the truth. Ifigured it was important to gather some blind tests as well, try toget around any possible bias.”

Miorine thought she might bejumping the gun, but... “Doctor, there’s something I’dlike to ask you about that’s concerning me.”

He smiled. “Anton isfine. What’s on your mind?”

“Anton, my fiancee isreally invested in the idea that this thing is her sister. I’mworried that the longer this goes on the harder it might be to tryand tell her otherwise if we need to.”

“That’s my concernas well. We’re trying to rule out other possibilities as soonas we can. What I can tell you now is that we have pretty much ruledout that this is any sort of automation. What we are talking withthere is definitely somebody’s biometric code.”

Miorinetook a beat to absorb that. “Ican sort of understand how that would work in Ariel, it had apowerful Permet information device. But this is a toy with justenough memory for a few audio messages. I mean, whereexactly is the biometric code?”

“That wouldn’teven be a simple question to answer for the Permet device. It works,but we really don’t know how.”

“Well, we understand thebasic physics, right?”

Anton shrugged. “We doand we don’t. The physics is not exactly my field but a fewyears ago I did get kind of obsessed with quantum theories ofconsciousness and went on a sort of deep dive into its history. Evenback before the diaspora when they were trying to first figure outquantum mechanics they were running into mathematics that workedperfectly well but nobody could make any sense of. I mean, you hadmultiple interpretations of it that were all consistent and could notbe ruled out. Wave collapse, permanent parallel universes, splittinguniverses, you name it.”

He smiled and shrugged.“Eventually they kind of threw up their hands and basicallysaid ‘shut up and calculate’. Over generations thateventually morphed into ‘shut up and engineer’. So youcould say that the biometric code is distributed across paralleluniverses or in strings across eleven dimensions and nobody couldprove that you are wrong.”

Miorine scratched her chin,trying to take this all in. “Okay, I guess I can set thataside. But I’m still concerned that Suletta is getting led downa garden path to something that’s not really there.” Shedecided what she really wanted to ask. “Anton, can we knowwhether the biometric code is actually conscious?”

He smiled. “Oh, that’seven a deeper rabbit-hole. When I was doing my own little deep dive Iwas delving into things that crossed two millennia of philosophicalinquiry and generations of people hooking things up to other people’sbrains to see what makes them tick. The theories about how pieces ofmatter lead to subjective consciousness run the gamut. IntegratedInformation Theory, Panpsychism, Epiphenomenalism, name your poison.All of them compatible and consistent, none of them disprovable. Atthe end of the day, I know that I am conscious and as for the rest ofyou, I am just guessing.”

“Whatdo youthink?”

Anton did not seem at allperturbed at being pressed like this. “The main thing we’relooking for is how she integrates information, the more she can learnin a way that makes sense the more sure we are that there’ssomebody home. Gun to the head answer right now? I’m as sureshe’s conscious as I’m sure you are.”

Miorine decided on a simplerquestion. “What’s special about the plushy sitting inthat room over there?”

“Nothing about the thingitself. Some or all of the atoms inside it happen to be entangledwith something, somewhere that it is able to interact with. Somethingthat is reading what is coming into the cameras and microphones,making the speaker vibrate, even keeping the battery charged it wouldseem.”

Miorine took a moment to letthat sink in. “So how did Suletta do it?”

“Miss Miorine, it beatsthe hell out of me.”

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine scooped the last ofthe pudding out of the cup and brought it carefully to Suletta’slips. She closed her mouth around it and slurped it down. “Welldone.”

Suletta smiled. “You’regetting better too. We didn’t make any mess at all this time.”

She was right, the bib strungaround her neck was perfectly clean. In the past few days she hadbeen transitioning to solid food, so right now the puddings were justfor dessert. She was still in the same room, lying in the samehospital bed tilted most of the way up to make eating easier. Theyhad only taken her out of here a couple of times for some scans andpreliminary physio work. The decorations from the party were allgone, but Miorine and their friends had been keeping her practicallysurrounded by flowers.

“Do you think you couldmanage a bit more?”

“There’s more?”

Miorine pulled the surpriseout of her bag. “A tomato!” Suletta said brightly. “Isit one of yours?”

“Yes. There were someleft.”

That turned out to be a littlemore difficult, and they did make a bit of a mess. But she did managemost of it, and the bib caught the rest. She was able to move herhead and neck more or less normally, so feeding her was quite easynow. After Miorine cleaned Suletta’s face and disposed of thebib, she sat back down and took Suletta’s hand. “Want totry giving me a squeeze?”

“Okay.” Suletta’sbrow knit with concentration.

“Don’t struggle,”Miorine said encouragingly. “Just try once.”

Her face relaxed. After a fewseconds she shook her head. “Sorry.”

“Didn’t I tell younot to apologize?”

“Okay. I’ll try toremember.”

Miorine held Suletta’shand in both of hers, slowly stroking it. The doctors said that was agood thing to do, but even if they hadn’t it just felt nice. “Ihave a bit of news. They’re going to let Eri visit yourmother.”

“That’s great!They’ll both be so happy.”

“This time it’sgoing to be just a regular prison visit. One hour in a partitionedroom, supervised. They’re still being pretty strict. And thedoctors will be monitoring the visit. They...” They were stilltrying to convince themselves this really was Eri. “They’restill trying to learn about Eri’s condition. Kenanji will betaking her.”

The significance of that lastpart was not lost on Suletta. Her face sobered a little. “You’renot going.”

Miorine shook her head. Shehad rehearsed this but it was still difficult. “I’msorry, Suletta. I’m still not in a place where I can forgiveher for what she’s done to you. If I went there now, I wouldprobably let my anger get the better of me and I might say things Iwould regret. I don’t want that to happen.”

Suletta looked earnestly intoher eyes. “Do you think you can ever forgive her?” sheasked softly.

“When I told her that weare all going to become a family I meant it. But I have to know thatI can trust her first. That’s going to take a lot of work and alot of time.” She pursed her lips and let out a breath, tryingto contemplate all the different things at play here. Prospera couldbe in jail for a very long time, maybe even longer than she likelyhad to live. “I want for us all to be together, and I’lltry to make that happen. We’re going to have to be patient.”

Suletta nodded and made alittle sound of acknowledgement. She hesitated before speaking again.“Do you think that I could visit her?”

“That might be difficultfor you right now.” That was not untrue, but as soon as shesaid it Miorine knew it was just an excuse. She was done beingdishonest. “I’m not really comfortable with your seeingher yet. I’m so angry about how she has manipulated you. WhenI’m ready, I want...” Miorine hesitated. She knew whatshe wanted, she wanted to confront Prospera and demand an explanationfor how she could have mistreated such a wonderful daughter.

“I understand,”Suletta said. “You want to talk with her first.” Shenodded. “I know she was wrong about so many things, but I stilllove her so much. I don’t really trust myself to say the thingsI need to, ask the things I need to. It would be too easy to justbelieve everything she says.”

Miorine could see how hardthat was for her to say. “Yes, I do want to talk to her first.I want to...” She sighed. Almost involuntarily she squeezedSuletta’s hand hard. “Suletta I’ve made terrible,terrible mistakes, I’ve hurt you in so many ways. I want forboth her and I to try and understand how that happened and how we canmake sure it doesn’t happen any more. I’m sorry, I don’tknow if that makes any sense at all.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes,I think it makes sense. Take as much time as you need.”

“Thank you.”

They just sat in comfortablesilence for a while, Miorine slowly stroking her hand, trying to be alittle bit playful about it. Suletta seemed to appreciate it.Suddenly her eyes went wide. “Oh, I forgot. I haven’tcongratulated you yet.”

“Congratulated me? Aboutwhat?”

“I forgot where I heardit, but you were elected President of the Benerit Group weren’tyou? That’s amazing! Congratulations! I’m really proud ofmy bride.”

Miorine just stared at herwith her mouth agape. When she finally convinced herself that had notbeen a joke, she started laughing uncontrollably.

When she was finally able tostop, Suletta said “Did I hear that wrong?”

Miorine just could not keepthe grin off her face. “No, you heard right. But it was theshortest presidency in the history of the group. And the last one. Myfinal act was to dissolve the group and sell off its assets to itsEarthian subsidiaries.”

“You... sound prettyhappy about that,” she responded tentatively.

“Well, by that point itseemed like everybody and their uncle wanted to dissolve the groupfor one reason or another. There was even a Space Assembly Leaguefleet on its way to disband it forcefully. I decided I just wantedit done in a way that could comfort the afflicted and afflict thecomfortable as much as possible. Or maybe it was just the tempertantrum of a spoiled little rich girl.” She laughed happilyagain. “I’m sorry my love, I’m just babbling. I canhardly believe I hadn’t told you about that, but it’sjust been so hard to even care.”

Suletta’s face becamemore serious. “So... are you in trouble?”

It was a reasonable questionthat deserved a proper answer. “Not right now. There are someconsequences I’m going to have to deal with. In fact there aresome things I’ve been putting off but should get around tosoon.” She continued in a gentler voice. “In the nextlittle while I might not be around as much as I have been. But anyday that I can’t come I promise I’ll call. We’llset up a voice activated phone for you here. I don’t want to goa single day without hearing your voice.”

Suletta’s smile wasunbearably radiant. “Me too.”

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine walked in and had alook around the room while she made her way over to where her fatherlay propped up in his bed, waiting for her. “I see you’vemanaged to scale up to a bigger room.”

Even lying in a hospital beddressed in a simple robe, Delling Rembran, head of the Rembran Houseand previous President of the Benerit Group, managed to cut animposing figure. He was a big, tall man with a long, menacing faceframed by long wavy grey hair and goatee. As expected he ignored herbarb. “I was beginning to wonder if you would ever show up.”

“I have been occupiedwith taking care of my fiancee,” she said, walking over to thecoffee urn beside the bed and helping herself to a cup. She wasdressed in a business suit, matching grey blazer and slacks withwhite blouse, also with business appropriate makeup and hair. She wasdetermined to give every indication this was a business meeting.“She’s doing well, thanks for asking.”

He also let the sarcasm bounceoff him. “I have been kept appraised of developments,” hedeadpanned.

“Then we can leave it atthat. I’ve read your messages, I agree we need to make somedecisions regarding the future direction and priorities of both ourcompanies.”

His perpetual frown deepenedjust a little. “Are you not more concerned with staying out ofjail?”

“I did nothing illegal,and I read nothing in your letters that suggested otherwise. Did Imiss something?”

“Certainly yourdissolution of the Group followed all the rules of the Group charterand the Assembly accords. I’ve had a team of accountantsconfirming that, but they are wondering who you consulted in drawingup the terms of the dissolution.”

“There was no time toconsult anybody, and anyway nobody I thought I could trust. I drew itup myself and sent it straight to the key escrow service.”

That got a very satisfyingmoment of silence from him. His poker face barely moved, but Miorinehad plenty of practice in reading him. There was not quite enoughdisbelief to call her out, and just a hint of one other thing thatshe was quite sure she was not imagining.

Respect.

“Following the letter ofthe law does not give you guaranteed protection. If you were not amember of one of the Great Houses then the League would almostcertainly have found some excuse to have you confined.”

“Well then it’s agood thing I am a member of a Great House.” She raised aneyebrow. “Aren’t I?”

“You also arrangedthings such that disowning you would be of no advantage to the House.Making GUND-ARM an independent entity under the umbrella of the Househas made such a move meaningless.”

Meaning that he had beenconsidering it. “Then I suppose we should begin with ourintentions for where our respective parts of the business should beheading. Shall I go first?”

He folded his hands, a signalthat she had his full attention. “By all means.”

“High level, I plan onhaving GUND-ARM continue to focus on medical technology and expandinto related public health infrastructure. The core of itsoperations, customer base and supply chain will be on Earth. Therecent infusion of cash into our subsidiaries there will provide manyopportunities for partnerships. The rest... we’ll have to makeup as we go along.”

“Earth is a very chaoticenvironment.” His look became subtly judgmental, so Miorinecould recite his followup before he even spoke. “Your actionshave now made it even more so.”

“I just see thatinstability as further opportunity for new ventures.”

He nodded. “I hadexpected as much, and as far as it goes I see no objection. What areyour expectations of the Group?”

Things got technical for along while. Miorine sat down on a stool next to his bed and pulledout her tablet phone. Her father swung a laptop in front of him andthey went to work. There were some points to negotiate, but for themost part they were on the same page. Some things were hammered outright here and submitted to the key escrows, others were tabled forfuture review. In the meantime, they both had their action plans.

The entire process had notbeen at all unpleasant, in fact Miorine had found it quite absorbing.It was just so weird and perverse that her most positive experiencewith her father of late had been when they were looking atspreadsheets.

“I will be having anoperation soon,” her father told her. “When a date hasbeen set I’ll let you know so that we can plan around it.”

This was news to Miorine. “Arethere complications?”

“No, I’m gettingprosthetic legs.”

Miorine stared at him for amoment. “That’s what you’ve decided? I’vespoken with your GP, that is far and away the most radical of theoptions they were considering.” She was his medical proxy, sobefore this meeting she had brought herself up to speed in case hewanted to discuss it with her... apparently he did not.

“It’s the quickestfix, very little down time.”

“I know, but... there’snothing wrong with your legs, it’s a low-spine injury. Thereare both regenerative and prosthetic options that would give youmotion with your own legs.”

“They all require longerrehab time. I don’t have that sort of time.” He gave thatmotion of his head which always meant the matter was closed and hewas changing the subject. “Have you decided on your fiancee’streatment?”

“We’re stillconsidering options. We haven’t made a decision yet.”

“Do you still intend onmarrying her?”

“Whatthe hell sort of question is that?” Miorine snapped. “Shewon my hand fair and square, according to yourrules.”

“Those rules are stillin effect.”

“The school is shutdown, they aren’t in a position to hold any duels.” Shesniffed. “And I’m hardly the most eligible bride in thesector any more, I don’t imagine I have suitors lining up readyto throw down the gauntlet any more.”

“Don’t sellyourself short,” he responded, surprising her. “You arestill the scion of the Group. Your asset base might have shrunkconsiderably, but thanks to your sellout the same can be said formany other houses. Scions of the Great Houses might have lessinterest now, but there are plenty of bottom-feeders looking for agood match. All they would have to do is expedite the reopening ofsome school facilities to stake a valid claim.”

It was not something Miorinehad even been considering. “How long have I got?”

“For what?”

“To hold the wedding, ofcourse!”

He sighed. “If you arethat determined, you should plan for no later than the end of nextmonth.”

“Okay, I’ll talkwith Suletta.”

“It might not be thatsimple.” His tone had reverted from that of the businesspartner to that of the lecturing father. “The appearance willbe just as important as the legality. You can’t just have aJustice show up in a hospital room, read the script and sign thepapers. There will need to be a ceremony. Is your fiancee really upto that right now?”

“We’ll worksomething out.”

“It will have to besomething that will stand up to scrutiny. You cannot afford the imageof a flyer who has had their wings clipped.”

Miorine stood up fast enoughto send the stool circling across the room, its casters rumbling.Whatever it is that her father saw in her face made him show theclosest thing she had ever seen to genuine alarm. She couldpractically feel it from him, the realization sinking in that he wasfacing not a child but a potentially dangerous young woman.

Her level voice showed equalmeasures bitterness and resolve. “If it’s a show theywant, then it’s a show we’ll give them.”

He took a deep breath and letit out, closing his eyes for a moment as if he needed to centrehimself. “You might be asking the impossible, or expecting amiracle,” he said with a gentleness she did not recall everhearing before.

“I have found people whodo the impossible right away. The miraculous takes us a bit morework. But this?” She drained her coffee cup and tossed it intothe waste basket as she stalked out of the room. “Somethinglike this we do before breakfast.”

#-#-#-#-#

It was Miorine’s firsttime seeing Suletta’s new room. It was in a facility on theone-gee ring floor, twice as big as her old room, with a windowlooking over a scene of open greenery with scattered trees. She hadbeen slated to be moved here soon, but Miorine had pushed to expeditethat move. The room was bigger than her father’s.

That had been utterly petty,but she didn’t care.

Suletta greeted her happily asshe entered. With a voice command she paused the video she had beenwatching on the big screen that covered much of the wall in front ofthe bed.

“What were youwatching?”

“I was looking forarchived news about what you did with the Benerit group.”

“Is it thatinteresting?”

“Yes, mostly becauseit’s about you. They show some of the interviews you did. Ilike seeing your face and hearing your voice.”

Miorine laughed. “Soyou’re using it for Miorine p*rn.”

“Miorine!”

“I’m kidding.”She glanced at the screen’s paused image. “UNN? Thatnetwork is pretty much a shill for the League. I can suggest bettersources, unless you’re just looking at the pictures.”

She pouted. “I waslistening seriously too.”

“OK, later we can watchtogether and I’ll bookmark some places for you.”

Suletta smiled. “You cansit beside me and watch now. Want to try it out?”

She was right. This room had aking-sized version of the hospital bed. Since she no longer needed IVor monitors, she could lie on one side of the bed leaving the restfree. “Sure.” Miorine walked to the other side of thebed, took off her shoes and climbed in beside Suletta. “Do youlike the room?”

“It’s really nice.In the morning sometimes I see birds fly past the window.”

The Front did have somesongbirds roaming free in this segment of the ring. “Do youlike birds?”

“I had never seen thembefore I came here. There are some really pretty ones, but they sortof fly past quickly.”

“I wonder if there’ssomething we can hang outside the window that would attract them sothat you could get a better look. Maybe they would let us put up abird feeder. I’ll have to look into that.”

“I didn’t mean togive you more work.”

“It might be fun. Alittle project.”

“Thank you.”

“How was physio today?”

Suletta gave a mischievouslittle smile. “I did something new. Watch.” She facedforward and closed her eyes. Her face tensed up just a little. Sheseemed to be concentrating on something. To Miorine’sastonishment, her upper body lifted just a little off the bed, thenrested back down. Suletta opened her eyes and smiled. “Surprised?”

Miorine’s hands came toher face. “Suletta...” She reached out and crushedSuletta to her chest, hardly able to find her voice. “That’swonderful. That’s wonderful.” Miorine just held her, nottrusting herself to do anything else.

Suletta gave an embarrassedlittle laugh. “Sorry, I can’t hug you back. It’sjust my upper core muscles I can use a little. Everything else isgoing to take a lot longer.”

Miorine already knew that fromthe briefings. There were so many mysteries with Data Storm syndrome,but somehow distance from the brain was a factor. This was anexpected result, she knew everything else would take much longerbut... it had been so wonderful to see her do something she wasn’table to do before. It gave her the hope she needed.

And the courage. There were acouple of things she needed to do here today. One hopefully simple,the other maybe not so much.

Miorine knelt facing Sulettaso that it would be easier for them to talk. “Suletta, I havesome good news about your sister. She has been officially recognizedas Prospera’s daughter. I know that probably doesn’t meanmuch to you, I guess you already knew that even if the rest of usfound it hard to believe. But it’s an important step. It meansshe’s recognized as both a citizen of Mercury and a member ofyour family. Of course, this now raises the question of where she isgoing to stay. Your mother has requested that Eri stay with her, inprison. They tell me Eri wants that too. But as her sister, you get asay in this decision too. You don’t have to answer now, but I’dlike to know how you feel about this.”

Suletta thought about itsilently for a few seconds before answering. “If it’swhat they both want then I think that’s the right thing. Ofcourse I’d love for Eri to be with me too, but if this meansmother won’t be alone any more then that’s okay.”She smiled shyly. “Maybe someday we can all be together. Butright now I have you. I want mother to have somebody.”

Miorine nodded. “Iagree. Sometime soon a Dominicus representative will probably becoming to talk with us about this. There might be other issues tofigure out, I can hardly even imagine. But if we’re both agreedthat Eri can stay with your mother, then the rest can be sorted out.”

“It’s too bad Icouldn’t put her in both of our key-chains, then she could bein both places at once.”

“Suletta, I’malready having trouble wrapping my head around what you did. Please,don’t make it even more weird.” They both laughed.Miorine took her hand and held it, stroking it in the now so familiarway. She contemplated what she was doing with her fiancee’shand, still etched with the markings of the Data Storm curse.

“You have a kind ofserious look on your face.”

Miorine looked into her eyes.“Suletta, there’s something we need to talk about.”

As carefully as she could,Miorine described the conversation she had with her father about thepossibility of new suitors challenging Suletta’s position asthe Holder, and why the risk of that happening could increase overtime. Suletta’s expression became increasingly anxious.

“So, what are we goingto do?” she asked very tentatively.

“If we’re going toget married, I think it’s going to have to be soon. Next monthat the latest. And we’ll have to start planning a lot sooner.”

“But... how can I do theceremony? It’s too soon.” She suddenly looked sofrightened.

“I know it is. We canfigure out something.”

“What? How?” Sheseemed to be on the verge of tears now.

Miorine did not think therewere any words that would be useful right now. She leaned over,wrapped her arms around Suletta’s body and gently tilted her upoff the bed until they were both sitting up straight, their facesover each other’s shoulders. Miorine did not say anything. Shehad been expecting Suletta to start sobbing now. But she was silentand still, her arms hanging limply. Then she spoke in a soft, slow,desperate voice.

“Miorine, what sort of awife can I be for you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t doanything by myself. I can’t walk.”

“I know.”

“I can’t stand up.I can’t feed myself.”

“I know.”

“I can’t even situp straight. I can’t do anything.”

It was a few seconds beforeMiorine answered. “You can’t do anything? What are youdoing right now? You’re telling me how you feel. You’rethinking about our future together. That’s the sort of wife youcan be. If all you can move is your little finger then you are stillthe woman I love. I want more for you, I want so much more. But all Ineed is the woman I’m holding in my arms right now.”

They sat like that for a goodlong time. Suletta did not make a sound, other than her breathing.Gradually, it seemed to Miorine that her breathing became slower,more relaxed.

Eventually, Miorine spoke verysoftly. “Suletta. Are you asleep?”

The answer came after a coupleof seconds. “Miorine, that’s a dumb question.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.Do you want me to set you back down?”

“Okay.”

Miorine slowly and gently sether back on the bed. She sat up straight and looked into Suletta’sface. It looked like she had been crying a little. Miorine reachedout and softly wiped away the remnants of tears. After anothermoment, she spoke. “I can see how scared you are. You’vebeen so brave, and today I saw you do something you were not able todo before. I was so proud, and I could see that you were too. So Ican’t believe this is just about what you can or cannot do. Iknow this has come out of the blue, and it should have come at a timeof our choosing. I want to help, but I need to understand first. Areyou just nervous? Is it something else? Please, take as much time asyou need. I’ll wait.”

She waited quietly. WhenSuletta did speak, it was in a surprisingly wistful tone. “Whenit first hit me that I really had become your groom, I just keptlooking at you. I kept thinking, can this amazing, beautiful angelreally be my bride? You were just so far above me.” Shehesitated, then with apparent difficulty met Miorine’s gazeagain. “I don’t want to blame you. I understand now, evenwhen you... made somebody else your groom, it was for my sake. Youhad to do that, because even then I was a burden on you.” Sheturned her despairing face away. “And now look at me.”

To Miorine, the answer was sopainfully obvious. “When you won my hand for a second time,when you came to me then, you so effortlessly pulled me out of thedeep pit that I had dug for myself. If you never do anything else forme again, you are already the best groom I could ask for.”

Astonishingly, in a way thatmelted Miorine’s heart, Suletta smiled. “When you openedyour door and I saw you there, you looked like such a sad littlegirl. All I could think was... ‘My bride, was she really thistiny?’ I just wanted to wrap you in my arms and tell youeverything would be okay. But somehow I knew what you really neededwas for me to hold out my hand.”

Miorine managed to smile. “Thestate I was in, if you had embraced me I probably would have justcried into your shoulder and never left that room. You gave meexactly what I needed.”

They sat in silence for awhile. At length, Suletta looked her in the eyes again. She did notlook as anxious any more, just somehow sad. “I want to behonest with you. I understand what you said, and I believe you. ButI’m still scared.”

Itwas Miorine’s turn to think on what she had been told. Sulettawaited, giving her all the time she needed. “I came here todayand saddled you with all the problems the world is making for us. Iwant to forget all that, I want to rip aside all the million and onethings that are making us fear and doubt and hesitate. Then I want totake what is between you and me and push aside everything else untilall that’s left is the one thing that will never change. I wantto start over.”

Miorinesat up a little more straight, faced Suletta a little more squarely.“Suletta,I love you. Will you marry me?”

She answered in a remarkablycalm voice, with no hesitation. “Yes.”

Miorine smiled and cradled herhand. “Thank you.” There were a hundred things theyneeded to talk about, and soon. But not today.

Anincongruous thought suddenly popped into her head. Ican’t believe I’ve never told her how beautiful she is tome. Sheabsolutely was, even with her face corrupted by the lingering alienimprint of the Data Storm. Would she be sensitive about that? Itseemed like any words could be seen as insincere, so maybe... no,right now when Suletta was so vulnerable and so utterly dependent onher asking that would be monstrously unfair, it was absolutely thewrong thing to do but “Suletta, can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” she saidwith the same calm voice and the same smile.

Miorine leaned over and kissedher briefly on her closed lips, then moved away again. Suletta’sshy smile changed subtly. It was like she was trying not to laugh.Miorine knew with certainly that her own expression was a perfectmirror. Suddenly the fact that until a few days ago she had beensixteen years old loomed large. She scratched the back of her headawkwardly. “That was my first kiss. It probably wasn’tvery good.”

“It was my first kisstoo. I was really nervous. But it was nice.”

“For me too.”

Miorine wondered if this wasthe time to speak. But Suletta beat her to it. “Um... want totry again?”

The second one was muchbetter. And when Miorine did speak, nobody could have any doubt thatshe meant it.

#-#-#-#-#

The campus was still largelyin shambles. Most of the tent city had been removed, since most ofthe students who had been sheltering there had since been shippedback home. A lot of the panels in the ring ceiling above her weredark, dotting the simulated blue sky with incongruous blackrectangles. Repairing those had understandably not been a priority.It was a lonely, silent, desolate landscape now, and would likelyremain so for weeks or months to come.

Damage to the big warehouseand machine shop used by the Earthian House had largely not beenrepaired yet. Big orange tarps had been draped over the wall sectionsthat had been blown away or collapsed. Debris had been removed,scaffolding put up and utilities had been restored, so the space wassafe and livable again. Or so she had been told, this was her firsttime here since Quiet Zero.

When Miorine had calledLilique and requested this meeting, she had suggested... now, whathad she called it again? Oh yes, a pot luck. Regular food service hadlargely been restored, but as yet was not necessarily reliable, sothis had become the plan.

Miorine entered through theman door and walked across the expansive main workshop to the longgeneral-purpose table. Lilique and Aliya were already there. They hadset the table and Miorine noted what was presumably the two fooditems they had brought.

Miorine held out the thermosbox she had brought. “It’s filet mignon slices in winesauce. Heated and ready to serve. I hope I’ve brought enough.”

Lilique’s eyes went widefor a fraction, then again when she hefted the box. “Thatsounds lovely!” she said a little nervously, “Casual foodwould have been fine but thank you very much.”

“It’sno imposition.” She thought sliced beef wascasual, but no matter.

Martin was the next to arrive.He was the official leader of the Earthian House, though franklysince they all started working for Miorine’s GUND-ARM companyshe had largely supplanted that role. His face topped by brownbowl-cut hair seemed to perpetually have an awkward expression,giving the impression that he was not quite comfortable in his ownskin. She was quite certain that his leadership position had beenobtained due to family connections. As an administrator, Miorinewould give him a rating of good plain cook.

Nuno and Ojelo arrivedtogether, as expected. Nuno was a short boy whom Miorine had neverseen without his cloth cap and hoodie. He was a first-rate technicianwith extensive hardware and software knowledge, his hacking skillshad been instrumental in the infiltration of Quiet Zero. He tended tobe quiet, but Miorine had learned he was well worth listening to whenhe did speak up. Ojelo was a tall, lanky boy with chocolate colouredskin and shaggy black hair. Miorine had long since dubbed him MisterAngle, he seemed to have the inside track on any means of makingmoney. Or thought he did, he tended to take undue risks. But he was areal out of the box thinker who had often proven to be surprisinglyadaptable.

Till arrived soon after. Hewas a tall, slim androgynous boy with silver hair tied in a knot overhis head. Miorine regarded him as the most capable member of EarthianHouse. He was a good listener and never lost his cool. He was veryquiet and Miorine had gleaned nothing about his background, but hisskills and knowledge were extraordinarily broad.

Arriving fashionably late intrue form was Chuatury, whom everybody called ChuChu. She was a shortgirl with pink frizzy hair that was tied into two impossibly largepom-poms each bigger than her head. It was fair to say that she wasnot a people person. Perpetually angry, she would start an argumentat the drop of a hat. Miorine had heard it said she had a chip on hershoulder, but Miorine had to concede that the two of them often gotangry over the same things. Her piloting skills were phenomenal, shecould operate anything that walked, crawled, rolled or flew with bothease and dash. By those skills Miorine might even owe to her the factthat Suletta did not lose her role as Holder, so she had something ofa soft spot for the difficult girl.

Miorine rose to greet her asshe had at the others’ arrival. “Thanks for coming,ChuChu.”

“No prob.” Sheplopped down into the last remaining seat and set down asemitransparent container of what looked suspiciously like leftovers.“So what’s on the agenda?”

“A number of items, butmaybe we can just eat first.” People with full stomachs tendedto be more accepting, and Miorine would be making pitches and askingfavours today.

Almost immediately Ojelo hadtaken the top off Miorine’s offering. His face lit up as heeyed the contents. “Wow, that smells...” His voicetrailed off. He took another breath. “Like the pearly gatesopening up,” he concluded reverently.

Miorine did more listeningthan talking during the lunch, reading the mood. Everyone was inquite good spirits. Both Suletta’s recent awakening and theirmove back here from the tents had helped with that, to say nothing ofthe gradual easing of emergency conditions. With the closing of theschool they were still in a kind of limbo, unclear about theirfuture. Hopefully Miorine could help with that.

She started the meeting. “Thefirst thing I want to talk about is the future of GUND-ARM. I willcut right to the chase. I am offering all of you permanent executivepositions.” She tapped her phone screen. “I’ve justsent you all letters with compensation package offerings. Jobdescriptions, annual salary and stock options. You should considerthis as entry level, they will be going up as business expands. Iwould caution that they will be going up rather more slowly than youmight usually expect. I plan on emphasizing joint ventures whereprofits are shared evenly, so our own quarterly numbers might belacklustre. I will be emphasizing long term growth and building areputation for fairness, honesty and reliability.”

Only unflappable Till wasgiving her his full attention. The others mostly had their eyes onthe screens of their phones. Miorine got the impression they werecounting up all the zeroes in the numbers just to confirm they wereseeing right.

“The bad news is thatsalaries will be paid in a selection of Earth fiat currencies.However, with the Benerit Group assets distributed across the Earthsphere I think we can see those currencies increase in value in thecoming years. It’s a bit of a jungle down there right now, butI think there are plenty of opportunities for the medical and publichealth services we will be offering.”

She stood up. Her tone changedto a more personal one. “Everyone, I know this is a big ask.You all came to this school with dreams of graduating. Even before itwas shut down, I had disrupted that when I dropped in unannounced andmore or less Shanghaied you into my company. You’ve done somuch for me, and for Suletta, along the way you probably saved ourlives. No matter what you choose to do, I will always be moregrateful than you can imagine. But I would really like for us to...”She had almost said continue to work together. “To always betogether. I can’t imagine doing this without you.”

They all started looking ateach other. Soon, they were all smiling. Till was the first to speak.He set his phone down and pushed it to the side as if signalling theirrelevance of its contents. His indulgent smile suggested he wastrying to tell her that she was being silly without telling her. Withgreat warmth and gentleness he said, “Boss, you didn’teven need to ask.”

Miorine smiled. Her lipquivered. She closed her eyes and bowed down low. “Thank youvery much.”

ChuChu raised her glass offruit juice up. “A toast!”

Making a speech was mandatory,but Miorine kept it brief. She sat down again. “There will beplenty of things to discuss later about what we plan on bringing tothe market first, but in the meantime there is a more immediatematter I need to tell you about. We have not made a publicannouncement yet, so this is something you will need to keep toyourselves for the time being.” She could not keep the happysmile from her face. “Suletta and I will be getting marriednext month. Of course, you are all invited to the wedding. In fact,I would be honoured if you would all consent to be our attendants.”

That got a response ofuniversal shocked silence. She had expected some surprise, since mostpeople probably assumed it would not happen until Suletta was wellalong in her recovery. Miorine continued. “The ceremony isgoing to be something of a challenge for Suletta in her currentstate. I have some ideas that I wanted to bounce off you.”

It finally clicked. Suddenlyall the girls were squealing and practically climbing over the table.They all tried to hug her at once.

In due course, some semblanceof order was restored and people resumed their seats. Everybodylooked elated. “That was quite the mic-drop,” Ojelo said.“You made poor Nuno cry,” he quipped, patting him on theshoulder.

“That’s because Inearly had a heart attack!” Nuno cried. He sniffed and wiped aneyes. “Don’t drop that on us like it’s some mergerannouncement!”

“Forgive me I know thiswas abrupt,” Miorine said. “I’m happier than I cansay that this will be happening soon. But there are also some issuesI need to tell you about.”

She explained the reasons whythe wedding needed to happen soon, and why despite the difficulty itwas important that there be a ceremony. She explained some of theideas she had. In short order they all fell straight into thefamiliar process of brainstorming. It taught Miorine much. There weresome challenges she had not considered, but also some solutions shehad not considered. As the afternoon drew on the talk became morespecific and more technical. Action plans were hammered out andassigned.

The point came where Miorinewas satisfied they had done everything they could for today. “Unlessthere are any other questions or concerns, I think that’s awrap.”

“Just to be clear,”Ojelo said a little nervously. “We’re talking about aone-shot for the wedding here. I mean, Suletta’s going to getbetter, right?”

Someothers in the room were giving him a look that said notthe time.Miorine found herself actually wanting to talk about it. “She’sdefinitely going to need treatment. We’ve been reviewing someoptions, but... frankly I don’t like any of them so far.They’re mostly adaptations of treatments for other conditions.None of them really have a solid track record. All of them haverisks. Most involve pretty aggressive use of prosthetic devices. Noneof them...” None of them would leave her looking pretty. “Noneof them are optimal.”

“That’ssurprising,” Till said. “There have been Data Stormsyndrome cases for decades now.”

“None of them are scionsof the Great Houses.” Miorine was unable to keep the bitternessout of her voice.

“Most Spacian doctorshave probably never seen Data Storm syndrome,” ChuChu saidcontemptuously.

“ChuChu!” Liliquechided. “That’s not true.”

“Itis! Most people with the syndrome are from Earth and most of them aretreated there! There’s even this doctor in South New Worldsector who is so famous they talk about him in my home town on theother side of the planet. Got this big-ass clinic where he treatslike thousandsofcases.”

“I think I know whoyou’re talking about,” Nuno said. “Doctor JordanLesterton.”

ChuChu pointed at him. “Yeah,that’s the guy! Probably treated more cases than all theSpacian doctors put together.”

Nuno nodded. “If youinclude his crowd-sourced and Pro Bono work, maybe so.”

Miorine was intrigued. “Iconfess that I hadn’t been looking into any Earth-based clinicsyet.” She smiled. “Thank you, I am definitely going tocheck into that.”

They said their goodbyes andMiorine exited the building, walking briskly to her next meeting.While she walked she pulled out her phone, found a description of theLesterton clinic and scanned it. It was interesting enough that shedecided to text Anton to see if he was available for a chat.

It was less than a minutelater that his voice call came. “Question for you. Are youfamiliar with a Doctor Jordan Lesterton?”

“Sure, we go way back.Whenever I see him at a conference we usually end up finding a gymand doing way too much sparring. Are you maybe considering hisprogram for Suletta?”

“You’ve read mymind. Could you reach out to him on my behalf?”

“I can do better. I’llgather up her diagnostics, compose a request letter and send it outto him. He’s always good about answering back, I’ll letyou know when he does. I think his program might be a good fit, bityou realize his practice is Earth-side, right?”

“Yes. That wouldn’tbe an issue. Thanks, I’m really grateful.”

They ended the call andMiorine continued walking to her meeting. The greenery of the habitatfelt more refreshing than before, even with the lingering signs ofthe havoc it had suffered. Would that all days were this productive.

#-#-#-#-#

Aliya adjusted the straparound Suletta’s waist. “Is that too tight?”

“No, but I feel likeit’s going against the back of my knee now.”

“Probably need toshorten the leg strut by a couple of notches,” Ojelo suggested.

Miorine watched the adjustmentprocess from a short distance away. They were borrowing a small labroom in a building close to the hospital. Suletta sat in a chair,strapped into a compact, form-fitting prosthetic. It covered herarms, legs and torso like a thick, black bodysuit. Aliya and Liliquewere to either side of Suletta, checking all the straps and makingadjustments under Ojelo’s instructions. Next to them Nuno wasworking a tablet, downloading software to the prosthetic.

“Ouch.”

“Sorry,” Aliyasaid.

“No,no, turn to the rightto shorten,” Ojelo said.

“Do you want to do thisyourself?”

Ojelo put up his handdefensively. “No, I think you’ve got it covered. Threeturns to the right should do it.”

In deference to the feelingsof all involved, Suletta was wearing a two-piece swimsuit in lieu ofthe underwear she would be wearing under the prosthetic during thewedding. Nevertheless, the two boys had been rather nervous the wholetime. Miorine had made it very clear that for the male members of theteam there was a strict look but don’t touch rule with respectto her fiancee. Hence the slightly cumbersome chain of command.

Nuno swiped the tablet.“Pressure and tension numbers all look good. I think we’reready for a standing test. Suletta, you remember what we said?”

“When seated, forwardpressure initiates a stand.”

“Right. Give it a try.”

The forward move of her uppertorso was barely perceptible. But it appeared to do the trick. With asmooth, slow motion, it lifted Suletta off the chair and into astanding position.

“Okay, let’s justhold that.” They waited a few seconds. “Everything looksstable. How does it feel?”

“It’s fine. I canfeel the micro-adjustments you were talking about.”

“Yep, getting goodfeedback. Boss, can we get you here fore a walk test?”

Miorine walked up besideSuletta. They exchanged a smile. A barely visible motion of hershoulder triggered the arm prosthetic to raise her arm. It was aremarkably natural motion, almost as if Suletta were doing itherself. She linked her own arm with Suletta’s. “I’mready.”

“Okay boss, you set thepace. For today we’ll just go to the wall, do a one-eighty andback to the chair for another one-eighty. Full test will be foranother time.”

“Justa second.” Lilique tapped on her phone and held it up. Itstarted playing the opening chords of a wedding march. Miorine metLilique’s eyes and raised an eyebrow. Really?Well, it was a dry rehearsal and it would help set the correct pace.

Miorine walked slowly in timeto the march. As she had been advised, sensors in the arm prostheticdetected her movement and had the legs keep time. In just a fewminutes they had executed the routine, and Suletta was positioned infront of the chair once again. The seating move was a little moreslow and awkward than the standing had been, but it worked.

“How did I look?”Suletta asked.

“Elegant!” Liliqueenthused.

“The posture was good,”Aliya confirmed. Miorine had noticed her walking around them as theywalked. There were multiple cameras recording and of course theprosthetic was pushing diagnostic logs out, but the final judge wouldhave to be a human eye.

“Okay, that’s awrap,” Nuno said. “Next time the adjustments will beautomatic, so it will go a lot quicker.”

Ojelo bent over Suletta andgave her a salute. “Nicely done! Still feels okay?”

“Yes. That was fun!”

“Glad to hear it. You’rebeing a sport but I know that’s not comfortable so we can getthose off you now.”

Theremoval was a lot quicker, the girls mostly just did it themselveswithout any intervention. Miorine smiled. Sometimesthe miraculous takes a bit of work.

Lilique clapped twice and wentinto what Miorine called kindergarten teacher mode. “Okay, it’stime to get the groom changed for her trip back so the male gazeparty is over. Let’s go, chop chop.”

“Wasn’t gazing,”Miorine might have heard somebody mutter.

Once the female-only space hadbeen established, Miorine went over to help the girls get Sulettadressed. She had been considering hiring the nurse, but it went quitesmoothly with just the three of them. The articulated powerwheelchair was designed to help the process, so in short order theysaid their goodbyes and Miorine walked back to the hospital, withSuletta’s wheelchair detecting her phone app and dutifullyrolling beside her. “It was great working with everyone again,”Suletta said brightly.

“Ojelo was right when hesaid you were being a sport. I’m proud of you.”

“It was hardly any workfor me at all. Really, it was fun.”

“I think tomorrow we’llbe trying the glove prosthetic.”

“You mean for theexchange of rings?” Suletta asked.

“Yes. I suspect that oneis going to take a lot of practice.”

“We’ll also haveto practice the kiss.”

Miorine smiled. “I thinkwe get plenty of practice.”

“I mean kissing inpublic. We’ve never done that. Want to try?”

“Try? Where?”

“Here.”

“Here?” Miorinereflexively looked around. They were in front of the hospital now, sothere was a bit of foot traffic, also people resting on the green.“You mean, now?”

“Sure.”

Miorine stopped walking. Shelooked serious. “Okay, if you want.”

“Can you put my chair instand mode?”

“Can’t I just bendover?”

“This is supposed to bepractice for when we’re standing.”

Miorine was getting a bitirritated. “Put it in standing mode yourself. This was youridea and it will be good practice.”

Suletta did not object. Sheconcentrated and the chair started lifting her into a standingposition in response to pressure she had put on the safety harnessacross her upper chest.

When it was done, Sulettalooked down at her. She smiled awkwardly. “I knew I would haveto bend down a bit, but...”

“It’s not a propertest,” Miorine insisted. “Look, the chair is holding yourfeet above the ground.”

“Not by much. If youstand on your toes that will even it out.”

Miorine sighed. “If youinsist.” She tentatively raised her heels up a bit, went backdown then took Suletta by the shoulders. She looked down at her inpuzzlement. “I don’t want to lose my balance,” sheexplained testily. She went up on her toes and they kissed. Miorineresisted the temptation to glance around and check whether anybodyhad been watching. She couldn’t help fidgeting. “It’sa little different standing up. I guess you’re right, we’llneed to practice. Let me get that for you.” She pressed thebutton to put Suletta back into a seated position before she got anyideas about trying that again.

They resumed their return tothe hospital. “Miorine, I just want to ask, are you sensitiveabout your height?”

“I am not sensitiveabout my height.”

“That’s good. Iguess if you had married Guel that would be even harder.”

“That gorilla? I wouldpractically have needed to be in a labour exoskeleton.”

There was just a moment’spause before Suletta spoke again. “When he was the Holder didhe ever-”

“Of course not! I toldyou, ours was my first kiss.” She involuntarily gave Suletta abrief, nervous sidelong glance.

“He didn’t try tokiss me either.”

“I didn’t ask!”

“Will he be coming tothe wedding?”

“Why are we even talkingabout him? Yes, he’ll be coming to the wedding. The heads ofall the Great Houses will be there.” Miorine stopped them somedistance from the hospital entrance. This was a side entrance forpatients and guests, so it was a light traffic area, especially nowwhen a large portion of the Front’s population had evacuated.She sighed. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m nervous. Ireally want this to go well.” She looked down at her fiancee.“Suletta, when the day comes, let’s try to set aside allthis other nonsense and make it about you and me.”

Suletta smiled up at her.“I’ve never thought of it any other way.”

#-#-#-#-#

When the last of theprocession of departing wedding guests was out of earshot, Ojelo wasthe first to voice the palpable sense of relief that seemed to settleover all of them. “I can hardly believe it, we actually pulledthis off.” Till elbowed him. He took the hint. He addressedhimself to the couple. “Congratulations,” he said alittle apologetically.

Theother members of the Earthian House quickly echoed his sentiment.They walked out from the positions they had been keeping to eitherside of the couple and formed up into a semicircle around them. Thelast segment of the ceremony had been in this wide hall with oneentire wall occupied by a vast window looking out onto the slowlyrotating stars. Miorine and Suletta had their backs to that window.The boys were all in their black formal wear, the girls in theirgowns. Miorine had insisted upon them and only them as being theattendants of her wedding. They all looked happy, though Nuno stilllooked a bit awkward as if he really wanted as quickly as possible toget out of this “monkey suit” as he had called it, areference that was lost on Miorine. As to ChuChu... oneof these things doesn’t belong here.She had staunchly refused to change her hair, and its contrast to hergown was truly surreal. She had used too much makeup, and her wipingof tears that she emphatically denied were ever there had done itlittle good.

Suletta, on the other hand,was a vision.

Their matching white gownswere very billowy, multilayered affairs that covered them from theneck down to the floor, a choice more or less necessitated bySuletta’s exoskeleton. They included lacy white gloves thatcovered the exoskeleton finger manipulators over thumb, index andmiddle finger while leaving the ring finger and pinkie exposed. Allthe better for the rings.

After much discussion, theyhad decided to bring in a professional makeup artist and give Sulettaa foundation which concealed the Data Storm remnants. She had done aremarkable job of matching Suletta’s original skin tone. It waslike seeing her exactly as she was before the destruction of QuietZero.

Oneday, she will look like this again for real. We will make it happen.

The ceremony had gone offwithout a hitch. There had been compromises, it had been a shorterand simpler affair than was the norm. In place of sitting for dinner,Miorine had simply fed both herself and her new wife from the samepiece of wedding cake. Many people had declared it to be anabsolutely delightful gesture, and Miorine had certainly found it so.Another trick had been to give Suletta a bouquet of flowers held byher hand prosthetic, obviating the need for her to shake hands withanyone.

They chatted amiably for a fewminutes about nothing in particular. The Earthians asked about someof the guests, and Miorine talked a bit about some of the people sheknew but they did not. Guel had been there, and so now they had a bitof fun psycho-analyzing his reaction to seeing his former fianceegetting married to somebody else. Miorine was not the only one whonoticed that he was escorting Felsi, the young pilot who had probablysaved Guel and his brother from killing each other during the QuietZero battle.

Shortly, Lilique suggestedthey let the couple have some time on their own here, while they werestill in their gowns. Before he filed out with the rest, Nunoapproached and gave them an uncharacteristically gentle smile. “Justgive the word,” he said softly. “and I’ll bring outthe chair.”

“Thank you, Nuno,”Miorine said. She understood the subtext. It had been a long day.Suletta would be getting increasingly tired and uncomfortable, theyshould not linger long.

When they were alone, Miorinefaced her wife. She did not care if it sounded corny. “You looklike a Princess.”

“You look like anangel.”

“I always look like aghost when I’m in white.”

Suletta’s eyes droppedshyly down to the bouquet in her hands. “I wish I could look atmy ring.”

“You can look at it allyour life.” She held up her own. “It looks like this.”

Suletta’s lip quivered alittle. “It was hard, but I didn’t cry once.”

Miorine just nodded. Shecentred herself, bringing to the front of her mind the things sheneeded to say. “Suletta, I’d like to tell you something.You should regard this as an extension of my wedding vows. I’vegiven you many reasons to doubt me and to be disappointed in me. Iknow you forgive me, and I have forgiven myself. But I still do nottrust myself. I am still the same person who hurt you so many times.I had hoped that this day would come later when maybe I have mademyself worthy of you. For now, I consider myself to be on probation.I was just starting to learn how to be your friend, and now I need tolearn how to be your wife. I barely know what that is supposed tomean. Right now, it means that I will dedicate my body and soul tohelping you and protecting you. And what love I am capable of givingis yours. Beyond that, as time goes on I’m sure we will talkmany times, setting the terms of our relationship and our marriage.I’m sorry, it all must sound very cold and clinical, but Ithink it was important for me to tell you this.”

Suletta smiled and shook herhead. “It doesn’t sound cold at all. It makes me feelvery warm.”

Soon, regretfully, Miorinesignalled for Nuno to come bring the happiest day in her life to aclose.

#-#-#-#-#

“Miorine, why do youhave your suitcase with you?”

Miorine co*cked her head,standing just inside the door of Suletta’s room. “Why?I’m moving in of course.”

Suletta looked very confused.“You mean, into the hospital?”

“I mean into the room.”She wheeled her suitcase across the room to the closet. “I justbrought the necessities, the rest is being delivered. It’s notmuch, so there’s plenty of room.” She opened the closetdoor, laid down the case and cracked it open. “Lights out is ateleven, right?”

“Yes.” Sulettaanswered, still sounding rather confused.

“Good, then there’splenty of time to get unpacked and ready for bed.”

There was another pause beforeSuletta spoke again, rather tentatively. “I was wondering whyyou were here so late. I thought maybe you couldn’t make ittoday.”

“I’m sorry aboutthat, it was sort of busy today.”

“Is it really okay foryou to live here here?”

“Yes, it’ll befine, they allow family members. It’s’ en suite with ashower. I can even use the laundry service, it’s all beenarranged.”

There was just a slight pauseagain. “Where are you going to sleep?”

Miorine turned around andpointed to the bed. “Well right there of course. I’vealready been lying down in it, its perfectly fine and plenty bigenough.”

“You didn’t sayanything about this.”

Miorine put her hands on herhips, lowered her head and sighed theatrically. She looked back atSuletta and raised up her hand, her ring visible on her outstretchedfinger. “You do recall we got married last week, right? It’sperfectly natural that we would be living together.”

“I thought... maybeafter I’m out of the hospital.”

“Well, it’s stillnot clear when that will happen, so in the meantime we’ll justneed to make do.” She walked over to the door. “After youare released I’m likely to be your primary caregiver, so weneed to get used to living in the same space.” She closed andlocked the door, setting the privacy light.

“Miorine, why did youclose the door?” Suletta asked anxiously.

“Because I’ll bechanging into my nightwear now.”

“You mean, here?”Miorine looked over to where Suletta lay in the bed. Her expressioncould only be described as one of panic.

Miorine finally lost it. Shedoubled over, laughing uncontrollably. “Oh my God,” shewheezed. “The look on your face.” She just couldn’tstop.

“Stop laughing already!I was really surprised, you know!”

Miorine finally got herselfunder control. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’msorry. I was going to call ahead, but when things got busy and Iforgot... I just couldn’t resist. Were you really so shocked?”

Suletta’s indignantexpression was slowly fading into one of just mild puzzlement. “So,you’re really moving in?”

“Yes. I was seriousabout us getting used to living together. But... I also want to. Ithought it would be a nice surprise, but I got carried away. So I’llask you properly now. Is it okay if I move in with you here?”

“Yes. I was actuallykind of happy when you said that. It’s just... it felt like youhad gone back to the way you treated me when we first met.”

“Ah, the return of EvilMiorine. She’s still in there you know. This probably won’tbe her last appearance.” Without looking and practicallywithout thinking she had been going back to the familiar habit ofstroking Suletta’s hand. “If I start reverting again,you’ll have to reel me back in.”

“I’m not sure ifyou’re joking.”

“Sort of halfway Isuppose. It would be all too easy for bad habits to return. But aslong as you’re with me, I think I’ll be fine.”

That got the smile she hadbeen hoping to see. “I guess that was pretty funny. I am gladthat you’re really moving in.”

“Me too.” Miorinestood up. “I’m going to change now.” She smiledplayfully. “You looked so shocked the last time I told youthat, so if you’re feeling embarrassed you don’t have tolook. I won’t be offended either way.”

Miorine made the windowopaque, changed and climbed onto the bed. She crawled over and gotinto her familiar position kneeling down facing Suletta. “I’msorry I missed dinner. Did you have any trouble finishing?”Miorine fed her when she was here, otherwise a hospital aide helpedher.

“No, no trouble. Allsolid food is fine for me now.”

“Good. You’recomfortable?” It was code for whether she thought they mightneed to call a nurse for help with anything before she went to sleep.

“Yes. They gave me anice hot bath today.”

Miorine spoke gently. “Aboutthat. I really did decide to move in because I thought it would befun for both of us. But there’s something else. After you’redischarged, it’s likely that for a while I am going to be yourprimary caregiver. I am going to be helping you wash and dressyourself, helping you with pretty much everything. I want to help getus in a place where we are both comfortable with that. So have I goneand messed it all up?”

Suletta smiled and shook herhead. “No. I think you did it right.”

“I’m glad.”Her smile broadened. “Suletta, I have some news for you. It’sprobably the reason I feel so good and I’m acting so strangelytoday. It’s something I haven’t talked with you aboutuntil now because I didn’t want to get your hopes up until Iwas really sure about it. Today I had a video conference with adoctor on Earth who I think can help you.”

That really seemed to take herby surprise. “On Earth?”

“Yes. He has a largeclinic in the South New World sector that has treated thousands ofData Storm syndrome cases. He has developed a special program forthem. It’s a relatively low-tech approach, but it has a proventrack record. He’s reviewed your case and is quite certain theycan help you make a full recovery. Only, it won’t be easy. It’sheavy on physical therapies, electric stimulation and exercise. Hoursof it every day, a lot of it very hard and very uncomfortable. Andit’s no shortcut. He said that full recovery could take a longtime.” There was just the barest of hesitation before she wasable to utter the unvarnished truth. “Up to three or fouryears.”

Suletta’s eyes wentwide. “Years? But some of the other options we’ve beentalking about could take just weeks!”

Miorine took in a deep breath,and continued in a voice that was calm but was being restrained bysheer will. “That’s true, but none of those options wouldleave you the way you were before. They all involve permanentprosthetic devices of one sort or another, and none of them wouldgive you the same mobility you used to have.”

Suletta contemplated that insilence for a moment. “I’m not sure I can wait that long.I want to walk by your side, Miorine. I want to stop being a burdento you.”

Miorine had increasing troublekeeping the desperation out of her voice. “I want to walk byyour side too, Suletta, I want it more than anything I’ve everwanted in my life. But I’m greedy, I want it all. I want thestrong Suletta who I could barely keep up with. I don’t want tosee you hobbling with all sorts of machines keeping you up.”

Suletta regarded her closely.“It sounds like you’ve already decided this is the rightchoice.” It was not an accusation, just a statement of fact.

“No, I...” Therewas no point. “Yes, you’re right. I am not trying to makethis decision for you but I am trying with all my might to get you tomake the choice that I want so desperately. Since the day I trickedyou into being my groom I still haven’t stopped manipulatingyou. This whole thing of moving in all of a sudden... I do it evenwhen I don’t know I’m doing it. I’m doing it rightnow, even while I’m pretending to confess my sins to you. Ialready scheduled a video conference with you and them for tomorrowand I didn’t even tell you because I was so afraid-”

“Miorine, it’sokay.”

Suletta’s voice had beenfirm but infinitely gentle. She waited for Miorine to be calm enoughto speak again. “Have I messed up again?”

“Miorine, take my hand.”She did. “Pretend I’m squeezing yours. Are youpretending?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve realizedsomething too. Something I’ve been doing. I trust youcompletely, but I’ve been using that as an excuse to let you doeverything. You tried to make this decision for me because I didn’twant to make it myself.”

Suletta graced her with a warmsmile. “Tomorrow, let’s talk with this doctor from Earth.I’ll listen very carefully. I’ll ask everything I want toask. Then I’ll think very hard about what I want to do. Andthen we can talk about it. I promise I won’t make you do it allyourself any more. Let’s do it together.”

Miorine found that she had nowords. They just gazed into each others’ eyes for a while. Atlength, Miorine asked “Can I stop pretending?” Thatseemed to puzzle her. “That you’re squeezing my hand. Iwant a kiss, but I have to let go first.”

“You can stoppretending.” She did, and they did. When Miorine knelt backdown again, Suletta continued. “I really am going to think hardabout this. But... I know in my heart what I want to do. If thisreally is what you told me, then that is what I want. I want to go toEarth with you.”

Miorine nodded. “There’sa waiting list, but he said we can probably expedite it and getstarted as early as next month.” She sighed. “There I goagain. Old habits die hard.”

Suletta giggled. “Youalways like to take charge. I’m used to that.”

“You’re right. Butwhen I heard about this, it was the first time I felt real hope inwhat seemed like an eternity. I really do think this is the bestthing, but... it also just feels right. It just feels like the thingwe need to do.”

“You did make me promiseto go to Earth with you. It would make me really happy if we could doit so soon. Can you tell me more about it?”

Miorine decided this was notthe time to pull out the voluminous materials she had been given anddo any sort of deep dive. She just showed Suletta some pictures ofthe clinic, and showed her where it was on the map. Soon, she decidedit was time to approach a different matter. “Suletta, now thatwe’re married, and now that we are well on the way to takingthis other new step, I feel like I’ve reached a threshold. Oncewe have a really good idea what we will be doing, I think I’llbe ready to go have a talk with your mother.”

They had discussed this, soSuletta understood the implied question. Almost immediately shesmiled. It appeared she had already made her own decision. “Whenyou do, just tell mother and Eri that I love them both very, verymuch.”

Miorine regarded her closely.“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I haveforgiven her. But I am sure she has not forgiven herself yet. I thinkbeing with Eri will help her.”

“If we do go to Earth,it might be a while before you can see her again.”

“I know. I think it willtake her a long time. I can wait.”

Before long, it was lightsout. At least so far, it appeared that neither of them snored.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine stepped out of thechange-room that she had been directed to. “Thank you forwaiting.”

Kenanji raised an eyebrow. “Isee you are determined for this to be strictly business.”

She gave him a pleasant smile.“That’s very perceptive. You are correct.” She hadchanged from her slacks into her formal business attire. The triphere had required passage on a shuttle, and she had never reallymastered the art of wearing skirts in micro-gravity. She had muchrespect for the flight-attendants who had.

They proceeded to the entranceof the military prison, where they navigated the elaborate screeningprocess, including the confiscation of her phone. Not surprising,since they were here to visit the most high-profile terroristprisoner in Dominicus history. Miorine was one of the few people whocould successfully petition for a visit, and she suspected thatKenanji had to pull in some favours to make it happen.

Before the meeting, they weredirected to a tiny meeting room for a briefing. With the wardenhimself as it turned out, a very stern-faced Dominicus officer whogave an impression of perpetual annoyance with people who came askingfavours.

He cut to the chase. “Prosperais still being investigated for a terrorist act, and multipletechnology prohibition violations. The strict policy in these casesis that the prisoner receive no information from the outside worldthat could compromise our ability to obtain information from them.She has been subject to a complete news blackout. There are alsoaspects of her incarceration she is not at liberty to discuss. Ifeither you or the prisoner violates these terms, the interview willbe terminated immediately. If you do intend to inform her of anythingthat has happened since her arrest, I need to approve those first.”

“Just two items.”

“Those being?”

“First, that herdaughter and I are now married. Second, that we will soon be movingto Earth so that she can begin her treatments for Data Stormsyndrome. Would that be acceptable?”

“So this is a familyvisit?” He seemed rather more annoyed at not having been toldthis previously.

“Technically, yes.”

“I can see noobjection.”

After hearing a ratherexcruciatingly long-winded checklist of things not to do, she partedcompany with Kenanji and was directed to a small room with a chairfacing a table in front of a window. She was locked in the room withan armed guard. After a few minutes, a door on the other side of thewindow opened.

Prospera was in a wheelchairwhich apparently was not under power, since it was pushed into theroom by another guard. She was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit.Her face was a rather colder variation on Suletta’s, under darkhair that had now been cut short. The beginnings of Data Stormsyndrome were now clearly visible on the left side of her face. Shelocked onto Miorine’s eyes as soon as she was in sight, grimand expressionless.

There were a number of waysMiorine could have addressed her, by her assumed name or her realone. But she had made that decision a while ago. A light came on,indicating that the intercom was active.

“Hello, Mother.”Miorine’s hands were folded on the shelf, her wedding ringclearly visible. Prospera’s glance down at it was just longenough for Miorine to pick up on it.

“Congratulations. Whendid this happen?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“It seems you were in ahurry. Suletta must still be very dependent upon you, hardly in aposition to object.”

It was exactly the sort ofquick thrust Miorine had expected. “I told her I want tosupport and protect her for as long as we live, in whatever capacityshe will accept me. She has blessed me by consenting to be my wife.As for the timing, that was due to circ*mstances unrelated to thefamily.”

“So, you were serious.”

Miorine knew what she wasreferring to. “Yes, I was serious when I said that you and Ineed to be a family for both of your daughters. But for that tohappen, you and I need to come to an understanding.”

“About what, exactly?”

“About how we will tryto atone for the atrocious way we both treated the ones we are nowdaring to call our family.”

“Atone to them? Theywould forgive us anything.”

“Notatone to them. Atone to each other forthem. You already know the first thing they are allowing me to tellyou,” Miorine said, raising her hand with the wedding ring.“This is the last thing. I will be taking Suletta to Earthwhere she is going to be treated for the Data Storm curse. It will belong and difficult, and I will give her all the support she needs.Further, I will do everything I can to build a place for her whereshe can be happy and safe and free. When she can stand by my side inthat place, then I will ask you whether you are satisfied with what Ihave done for her.”

Prospera did not react to thisin any way. “And me?”

Itwas a perfect prompt for Miorine to segue straight to the next thingshe wanted to say. “Throughsome miracle Suletta has brought your other daughter back to you. Iwant to see what you do with that miracle. You are just as muzzled bythis place as I am, so if you try and tell me what has been happeningwith Eri they will probably kick me out of here.”

Miorineleaned forward. “ButI am moreinterestedin what you willdo. I have little idea what she could become in the state she hasbeen brought back. But work with that, raise her to be somebody whowe can bring back to Suletta as a sister. You raised one daughter whois a miracle, whatever else you have done to her you also must havegiven her something that you can also give to Eri. If I am happy withhow you have cared for Eri and you are happy with how I have caredfor Suletta then maybe you and I can make our peace and become thefamily they deserve.”

Sheleaned back again and looked intently into Prospera’s eyes.“So,am I wasting my time here or are you up for this?”

It was the first time Prosperahad not responded immediately. After a moment, she slowly leanedforward, rested her elbows on the table in front of her and regardedMiorine over the steeple of her fingers.

“Itappears that we bothhave a lot of work to do.”

Itwas like being presented the superposition of the same answer givenby two people. They were both accepting the challenge, but in utterlydifferent ways. The first was the mother who wanted to prove that shewas worthy of her daughters and wanted to do right by them. She spokeclearly. Youand I must do this thing together.

Thesecond was a predator sizing up its competition, judging how it couldbe manipulated, lured, tricked, beaten. She was equally clear. Donot presume to challenge me, you are in way over your head.

It was a mirror into whichMiorine found that she could now look without flinching.

“Our work will be totransform ourselves. We are a pair of selfish, arrogant sociopathswho think we are always right. We respond to everything with angerand resentment just because we were dealt a hand we thought wasunfair. We are full of pain and hate, and so far all we’ve doneis learn to use the hate. Maybe now we can be driven by love instead.I’m going to try. What are you going to do?”

Prospera put her hands down onthe table, closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “Such abeautiful dream. But look at where we are. How can we ever all betogether?”

“There are options,appeals we can make. Compassionate medical release, commuting tohouse arrest. If you can step up then maybe I can make it happen.”Miorine leaned forward. She tried as hard as she could to take allthe anger and pack it away, tried to be driven only by the one thingthat mattered.

“Please, Mother. Let usboth try to be worthy of Suletta’s love.”

There was a wavering, aflickering, a hint at the possibility of a superposition collapse.But the predator still remained as a possible outcome.

By clear mutual understanding,that applied on both sides of the glass.

“There are two things Iam allowed to tell you about Eri. She is happy here. And she is happyfor the two of you.” She smiled. “And so am I.”

“I will pass that on.Suletta sends her love.” Miorine smiled with equal parts warmthand irony. “Naturally.”

END OF PART ONE

Chapter 2: Homeland

Chapter Text

Small Steps

AMobile Suite Gundam: The Witch from Mercury story

PART TWO

Homeland

Ninety-four,Ninety-five, Ninety-six... Ninety-SIX... Damn.

Miorine’s body droppedhard down onto the mat, and she just lay there for a moment,breathing hard. Her arm quivered from the effort of the one-handedpush-ups. At length, she got up, picked up the towel and patted offsome of the sweat. The small workout room in their new townhouse hadalready been equipped when they had arrived, and exactly according toher specifications. She drained the rest of her workout enzymecomplex from the bottle and trotted up the stairs. It was a bit earlyyet, but better that than being in a hurry.

Their new bed was enormous,Miorine would almost feel lost in it. Suletta was still asleep.Miorine had put her on her left side tonight, with the body cushionsarranged for her comfort. Miorine used an earbud alarm and slepttowards the edge of the bed so that she could get up early withoutdisturbing her wife. She shook Suletta’s shoulder gently. Whenshe began to stir, Miorine bent down and kissed the side of her head.

She smiled and opened hereyes. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. Ready fora shower?”

“Yes. It looks like youare too.”

Miorine got her into thechair. Both it and the bed had both shape-changing and roboticfeatures to make the process easier. But Miorine liked to rely onthem as little as possible and rely on her own strength as much aspossible. It made the process quicker and smoother. And, frankly,they both liked it better this way.

“How many today?”Suletta asked as Miorine wheeled her to the bath.

“Ninety-six.”

“You’re gettingclose.”

Miorine had stepped up herstrength training regimen soon after they had finalized the schedulefor going to Earth and starting her rehab. The stronger she was, theeasier it was for her to help with Suletta’s daily routine.Suletta was only marginally larger than her, but it was still achallenge.

“You don’t lookany different,” Suletta commented as Miorine rinsed her down.“Are you going to bulk up?”

“Of course not! I’mnot taking steroids or anything. You won’t notice anydifference, but my performance is improving. I want to tone up tomake sure I can do everything you need. You’re largern than Iam, after all.”

“Not by much!”

“Now who’ssensitive about their height?”

Miorine got them both dressedand prepared their breakfast. She was using the prepackaged mealsthat were delivered daily. She had been adding some produce to theorders with a mind to doing some cooking down the line. The localtomatoes had proven to be a disappointment.

Soon the driver arrived andbrought the big black car into the garage. The clam-shell doorsprovided easy entry for Suletta’s chair.

The garage door opened again.Even through the closed windows, the perpetual background noise ofthe vast city washed over them.

Rio was the largest city inthe South New World sector, a vast metropolis that sprawled out fromthe coastline in a jumble of streets and buildings that seemed to goon forever. A mind-numbing number of people and vehicles were forevermoving about. Suletta had found it beguiling, Miorine just found itoverwhelming. The area was in what was termed a semi-tropical zoneand it was local summer, so it was hot outside. In their few dayshere they had as yet spent only brief intervals out of doors, toMiorine’s Front centred perspective it was hard not to perceiveit as an environmental control malfunction.

But another part of her hadbeen just as elated as her wife. She had finally come to her mother’sbirthplace.

The trip to the clinic tookabout half an hour. The term ‘clinic’ hardly did justiceto the scale of the place, it was more of a complex. The receptionhall was large and busy, but they very efficiently got forwarded totheir destination. The hallways were busy and no two of them werequite the same, giving the impression that the various sections hadaccumulated over time, with no particular over-arching plan to guideits relentless expansion.

Their guide waited with themin a small meeting room, a bubble of quiet in this sea of noise. Atexactly the appointed time, the door opened and a man wearing thesame ubiquitous blue scrubs as all the other staff strode in. Hesmiled warmly. “Good morning! I’m Doctor Lesterton.”

Miorine stood up from herseat. “I’m Miorine Rembran, Suletta’s wife.”They shook hands.

“It’s good tofinally meet the both of you in person.” He walked over toSuletta, bent down and gently took one of her hands into both of hisown. “Suletta, welcome to our clinic. Are you excited to getstarted today?”

She shyly returned his smile.“Yes, Doctor. I am.”

“You can just call meJordan, we don’t stand on ceremony here.”

Even more so than theimpression Miorine got from video conferences, Jordan was a bundle ofenergy. He was a trim, well-muscled bald bullet-headed man with apenetrating stare and a perpetual little smile that gave theimpression of a man endlessly fascinated with everything before him.His haste was not that of the distracted, his attention seemed alwayslaser-focused, as it would be upon something else as soon as he left.

Jordantook a seat facing them. Hespoke rapidly but pleasantly. “I won’t take up too muchof your time, Suletta. You’ll be doing the meet-and-greet withyour care team right away. Don’t be overwhelmed by the numberof people, you won’t be seeing all of them every day.”His smile broadened. “We were able to start so quickly becauseyour team pretty much put itself together. Assoon asword went around that the hero of Quiet Zero would be showing uppeoplewere practically begging to be on your team.I won’t really be going over anything new here, we’vealready reviewed all these points in our video calls.I just like to try and set expectations on what’s going to behappening.”

Hecontinued in a little more matter-of-fact tone. “Over the nextfew days we’ll be putting in the micro-implants we were talkingabout. When they’re not in use you won’t notice them,won’t be able to see or feel them. Over time they will justdissolve on their own. We use those so that we can do musclestimulation without anything penetrating the skin. There is going tobe a lotof that, especially at the start. Hours every day. It is going tofeel strange at first. We’re going to make your body move invarious ways, almost like you’re a puppet.”

Heleaned forward and looked more intently at Suletta. “Then we’regoing to ask you to do the same thing by yourself. And for a longtime you will notbe able to do it at all. A lot of people find this very frustrating.But if you keep it up, then one day you willbe able to do it. It won’t be much, maybe just a twitch. Thenwe get you on the path to more movement. Sometimes with help,sometimes in the water to make it easier, you’ll be goingthrough a dozen variations of assisted movement.”

He leaned back, but his gazewas still focused on Suletta. “Later on when you have somemovement, we’ll be trying out some meds. Most of them will endup doing nothing, or even making you feel sick. By a long processwe’re going to put together the bespoke co*cktail that will bestfacilitate your recovery.”

His tone became even morestern. “Some of this is going to hurt. Both to maintain yourmuscle tone and facilitate reestablishing talking with the nerves, weare going to be doing blood restriction training in combination withthe electrical stimulation.” He smiled. “I do bloodrestriction training as part of my daily regimen, and I can tell youit is my least favourite part of the day. But the pain has a purpose.It is going to help reestablish your own control so that you will beable to do those things yourself. And that is probably going to hurteven more. This isn’t a sprint, it’s not even a marathon.It’s more like all of us picking up and deciding to take a longhike north up the entire length of the New World continents and backagain, all through the most rugged terrain we can find.”

Hecontinued in a more gentle tone. “So that’s what we’llbe doing here.Today, after you meet your whole team some of them are just going tobe showing you around the facilities. Tomorrow you’ll getstarted in earnest. You and I won’t have another checkpoint forsix months,because that’s how long we expect it to take before you seevisible progress. Do you have any questions?”

Suletta shook her head. “No,I can’t think of anything.” Her expression was neutral.Miorine saw hints of both excitement and trepidation.

“I have one,”Miorine said. “I’m trying to get a handle on the theorybehind your methods. I’ve been reading some papers, and-”

“Ignore them.” Hedid not lose his friendly tone at all, in fact he looked ratheramused. “You’ll read all sorts of things aboutmicro-tubules, Permet networks, quantum entanglement, you name it. Weare so far from understanding the basic physics behind this syndrome,that’s all just a rabbit-hole and a fools’ errand.”

He now addressed himselfmostly to Suletta. “My take on what happened to you is that theparts of your body got scattered across a vast sea full of noise.From our hopelessly limited perspective your body is right here likeit always was. But at some other level all these parts that used totalk to each other are now wandering through this vast landscape ofstrangers, trying to find their siblings. We are trying to help themfind each other. And they will, one by one. Some of them will gather,and will start talking again. Then more. Eventually they will allcome together and form the polity that was your body. At one levelyou’ve already started. You can feel things with your body,right?”

“Yes. But everythingfeels sort of distant and fuzzy.”

“That’s thedistance I’m talking about.” With his finger he made acircular motion around his own face. “The parts here talk witheach other just fine. And it’s not just physical distance, ithas to do with connectivity. Your central nervous system is mostlyfine, it is your peripheral nervous system that seems to have lostit* way.” He shrugged fractionally. “We really don’tunderstand why. The rest of your body can send weak signals back toyou, and you feel that. But for you to actually move your body, we’vegot to shrink that distance a lot more. That’s what we’regoing to be doing for you here each day.”

The rest of the day wassomething of a whirlwind. There were a dozen members of the team, andthey all treated Suletta like she was long lost family. Some of theteam then escorted the two of them through the perpetual organizedchaos of the place, showing off the facilities she would be usinglike they were bragging about a prime vacation spot.

When they were done and ontheir way back home, Miorine allowed herself to believe that they hadmade the right choice in coming here.

#-#-#-#-#

From the windowed enclosureset high on the inside wall of the warehouse, Miorine and Tillwatched the little tableau unfolding down on the shop floor. ChuChuwas angrily gesturing around the site and shouting up at the muchtaller shop foreman, who seemed a bit bewildered. Martin was off justa bit to the side. Every now and then he would interject, it seemedmore often than not just to try and cool down the temperature of theexchange. At length, ChuChu ran over, hopped into the co*ckpit of aheavy labour exoskeleton, and used it to lift up one of thecomponents of the new factory that was being assembled here. Shedeftly lowered the component, a big servo of some sort, into abracket on the huge conveyor belt they were standing next to, anddrove it home with one deft thrust. She then stood up in the co*ckpitand shouted something else down to the people on the ground, pointingat what she had just done. Martin moved over to the foreman andpointed out something on a tablet he had in his hand.

“They make a good team,”Till commented.

“Surprisingly so. Hekeeps her from getting out of control and she keeps him focused onthe real problems and solutions. I think you’re right, sendingthem out to problem sites will help.”

“Using constructionexoskeletons at scale is as much an art as a science. ChuChu has areal knack for it.”

Miorine glanced at numbers onher tablet. “It beggars belief how few labours are incirculation down here, and how overpriced they are. It’s likethe Fronts had them under an embargo.”

“Well, now they’rebegging to ship them down here.”

“They’re juststrapped for cash. That won’t last long. That’s why weneed to build places like this. Using labours to build labours is howthe Fronts bootstrapped their development capacity. Now it’sour turn.”

“It’ll be a whilebefore we can use that capacity for the ventures in our pipeline.”

“One step at a time.Okay, so ChuChu is going to be our bulldog.” She brought up amap on her tablet and pointed. “We’ll send her here next.They’re getting behind, probably for much the same reasons.”

“And Martin?”

“Put him in her hippocket. Orders are to keep her out of trouble, take notes, reportback and await instructions on where we want our bulldog redirectedor redeployed.”

“Got it.” Tilltyped a note on his tablet.

Miorine went and pouredherself a coffee. By silent agreement they took the opportunity tosit down and relax for a moment.

Shortly, Till turned to herand asked “Anything we need to talk about before we meet thepartners?”

She already knew that look. Hewas asking if there was anything she wanted to get off her chest.

As she spoke, Miorine gazedout over the floor of the warehouse that was being graduallytransformed into a factory. “This project could have beenstarted years ago, the financing was there. At school when I readbetween the lines in our lessons I could not help but feeling we werejust putting up barriers under the guise of maintaining stability.But since I’ve come here, it has already become clear I did notknow the half of it.”

Shelooked over to Till and gave a wry smile. “I mean just lookat us, Till. We’re a bunch of kids making it up as we go along.We all have our talents but there’s no magic here. We took someexisting components and put them together in a new way. We matched upsome financial instruments to the people who are going to do thework. Almost all of it was there, we just put together the pieces.”She pointed up. “It wasn’t happening because the peopleup there didn’t want it to happen.”

“They didn’t wantit to happen it a way that was outside their control.”

Miorine nodded. “Andthey’re going to do everything they can to get that controlback, it’s already happening. We probably have a window here,maybe a few years. That’s why I’m focusing so hard onmaking an independent manufacturing infrastructure with our partners.We can still stay focused on some key medical applications likebirthing incubators. But a lot of the medical projects we really wantto do will have to wait. I don’t like it, but we need to treatthis as a long game.”

Till smiled. “It seemsgetting married has given you a longer perspective.”

Miorinereturned his smile. She resisted the urge to gaze at her weddingring. “Shehas changed my perspective, in so many ways.”

“How is her rehabgoing?”

“It’s early days,they warned us not to expect progress any time soon. Her care team iswonderful. A lot of it is difficult, but they really try to make itfun. Some of the work is done in open areas with other patients. Iwas frankly a bit taken aback, it seemed like there was no privacy.But she’s ended up talking with other patients. They actuallyencourage that.” She smiled. “It’s almost anesprit-de-corps, like they’re an army attacking a commonenemy.”

“Do they have auniform?” he quipped.

“Almost. There’s abadge on the staff and patient scrubs with their motto. I took apicture.” Miorine brought it up on her phone and held it up.

Till leaned over to look. Hesmiled. “’Sick is not weak.’ I like it. I wanted toask before but I thought it might not be my place, was she reallyokay with this trip you’re making?”

The question reminded Miorineof the background of anxiety she had been trying to ignore. “It’sour first time apart since we were married. It’s only a fewdays and Lilique is with her, so I’m...” She sighed. “I’malready missing her.” She checked her phone, which was set upto also show current time in the clinic’s time zone. “She’llstill be at the clinic, I won’t be able to call until after themeeting.”

“I’m sure you’lltry to keep the meeting brief, like you always do.”

“Face time with thepartners is important, so the trip was necessary. But I’ll beglad to get back.”

“Any plans to celebrateyour return when you get home?”

“I’m not sure.”Miorine was rather perturbed that she did not have a ready answer.But she quickly decided upon one, and smiled happily. “I thinkI’ll make us a special dinner.”

#-#-#-#-#

“I’m a littleconfused,” Miorine said as she pushed Suletta’swheelchair down the corridor. “Why am I taking you to thedaycare?”

Suletta leaned her head rightback so that she could meet Miorine’s eyes. It was the way theytalked when Miorine was doing this. She adored seeing her like this,it was the reason she guided the powered chair manually from behind.

“It’s where I havelunch now. With some of the patients who I’ve been sharingtherapy spaces with. We’re Team Stray Cat.”

Miorine had an idea what shewas talking about, both from materials and briefings from the clinicand from what Suletta had been saying. Through a process that washalf directed and half organic the patients gravitated into supportgroups. Because there were patients from all over the world, inaddition to age brackets or shared interests the groups oftenreflected a common region of origin. With Suletta being their firstpatient from Mercury, Miorine had to wonder exactly how she had beenassigned to a group.

“That doesn’texplain why the daycare.”

“Everybody in my team isyounger than me.”

“I thought you said mostof the ones you’ve been talking with are former pilots.”

“They are. They were allrecruited by mercenary groups.”

Miorine frowned. “Youmean they were child soldiers?”

“Yes. They were alleither kidnapped or sent by their families to make money.”

Sulettawas saying this in a very casual way, but to Miorine’s ears itsounded appalling. She was beginning to understand how Suletta hadbeen placed with them. The way that her mother had turned her into aninstrument of death... No,don’t go there. Don’t show your anger to her.

There was a cacophony of noiseemerging from a wide, open doorway on the right side of the corridorahead of them. It sounded like countless young voices all merged intoan in incoherent white noise. “Is... this the right place?”

“Yes, the door on theright just ahead.”

They emerged onto a riotousscene of utter bedlam.

The enormous room was dividedup into areas with tables in between playgrounds. There were childrenrunning, children shouting, children playing, children eating,children just sitting together talking. All ages, many with crutchesor walkers or wheelchairs or various prosthetic devices. The thinscattering of what looked like adult supervision appeared entirelyinadequate to have any hope of bringing any sort of order to thisrealm of chaos.

Miorine blinked. “Sorry,what was that?”

“I said my team is overto the left. They’re the ones waving.”

She spotted them, a grouparound a long table. As Miorine wheeled Suletta over and got closer,she quickly took inventory. She counted eleven. As Suletta had said,they all looked to be at least a couple of years younger than her,some of them looked impossibly young. A couple of others inwheelchairs, and some with crutches propped against the table.

Most showed signs of the DataStorm on their faces or arms, though none as severe as Suletta’sfull-body marks.

A boy who might have been theeldest save for Suletta trotted up as they approached. “Hi, I’mDon,” he said, addressing himself to Miorine. “I’llshow you where to sit down.”

“Thank you.” Thelanky boy with a round face fairly buried in wavy shoulder-lengthbrown hair had a manner that was eager, but was putting on some airsof officialdom. Miorine knew it well from her own school years, asign of children who had been given special leave or authority by thegrownups.

He led her to a space in themiddle of the table where there was a space for Suletta’s chairand an empty chair. Just before they got there one of the older,mobile girls got up, ran over and eagerly asked “Suletta, can Ihelp you with lunch today?”

“Did you win the right?”

“Yes!”

“Good for you.”

Miorinehad some idea what they were talking about. Suletta had said all thegirls who were able liked to help her eat lunch, so they competed forthe right with games. It seemed the contest had happened before theyarrived, so apparently Miorine was not eligible to compete. Don’tthink like that, it’s petty. They’re the kids, not you.

Suletta introduced her wife.They all greeted her with a chorus of “Pleased to meet you,Ma’am.” Their manner was friendly and eager but polite...no, not quite that, something just a little different. It exuded adiscipline that came from within. Despite their age, it had theuncanny feel of soldiers saluting an officer.

The girl was already seated onthe other side of Suletta, presumably the place of honour. While shestarted getting Suletta’s box lunch ready, she was the first tointroduce herself by name and age. They then went around the table,doing likewise one at a time. Miorine tried to remember names, butmany were names she had never heard before so it would be difficult.

The youngest, a small girlnamed Sammi with a bright smile seated in a wheelchair, was eleven.It beggared belief.

Don inquired about Miorine’slunch plans, she indicated she had her own box lunch and retrieved itfrom the slot on Suletta’s chair. This seemed to be a cue forthe others to go back to their own lunch and conversation. Miorinedid not get the feeling of disinterest but rather respectfuldistance. It seemed Don had been given responsibility for her today,perhaps another position of honour.

“My wife has been veryhappy being part of your team,” Miorine told him. “I’mso grateful for all the help you have been giving her.”

He smiled, a little moreanimated and casual now, as if the formalities could now be dispensedwith. “Suletta’s really cool. She tells us about themobile suits she’s piloted. It’s like super advancedstuff, she was controlling a crazy number of GUND-BITS. Sorry, Idon’t know if you’re interested in mobile suits.”

“I really don’tknow much, I’m not a pilot.” She smiled. “I did trypiloting Ariel once, but the result was embarrassing.”

“She told us about that!You stole it and she got real pissed and head-butted you!”

“Yes, but in fairnessshe was just getting back at me for doing the same.”

“Her kill count isunreal. She never lost a fight except when her suit was sabotaged,and she’s an ace three times over.”

Miorine was puzzled. “Ace?”

“Five kills. Um,defeats, for duels, but those were all live-fire so that’slegit. I never did arena fights so mine were all kills.”

“You’re an ace?”Miorine finished asking before it occurred to her just howinappropriate it might be to ask that question.

He did not react to it at all.“Yeah, two kills in out outfit and then four in another.”It was said in a matter-of-fact way, but with a certain amount ofpride. “I rode a modded Demi Trainer.”

“I know them, a friendof ours rode one when she helped Suletta in a multi-player duel.”

“You mean ChuChu, right?She sounds pretty cool. Suletta told us about that multi-player duelshe was in. That was some crazy sniping she did on Shaddiq, waybeyond spec.”

“We’re lookinginto using a civilian variant of the Demi for heavy construction.”It was odd how easily she was falling into shop talk with this boy,but she was quickly easing into the reality that she was speakingwith a highly skilled war-veteran. She smiled. “It would benice if you could use your talents for yourself. When you get bettermaybe you can work with us.”

There was a moment’shesitation. His expression was hard to read. It was like he waswrestling with how to explain something the listener might finddifficult. “That’s not likely. I escaped way too late sonow I’ve got the advanced chronic form.” He brieflypushed back some of his hair. That made it more obvious how extensivethe progression was. “There was nothing they could do. I’llprobably be in palliative care by next year.”

Miorine felt heartbroken. Shedid her best to think clearly, about how she could possibly make upfor her thoughtless blunder. There was really just one thing to say.She shifted in her chair to face him more directly, placing her handson her knees. “Don, I apologize.”

“Thanks. But we don’tdo that here. It is what it is.”

Miorine was infinitelygrateful for his understanding. “You’re very brave.”

“That’s not quiteright.” He suddenly turned his head towards the table andbanged his hand on it just hard enough to get everybody’sattention. In a loud, clear voice he called out “Everyone! Whatare we?”

In perfect unison the rest ofthe team, including Suletta, all shouted in unison. “Stray CatStrong!”

There was silence. Everybodywas looking at Miorine now. Don smiled proudly. “That’sall you need to know about us.”

Miorine took in a long breath.“Yes, I believe you are right,” she said in a loud voicethat could be heard by all. She let her gaze pass along the peopleassembled along the table. “But I would very much like to learnmore.”

They all talked. Much of itwas truly awful things related plainly and honestly. Before theyknew it, staff members arrived to take patients to their nextappointments. There was no time for a proper game so eligible girlsplayed rock-paper-scissors to decide who got to do Suletta’slunch tomorrow. Everybody laughed when the same girl won. It had allbeen very spontaneous, but Miorine could almost believe it was forher benefit, to reassure her that the kids were alright.

#-#-#-#-#

“I’m going torinse you now.” Miorine poured the water from the pail downSuletta’s back.

“It would probably beeasier for you to use the hand shower,” Suletta suggested.

“I find a pail of watermore satisfying, I’m sure you do too.”

The process of getting herinto the bath was now done with relative ease. The bath and the washstations were equipped with servos and robot arms that could almostdo the process by themselves with minimal intervention. But Miorinepreferred to do it with a combination of the mechanisms and her ownpower. It sped things up and... it just felt right.

“I think you’regetting stronger,” Suletta commented.

Miorine eased onto the otherseat recessed into the tub. The arrangement left them facing eachother, close enough that Miorine could take her hand under the water.“I’ve pretty much plateaued. But yes, things are easiernow. I noticed some twitching, how do you feel?”

“I’ll be fineafter the bath.”

Miorine decided to leave it atthat. Suletta never complained, but she could tell that some dayswere rough. In the first days Miorine had been there for some of hertherapy sessions to get an idea of what her wife could expect. Atfirst the electric stimulation exercises had looked alarming, withparts of her body moving like they were possessed. Watching Suletta’sface at the time, Miorine could see how hard she was trying toendure.

Miorine was happy she couldgive Suletta this little haven of peace. At first this had beenawkward, with Miorine constantly explaining to Suletta where she wasgoing to wash her and where she was going to touch to lift her up.But this space had now become very comfortable for both of them.

“Is something wrong?”

Clearly Miorine had failed tohide it. “I feel like I embarrassed you in front of... ourfriends.”

“You didn’t. Theyunderstand you didn’t know. It’s okay.”

“I hope so. None of themseemed to mind talking about themselves. I was really astonished athow everybody opened up to me.”

“The doctors tell usit’s important to talk, and even more important to listen. Ithink they all appreciated how you listened.”

“I just hope..”She sighed. Miorine’s looked into her wife’s eyes.“Suletta, was it obvious just how horrified I was? Some of thethings they told me were just appalling. Especially the youngest one,little Sammi. I almost wanted to tell her to stop because I wasafraid she would get upset, but she was just so calm about it.”

“I could tell you were alittle upset. But I think everyone could tell that you were reallylistening.”

The rest of the lunch had beena litany of vignettes the children had related, moments of horror andpathos told calmly and plainly. They were still running through herhead. “The exoskeleton exercise went for twenty hours... Thepunishment was ten lashes... I peed myself the first time I got toPermet Level Three... It came straight through the co*ckpit and tookmy arm off... I don’t know what they did to her but her eyeswere just dead after that... I was the only one who came back...”

“But why children?”

It had been intended as arhetorical question, but Suletta answered. “The younger youare, the quicker you can go up the Permet levels. That’s whatthey say.”

“How many child soldiersare there?”

“It’s pretty muchjust the ones in our team. Most of the patients here are adults.Actually a lot of the kids in the daycare are children of staff andpatients.”

“I mean, how many childsoldiers are out there?”

“From what I’veheard, nobody really knows.” Suletta continued in a little moreof a sad voice. “Most of them would never get here.”

In other words most of themwould not survive. She wanted to ask more, but felt this was not theright place. She wanted to change the subject. Miorine smiled.“You’re obviously very popular there.”

“They like asking meabout my training on Mercury and my mobile suit battles. Some of themwould still like to be pilots when they grow up, if they can.”

“Hopefully not in war.”

“I really hope not.”Suletta looked wistful for a moment. When she smiled it looked likeshe was now the one who wanted to change the subject. “You’repopular with them too. They were really looking forward to meetingyou, not just because you’re my wife. They all know who youare, from the news.”

That was not surprising.Miorine had been keeping a low profile, but the events leading up tothe destruction of Quiet Zero had made her into a celebrity. “Iguess there are fewer Earthians than Spacians who want my head.”

“They don’t careabout any of that. The boys just think you’re hot.”

“Hot?”

“Good-looking. Like-”

“Okay, I get it,”Miorine said quickly.

“You shouldn’t besurprised.”

“I’m aware of howI look,” Miorine replied testily. “It’s fine, I’msure it’s all very innocent, it doesn’t bother me.”

“The girls think sotoo.”

“I said I get it!”

“I hope you don’tmind, I really enjoyed showing off my pretty bride.”

“I’m sorry, was Iunder-dressed?”

Miorine laughed. “No,you look great in anything!” Her expression relaxed. “Theyreally did like you. Will you come to lunch again?”

“As often as I can. Justone condition.”

“Condition?”

“I get to compete forthe place of honour by your side. It’s only fair.”

#-#-#-#-#

“You were right,Miorine. These are to die for!”

Kenanji sat next to her on thepark bench, biting into the baked meat bun wrapped in paper in hishand. It was from the truck vendor nearby, Miorine’s favourite.She always found just one very satisfying. Kenanji was on his third.

The rows of townhouses in thegated community enclosed a square that was mostly a pleasant greenspace. Some vendors subsidized by the community association wereallowed to operate here. She had chosen this place for its emphasison security and privacy. People were polite but for the most partdistant. There were likely pols and celebs living here who wanted aplace where they could avoid the public eye.

“Good to see you lookingrelaxed,” Kenanji commented.

“It’s been a goodweek.” She couldn’t keep from smiling broadly. “Sulettamoved her legs for the first time. She still can, a little. We wereboth overjoyed.”

“That’swonderful,” he said warmly. “A really good sign. Now youknow it’s all just a matter of time, right?”

“Yes.”

They just quietly enjoyed thewarm day for a bit. Kenanji was in a loud shirt hanging over shorts,nobody would suspect he was a senior Dominicus officer. Miorine wasin a sun dress and wide-brimmed hat. She was being mindful of how forthe first time in her life she was experiencing direct sunlightfiltered by nothing but some high-altitude ozone.

“I was able to get ameeting with Prospera before I left,” Kenanji said withoutpreamble.

It seemed now they weregetting to the private portion of their talk. Kenanji had a number ofreasons for being in Rio, a couple of them Miorine knew about and shewas certain there were others she would never find out about. Thiswas one of his meetings that officially never happened.

“How is her health?”

“No worse. It’scertain she’ll never use her legs again. She’s decidedagainst prosthetic legs.”

That probably made sense. Herprognosis was that she only had a few years left, ones where shewould show accelerating deterioration. Any mobility gains would beshort-lived.

“And Eri?”

“Ididn’t meet her, just heard about what’s been happening.The prison has put together an education program for her. Prospera isdoing it all herself. They say that Eri’s progress has beenastonishing. Whatever state she’s in now...” Miorinecould tell that was a politic way of saying Whatevershe really is now...“She seems to have something close to total recall.”

He paused, and continued in amore sombre tone. “I’ve managed to convince them not touse access to Eri as leverage.”

She looked directly at him andnodded. “I’m very grateful for that.”

“It would be anamateur’s move, anyone with half a brain knows that. Anyway,not long after your visit she really started opening up. Still notsure where all that is going, but at least people have more factsthey can argue about. To the point, she’s fully confessed thatshe was responsible for the false-flag operation at Quinharbor.”

“Do you have an ideawhen that might be going public?”

“Probably not long. Evenif she has a secret trial, there are a lot of parties who would likethat whole business cleared up.” He turned and gave her a wry,sad smile. “Yours is not the only reputation that is waiting tobe rehabilitated.”

“The fact remains I letmyself fall under her spell. Knowing I was not the only one does notfeel like any sort of excuse.”

“You’re not underher spell any more. Neither is Suletta.”

Miorine was silent for amoment. “I really hope I made the right decision, leaving Eriin her hands.”

“For what it’sworth, the woman I met did not feel like the one who was hidingbehind that mask. It looks like you helped set a fire under her. I’dbe lying if I said I trust her yet, but I’ve seen worse peopleturn themselves around.”

Miorine nodded. “I’vebeen keeping a low profile like you suggested. No public statementsor appearances. All private meetings through vetted channels.”

“You should keep it thatway. The business class and the commercial space is verytransactional and therefore very forgiving. The political class isless so. Most regional governments are on board with your agenda andsupport your company’s way of doing things. But a lot of theEarth independence movements still resent Quinharbor and they haveplenty of sway. So the authorities will work with you as long as youare quiet about it.” He continued in a lighter tone. “Theywon’t deport you, but it’s too early to expect them tobreak bread with you in public.”

“That is understandable.I’ll proceed accordingly.”

“Thanks for the lunch.Let me get us some drinks.” He got up and walked over to thevendor trucks.

Miorine took a moment to enjoythe gentle breeze and also the feeling of relief she felt. Dominicushad been telling them almost nothing about what was happening withSuletta’s mother and sister, and Miorine could tell that shewas becoming anxious. Miorine looked forward to being able to bringher some comforting news from a reliable source.

Miorine once againcontemplated the consequences of the truth about what happened atQuinharbor coming out. She would be vindicated, but only to a degree.Prospera’s false-flag operation had cut short the peace talksMiorine had arranged and turned the crisis into a bloodbath. It wouldnow be understood that she had allowed herself to be duped by thewoman who was now her mother-in-law. Even if Prospera was everallowed to join them, it was a shadow that would always hang overtheir family.

Kenanji came back and handedher one of the iced coffees he held. “Thank you.” He satback down beside her and they both sipped their coffees. After amoment, Miorine spoke again. “Is there anything else on yourmind?” she asked casually. He would know what she was referringto, but she wanted to give him the option of not commenting.

“I reviewed what youheard from Suletta’s fellow patients, and the other materialsyou sent me.” He regarded her intently. “You’veclearly been spending a lot of time looking into this. We’veknown about these child pilots for some time, so I was alreadyfamiliar with a lot of what you sent.”

“I had never reallyheard about this before,” Miorine said. “It appears to bethe best-kept secret of the mercenary units. There is almost noinformation anywhere. What I sent you was from a different angle. Iwas wondering how they could be getting co*ckpits that are humanPermet interface capable. It’s speculative but some of what wefound suggests components are coming from Fronts inside the sphere ofthe former Benerit group.”

“They are. It’snot just the child soldiers, use of human Permet interfaces in themercenary groups is ubiquitous.”

“Doesn’t thatviolate import restrictions?” Miorine asked.

He shook his head. “Thereare no specific violations of banned technologies. As far as we cansee, components sent from the Fronts are being modified and almostcertainly combined with some locally manufactured components.”Heheld out a hand palm-up in place of a shrug. “That all happensEarth-side, so it’s hidden from us.”

“But the regionalgovernments track imports.” She looked at him and frowne. “Theymust have figured out what is happening.”

“Theregional governments are hiringthese groups. As long as they feel they’re being well served,they look the other way.”

Miorine was silent for amoment. “Suletta is the oldest one in her support group butthey are all war-veterans. The youngest girl is barely more than halfher age.” She looked sternly at Kenanji. “If we can’teven keep children out of our war-machines then what’s thepoint?”

He looked intently back ather. “I can understand why this has touched a nerve for you,”he said gently. “I know it sounds cold, but this is just asmall part of a much bigger problem.”

“I realize that. But Ican’t help thinking, what if this is just one small thing wecan all agree on? Something we can work together to stamp out? IfSpacians and Earthians could do this one small thing together, itmight suggest what else we could do.”

Kenanji was silent for awhile. He was quite still, looking very thoughtful.

At length he looked at heragain. “It’s too soon for you. Right now, any sort ofpublic action by you would almost certainly be counter-productive.I’m sorry, I just don’t see us going anywhere with this.Not yet.”

“I don’t careabout the publicity. But doing anything will need a combined effortfrom Earth and the Fronts. If I have to bring people together inprivate, if they want to take all the credit themselves, I don’tcare. It could just be one place. There are mercenary groups basedhere, in the greater Rio city-state. We could start somewhere.”

Kenanji looked... not exactlyangry. More like he was weary of something he had seen too often. “Iknow the look you’re giving me. It usually comes from thepeople who are convinced they can jump into a co*ckpit and go seteverything right.”

“I can’t seteverything right. But can’t we try to fix one thing that nobodyelse seems to care about?”

“You really want to dothis?”

“Yes.”

Kenanji sighed heavily. Heleaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his fingersinterlaced. After a moment, without looking at her, he spoke softly.“Sending you kids into Quiet Zero was the hardest commanddecision I’ve ever had to make in my life. I knew it could verywell be a suicide mission, especially for one of you. You allpractically begged me to go, but that just made it so much worse. Youcould not have had any idea what you would be walking into. I hardlyknew myself. All I could tell myself is that it was for the best ofreasons and there was no other option.”

“This is different. It’shappening for the worst of reasons, and we know there are options.”

Kenanji nodded. He looked ather. “There might be another avenue. I’m sure you’reaware of the grey-market economy.”

“I’m veryfamiliar, our supply chains intersect it all the time. It’spart of doing business on Earth, everybody knows that.”

“What is less knownamong the business class is that much of those markets are under thecontrol of protection societies.”

“You mean organizedcrime?”

Kenanji exhaled in a way thatwas not quite a sigh. Then he took on more of the tone of an officerlecturing his subordinate. “That is far too simplistic a way tothink of them. In most places their origin has less to do withgangsters and more to do with old blood-and-soil politicalorganizations. Are you familiar with the term?”

“Vaguely, it comes up indescriptions of factions of civil wars.”

Kenanji held out his finger.“The key thing to understand about them is that they have avery strong sense of local identity. It’s not that they hateoutsiders, but they very much regard them as at best guests to betreated with courtesy.”

He quickly glanced aroundbefore continuing, as if to ensure they were still speaking inprivate. “The dominant group here in Rio is called SouthernCross. It’s an odd hybrid group, a lot of its traditions evencome from the Old World across the greater ocean.”

“You seem to know a lotabout them,” Miorine said, eager to hear more.

“Dominicus has contactswithin a lot of the groups, including Southern Cross. Mostly we shareintelligence when we think it’s of mutual benefit.”

His tone became lessofficious, as if he were now speaking from personal experience. “Ican tell you they have no love for mercenary groups. And they tend tohave very strong feelings about the proper way of doing things. Youwere not wrong to call them organized crime. But they are generallytolerated by the local government because they adhere to certaincodes of conduct.”

“Conduct of what,exactly?”

“Their businesses. Theyare often illegal, but within bounds. Importantly, those boundsinvolve children. They will not employ them. They will not sell drugsto them. They will not... well, involve them in their entertainmentindustries.”

Miorine smiled. “You cansay sex industry, I’m not afraid of the word.”

Kenanji cleared his throatawkwardly. “Just so.”

“So do you think wecould solicit their aid?”

He spoke more softly, like hewas taking care not to be overheard. “This is where we wouldneed to tread carefully. They are fiercely territorial, so directinvolvement by Dominicus is out of the question. But there might beinformation we can provide them that could point them in the rightdirection. If it comes through a civilian liaison, they might be moreinclined to cooperate.” He continued in a more stern voice.“You need to understand, what we would be doing here isessentially aiding one side in a turf war. We are choosing a lessworse option to fight a much worse option. They will only be amenableif they think their own interests and people and honour are atstake.”

Miorine regarded him closely.“Kenanji, I am sensing that we both want to do this.”

Kenanjisuddenly leaned back and laughed out loud. “Here I thought Iwas trying so hard to do a badsellingjob.”

“I regret to say youhave failed.”

He smiled warmly, but his eyeswere serious. “If we are going to try this, you must promise meone thing.”

“Tell me.”

“TheSouthern Cross follows strict codes of conduct but make no mistakethey are killerswhen they feel it is warranted. Any of them you meet have likely asnot killed in cold blood. If you ask them a favour, and the answer isno, you must promise me that you will take no for an answer withoutargument or complaint.”

“That is not exactly mystrong suit. But I promise that even if I have to bite my lip untilit bleeds I will do as you said.”

#-#-#-#-#

The fence around the largeproperty was imposing, two and a half meters of dark wood topped bygreat bamboo slices that had been cut diagonally and laid down toessentially form three fanned out rows of spikes. Even the vehiclegate in front of her was topped the same way. Miorine pressed thebuzzer and waited.

Almost immediately, the gatessilently pulled back. A large man in a dark business suit wasstanding to the left with hands folded in front of him, in exactly aposition where the gate came to a rest just inches from his shoulder.He gestured. “This way, Ma’am.”

Kenanji’s extensivebriefing on behaviour and protocol was front and centre in Miorine’smind. She simply nodded and started walking. The walk to the frontdoor of the house was much shorter than she had imagined, whichsimply meant that the house proper was much larger than she hadimagined.

Again, the walk to his officewas shorter than she had expected, giving the impression this was butan entry port potentially providing entry to those deemed worthy. Theshort man with black hair behind the desk gave then a wary,appraising look that left no doubt who would be doing the judginghere. They stopped far enough from him that it was not clear whetherhe had yet acknowledged her with a direct look.

Her guide folded his hands infront of him again. “Don Vincent, Miriam Rembran has beenadmitted as per your instruction,” he said in a soft voice thatseemed would barely reach him at all.

Miorine immediately bowed lowwith her right hand extended, palm-up. “Don Vincent, I am aguest in your land and I am honoured to have received your summons.Though it is unspeakable rudeness I have come begging favour. Ihumbly beseech that you give me leave to present my petition.”

After just a second, DonVincent replied in a clear, pleasant voice. “I greatlyappreciate your courtesy, Miss Miorine. Please, come have a seat.”

“Thank you, DonVincent.” Miorine straightened up, walked to the big leatherseat that was positioned in front of his desk and sat down. Seencloser up, the lines on his face suggested an advanced age thatbelied the air of vigour and vitality he exuded. He fixed her with aneutral look that simply suggested she had clearly come here for apurpose and they were both busy people so she had best get on withit.

Miorine dove in withoutpreamble. “I would like to tell you about a young girl namedSammi. Over the past months my wife has become good friends withSammi while they both were receiving treatment for Data Stormsyndrome at the Lesterton Clinic. Sammi was born eleven years ago ina farming village a hundred kilometres south-east of here. She was abright girl who helped around the family farm as early as she wasable. By the age of nine, incredibly, she was operating harvestersand labours, and maintaining them, and repairing them. It was whatshe wanted to do all her life.

“This was when she waskidnapped by the Blackhawke Brigade mercenary group that was basedsome distance away. They locked her into a training camp and forcedher into combat training for mobile suits. These were no ordinarymobile suits, they had co*ckpits that forced Permet into her body toincrease her combat performance. After just a few weeks of this theyput her into combat. She survived three tours before she was able toescape.

“Sammi is now in thefinal stages of chronic Data Storm syndrome. She cannot walk, and sheneeds help feeding herself. She is expected to live one or two yearsat best.

“My wife is friends withseveral other children with similar stories. They are the ones whogot away. Most of them don’t. We have no idea how many. Everyyear, scores of children go missing in the greater Rio city-state.Many of them are children who were among the best and brightest, themost promising, the most special. Those are very likely the ones whohave been pulled into a living hell like Sammi was.

“Don Vincent, I am herebecause I think that together we might be able to do something aboutthis. I have with me information gathered by Dominicus which suggestshow the Blackhawke group is obtaining the technology it needs andwhere it is being taken. Dominicus cannot intervene within Rio ontheir own. But with this information, and with further assistancefrom my own staff at GUND-ARM, we might be able to provide you with ameans of ending or at least reining in this tragedy and this scourgeon the people and land of Rio.

“Don Vincent, thiscompletes my petition. I stand ready to accept any response or anyquery.”

Don Vincent had listenedimpassively the entire time, not moving at all. He remained that wayfor just a couple of seconds. Then he stood up. He was not as tall asMiorine had supposed. His face suddenly became much more animated.“Miorine, most everyone had been telling me you would be cominghere with some business proposal that promises a bright future fullof rainbows and unicorns, just like they all do. But some people, theones I really listen to, cautioned that I should expect theunexpected.” He smiled, an act that transformed him. “Imust say, you have not disappointed.” He walked over to a tableto the right, where some bottles and glasses rested. “Let usshare a drink, and we can have a nice long talk.”

“My wife and I are yetstriplings, Don Vincent. With the greatest of apologies, I do notwish for her to learn that I have been acting above my station.”

Thelook he gave her showed hints of both respect and amused tolerancethat suggested he understood her true meaning. IfI had to tell my wife that I had been out drinking she would be verycross with me.“Then perhaps we can withdraw to the tea-room, the garden isvery pleasing this time of day.”

#-#-#-#-#

“That’s got to beit,” ChuChu said, pointing to the remains of a mobile suitfurther into the cluttered vehicle yard. “A Demi Trainer MarkFour with Blackhawke markings and brackets for reactive armourplates, just like they said.”

“Okay, let’s gohave a look.” Miorine followed behind ChuChu, with Till andNuno bringing up the rear. They were all dressed in work coverallsand boots, and the yard’s prescribed hardhats.

The impossibly big manattached to Miorine’s right hip also had a hardhat that seemedto barely fit, though his black business suit was clearly tailored.He had become her constant companion whenever she was participatingin the new joint investigation between Dominicus and Southern Cross.They had been introduced the very day she had gone to petition DonVincent.

He had a pleasant and amusedlook on his face, like he was taking the kids out for a walk in thepark. But his eyes were never still, never in one place for long.

As they approached it becameapparent how the mobile suit had been disabled. The left leg wasalmost entirely gone. Even to Miorine’s untrained eye it hadobviously been hit by a HE round. It showed many signs of glancinghits it had suffered over time, and places where grey metal showedthrough scores on the camo paint, but was otherwise intact.

“Need the lift?”Nuno called. Unlike the others he was not walking, he drove a smallcart with a scissor lift platform in the back.

“No, I’m good.”ChuChu hopped up onto the remaining leg that was bent in front of thetorso, giving her access to the co*ckpit hatch. “It’s gotpower.” She worked the hatch and it soon opened.

Miorine went to step closerbut her bodyguard made a gesture that stopped her. “Best letthem check it out first, ma’am,” he said in his perpetualgentle but firm minding-the-kids tone. He smiled down at her justlong enough to satisfy himself that she was going to comply, thenresumed his casual surveillance of their surroundings.

She had learned not to arguewith him over matters of her security. After Till and Nuno went pastthem to go assist ChuChu, he interrupted his habitual scanning of thehorizon to say “Just going to go have a look behind and comeright back.”

“Fine.”

Hewent by the name Marsh. She had no idea if that was his real name, ifthere was any story behind it he did not offer and she had not asked.From the moment they had been introduced she had noted an invariantpattern. To anybody she vetted he was polite to a fault. To anybodyelse he was civil but watchful.To her... it was puzzling but she finally decided what it felt like.He treated her like a doting butawkwarduncle would treat his favourite niece.

Yesterday he had called herand cheerfully told her that he had good news. They had been puttingfeelers out for anyone knowing of Blackhawke mobile suits of certaintypes that had been brought to motor yards pending repair or sale.They had found a hit in a yard an easy day trip from Rio. From thatpoint his tone had been appropriate for one planning a picnic.

When Till announced they hadfound what they were looking for, Marsh insisted on bringing theplatform over for Miorine. Watching him drive the little cart wasalmost comical. She mounted the platform and it rose up to the levelof the co*ckpit.

“It definitely has thehuman Permet interface,” Nuno said. “As to whether theco*ckpit was used as a simulator, well...”

“It definitely was!”ChuChu insisted. Her enormous pink pompoms of hair were pushed downby the hardhat, making them look like some bizarre girly backpack.“Look, see the scoring here and here? That’s where you’dmount it to the enclosure. And those power couplings used to go rightto an external source.” She pointed again. “See? Theadapters for the mobile power are new. This co*ckpit was run as asimulator at some point. They probably retrofitted it here when thesimulator was upgraded to a new model.”

“Anything about thePermet interface?” Miorine asked.

Nuno’sexpression was uncharacteristically grim. “I thought maybe somepieces were missing but... this thing has nofiltersat all. The way they’ve configured it, that’s not even anoption, this is working as designed. Anyone bringing this even toPermet level one is getting a toxicity level... I don’t know,maybe five, maybe more.”

“That would pretty muchguarantee that any pilot would develop irreversible Data Stormsyndrome very quickly,” Till said. “Why would they dothat?”

“It would make the wholesystem a lot simpler and cheaper,” Nuno said in a way thatsuggested even uttering the words was obscene. “The filters areone of the most complex and expensive components. And when you don’thave to take them into account everything else becomes simpler. Youcan use pretty much all off-the-shelf components, and there areplenty of grey-market suppliers that could give you whatever else youneed. This is Permet interface on the cheap, pure and simple.”

Miorine nodded. “Thatdoes suggest this torso was used both as a simulator and then acombat unit piloted by the child recruits, though we can’t besure.”

“Sure enough,”ChuChu said. She plopped down into the crash couch. “Look, endsof the couch were cut away and resewn to make room for this cheapinterface they’ve cobbled together. I barely fit in here.”

The grim reality of what theyhad found settled on them. “Could kids really fight in one ofthese?” Till asked incredulously.

“They’reshock-troops.” They all looked at Marsh, who when standing onthe driver’s seat was not far below them. “Good enough tobe effective but cheap enough to be expendable. More or less themobile suit equivalent of kids with assault rifles.” His tonewas just a little more serious, but there was still much of thedoting uncle who was telling the kids something they were old enoughto know now.

“Okay, it looks likewe’ve really found one,” Miorine said. “Let’sstart gathering serial numbers. I’ll help.”

For practically all componentsthis was just a matter of reading micro quick response codes. Nobodybothered trying to file serial numbers since they were alwaysembedded in ways that were almost impossible to remove, anything fromdeeply embedded radio tags to molecules baked right into thematerials. The manufacturers were not doing this out of the goodnessof their hearts, it was mostly to track use of their technologyagainst licensing agreement violations.

When they were done, Nunoexamined the results on a map brought up on his phone screen. “Aton of hits on where these were delivered, we’re going to needto cross reference to the Southern Cross info on the grey-marketdeliveries.”

“Marsh, I’ve sentit to you,” Miorine said.

“Yes,ma’am.”Marsh pulled out his own phone and worked a screen that seemedimpossibly small for his great mitt. “Got it... Just a secondhere, I’m not quite as fast as you kids are with thesethings... Okay, there we go. Narrows it down to one place, but it isnotthe Blackhawke base. A warehouse in a pretty isolated town near thenorthernborder.”

“A separate trainingfacility for the child pilots?” Miorine asked.

“Looks that way, ma’am.And that would make sense. To them this is dirty laundry. Theyactually do regular tours of their base. Potential customers,potential recruits, local pols they got deals with. They like to keepthings squeaky clean there.”

“So what’s ournext step?” Till asked.

“We launch a raid,”Marsh said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Miorinehad already been expecting the answer, but the others lookedsurprised. “Let me just look something up here... oh, we’rein luck. The contractor Blackhawke used to renovate the warehouse isaffiliated with the Family. I’m sure we can get a completelayout.”

That took a couple of phonecalls. Before long they were looking at detailed schematics for thefacility.

“That’s some highlevel security tech they’ve built into it,” Nuno said.“Sensors everywhere, all of it linked in to robot sentries andunmanned gun emplacements. Just as many of them pointed in as out.”

“Both a fortress and aprison,” Till said grimly.

“It’s sort of goodnews,” Marsh said with a remarkable amount of cheer. “Ifthey’re relying so heavily on the tech, it means minimalsecurity personnel.”

“Are you kidding?”ChuChu said indignantly. “Look at the specs on those guns,they’re no joke. Are you raiding with mobile suits?”

Marsh smiled, seemingly not atall put off by her sass. “The Family uses strictly small-arms,that’s pretty much the rule. We’ve had to do raids likethis in the past when other families tried setting up operations onour turf. We usually get somebody to hack the tech, as you kids say.”

“This is military gradestuff,” Nuno said. “Pretty old, but unless you’vegot somebody on the inside, there’s not much we can do.”

Marsh did not look at allperturbed. “One way or another, we can always find somebody onthe inside or somebody who can get us there. Let me make some calls.”

#-#-#-#-#

The neighbourhood that Marshdrove them through had clearly seen better days. Many buildings wereboarded up, in serious disrepair or otherwise showed signs of havingbeen abandoned. There was little movement, just a few people walkingand the occasional vehicle. They were in Marsh’s own modestsedan rather than the black limousine he would normally drive her in.All the better to fit in, he had explained.

He parked the car. “I’mshowing us a block from the address,” Miorine commented afterglancing at her phone map.

“It’s morecourteous to arrive on foot, ma’am.”

Miorine chose to interpretthat as meaning it was less threatening. Presumably this was anotherpart of the protocol when meeting a member of the hacker underground.

After he powered down the car,Marsh gave her his familiar gentle but firm look. “Now, it’sbest not to be pushy here. If this Tunnel Rat doesn’t want todeal, we have other options. We’re not desperate, so don’tlook that way.”

She smiled. “You are notthe first person who has told me I need to learn to take no for ananswer. Your point is taken.”

“One thing I forgot totell you. It looks like your credentials were as important as theDon’s in getting this meeting.”

“Mine? There are anynumber of reasons I am infamous, anything in particular?”

“They acknowledge you asa fellow hacker, for what you did at Quiet Zero. They even gave you ahandle.” He told her.

Miorine frowned. “Well,I suppose it could have been worse.”

They both got out of the car.The heat and the midday sun struck her hard. It was the first timeshe had seen him in anything other than his dark suit, though hismore casual white open-necked suit was no less perfectly tailored. Asfor her...

Yesterday he had taken her ona shopping trip. He had impressed upon her the importance of making agood first impression. The boutique he escorted her to had actuallybeen reserved for their exclusive use. The young proprietress withher dyed hair and piercings had then teamed up with Marsh to selectsomething for her, energized and enthused by his entreaty to puttogether something for her that was... bad-ass or some such thing.

WhatMiorine wore was the result of a long process of negotiation andgrudging compromise. The top left her midriff and shoulders bare, theshorts were alarmingly short and the blackknee-high bootshad more laces than she could count. Everything fit like paint. Thestriking makeup would come off later easily enough, but her ownbeautician would have quite the job unravelling all the little braidswhich were the results of an apparent side-gig of the clothier Marshhad taken her to. Trying to look on the bright side, she had toconcede that this radically minimalist ensemble made the heatsomewhat bearable.

Walking along a set of oldapartment blocks stacked together, they came across one of the manyshort stairways that led up to the front entrances. This stairway wasoccupied by four young men in casual dress, lounging and talking. Thefour stopped talking and eyed the two of them as they approached.

Miorine got the distinctimpression that nobody would be entering without their permission.

Marsh stood at a respectfuldistance from them and Miorine came up close beside him, as they hadpreviously discussed. He struck up a conversation in a language shedid not understand. Pretty much everybody who was not in an utterlyisolated place was perfectly fluent in the Lingua that was ubiquitousin the Fronts and among the business elites and the commercial spaceon Earth. But as often as not there was also a local language thatmost everybody in the region knew. The common second tongue in Riowas supposedly one that traced an origin all the way to thenorth-west peninsula of the Old World.

The conversation sounded civilenough, but there was a plain sense of the two parties sizing eachother up, with hints of distrust. Their sizing up of her was of arather different sort. It was overt and appreciative, but... somehownot disrespectful. It appeared her clothier had chosen well. Theattention did not bother her as much as she would have expected.

Apparently whatevernegotiation or challenge had been required ended favourably. Marshascended the stairs, opened the door and did his usual sort of quick,discreet assessment of what lay inside. He immediately indicated forher to precede him. She could see why. The door let immediately ontoa very narrow set of stairs going up to the next level, ending atanother door. There was simply no room to stand side by side, had hepreceded her she would have literally been hidden behind him. Withoutfurther ado she ascended the stairs. It was hot and musty, the airwas stale and oppressive.

“Knock three times,”Marsh reminded her quietly when they were halfway up the stairs.

“Understood.” Whenthey reached the heavy door, she did as instructed.

The door soon opened in. Ablast of conditioned air came out which cooled her sweaty skin. Thedark-skinned man who stood there was almost as big as Marsh. Therewas also a sense in which he reminded her of Marsh. He seemed to havea zone of awareness about him like an internal radar. His expressionwas calm but alert, his eyes seeming to look everywhere at once. Hisstance had that vague hint of a combatant facing an an opponent.

His assessment of them wasmuch more purposeful, like his only concern was to confirm that theywere who he had been expecting.

Without moving, he turned hishead to the side. “Yo boss-man. Tomato Angel be here for youhey. Got Family muscle in her pocket like. We be good here?”

Miorine understood himperfectly, but took note of the dialect. Marsh had already explainedthe significance. In dealing with outsiders, people would often usevariations of the Lingua that incorporated various sorts of loanwordsor syntax variations from the local tongues. It was used to setboundaries. The degree to which they moved towards standard Linguawas often an indicator for how those barriers were coming down.

“We’re good here,”a distant, sort of reedy voice called out.

The man stepped aside andaddressed himself to Miorine with a sort of rough politeness. “Yougo on in now.” He gestured to an open doorway on the other sideof the small room. He spared the merest of glances for Marsh. “Wehere make sure you not be disturbed like.”

That seemed to decide thatMarsh would be waiting here, not unexpectedly. Following Marsh’sbriefing, she said nothing, just proceeded across the room. The newroom she entered was somewhat larger... or it would have been were itnot cluttered from floor to ceiling along all four walls withelectronic equipment and more screens than she could easily count,displaying all manner of things. She took particular notice of thethings Marsh had told her to look for. First, there was clearly noother exit. Second, there was just one other person in the room.Tunnel Rat, presumably. He was a thin, pale-skinned man with shorthair dyed purple, wearing a black tee-shirt with someincomprehensible stylized text emblazoned on the front. He was seatedin an office chair next to a small table. He made quick gestures tothe door and then to the other swivel chair. “Why don’tyou give us the room and take a load off.” His gaze upon herwas more like that of his second-tier guardsman than that of the menoutside in that he seemed to simply be assuring himself that she hadno place she could be carrying a weapon.

Miorine took the cue to closethe door and go sit down. Again, she would not speak unless prompted,as per her briefing.

Assoon as she sat, his neutral face became more animated, as did hiswhole body language, like a shroud had been lifted. “Oh my God,I am flipping!”Hetwirled around once in his swivel chair, his hands on the side of hishead. “Tomato Angel, here in the flesh! This is such an honour,you are a fresh minted legend! The way you and your mom shut downQuiet Zero was totally the hack of the century! I mean you and hertook deep-time exploits to the next level, that wasmulti-generational scale! And the backdoor key plain-texted in DNA?They sit there all proud of changing their admin password like goodlittle kiddies and Bam!“ Heclapped his hands together. “Youcome right in through the back door! That was some righteous work!”He thrust out both his hands in a way that suggested both a saluteand an embrace. “Gotta say right up front, respect!”

Miorinefound herself almost overwhelmed by this extraordinary display. Shecentred herself by keeping at the front of her mind the admonitionwhich Marsh had impressed upon her more than once already. Alwaysreturn respect in kind and always show confidence, that’s yourbalance.

She gave him her sweetestsmile. “That’s a lot of highly classified information youhave managed to uncover. Your reputation precedes you, I guess Ishould be less surprised at how thoroughly you have done yourhomework.”

He gave a dismissive gesture.“Word gets around. Secret means you tell only your solids thenwash rinse repeat, know what I’m saying? Also hear Familysuddenly poking into Blackhawke, when they reach out I figure theygot a beef and need something done.”

Again,Miorine kept in mind Marsh’s suggestions on how to approachthis. Whateveryou propose has to sound fun and also has to stroke his ego.“Blackhawke has a facility down south that we want to breakinto. It’s military-grade security with lots of automation,kind of old but very solid. Really the only option is finding legacyexploits. Rio is very far from my usual circle, I don’t reallyhave the lay of the land yet.”

She leaned forward, looking athim more intently. “This is business, but it’s alsopersonal. Especially for me. We want it done quickly, and we figuredTunnel Rat was the best man to help.”

His manner was somewherebetween a predator smelling prey and a little boy running out to playhis favourite game. “Interesting. Can you show me what yougot?”

Miorine pulled her phone outof its belt holster. She already had it set up to only display thedocument with the gathered information. She handed it to Tunnel Rat.He went cross-legged in his chair and hunched over the phone. Up tonow he had been somebody never quite still, full of a jittery energythat suggested eagerness rather than nerves. But now he was utterlystill, the only motion being in his closely focused eyes andscrolling finger. Again, there was that focus that could just aseasily be attributed to patient stalking or eager curiosity.

He went on like that forseveral minutes, never even looking up. His scrolling suggestedcareful but rapid review from start to finish. At length he startedto smile. The smile gradually broadened.

Suddenly he laughed in a waythat showed both triumph and delight. He set her phone on the table,slid it over to her. “Oh yeah, I can help you out here. Stuffthey using, just riddled with exploits. If it’s one-time we canshut them down cold and you walk straight in.”

Miorine found that her smilewas more genuine than calculated. “They told me I could rely onyou. I am prepared to offer very generous terms.”

He gave his same dismissivegesture. “The first one is Pro Bono, just out of respect like.You got a hard out today?”

“Nothing, I’veleft my schedule open.”

“Great.” He wasalready reaching for the half-full coffee pot that sat between a fullone and an empty one. With his other hand he scooped up an oversizedcup from beside them and placed it next to his own. While he spoke hequickly filled both cups with a liquid whose consistency and aromasuggested something that really ought to be served in thimbles.“Let’s get down to brass tacks.”

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine came out of her sleepslowly, with a vague feeling of unease. It seemed like something waswrong. She could hear Suletta breathing next to her. That should beokay but it was not. She was violently hyperventilating.

All of a sudden Miorine wasfully awake. She touched on the light and threw back the sheet.Suletta was on her back, her chest heaving, her eyes clenched shut,her face twisted in what looked like terror. Miorine tried to thinkclearly. If Suletta really were in medical distress her embeddedsensors would be triggering alarms. She was just having anothernightmare.

As calmly as possible she didwhat she had been told. Do not grab her or shake her or shout at her,that will just trigger a panic reaction. Miorine gently cradled herhead in one hand and lay the other across her heaving chest to holdher shoulder. She murmured soothing words into Suletta’s ear.

Gradually, her breathing beganto slow. When Miorine repeatedly assured her that she was here withher, it appeared to be registering a little. She was waking up.

Miorine shifted over and lether body rest against her wife’s side, holding her in a gentleembrace. Now she just lay there, not saying anything. Waiting forSuletta’s breathing to get back down to normal.

At length, Suletta’seyes came open. She just stared at the ceiling. Her face still showeddistress, but the panic was gone now.

“Was it the samenightmare?” She had been having dreams about her experiences atQuiet Zero.

Suletta gave her head onesmall shake. “It was about Sammi. The first time she tried toescape. It was like I was there, telling her to go the other way butshe couldn’t hear me.”

Sammi was one of the youngestmembers of Team Stray Cat. Like Suletta, she was confined to awheelchair. Unlike Suletta, she had a terminal diagnosis. Recentlyshe had taken a turn for the worse and was in intensive care.

“It was nice that theytook you to visit her,” Miorine’s said. “She reallylikes you.”

“It’s hard for herto talk right now. I couldn’t stay long.”

“I’m sure sheappreciated it.” It was something they were going to have toget used to. Don was not the only member of Team Stray Cat who waslikely to be in palliative care before long. Suletta was likely to behere for three or four years, and in that time it was quite likelysome of her friends here would pass away. In many ways Suletta wasthe most fortunate member of the group. Any new members of Stray Catwere likely to also be former child soldiers with a poor prognosis.

It was clearly going to bedifficult for Suletta sometimes. But to Miorine the thought of tryingto alleviate her distress by moving her to another support groupwould be unspeakable cruelty.

“We can go back to sleepif you like,” Suletta said.

“I know you can’tsleep again after one of these dreams. I don’t feel like iteither.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Am I heavy?”Miorine was resting against her with an arm and a leg draped overher.

“No. It’s nice.”

Almost without thinkingMiorine took Suletta’s hand in hers. They lay there silentlyfor a while. Then Suletta spoke again in a more casual voice. “Areyou going to be keeping the braids?”

“No, they’re goingoff tomorrow. That was the earliest I could make the appointment andI don’t feel like doing it myself.”

“They look nice. Ithought you might keep them.”

“They are part of properbusiness attire in a particular grey-market venue I had to go to, butI’m done with that for now.” That was the story she wassticking with. There were practical reasons for giving Sulettaplausible deniability regarding her dealings with Southern Cross, butpersonal ones as well. She had enough on her plate right now.

“I liked the outfit.”

“I didn’t. Ipractically need to grease myself to get it on or off. It’sridiculous.”

“You should wear it thenext time you come to the clinic.”

“Deathfirst.”

“But I really did likeyou in it.”

“I’ll wear it foryou any time you want.”

“The make-up was great,too. Hey, maybe when Sammi is feeling better we can make her up justfor fun.”

“She strikes me as avery down-to-earth girl, I suspect she would find it all rathersilly.”

Suletta sighed. “You’reprobably right.” After a pause, she spoke in a softer tone.“I’m going to miss her.”

Miorine caught the tone in hervoice. She went up on one elbow and looked down at her wife’sface. She released her hand, reached over and wiped the lone tearfrom Suletta’s face. “Is it that bad?”

Suletta nodded. “Soonerthan the doctors expected.”

“It’s not going tobe the last time,” Miorine said gently.

Suletta clearly knew what shemeant. “I know.”

“Suletta, I’masking this seriously so I want you to think carefully. Being in TeamStray Cat is going to bring you a lot of heartache over the nextyears. Many times. Are you really sure that’s where you want tobe?”

She did take the time tothink. But the answer that came made it clear that the thinking wasdone. “I’m sure it’s where I need to be.”

Miorine nodded. She tookSuletta’s hand and squeezed it. “I understand.”

Suletta squeezed back.

They looked into each other’sfaces in shared astonishment. “Did you feel that?”

Miorine nodded. “Did youdo that yourself?”

Suletta nodded. Then shesmiled. “I wasn’t expecting to, but I did.”

Miorine returned her smile.“It felt really strong.”

“Stray Cat Strong.”

“And stronger everyday.” Miorine kissed her then lay back down beside her.

They just lay quietly for awhile. Now that Suletta could no longer see her face, Miorine droppedout of the moment and let herself settle into a new resolve. Bycross-referencing Sammi’s stories with what else they knew, shehad concluded it was a virtual certainty that the training camp theSouthern Cross men were preparing to assault was the one where Sammihad been trained. And condemned to a miserable, early death.

Justyou wait. I’m coming for you.

#-#-#-#-#

It was full light now. Theline of big off-road personal utility trucks stood in a line on therough, overgrown service road, the thick jungle enclosing them fromboth sides. The armed driver of each truck stood beside his vehicle,all of them alert and scanning the area. The trucks were all emptynow save for the last one, where Miorine sat with Marsh and TunnelRat. They were all dressed in active camouflage suits with sturdyboots, helmets and flak vests. The silent motor was active enough tokeep the interior conditioned against the oppressive heat.

“Commander says they’rein position,” Marsh said, listening on his earbud. They hadmoved there using night-vision equipment, but it was going to be adawn raid.

“Okay, here we go.”Tunnel Rat was being very professional, but Miorine knew she coulddetect hints of the giddy delight he always seemed to throw into hisart. There was that little smile as he started working the screen onhis phone. After he opened up his own app, Miorine made a point ofnot looking any more. It was courtesy to respect trade secrets.

After an interval that seemedfar longer than had been predicted but probably was not, Tunnel Ratnodded. “They’re down, and doors are opening. You’regood to go.”

Marsh relayed the message. Nowfor those who remained with the vehicles there would be another roundof waiting, even more nerve-wracking than the last one. Miorine knewthat Marsh was getting real-time audio from the strike team, but hesat just as impassively as the other two passengers. Miorine made amental note never to engage him in any sort of high-stakes bluffinggame.

After an eternity, Marshfinally spoke. “The site is secure.” With that, almost asone all the drivers returned to their vehicles and they continuedtheir way down the bumpy road at a pace that was just slow enough notto be reckless.

They soon emerged into aclearing which surrounded a tall, plain grey concrete wall, topped byrazor wire and by the now sabotaged gun/sensor emplacements atregular intervals. There was a wide vehicle gate that stood open. Twoof the strike team stood to either side, and one of them waved themthrough.

The compound within was verycrowded with buildings of varying sizes and all manner of equipmentunder tarps, all suggesting the sort of order verging on chaos drivenby practicality and economy of effort rather than any sort of rigidrule-set. Another pair of the fighters in their camo armour andassault rifles stood to each side of another open vehicle entrance towhat looked like the largest building. The other trucks moved toeither side but Miorine’s vehicle went straight in as onceagain they were waved through.

The building was mostly onesingle vast interior space. There was plenty to see but Miorine tooknote of the key things. First, a line of four co*ckpit assemblies setup to be simulators. Second, a line of prisoners, all kneeling withhands behind their backs, presumably zip-tied. Third, just inside thedoor waiting for them, the commander standing with his rifle slungand a tablet in his hand which he did not have before.

When the vehicle stopped,Marsh looked intently at her. Right now he was very much being thekindly uncle. “Ma’am, are you sure you’re up tothis? I can take care of everything for you if you want, just say theword.”

It was not their first timehaving this conversation. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”There were things she had insisted on doing herself, and she intendedto see this through.

He nodded. “Okay. I’llbe with you the whole way.”

The three of them filed out ofthe truck. The commander who Miorine only knew by the call-signStarling walked over to them, another fighter always at his side. Hewas a middle-aged man with a large, athletic build and close-croppedbrown hair. He looked briefly to Marsh who gave him a nod. Presumablyconfirming that Miorine was taking point on this. Without furtherpreamble he handed the tablet to Miorine. “We’ve got fullaccess, just like Tunnel Rat said.” He spared their hacker aquick look and nod.

“Thank you, Commander.”Miorine went straight to her top priority item. They waited patientlyfor her. It only took a couple of minutes. “Records showseventeen trainees here right now, others either on field training orassignment.”

“That matches what I’vebeen told” the commander confirmed. “They were all lockedin their barracks. We’ve explained the basics to them.”He hesitated just a fraction before continuing. “They’rea little jumpy. Not sure what to make of this, no doubt.”

“I’d like to talkwith them, but let me check something first.” She did somefurther searching on the tablet. It did not take long for her toconfirm what she needed. “Okay, I’m ready to go.”

It was a short walk to thebarracks. The Southern Cross fighters had gathered the trainees inthe mess hall where they were now seated at a table watched over by asquad of the fighters casually holding their guns at the ready. Thetrainees sat up straight with hands folded, as they had been taught.They all eyed Miorine warily as she came to the end of the table andremoved her helmet.

“My name is MiorineRembran. I believe you have already been told that the members of theSouthern Cross Family around you have come to free you from yourservitude to the Blackhawke Brigade and take you to a clinic in Riofor checkups. I’m sure this must be very overwhelming.”

Miorine ran her eyes quicklyup and down the two rows of faces. So far they had hardly reacted atall. “I can tell you myself just how you will be treated atthat clinic. My wife is currently being treated there for Data Stormsyndrome. She has met and become friends with several young peoplewho like yourselves were compelled to fight in mercenary outfits. Shehas become good friends with them, including a girl named Sammi whowas trained here.”

“Sammi is there?”a young boy asked, his face full of shock and hope. “She’salive?”

Miorine smiled. “Yes,she’s there.”

“Is she okay?”

Miorine had to remind herselfthat they had earned the right to the truth. “She took a turnfor the worse recently and is in intensive care. But I’m sureyou’ll be able to visit her.” She looked up and addressedherself to all of them. “You have all been through things thatI can scarcely imagine so the only words of comfort I can give you isthat everyone here is fiercely dedicated to make sure that you arejust as safe and healthy as you can be. I trust the people around youwith my life and I trust the clinic with the care of my wife and allher new friends.”

The mention of somebody knownto at least one of them seemed to make this more concrete to them,more believable. They looked at her with faces that were a littlemore animated and a little less wary. “I know the future mustlook very uncertain and frightening to you right now. But for today,for right now, please just let us help you. The rest will take careof itself in good time.”

She took the time to confirmall their names. By the time she was done, they all looked just alittle more relaxed and hopeful. It looked like at least some of themwere starting to believe that she just might be telling them thetruth. She walked with them out to the large commandeered truck thatwould be transporting them, wishing each one luck as they climbed in.Some were smiling. Others seemed to just be obeying orders out ofhabit.

The truck drove away. “We’vesent their records to the clinic,” Marsh told her. “They’llbe ready.”

“Thanks. Based on what Iread in their training summaries, most of them are going to be okay.”

Now that she knew the peoplewho mattered were being cared for, it was time to deal with thetrash.

Before re-entering thetraining centre building, Miorine reviewed the site’s personnelmanifest. “So we have the base commander in custody?”

“Yes Ma’am,”Marsh confirmed. “They’ve all given their names andranks.”

That was as expected. Whenconfronted by a losing proposition, mercenary groups tended tosurrender quickly in hopes of a negotiated release. There werelong-standing rules and protocols both written and unwritten thatsoldiers for hire generally followed.

The Southern Cross Family hadits own set of rules, but in at least one key respect it was ratherdifferent. Miorine intended to leverage that difference. “Fine,let’s go talk with him.”

The prisoners were still allkneeling in the same place. Miorine stood in front of the first onein line, the one who had been identified as the base commander. Likethe others his camo gear had been force-fixed to prison orange. Hewas a stocky, swarthy man with close-cropped black hair and a homely,scarred face. He glared at her in sullen silence.

Miorine looked down at him. “Ihave your name but who you are is none of my concern, so I willsimply refer to you as Colonel out of courtesy. How you refer to meis up to you.”

“I know who you are,”he said in a manner suggesting that she was barely worthy of hisattention.

“Then we can cut rightto the chase. I will be helping myself to your Permet-capablesimulators. I want to confirm their proper function and you are goingto help me.”

Hesnorted derisively. “Is thatreally your business here?”

“My business is my own.”She turned to Marsh. “I’ll have him set up now.”She looked over to where Tunnel Rat was waiting beside one of theco*ckpit assemblies. “Are we ready?”

He waved the tablet in hishand. “It’s a bit out of my wheelhouse but prettystraightforward. We’re good to go.”

“Sounds good,”Marsh said pleasantly. Without further ado he walked over to theColonel. After cutting the zip-tie with an alarmingly large knife heeffortlessly lifted the man to his feet. He smiled at the bewilderedlooking man as he unceremoniously marched him over to the simulator.“Guess it goes without saying the more you cooperate the easierthis will go with you. Right, in you go.”

The Colonel hesitated for justa moment while it appeared he finally convinced himself they wereserious. He climbed into the co*ckpit and sat down in the crash couch.

“Now hold still,”Marsh said in the manner of a dentist asking his patient to openwide. “This won’t take a second.”

“Whatthe hell?”He sounded utterly incredulous but just sat still there as Marshmethodically zip-tied him to the couch. He was using longcarbon-fibre ties that would fit around the equipment themanwas being secured to and absolutely would not let go. Marsh then tookthe nearby helmet that was already hooked into the simulator and slidit over the Colonel’s head. The way that went suggested thestraps were somewhat too tight. Marsh did not do anything about that,he just snapped the chin-strap shut in the manner of a parent gettingtheir child ready for school.

When Marsh stepped away,Miorine stepped up. “I guess we can get started.” Sheheld out her hand, still locking eyes with the Colonel. With the easyprecision of a nurse handing a scalpel to the surgeon, Tunnel Ratplaced the tablet into her hand. She looked down and worked thetablet. It was exactly as Tunnel Rat had shown her in the practicesimulations they had done together. She brought up the menu sheneeded and selected. Through the wide open hatch they could all seethe interior lights of the co*ckpit come to life. There was a gentlewarning chime and the trim lights went yellow. All control offunctions had been diverted from the co*ckpit to the tablet.

The Colonel looked around. “Sowhat do you expect me to do here?” he asked in a sarcastictone, presumably referring to the fact that he currently had nocontrol of the machine.

“You don’t need todo anything. You are just my lab rat. We’ll start with withPermet level one.”

“Wait, what-” Hisface screwed up and his voice was cut off in a strangled grunt. Theonly noise was some gentle humming that hinted at the energies beingdirected through the machine.

“How does that feel?”Miorine gently asked her patient.

“What is this, are youtrying to teach me a lesson?” he asked angrily, ignoring herquestion. “I’ve done combat in Permet capable mobilesuits, this is nothing new to me.”

“Interesting. What leveldid you get up to? Two? Three? Higher? Don’t want to answer?Well, it’s no matter. Presuming the base records are correctthis is as high as you ever went. Let’s try level two.”

She tapped the screen. Thetenor of the background noise stepped up marginally. The cords in hisneck stood out, but otherwise his only reaction was to glare at herall the more fiercely. She let him stew for a while beforecontinuing. “After my wife wakes up screaming from hernightmares she sometimes describes the feeling of the higher Permetlevels. She emphasizes that it is but a paltry metaphor but it feelslike your flesh is being flayed down to the bone and dissolved inacid and burned to ashes all at once.”

She let that sink in for a fewseconds before continuing. “But if you wait for your flesh tobe flayed or dissolved or burned away it never happens. It is not adestructive pain but a nurturing one that can just keep going on andon. And worse yet your mind is not numbed to the pain as it shouldbe, but rather honed to a knife-edge. What should bring madness andoblivion only brings clarity and impossible radiance in the midst ofthis agony.”

Hewas becoming increasingly alarmed and bewildered. “Whatdo you wantfrom me?”

“Well since you’reasking I have noticed from your ledgers that you are usingcryptocurrencies and blockchain escrows to manage some of yourtechnology purchases. Why don’t we start with the password?”

“Missy,there are rules!You gangsters have to follow them too!”

“You give me too muchcredit by counting me a member of the Southern Cross Family, but I amhappy to accept the compliment and encompass us within a royal ‘we’.Yes, we do have rules. Your men have surrendered and after we burnthis place to the ground they will be allowed to depart with theshirts on their backs.”

Her tone had been reassuring.Now it changed. “But we have some other rules as well. One isthat we do not exploit children in our dealings. Another is that whenthis or other rules are violated it is the leader who must takeresponsibility. That is what you are doing right now. So. Password,or level three?” She just gave him a few seconds. “I see.Level three then.”

The machines hummed louder andhe tensed up. He started breathing hard now. The beginnings of DataStorm markings were now showing up on his face. They just stared ateach other. After about a minute he sharply nodded his head. He spokebetween great gulps of air. “Okay. I’ll give it to you.”

“I’m listening.”

It took him a moment torealize that she had no intention of turning off the device until shehad what she wanted. “Dammit! Okay, it’s...” Ittook three tries before he got the whole passphrase out. Miorineentered it into the tablet, being neither tardy nor in a great hurry.“That is correct,” she said at length. She looked back upat him. “Of course, I’m sure you know how rubber-hosecryptanalysis works. I need to be sure that you really have given methe key to the family jewels.”

“I gave you what Ihave!”

“Let’s just becertain. Level four.”

In an increasingly panickedand breathless voice he continued to shout out one assurance afteranother that he had nothing else to give her. When he was breathingin gasps and could no longer speak at all she hit the button forlevel zero. The glowing Data Storm markings on his face slowly faded.He spent about half a minute hyperventilating before speaking again.“I swear I gave you everything I have.”

“I believe you now.”She worked her tablet again. The Permet steps across the bottom ofthe screen were replaced by a slider bar. At the same time, the trimlights of the co*ckpit went from yellow to red. Three sharp tones wentout warning that all safety measures had just been disabled. TheColonel looked around then back at her with a confused and panickedexpansion. He seemed to be debating whether it would be better tospeak or just wait for her. Miorine continued. “The Permetlevels actually form a logarithmic scale, there is no intrinsic limitother than the capacities of the machines. The integer levels existjust because the control systems are calibrated to them. But withoutthe need for managing the two-way interfaces the level can beanything. To my knowledge this has never actually been tried with apilot in the seat.”

She just gave him a second todigest that. “We can expect that the subjective experience canasymptote to an arbitrary level, it might be possible to feel acentury of pain in minutes.”

“Why are you doingthis?” he wailed piteously.

“Becauseyou made her cry!”Miorine swiped her finger across the slider bar and it lit up all theway. The Data Storm markings exploded right across his face withshocking swiftness, it seemed surely it must be cooking him fromwithin. His eyes bulged and he violently pulled at the bonds on hisarms and legs. His breathing was impossibly fast, like he was tryingto suck all the air out of the room and might even succeed. Histongue lolled out and his head thrashed from side to side and allaround, his helmet smashing against the crash couch again and again.

When his breathing failed himand the heart monitor alarm warned of heart palpitations, Miorinetouched the cutoff button. Before long he was just panting andtrembling, his eyes glazed and his gaping mouth drooling. It lookedas if he was going to make it. Miorine was very satisfied with thisresult. She did not want any mercy-killings on her watch.

She handed the tablet back toTunnel Rat. He had a bemused look on his face which she chose tointerpret as being his best poker face. “Thank you. You canshut it down now.”

“You got it.”

She turned to Marsh. “Heis free to go. If he needs help getting out of the compound, let hismen do that.”

“Yes ma’am,”he said politely, pulling the little plasma cutter out of his pocketto go cut the Colonel’s bonds.

She addressed herself to theprisoners. Their faces were no longer sullen. “To repeat youwill soon be free to go. This time. If you continue to exploit thechildren of Rio then we might need to take more drastic measures andI cannot vouch for your safety. Go tell your superiors that we willbe watching.”

She saw that Marsh and TunnelRat were done and waiting on her. She looked at the team commanderstanding nearby. “Thank you, I leave the rest in your hands.”He nodded. She turned to Marsh. “We can go now.” Sheturned on her heel and walked smartly over to the truck, her bootsh*tting the floor making the only sound that echoed through thebuilding. Marsh soon came up beside her but Tunnel Rat had to jog afew steps to keep up. Before he did she thought she heard him muttersomething like “Damn... righteously bad-ass...”

She sat in a rear-facingjump-seat, leaving the other two facing her. As the driver pulled outshe addressed herself to Marsh. “I think that went well.Hopefully Don Vincent will green-light the next operation. We have atleast two confirmed sites. Ideally we should strike as soon as we areready.” She glanced at Tunnel Rat. “Before they figureout the exploits we used.”

“Oh, there are alwaysothers,” he assured her. “Each site is unique. But yeah,sooner the better.”

She smiled. “And nexttime your office rates at the very least. I must insist.”

“Might be a slidingscale if they get wise and things get harder.”

“Whatever it takes.”She looked back at Marsh. “Of course it is at his convenience,but I would like to meet with Don Vincent at the earliest opportunityto plan our next move.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’lllet him know that as soon as I go report back.” He hesitated,and the look he gave her showed hints of concern. “So how areyou holding up?”

She sighed. “Just a bittired. And relieved. I’m glad we didn’t lose anybody. Orany of the children. I’m just so happy they’re out ofthat place.”

He nodded. “No argumentthere.” The way that he looked at her was a little odd now, ifshe were searching for a word it would be sad, or maybe regretful. Nodoubt he was feeling for the children, imagining what they must havegone through. Yes, that mist be it. Who wouldn’t feel sad?

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine descended the stairwayfrom the second floor of her townhouse. She saw Till, Nuno, Ojelo andMartin seated around the dining table playing cards. “HeyBoss,” Ojelo called. “Got bored with the girl talk?”

“There was no room forme in the tub,” Miorine explained as she walked over to them.“This was the least awkward option. And I wanted Suletta to bethe centre of attention for a while. Can you deal me in?”

This was now the second timeshe had been able to gather all of them together for dinner here. Sheenjoyed it, but despite all Suletta’s assurances she felt badthat despite her progress she was still unable to feed herself. Itall worked out fine, the Earthian House girls fought over the honourof helping her just as tenaciously as the girls in Team Stray Cat. Itjust seamlessly became a barely noticed part of the dinner, like thebackground music.

They were playing the simplestgame they knew, something that would occupy their hands more thantheir heads while they talked. They had been spending a lot of timeapart and on the road chasing different projects and prospects, mostof the checkpoints done by the whole team were video conferences withspecific agendas. So the few times they did manage to get togetherthere was little business talk.

It looked like it had been adebate about the proper forms that bread should take, of all things.All of them came from different regions with different traditions,something that Miorine had only recently begun to appreciate. Her ownlittle obsession of late had been finding ways to make the localvarieties of tomatoes more palatable and presentable. Tonight herbeef lasagne had gone over very well with everyone. The kitchen hadbecome a relaxing place where she could briefly lose herself in aprocess that was mostly following a script of applied physics andchemistry. Next spring she was determined to turn the biggest room inthe basem*nt into a tomato grow-op.

Eventually Till commented athow the Data Storm markings on Suletta’s face were now all butgone. She suspected the comment had not come earlier because it mighttouch on a related and possibly sensitive subject. She decided it wastime to set that to rest. “It looks like there are going to besome residual marks left over,” Miorine said, something thathad become increasingly obvious. “Both on her face and herbody. The doctors have confirmed it, and it will become a little moreobvious fairly soon when the rest of the marks fade completely. Thereare plastic surgery options if we want, but that’s still waydown the line.”

“I think the face marksare going to look like cat whiskers,” Ojelo quipped.

“That’s not nice!”Martin scolded. “What if she hears that?”

Everyone including Miorinejust laughed. Martin had been looking a bit haggard these days, nodoubt spending much of his time on the road joined at the hip withChuChu had been taking its toll. But there was that ‘otherduties’ clause in the job description so no complaints. As somecompensation she had been exempting him from any involvement in heractivities with Southern Cross, he was only aware in general terms.

“I think so too,”Miorine said quickly to head off any possible awkwardness. “Ihaven’t had the nerve to tell her. I’m probably going tochicken out and let one of the Stray Cats be the one to tell herfirst, once it becomes more obvious.”

“There are a couple ofmore of them now, right?” Till asked.

He was clearly giving her theoption of saying as much as she wanted to. “Yes. Most of theformer child soldiers we freed have been discharged, either sent homeor put into foster care. There are three so far who need morelong-term care so they have joined Team Stray Cats. One of them knewSammi, so it was a sort of reunion.”

“How is she?” Nunoasked. They all knew who she was and knew about her condition.

“She’s probablygoing to be going straight from the ER into palliative care.”

The moment of silence was notawkward, just respectful. Soon, Nuno spoke again. “Boss, thatwhole business with them putting kids into those things...” Heseemed to be struggling with words. “It’s uncool.Whatever you gotta do, we’re on board.”

Miorine smiled fondly. “Iknow. You’ve been doing such great work on that, I’m verygrateful. There probably won’t be anything more to do there fora while. I’d like to think that’s a sign of our success.”

“I know you’vebeen doing a lot more than us,” Till said carefully. “I’dbe relieved if that was over and done with.”

“I’m not really inany danger. They don’t let me anywhere near any place untilthey know it’s safe. They know what they’re doing, Itrust them.”

“If you say so,”Till responded. He did not sound very satisfied, and he still lookedat her with a worried face that suggested he wanted to ask more butwas going trust her and let it go. Miorine did not like worrying themlike this, but giving any more solid assurance would mean involvingthem more directly in these operations and she did not want to dothat. There were practical reasons for maintaining plausibledeniability, but asking more of them than was absolutely necessarydid not sit right.

“Oh, I’ve got asurprise,” Miorine said, feeling it was the time. “Aduplex townhouse in the community has come up for lease and I’vesnatched it up. It’ll be available to move in next month. Justto confirm, everyone is still interested?”

They were, happily so in fact.Right now they were all in apartments in a block some distance fromhere. Miorine, and everyone for that matter were agreed they wouldfeel better if they were all closer to where Suletta was living. Thegirls had been taking turns being with her when Miorine was away, butshe would feel better knowing that any of them who were still in Riowould be that much closer if any need arose. She had been waiting fora duplex to come up so that the boys and the girls could each havetheir own townhouse but still all be close by. In fact Ojelo wantedthe address right away so that he could snap a picture on the way outand send it to the family back home.

That led to a discussion ofwhen and it what order they might to go meet each others’families. They had all gone home to visit family since returning toEarth. Their families had all been thrilled to hear about their newpositions in an important up-and-coming company and were eager tomeet their new colleagues. Perhaps she was projecting from her ownexperience with family meddling in matrimony but Miorine had towonder if any of their relatives and people in their social circleswere sniffing for marriage prospects.

To her surprise, somebodyasked about her father. “He’s got his prosthetic legsnow,” she said indifferently. “Says they work.”

“Hip socket interface orpelvic?” Nuno asked with the sort of casual curiosity one wouldask about the specs of somebody’s new utility exoskeleton.

Ojelo slapped his head andlaughed out loud. “You sick man, I knew you were going to askthat!”

“That’s notfunny!” Martin protested. He presumably thought he was beingsubtle about pointing to the lady who was now present.

Thepresent lady laughed even louder. “I am now kicking myself fornot asking! I am his medical proxy after all. I will be sure to findout next time I see him. I’ll see if I can get pictures.”That triggered some winces and groans. Ican’t believe I just said that. I am so glad my wife is nothere right now.“So whose turn?”

“Oh, mine.” Martinlaid down three cards.

“You got greedy.”Miorine happily tossed in her last cards. “I’m out.”

There were more groans. “What,again?” Nuno asked indignantly.

“That was a greatdistraction move,” Till said, nodding in respect to Miorine.

“I can’t imaginewhat you’re talking about.”

A little later when the restof the girls joined them, the politeness of the conversation wentback up a notch or two.

#-#-#-#-#

As per usual, the guard whoadmitted Miorine to Don Vincent’s office accompanied them tothe tea-room. It was a small marble-floor room that looked out ontothe large garden which occupied the middle of the estate. Stairs ofthe same black marble led down to a recess in the floor which hadlittle table in the middle. Red velvet cushions on the floor allaround the table allowed people to sit comfortably around the tablewhich was not much higher than the floor. A woman in an elaboraterobe who never spoke made the tea for them.

Don Vincent had previouslyeased her into the now familiar ritual. They inquired about thehealth of each others’ families. The tranquility of the placeand the ritual made it easy for Miorine to be able to speak warmlyand sincerely even about her father. But it was still so much easierto speak of her wife, and of Suletta’s improving condition andher new friends. In turn she found herself genuinely pleased to hearthis proud father speak of his children’s accomplishments.

At length Don Vincent shiftedthe conversation to business. “My advisors and I have given agreat deal of thought to your proposal for an operation against theMahler Group compound that you have identified. We agree with yourassessment that this is almost certainly the training centre fortheir young shock troops. You have honestly detailed the risks anduncertainties that we face. I have to tell you that there are furtherrisks we have identified, ones that I need not elaborate upon.Regretfully, I cannot approve of this operation.”

Miorine had beenhalf-expecting this answer. She knew both from experience and fromDon Vincent’s own assurances that he was never adverse to herquestioning his decisions at least once. “Don Vincent, is thereanything I could provide that you think would make this operationviable?”

“I believe you havealready done everything that you can. The insufficiency ofintelligence and resources lies at our end. I must give thought tothe safety of my own people as well. This operation is simply toorisky.”

“I am sure that you havegiven this your full consideration,” Miorine said. She bowed.“You have my thanks.”

Don Vincent gave that smilewhich seemed to bring the whole room into a different place. “Itis I who should be thanking you, Miorine. What we have accomplishedover the past months, I never would have thought possible. And it isnot just the scores of our children who we have saved from a livinghell and an early death. We have sent a message to these mercenaries.They know we are watching. They are taking new measures, but thosemeasures cost them. They will be thinking twice about the cost ofrecruiting more of our children to serve in their infernal machines.That is what we have done. That is what you have helped us to do. Youshould be proud.”

Miorine smiled. “Ibelieve we can both be proud, Don Vincent. I also believe there ismuch more we can still accomplish.”

“I agree. I am by nomeans bringing our collaboration to a close. I think that we shouldcontinue to share information as we have been doing. Soldiers offortune live by balancing economy of force. They can become careless,just like anybody else. By matching your gathered intelligence withours, another opportunity might present itself.”

“I do hope so.”

“It still concerns me,the burden you have placed on yourself.”

It is something they haddiscussed before. Four more times they had raided a training camp andMiorine had made the base commander experience the Permet device hehad forced children into, experience it in full measure. One of themhad died right on the spot, from a stroke or cardiac arrest or both.Only two of the others had appeared on their radar since. One haddied, an apparent suicide. The other was institutionalized. He had nospecific diagnosis, it seemed he had simply given up and wasunwilling or unable to care for himself.

Miorine liked to think thatthe others had fared no better.

“It is no burden, DonVincent. I see it as a duty.”

His smile became warmer and...somehow more sad. The same sadness she had seen in Marsh. They wereboth fathers, she thought, seeing children suffer like this must bedifficult for them. That must be it.

“In the meantime, Ithink we would both benefit from turning our gaze from this terriblebusiness for a while. I’m sure you would love nothing more thanto have that gaze linger more upon your dear wife who you obviousdote on and the business that you are so dedicated to. And if it isno imposition, I would like to continue to invite you here on aregular basis. I feel certain there can be other sorts ofcollaborations in our future.”

“Thank you, that wouldbe a pleasure. Perhaps before long I will show up with one of thoseproposals that promise a bright future full of rainbows andunicorns.”

He laughed. “We cannotlive without our dreams.” His face transformed in a differentway, one that suggested that what he had to say next was what shereally needed to hear. “But whenever you look up, you shouldalso look down. Make sure you never trample over what you arereaching for.”

On the way home, Miorine couldnot stop thinking about his enigmatic words.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorinestood inthe hallway rightin front of the bedroomdoorshe had just slammed shut behindher,trembling at the thought of what she had done. Remorse and shock andself-loathing threatened to overwhelm her, reduce her to a shatteredwreck. Howcould I have done that? What is wrong with me? What was I thinking?

Right before she had marriedSuletta she had set for herself lines that she absolutely would nevercross. Never tell her that she is stupid and never tell her to shutup. So simple yet so vital. To cross those lines would be to returnto that place of rage and contempt that she had inhabited until thismiracle had dropped into her life.

But there were other linesthat she had not even considered, ones she had now crossed.

Youalready know what you have to do. Now go do it.

Sheturned around and opened the door to their bedroom. What she sawthere gave her a feeling of elation that was so utterly undeservedshe only allowed herself to bask in it for the merest instant. Shegot into her wheelchair. All by herself.

Miorine walked over and kneltdown on the floor in front of Suletta’s chair slightly to oneside. In this position of utter supplication, she looked up into herwife’s face and just waited.

Suletta did not look at her.Her eyes were cast down to the floor in front of her. There were somany things in that face, hurt and anger and misery and stubbornnessand confusion. There were no signs of tears. There should have been,had more time passed than she imagined? And there was no mark or evenredness where Miorine had slapped her. Had that slowly disappeared aswell?

As soon as Suletta finallylooked at her, Miorine spoke. “I’m sorry. I didn’tmean what I said to you.”

She answered in a remarkablycalm voice. “I know. I didn’t mean it either.”

“I wasn’t angrywith you. I let my impatience and frustration get the better of me.It’s not an excuse for what I did. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course I can forgiveyou.” She looked down again. “I just don’tunderstand,” she continued in a tiny voice.

She did not understand how herwife could treat her so atrociously. Miorine was still trying tounderstand it herself. Rather than trying to analyze, she believedthis was the time to put out the truth in its raw form. “Itjust breaks my heart every time I see you struggling with somethingthat you used to do so easily. But then when I see you do somethingthat you could not do yesterday it gives me a feeling of joy that Idid not think was even possible. Sometimes I feel like I’mbeing torn apart. I get so greedy, I just want the heartache to goaway.”

Miorine shook her head. “Butwe shouldn’t be talking about my feelings, we should be talkingabout yours. I know I’ve hurt you again. But I want to hear itfrom you. Both so that I can atone and so that I can understand.”

After just a moment, Sulettalooked into her eyes. Miorine could see how heroically she was tryingto hide it but the bitterness and resentment was achingly apparent.“I feel like you’re treating me like a project, likegetting better now is the only thing that matters. Whatever you mightthink I haven’t been suffering. What I have to do at the clinicis hard but I love the people there and I’m proud of theprogress I’ve made.”

Shepaused, and her tone softened just a little. “AndI love our life here, in this house. There are hard things every daybut because you’re here I don’t even notice. I’mnot just grateful for everything you do, I lovebeing pampered by you ever day, I love all of it.” She cast hergaze down again. “I thought you did too.”

“I do love it, everyminute of every day.”

“Thentell me!”Forthe first time Suletta sounded truly angry.

“Iam tellingyou! I just hatethat I took so long. I don’t even know where to begin. I lovethe feel of your hair when I wash and comb it. I love the smell offthe nape of your neck when I help you out of bed in the morning. Ilove how the lines on your face and the stripes on your back make youlook like the most adorable tabby-cat in the world.”

Miorinetook in a shuddering breath. “Ican barely say any more now because it would just leave me helpless.”She looked down, trying to find her centre again. “I thought ifI told you these things it would trivialize what you are goingthrough. I thought you were just being brave, I don’t know howI could have been...” sostupid. “sowrong.”

It was almost a minute beforeSuletta responded. “Do I smell like a cat?”

“What?” Miorinelooked up at her. “I didn’t say you smell like a cat.You’re getting confused.”

Slowly, awkwardly, Sulettalifted her hand off the chair’s armrest. Her wrist was limp,her fingers held down and slightly curved. It was not clear what itwas she was trying to do.

Suletta tilted her head.“Meow.”

All Miorine could do for amoment was stare at her in wonderment. Then she just could not standit. She jumped forward, put her hands around Suletta’s waistand buried her face into her wife’s lap. Her breathing wasjagged, she was making little incoherent noises in her throat.

“Miorine, are youlaughing or crying?”

“Both,”she said breathlessly into her lap. “Neither. I don’tknowwhat I’m doing.”

“Was it that funny?”

“No. It was just thatyou would actually do that for me. It was so absurd but I was sohappy and grateful, I’m just feeling too many things all atonce. I don’t even have a name for it.” Actually, shedid. “I just love you, that’s all.”

Miorine felt a limp hand restdown on her head. A part of her understood the effort that must havegone into that simple gesture. “I love you too.”

Enough time passed thatMiorine was starting to feel the discomfort of the awkward positionshe was in. She knelt back down on the floor and looked up into herwife’s face. “I’m going to tell you about all theways you make me happy, I’m going to tell you until you getsick of it and beg me to stop.”

That got at least a little bitof the smile she had been hoping for. “I’ll do it evenmore. I won’t lose.”

“Then let me start rightnow. And let me be just a little selfish and take credit for beingright about at least one thing.” She took Suletta’s handin both her own and looked her up and down, bringing attention to howshe was now seated in the wheelchair. A tear came down her face andher voice nearly broke. “I knew you could do it.”

#-#-#-#-#

When Miorine entered thereserved private dining room she had been directed to, he wasstanding by the table waiting for her. Miorine walked smartly over tohim, her high heels making a sharp staccato on the shining floor.“Hello, father. You look taller.”

Delling Rembran answered inthe form of reciting a statistic. “By four centimetres.”

“That sounds like aboutthe right choice. Take advantage of the opportunity without flauntingit.”

Sulettahad made her promise to be civil. Civil?I’ll show you civil. I can do civil with my eyes closed.

She had to admit he did lookgood. His formal black suit hid his prosthetic legs completely, andthe way he moved it appeared his rehab was done. The gauntness fromafter his injury was gone. It was like it had never happened. But toMiorine’s reckoning it just meant that the price he had paidwas hidden from view.

This was her first return tospace since she and Suletta had moved to Earth. Enough reasons forthe return had accumulated that the trip finally became necessary.There were practical reasons for meeting with her father, but bearingin mind her promise to her wife she had suggested they have dinner ata nice place. Of course, for Delling Rembran a nice place meant thehighest rated restaurant in the Front.

They sat down, and right awaywithout prompting waiters came with the first course. Theirconversation started with business, as it always did. Miorinereminded herself that in addition to being civil she should listencarefully. Delling had not become the penultimate president of theBenerit Group for nothing, it was always wise to take his assessmentsand his counsel seriously.

At length he politely inquiredabout her wife’s health. Despite herself Miorine found herselfsmiling and eagerly telling him about the progress she had beenmaking.

He listened impassively. “Itsounds like a full recovery is at least a couple of years away.Nevertheless, it is not too early to give thought to her futureprospects.”

Miorine found herself slippingquickly into the familiar feelings of annoyance that her fatheralways seemed to trigger. “Prospects? She is going to getbetter, that is the only prospect I am concerned about right now.After that I am just going to make sure that she is safe and happy.”

“She is a very giftedpilot, perhaps the best one alive today.”

Miorine sniffed. “Youpretty much made sure that I would get married to the best pilot atthe most elite flying school in human space. So that’s whathappened. What of it?”

“In today’s worlda pilot of her calibre can actually be a key factor in the globalbalance of power, that is no exaggeration.”

Miorine channelled a measuredportion of the rage she had felt at his describing her as a flyerwith clipped wings, putting that level of warning into her response.“Be certain of one thing, I would sooner bury all the works ofman under the ashes of a doomed world than ever again let heranywhere near anything like a Gundam.”

“Of course,” hesaid, immediately dismissing her suggestion. “She and you did aworld of good by ridding us of a great portion of that curse.”

“If I have anything tosay about it, she will never sit in any war-machine again.”

“You want to keep hersafe. One day she might tell you that she wishes to do the same foryou. That might involve her pulling a trigger just as you have. Youwill both need to think of what that will mean for you.”

Miorine glared at him. “Whatexactly do you mean by that?”

His expression showed hints ofdisappointment. “I cannot believe it comes as a surprise thatnews of your work with Southern Cross has reached me. Your wholeobjective was a show of force and making examples for all to see. Youneed to understand that you have crossed a line and there will beconsequences.”

WhatMiorine wanted to scream out flooded her head like a torrent of rage.When youcrossed the line the consequences were that everybody Suletta’smother knew and loved was slaughtered! When you murdered the man whowould have been my father-in-law the consequences were that Sulettawas turned into a killing machine by her mother to execute her deathvendetta against you! Before you can talk to me about consequencesyou need to drop down on your shiny new titanium-alloy knees and begforgiveness!

After remembering her promiseand finding her centre, it came out rather differently. “Youhave done questionable things, and now so have I. At least I have notforgotten what it is that I am protecting.”

For the first time she couldremember, she saw genuine, almost anguished sadness in his face. Itwas shocking. “After I realized what I had done, after sherealized it, she and I were never able to look at each other in thesame way again.”

The moment passed, and hereturned to eating his dinner. She barely noticed, her mind was sobusy sifting through memories long buried.

In the early years of her lifebefore her mother passed, when it had been the three of them, Miorineknew that something was wrong. On the surface it was just a distanceor an impenetrable barrier between her mother and father. Her child’smind had anguished over what it might be. There were just hints andsigns but she felt certain that it had been different before, thatsomething had happened. A look or a word would give a glimpse ofregret over something that had been there, something...

Something that they had lostand that they knew they could never get back.

The rest of the dinner waseaten in silence. When Miorine was done, she patted her lips, placedthe napkin down and stood up. She said something that she was morallycertain she had never once said in her life before.

“Thank you, Father.”

After she returned to her roomshe did not change out of her formal wear. She just stood in front ofthe big floor to ceiling window, watching the slowly rotating stars.She held out her hand and stared at it, contemplating what it hadbeen doing. She imagined it reaching down to a little device thatwith a swipe of her finger would forever shatter the mind of the manwho was begging her for mercy.

Thereflection in the window of her outreached hand caught her eye.Suddenly she imagined it as herhand, reaching out to Miorine, coated in blood that wriggled andslathered in a grotesque bubble of micro-gravity surface-tension. Shelooked up at the reflection in the window and imagined it as herface, with that innocent smile, utterly oblivious to the blood andthe pieces of the man she had just pulped under the hand of herGundam, oblivious to how she had been transformed into a cold killer.

Her eyes focused on the starsagain. They formed an abyss that threatened to swallow her, just oneshort step away.

Miorine’s fist andforearm slammed painfully against the window. She bent down andbreathed in gasps, watching nothing more than the floor and her owntrembling body. Slowly her breathing became less raspy, lesslaboured. The shock of realization slowly passed and faded, until itwas replaced by just the grim resolve of a decision made.

Stepback. Step back.

#-#-#-#-#

Marsh sat in the back of thelimousine with Miorine this time. They were going to a place wherethe driver was expected to remain with the guest’s vehicle, soanother Southern Cross member in a perfect suit was at the wheel.

It was the first time she hadseen Marsh look genuinely nervous. Well, perhaps the second time. Thefirst time was when he had come to tell her that this meeting hadbeen agreed to. But she would probably describe his look then as moreone of barely concealed astonishment.

“In case I haveneglected to say it properly before, I am very glad to have you withme today,” she told him. “I am truly grateful.”

“It’s my firsttime here too,” he quipped. “Just heard stories from DonVincent and the guys who come here with him.”

Don Vincent had beeninstrumental in arranging this meeting, which was why his men had thehonour of escorting her. And he had been equally astonished at herrequest. He had actually tried to dissuade her, clearly believingthat she was getting in over her head. But she had persisted, and hehad relented.

It is possible she could haveleveraged her role as CEO of GUND-ARM, but she was not really here onthat sort of business so it would not have been appropriate on anumber of different levels. Coming here bearing the credentials ofthe Southern Cross Family was her best option.

“Glad to see you tookour advice,” Marsh said with a gesture that seemed to indicateher attire. They had suggested a more casual look, apparently theirhost had a disdain for people who showed off their wealth even intheir dress. Marsh was in his white suit, which was about as muchdressing down as she had ever seen him do, shy of the camo gear wornin the field.

“I depend on Don Vincentand on you to help me navigate my new home.”

He smiled. “Not manypeople in Rio navigate to where we’re going, that’s afact.”

Soon they arrived at thepresidential palace. The vast grounds were surrounded by an imposingopen black iron fence whose posts were topped with leaf-shapedspikes. The guards were in camo gear and helmets that seemed moreappropriate for a fire base than the seat of the government’sexecutive branch. The guards sternly confirmed the arrivals’credentials and opened the great iron gates. They drove down a longdriveway, around a great white marble fountain and finally pulled upto the front door of the palace, a sprawling house of white stuccoand rust-coloured roof tiles. Miorine and Marsh emerged into themidday heat where more guards in camo gear double-checked theiridentities and led them into the palace.

They walked down enoughechoing marble corridors that she thought they must surely soonemerge at the other end of the palace. As they walked, Miorinereviewed her position. Don Vincent had indicated the fact that shehad been told to arrive with a bodyguard was a show of respect.Apparently, her collaboration with Southern Cross was being viewedpositively.

That was good as far as itwent. But she was here to propose something of a change in direction,so on another level it left some uncertainty as to the reception shecould expect.

They came to a pair of greatdoors made from dark, intricately carved wood. More guards openedthem and the two of them walked into the president’s office. Hesat at a great wood desk silhouetted by a back wall that was entirelyglass, opening onto the vast gardens behind the palace. Miorinerecognized him easily since his square, brown face was about the mostwell-known one in the region. He wore the khaki uniform and red beretthat had long since become De Rigueur among strongmen of the region.

He was technically an electedpresident of a republic, but the constitution of Rio was bestdescribed as flexible. He had risen through the ranks in the army andthen in one of the populist parties, the usual route to thepresidency. One way in which he was typical was that he understoodthat good governance made for good politics, so he had a reputationof promoting advisors of ability and listening to them. Under hisleadership, so far Rio had enjoyed both relative stability andprosperity.

Of course, transfers of powerscould often be tricky or even violent where the rules were so loose,an issue that centuries of philosophical inquiry, theoreticalpolitical science and game-theory had not yet managed to resolve. Allthe guards were not here for show.

Miorine approached him, withMarsh holding station. Mostly people just referred him by his monikerThe Jackal, which apparently referred to a particular junglepredator, but Miorine had been instructed on the proper addressexpected from her. “Mister President, I am Miorine Rembran.Thank you for agreeing to see me.”

“Seems you been a busyyoung lady,” he said with a sort of rough friendliness. “Ihear about all these factories and such you growing like weeds andnot just here, all proper and no-nonsense. Then I hear you suddenlygot a fire in your belly, putting some of these merc outfits in theirplace you think are stepping out of line. Seems you got a soft spotfor the kids but got some teeth too. So I thinks to myself, lookslike we got a live one here, maybe not be a bad idea to give her anear and see what she all about hey.”

Miorine had heard him speakperfectly fluent Lingua, so she knew the dialect was there to setjust the correct level of distance. “Mister President, it hasbeen my honour to collaborate with the Southern Cross Family to freemany of the children of Rio who had been forced to train as mercenarysoldiers. I am proud of what we have done, but we have now reachedthe limit of what we can do on our own. With your leave, I would liketo propose a new sort of collaboration.”

His head turned to fix herwith a sort of incredulous, amused sidelong look. “What youthink maybe you point us like some guard-dog and we send in a GuardsCorp strike team? Things more complicated than that. We tolerate whatyou up to because they step out of line first, but there be rulessee? Lines you don’t cross, that what keeps it all together.”

Miorine had come here withoutgiving any indication of her purpose because she knew this was a hardsell that only had any chance if she already had her foot in thedoor. “In fact I am not proposing any sort of military actionat all. I am proposing a joint prosecution of the companies who areknowingly providing Permet device technology for the construction ofillegal and dangerous devices.”

He sniffed. “Grey marketbe a swamp, you pull up reeds they grow someplace else. Same as withthe drugs or anything else you see.”

“It is true thatprosecution of the Earth-based suppliers alone would not beeffective. That is why I am proposing a joint prosecution thatincludes the Front-based suppliers. They must use established supplychains so they are more vulnerable to prosecution, especially a veryvisible one that could put their reputation in jeopardy. A publicprosecution that includes testimony by freed child soldiers issomething they could not afford to ignore.”

He was now glaring at her.“Joint meaning with Dominicus I bet.”

“That’s right.”And now came the hard sell. She took the thick, large envelope shehad been carrying and placed it at the near edge of his desk. She hadbeen told that such a move was risky since it could be interpreted aseither bold or pretentious. “We have already identified thesupply chains and matched them to the associated grey marketsuppliers that are providing the rest of the components. We cannotact on our own since the actual crime is taking place on Earth. Onlya joint effort by Rio and Dominicus will work.”

His scowl deepened. “Yousay Dominicus but I hear Spacian. Let me tell you something aboutthat. I seen what they do when a joint venture don’t go the waythey like. What they do is send the hounds down here, Benerit orwhatever it be.” He removed one of his gloves, showing aprosthetic hand underneath. “I seen that real close-up like. Soto me this Dominicus be just another sort of Spacian muscle.”

“I personally know theDominicus investigator who drew up this proposal and would like to beits point man. Kenanji Avery directed the operation against QuietZero. I trusted him with my life, the lives of my friends, and of theone who is now my wife. I would trust him with my life again.”

He eyed her for a momentbefore continuing. “Don Vincent say you be a serious younglady. Now when he say serious he mean something special like.Southern Cross Family, they got a way of showing they serious.”He reached down below his desk where he seemed to draw something froma pocket on the lower leg of his trousers. It was a large huntingknife. He reached across the table, placed the knife next to theenvelope then leaned back in his leather chair. “Last time Itrust Spacians I lose a whole arm like you see. You give me back afinger then maybe we see just how serious you be.”

They stared at each other fora few seconds. Then Miorine stepped forward and picked up the knife.She leaned forward and pressed her left hand on the desk, her fingersspread out wide. She looked the Jackal right in the eye. “Mywife is Suletta Mercury, the hero of Quiet Zero. Part of my weddingvow was to always support and protect her. These are the hands I dothat with every day, doing the things for her that she will not beable to do for herself for a very long time yet. These hands do notbelong to me any more, they belong to her. No part of them are mineto give away. So I will need to offer you something different.”

Miorine stood up straight, andwith her left hand she reached back and gathered up the long hairthat hung down her back. She then reached back with the knife and cutthrough it. As expected, the graphene blade was beyond razor sharpand cut straight through her hair effortlessly. She placed the knifeback on the table, then with both hands she laid the long lock ofhair across the desk. She stepped back and assumed a parade rest. “Ican only imagine how inadequate this must look to your eye. But it isall I have to offer, sir.”

He regarded her with what wasessentially a perfect poker face. After a moment he reached for theenvelope, opened it and removed the single bound document within. Heflipped through a couple of pages, as if just confirming it was whathe had been expecting to find. He placed it back down on the desk.When he spoke next it was in perfect standard Lingua. “I’llforward this to the Attorney-General. If it looks promising, hisoffice will contact you.” He glanced at their guard escort.“You can see them out.”

As soon as the limousinestarted moving Marsh seemed to melt into his seat. “My God Ineed a drink.” He flipped open the tiny bar and poured himselfa whisky. Still holding the flask, he looked to her inquiringly.

It was certainly tempting tocontemplate starting a brand new habit. “Just water for me.”He complied and she took a sip. They exchanged a fond look. She couldnot keep the satisfied grin off her face.

He took a generous pull fromhis drink. “Now that there was what we technically refer to assome seriously bad-ass footwork.”

“I was out of options,that was the last card I had to play.”

“When you picked up thatknife I thought to myself I sure wish I was in my dark suit because Iam just about to wet my pants.”

Miorine could easily say muchthe same thing. Instead, she said “I was worried you mightactually try to intervene. Just to clear the air, I want you to knowthat I am no longer in a place where I could contemplate somethinglike what the Jackal had suggested.”

“That does set my mindat ease.” He drained his glass. “I’m thinking thatbefore we take you home you might want to visit a salon and get yourhair trimmed properly. If your usual place doesn’t do walk-insI can take you to were my wife goes. Lovely lady who owns it, a realgem.”

“My braids were hardenough to explain to my beautician, trying to explain this mightactually be awkward. Thank you, I believe I will take you up on thatoffer.”

The lady who fixed up her hairreally was a gem. The gentle, motherly way she treated Miorine madeher suspect the beautician was thinking the roughly cut hair was theresult of some domestic dispute that had gotten out of hand. Shelikely would have been all the more alarmed to learn the truth.

When the car drove into thegarage of her townhouse, Marsh smiled warmly and said somethingdifferent than what he usually did. “Welcome home, ma’am.”

Their exchanged look showed amutual understanding of the dual meaning. “Thank you, it’sgood to be home.”

#-#-#-#-#

“Do you think maybe Ishould cut mine short too?” Suletta asked.

“Absolutely not,”Miorine said pleasantly but emphatically. “Your hair suits youperfectly and it’s just the way I like it.”

They were seated across fromeach other at the little table that folded out from the kitchencounter into the dining room, leaving them almost close enough fortheir knees to be touching. The lights were set low and a pair of theelegant, aromatic candles burned to each side of them. They ate fromthe same large dinner plate, Miorine alternately taking a biteherself then feeding one to Suletta.

They were both in eveninggowns. Miorine had bought her new ones, since her own were rathertight around the chest for Suletta. Now that she could sit upstraight by herself and could move a little better, getting her intoone of these for their dinner date was feasible and actually not thatdifficult. She had also taken her time on their makeup. Suletta hadsuggested covering over the whisker lines that remained on her face,but Miorine had vetoed that option.

“I just thought of itnow but you should have kept the long hair and brought it back.”

“Under the circ*mstancesI had to give it up.”

“Why?”

“I guess you could callit either a peace offering or a casualty of war, depending on howthings turn out.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“Why would you want itanyway?”

“Just to have it herewhen you’re away. I could look at it and feel it.” Shesmiled playfully. “And smell it.”

“I did not say you smelllike a cat. Let it go.”

“Are you going to growit back?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Yes. But only if youwant.”

“I’ll think aboutit.” She reached out and fed Suletta another bite, then tookone herself.

For a while they just slowlyate. Miorine drank in the contented expression on Suletta’sface. There had been a lot more of that expression recently. She didnot know all the details, but Suletta clearly understood that herwife had emerged from a bad place. There had come a sea change intheir life here. There was still the goal to strive for, but therewas now also the here and now to be cherished, every time they could.

They now talked about thingsthey never had before, except in just the most general terms. Theyboth asked each other endless questions about the time before theymet, all the things they had experienced, from the life-changing tothe utterly mundane and trivial. Miorine wanted to hear it all, andsurprised herself by wanting to tell it all. Things that had beenlong since tucked away and forgotten seemed to take on new life asshe watched Suletta listening to them.

After Miorine cleared thedishes and walked back to the table Suletta mentioned that they hadforgotten to do her grip strength and dexterity exercises.

“Your therapist has saidthat at this stage we might want to try changing up those exercises abit. I thought we might try something new.”

“Here?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Do you havesomething in mind?”

Miorine lay her hand on thetable between them, palm-up. “Can you take my hand in both ofyours?”

“Sure.” Shecarefully slid her forearms across the table. The motion was moresure and less shaky than it had been before. With just a bit oftrembling and twitching, and with Miorine moving to help, she wrappedMiorine’s hand in both of hers. “What now?”

Miorine looked into her eyes.She smiled and spoke very softly. “I want you to keep lookingup here. Without looking down, just by feel, I want you to explore myhand. Just get to know it. The shape, how the skin feels, how warm orcool it is. You can even move it. See how the fingers bend. Anything.See if you can get to know it so well that without looking you couldbe sure that it’s my hand.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”Suletta said a little hesitantly. She started by just strokingMiorine’s hand up and down. She did it very slowly, which wasthe best way to avoid the twitching or trembling that might set in ifshe went too quickly. After a while she did other things. Justholding different parts to see how they feel. Then slowly bendingfingers, together and separately. Then very gently squeezing andmassaging different parts like between the thumb and index finger, asif probing what might lie underneath.

Slowly, almost unconsciously,a smile came to her face, and Miorine felt herself do the same.Without speaking they both understood just how good this felt forboth of them. It was not therapy any more, it was just the two ofthem enjoying this moment.

Onestep after another, Suletta did what Miorine had asked her withoutreally asking her. Iwant you to ravage my hand with yours.

It was quite some time beforethey realized that they had quite forgotten about the dessert.

#-#-#-#-#

“It appears I have youto myself today,” Miorine said, pulling the box lunch out ofthe tray on Suletta’s wheelchair. “I win the place ofhonour by default.”

“Well, everybody isbusy.”

“It looks that way.”Miorine sat down and glanced around the table while she got the lunchready. It was no less crowded or noisy than before, but somehow lesschaotic. It seems everybody was absorbed with something on thetablets in front of them. “Is this some exercise they’vebeen given?”

“No, it’s justsomething that got started. Sort of by me.”

“Sort of by you?”Looking closely there was a definite pattern. The kids were in pairs.One of them was pointing to things on the tablet, explaining oranswering questions.

“A while ago some ofthem were talking about how they missed out on school. Some hadmissed out on more than others. I suggested that the ones who hadn’tmissed a particular subject teach one who had.”

Looking further Miorine couldsee the same pattern repeated on some of the neighbouring tables.There were children she did not recognize, not from Team Stray Cat.It had been just a few days since she had last been here so whateverthis was it had started up quickly. “Are they using standardtexts?”

“No, they’re usingworkbooks I brought from Mercury.”

“I sort of rememberthose.” Soon after she had shown up at Asticassia, Suletta hadshown Miorine some of the practice workbooks she had been using. Atthe time Miorine had curtly told her to start using the standardones. “They seemed to be geared more towards one-on-onetutoring.”

“That’s exactlywhat they’re for. Most schooling on Mercury is actuallytutoring.”

Miorine remembered Sulettatelling her a bit about that. “That’s why you wanted tomake a proper school.”

Suletta responded with a smilethat showed hints of that hope and longing from the days on her homeplanet. “Most people did a lot of transferring between theumbrella settlements and the mobile mining towns that follow thesunset terminator. They would never be in one place long enough forthere to be a real school. They just found somebody who knew whatthey needed to know and learned it from them. I did a lot of that.But I thought it was kind of sad. Mostly I would never see any of mytutors again.”

“It looks like they’redoing sort of the same thing here.”

“Sort of. The system isthe same. After you teach at least two people at your current levelyou get to go find somebody who can teach you at the next level up.That goes a lot faster when everybody is together like this. The apphelps to pair people up.”

“So you don’t evenneed a teacher.”

“Not really. But Ialways thought it would be nice to have a teacher too. They canconduct the tests instead of just doing them on the tablet. That sortof motivates people. The teacher can also help people who are havingtrouble, maybe find them a better match for a tutor.” Shesmiled shyly. “I’ve kind of been doing that a bit. I canwatch their progress too.”

“Can I see?”

Suletta worked a tablet thathad been secured to the armrest of her chair. She was still a littleslow and halting, but as long as she used what was politely referredto as the senior-friendly interface she did not have much trouble. OnMiorine’s suggestion she gave Miorine reader access so that shecould use her own phone.

In between helping Sulettawith lunch Miorine reviewed the test results. “Some of them aremaking remarkably fast progress.”

“When they’re alltogether like this it gets a little competitive. The senpaissometimes really drive their kohais hard.”

“Senpais and kohais?”

“Those are the terms weused on Mercury. I think they’re loanwords from some Old Worldlanguage, I’m not sure. It sort of means teacher and student ormaybe more like senior and junior. Some of the kids say they learn alot better like this.”

“Maybe it helps getaround the curse of knowledge.”

Suletta frowned. “Curse?”

Miorine realized she had useda word with unfortunate associations for her wife. “That was apoor choice of words,” she said quickly. “Better to callit the paradox of knowledge. People who learned something a long timeago sometimes forget what it was like not to know what they know. Butpeople who just finished learning remember it all too well.”

“I sure know what it’slike not to know things. Would that make me a great teacher?”

“You have to learn itbefore you can teach it.”

“When they come to mefor help and I don’t know the answer we try to figure it outtogether. They sometimes say that helps even better.”

Miorine considered that for amoment. “I stand corrected, I take that back. Maybe you canhelp teach something even if you don’t know it yourself yet.”

“I thought you wouldtell me that’s just an excuse for not knowing the answer.”

“That’s probablywhat I would have said before. Nobody’s been coming to you forhelp here, I guess I’m getting in their way.”

“They’rerespecting our space. The Team Stray Cat kids make sure the others dothe same, they’re very strict about that.”

“Well then let’sfinish up lunch. I’m dying to see senpai Suletta in action.”

“That’sheadmaster.”

“Fine. Say ‘ah’headmaster.”

#-#-#-#-#

Miorinewas woken up by the alarm in her earbud. It was not the morningalarm, it was the voice call alarm. The phone on the night table waslighting up in time with the alarm. Whatdamn time is it anyway?She picked up the phone. Till?She pulled back the covers and sat at the edge of the bed where shewould be less likely to wake her wife. She hit call accept. Till’sface showed up on the phone. She kept the default voice only at herend, it was dark in the room anyway. “Till, what’s up?”

“Sorry to bother you atthis hour,” Till said. “There’s something come upon the news you probably want to see. Prospera’s beingreleased.”

“What?” Miorinewas now fully awake. She swiped for her news feed. Even before thelist of headlines came up Till was already spoon-feeding her thebasics. “Shaddiq has confessed to having the lead role in theQuiet Zero project, so the related charges against Prospera weredropped.”

“Shaddiq? That makes nosense.”

“He’s beingformally charged. Prospera has confessed to her role in theQuinharbor incident, but it’s a suspended sentence and she’sgetting compassionate release.”

Compassionate release probablymeant... anyway, there were things to do. “I need to get ameeting with our solicitors, first thing. Can you set that up and bethere?”

“I’ve already gota meeting set up when their office opens. I’ll be there.Anything else?”

“Nothing until then.Thanks. Try to get some sleep if you can.”

She ended the call. “Miorine?”

She turned at the sound of herwife’s voice. In the dark she could just see her open eyes. “Iheard you talking. Is something wrong?”

“I got news from Till.”She palmed the lights on low. “Mother’s being releasedfrom prison, they just announced it.”

Suletta still looked a littlebewildered. “They’re letting her go?”

“Yes. I don’t knowtoo many details right now but I’ll tell you what I know. Can Iput the bed up?”

“Sure.” Miorinegot the bed into a reclining position so that it was easier forSuletta to talk. Miorine scooted over and knelt next to her.

“She’s confessedto some of the charges related to Quinharbor, and charges related toQuiet Zero are being dropped.” She did not mention anythingabout Shaddiq, that would be for another time. “But she’sbeing given compassionate release. That must mean it’s formedical reasons.”

Suletta obviously understoodthe implications. “Is she dying?”

“We already knew hercondition is terminal. I don’t know how bad it is right now.Just a second, I want to check something.” She worked her phoneagain. “Oh, I just got a text from Kenanji.” She broughtit up and related high points as she scanned. “He’sconfirming her release... they were under a blackout until the pressrelease, that’s why we’ve just found out now, he sayssorry about that... They’ve also gone public on what’shappened to Eri.” She suspected that was by way of a diversion,to defect public attention from the Space Assembly League’srole in the Quiet Zero incident.

Miorine lowered her phone andlooked at Suletta. “It’s compassionate release becauseshe probably does not have much more than a couple of years left,”she said gently. “He says that permission for emigration toEarth has been granted. As long as Rio grants entry, she can comelive here. Eri as well.”

Suletta’s expression washard to read, if anything she looked conflicted. “I think Iknow a little bit what you meant before. I mean, about feeling tornapart.”

Miorine took her hand. “Iknow. It’s a lot to take in. But your mother can come home now.Whatever time she has left, I’d like her to be able to spend itwith us. I’m already scheduled to meet with our attorneys firstthing in the morning to see what we need to plan. I know this is allhappening fast, but I need to know how you feel. Is this really whatyou want?”

She nodded. “Of course.I just wonder if it’s what they want.”

“To live with you? Howcould they not?”

“I guess you’reright. It’s just... it feels like a lot is going to change.”

“Yes, and not justMother and Eri being here. Pretty soon I might not be around quite asmuch.”

They had already talked aboutthis. If Miorine was ever cleared of responsibility for the eventsthat led to the massacre of Quinharbor, it would provide anopportunity for her to be more in the public eye and to do herliaison work more openly.

“I know. I told youthat’s okay.”

“Yes, you did. But Iwould feel a lot better knowing that your mother and sister are hereto keep you company when I can’t be. We’ll also want toget a permanent live-in nurse like we talked about.”

“We’ll take careof your tomatoes for you,” Suletta said with a smile thatshowed she was serious but also being playful.

Miorinesmiled. “You’d better. Anyway, with the automation Nunohelped me set up they pretty much take care of themselves. Thecommunity association’s gardener can help out when you need.And I won’t alwaysbe away you know.”

Neither of them were likely toget any more sleep, so they decided to watch the news and see whatpeople were saying about Prospera. Suletta mostly kept complainingthat the only pictures they had of her was either her mug shot orones with her mask on.

#-#-#-#-#

“So I guess this issomething like a double job evaluation,” the little plushysaid, its tiny red eyes flashing in time with its tinny little voice.

“Are you really okaystill just dangling off that key-chain?” Miorine asked Eri. “Iwould have thought by now you would have some sort of an enclosure orsomething.”

“Just say I’mleaning into my new existence.”

Miorine sighed. “Wellanyway, you’re not wrong.”

Prospera had insisted that sheand Eri would make the trip here on their own. Miorine had respectedher wish and made the arrangements. As soon as they arrived at thetownhouse, Suletta and Prospera had happily slipped right into theirold mother-daughter dynamic as if nothing at all had happened sincethe last time this had been their normal state. They had barely evennoticed when Miorine had said she wanted to take Eri aside anddiscuss some aspects of their living arrangement. Miorine hadcarefully arranged things so that they were at opposite ends of thebig open living-dining-kitchen space that constituted most of theground floor. Close enough to keep an eye but far enough for privacy.

“So I presume that infact the living arrangements are pretty much settled,” Erisaid.

“The nurse is arrivinglater this evening. I was expecting to have to find one myself butafter just one casual mention to my Southern Cross liaison theypassed on a recommendation. He insisted that she is a living saintand I can’t disagree, she’s wonderful. Both you andMother will love her. And now that you’re a celebrity too wedon’t even need to explain you.”

“I guess that means wecan get down to the real subject. What do you want to know?”

“Have you been happy?”

“Cutting right to thechase. The answer is yes, Mother has both doted on me and challengedme in exactly the right ways. She has dedicated every waking momentshe can to ensuring that I have everything I want, and moreimportantly everything I did not even know that I needed.”

“That is exactly whatSuletta thought for most of her life.”

“Am I being groomed asanother instrument of terrible vengeance? I know exactly what Motherdid to Suletta, I saw it and I understood it. Do you think she couldfool me? I know her better than anyone.”

Miorine eyed Eri. It annoyedher to no end that the plushy existence provided her a perfect pokerface. “So will you still do anything she asks?”

“What could I even do?”

“I know full well whatsomebody can do for good or ill even when all they have is a voice tospeak with.”

“Neither Mother nor Icould ever put Suletta under the sort of spell she broke out of.”

“I am not concerned withher being put under a spell, I am concerned with her being hurt.”

“You mean betrayed.”

“One and the same.”

“She loves us but hereyes are open now. She knows perfectly well what Mother did to her,what she tried to get her to do. She knows what I did and what Iwanted her to do. She said no and she fought us and she won.”

“Do you resent that shestopped your mother from remaking the world into a place where youcould roam free?”

“I never wanted Motherto do that. I am disappointed that I stood by let her try, and happythat Suletta stopped us. I owe her my life.”

“And how do you intendto repay that debt?”

“Just by trying to makeher happy. I’m sure I will disappoint her more than once. Butshe will forgive me and I will do better next time. That’s allI can do.”

Miorine nodded. “Yes, nomatter how we disappoint her, she will always forgive us.”

“It annoys me that Idon’t have a face which can subtly hint how that plural pronounwas not lost on me.”

“Suletta is not the sameperson she was but neither are we. I think we both understand howbadly we have treated her and how badly we want to stop it happeningagain.”

“It will happen again.”

“Yes, it will. Maybe wecan both do a better job. Compare notes, even.”

“We have different jobs.You’re her wife, I’m her sister.”

“Different roles workingtowards a common goal.”

“Can we have fun whilewe’re doing it?”

Miorine smiled. “Icertainly do. Every single day. Fun does not even begin to approachhow Suletta makes me feel.”

“I’m glad. Withthat out of the way, should we get down to specifics?”

“Other things havechanged besides your moving here. I have been keeping a low profile,but being cleared of responsibility for the Quinharbor incident hasopened up the opportunity for a more public presence. There are anumber of reasons for taking that opportunity, but the short of it isI might not be around as much as I have been.”

“We’ll make sureSuletta is never lonely. We don’t know how long Mother has, andI have been more or less monopolizing her. I think it’sSuletta’s turn now. I’ll try to give them as much spaceas I can.”

“It looks like we’reon the same page, so I can get to my main question. I was wonderingwhether you’d like to come work for me.”

“Do you think you have ajob I would be qualified for?”

Miorine shrugged. “Idon’t know. Perhaps we can start the real job interview now.”

At Miorine’s request,Eri detailed the education that she had been receiving over the pastyear or more. It was unbelievably extensive. Her time learning how tointegrate to the Ariel mobile suit had given her a theoretical,practical and intuitive knowledge of just about every technical fieldrelated to its operation. In weeks with Prospera conducting oraltests she had breezed through college level examinations oneverything from software engineering to rocket propulsion design.

After that, it seemed Prosperahad been endeavouring to try and fill in the gaps in her education.She had completed freshman level courses in economics,administration, history, philosophy, biology and cognitive science,among others. It seemed she was virtually incapable of forgettinganything she learned. When Miorine questioned her on specifics fromcourses that she herself had taken Eri answered correctly andthoughtfully every time. Miorine had long learned how to spotsomebody who was trying to bluff their way through and right now theneedle on that dial was not even quivering.

“Usually at this point Iwould be asking what lifetime career aspirations you have, but inyour case I’m having trouble even attaching meaning to thatquestion.”

“You mean am I growingup or getting older? I am burning in the fire of time like everybodyelse. I don’t know if I will burn longer or brighter or whatsort of ashes I will leave behind. I’ve decided not to worryabout it. Suletta gave me this gift, I will just accept it. I want tobe a good sister for her but that could mean a lot of things. Itcould mean helping her wife if she asks me.”

“We can play it by earbut I envision you as an assistant, somebody who can review what I amdoing and see if I am missing anything. Your savant level memorycould give me a real advantage and just put more face time on aproblem than I could manage by myself. I mean... do you even sleep orget tired?”

“Not so far.”

“I could give you thingsto review overnight so that we could brainstorm the next day. Do youalready have a tablet with voice-activated accessibility features?”

“They set one up for mea while back, though until recently it only had access to my approvedcourses.”

“Now you can connect itwith the world and use it to explore. Not just for me, but foryourself. Your role could change over time, depending on what you’velearned or what you want. This is all sort of nebulous right now butdoes it at least sound interesting to you?”

“Yes, it does. I lookforward to working with you, sister-in-law.”

Miorine smiled. “At thispoint I would usually be talking about salary, but that seems vaguelyridiculous.”

“Replace my key-chain ifit breaks.”

Soon Malia arrived. OnlyMiorine had met her before, during their interview. She had decidedto hire Malia within the first minute. She was a tall, stout, robustmiddle-aged woman with straight black hair tied up in two buns.Within minutes of her arrival it seemed as if she had always beenhere. She had her suitcase with her, so Miorine showed her to theroom she would be using. Her first task was to help the twowheelchair-bound women with their bath. Miorine suggested she helpSuletta first, and Eri insisted on going along because she just hadto see the tiger-stripes on Suletta’s back that she had heardabout. Malia took all this in stride as if she were dealing with justanother precocious child.

As planned, this left Miorinealone with Prospera.

Miorine sat down on the couchopposite from where Prospera sat in her wheelchair. She looked littledifferent than when Miorine had visited her at the Dominicus prison.Her black hair had grown out a bit, and was starting to grow out greyon one side. The Data Storm markings on the side of her face hadadvanced a little.

“This is a beautifulhome you have made for Suletta,” Prospera said, looking aroundthe large open living area. “It’s certainly much moregrand than anything we had on Mercury.”

“Living space isessentially free on Earth.” Miorine smiled. “Except in acity of course, it’s a bit more at a premium here.”

“I felt somewhatoverwhelmed, driving here.” Prospera confessed. “The cityseems to go on forever and there are people everywhere. You seem tohave a peaceful enclave here.”

“It’s a gatedcommunity.” It occurred to Miorine that probably did not meanmuch to Prospera... it had not meant anything to Miorine until nottoo long ago. “Only residents and their guests are admitted, soit’s quite peaceful. I hope you’ll like it here.”

Prospera smiled. “Thescenery is lovely, but I am here for the company.”

They looked at each othersilently for a moment. There seemed to be an understanding that itwas time for the real conversation to begin. “Mother, there aresome things I would like to tell you about.”

Prospera regarded her with alook that was both friendly and appraising. “I’mlistening.”

In detail, Miorine told of allthe mistakes she had made over the past year and more, all the waysshe had continued to hurt or mistreat or disappoint Suletta. The wayshe had almost without knowing tried to manipulate Suletta intoaccepting their rushed wedding, and then into agreeing to come toEarth. The way her anger over the curse that had been laid uponSuletta had led her to lash out like a mad dog against those whowould visit the same curse upon the children Suletta had befriended.The way that led her to eventually lash out against Suletta... sherelated exactly what she had done, and exactly what she had said,word for word.

She then related everythingshe had tried to do for Suletta since, every kindness she could thinkto give, every intimate moment she could remember, every growingfeeling of love and affection and desperate need she couldarticulate. Every way she had tried to atone for all that had gonebefore. Everything right up to now, where Miorine was determined toswallow any resentment or jealousy or mistrust and just let Sulettabe with her mother for as long as they had left.

“That is all I have beenable to do for her, Mother,” she concluded.

Prospera had never interruptedher once, just listening intently the whole time. She continued tolook Miorine in the eye with that same intensely thoughtful look.Then she smiled. “I can see why she is so happy now. She knowsthat you would do anything for her.”

“Do you think I havebeen able to do enough?”

“You have done so muchmore than I ever did. I was always so selfish.”

“I have been veryselfish too, many times.”

“You just selfishly wanther to be with you. I think that is why you and I might go astray indifferent ways.”

Miorine co*cked her head inpuzzlement. “What do you mean?”

“I wanted to unleash heron the world like a weapon. But you want something very different. Ithink that you would be tempted to put her in a cage.”

Miorine thought about thatvery carefully. “I have been very obsessive about protectingher, not just because of her current condition. My position in theworld puts us both in the cross-hairs. I can’t afford to let myguard down.”

“One day she might wantto be the one to protect you. Would you let her?”

“She protected all ofus, and now she’s paying the price. I would never want her topay a price like that again. But we both took the same wedding vows.I denied her agency in the past but I am done with that now. She ismy partner in life and we protect each other.”

After a moment, Prosperasmiled. The appraising look had vanished. “I’m sorry Iwas not able to go to your wedding.”

“My lousy father missedit too, so you’re even.”

“It seems we both have acomplicated relationship with Delling Rembran.”

“If you mean we’veboth felt like killing him at times then yes it has been very, verycomplicated.”

Prospera laughed a little,bringing her one flesh-and-blood hand up to her mouth as if she werea little embarrassed. “I think it is just as well we areseparated from him by hard vacuum.”

“I certainly don’texpect you to make any peace with him. But if either of us tried tokill him I think that Suletta would be very disappointed with us.”

Prospera spoke with a clearlyironic tone. “Then we shall both need to restrain ourselves.”

Miorine responded in kind. “Ipromise to resist the urge with great fortitude.”

After a moment they bothstarted laughing at the same time. Miorine actually had to close hereyes to try and shut down the positive feedback loop.

At length, Miorine once againtrusted herself to be able to speak with a straight face. “Sulettawas so happy to have you here. It was wonderful to see.”

“You seemed to be veryengaged with Eri.”

“We were talking abouther working for me.”

“I thought you objectedto child labour.”

“That’s notfunny.”

“Forgive me, I agree itwas out of line. I must caution you, she is a handful.”

“I get that impression.But she’s also extraordinary. You’ve clearly put a lot ofwork into her education.” She realized that was not really whatshe wanted to say. She smiled fondly. “I mean, you have puteverything into raising her, and it shows.”

“She has been both myproject and my comfort. It has been a joy to see her growing. Buteven after what was really a short time I feel I can do less and lessfor her. Everything will be getting more difficult for me. If you cangive her a new way to spread her wings, I would be happy.”

Miorine leaned forward andlooked seriously at her. “Suletta is your medical proxy, so onmy behalf she obtained your medical records. The same clinic thatSuletta goes to has reviewed it and agreed to take you as a patient.I’ve already scheduled an appointment for next week if that’sokay.”

“So you know about myprognosis.”

“Yes. You have a coupleof years, maybe a little more or a little less. But you do have someoptions for treatment during that time.”

She answered very plainly andcalmly. “I have long since made my peace. I would like to stayhere as long as I can be of comfort and benefit to Suletta. But assoon as I become a burden I want to withdraw from her life aspeacefully as I can. My mind will be slowly deteriorating, I canalready feel it beginning. There will likely come a time when Icannot even judge when the time has come for me to withdraw. Sulettais getting stronger and I’m sure she would insist on caring forme to the end. But that is not what I want for her.”

Miorine had been expecting tohear something like this. “Suletta is aware of your prognosis,but she and I have not discussed your end-of-life care. For now, I’dlike for her not to have to worry about that.”

Prospera nodded. “Whenwe go to the clinic, the first thing I want to do is to make you myprimary medical proxy. From that point on, I want you to do whateveris going to give my daughter the most comfort and the least pain. Iwill leave that in your hands.”

Miorine thought about that. “Iunderstand, and I’ll agree to do that. But please understand, Ihave promised myself to treat Suletta as my partner in life. I willtell her what I think is best. But she might have different ideas,and I won’t discount them.”

Prospera’s smile was alittle lopsided. “It is so easy to fall back into the habit ofassuming you know what’s best for everyone else, isn’tit?”

“Yes, it’s aconstant struggle for me too.”

“Then we will have tokeep each other on our toes.”

Miorine nodded. “Thereare other things we will need to talk about but I think that can beleft until we are speaking with your care-givers.”

“I agree. But enoughtalk of mortality. I would like to hear more about your new life hereon Earth.”

There was plenty to tell,Miorine hardly knew where to begin. With Prospera’sencouragement she spoke of all the things that had been surprisingher. Little things like the playful wind and the smells. Deep thingslike how the turn of the seasons made her feel like the planet wasbreathing. All the various unspoken assumptions that Spacians livedunder, all the things that made her feel like a stranger in paradise.

That seemed to piqueProspera’s interest. “Ever since I heard that term Ialways wondered what it meant to be a stranger in paradise. Myparadise always felt like a warm nest, and after that I was astranger in a strange land.”

“Does the phrase havesome special meaning? I just came up with it.”

Prospera’s expressionwas enigmatic. “That actually reminds me, before I forget Ibrought a present for you. Could you fetch the bag from under myseat?”

Prospera opened the bag andhanded Miorine a well-worn hardcover book. “Thank you.”She sat down and read the title. “The Tempest. I’m notfamiliar with it. This looks old enough to be some sort of firstedition.”

“Hardly. The originalstory is centuries old, this is a modern Lingua translation.”

Miorine flipped through thebook. “It seems to be almost freakishly dialogue-heavy.”

“The original was astage-play, this is more or less a novelization. I’ve found itinspiring. In some ways it pushed me in unfortunate directions. Ifyou read it I think you’ll see what I mean.”

“Aren’t you afraidit might be a bad influence on me?” Miorine was only halfjoking.

“I’m hoping itwill help open your eyes. And not just the specific story.” Shelooked at Miorine much more intensely now, as if she really wanted toconvey the import of what she was saying. “This world has adeep history that most of us have largely forgotten about, includingmyself. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because we havespent so many generations staring up at the glittering prizes up inthe sky. It was inevitable that we would migrate to space one day,but I think there has been a price that we are not even aware of.Maybe you will come to understand that better than I have.”

“Finding wisdom from thepast goes against everything the world I came from represents. Theunspoken assumption was always that the latest iteration immediatelymade everything that came before it obsolete.”

“I only took the mostcursory dip into mankind’s deep past.” Prospera gestured.“That book and some others. If you take a deeper dive, youmight come back with things that are beyond the ken of most peoplealive.” She smiled, maybe a little wickedly. “At the veryleast, knowledge is power.”

“I will at the veryleast read this one and see where that leads.”

Prospera nodded. “I amhappy that you have accepted my peace offering.”

“I am happy to acceptit.” Miorine gestured to encompass the room. “This home,our home, is my peace offering.”

“Likewise I am happy toaccept it.”

It seemed to be understoodthat, despite the odds, they were able to make their peace. “Thereare probably other things we are going to need to discuss as yousettle in, but we can leave that for another time. You must be tiredfrom your journey, after all.”

“I actually feel moreenergized than I have in a long time. I was really enjoying thepastries you laid out, did you make them?”

“Yes. The kitchen hasbecome an oasis for me, sort of like the tomatoes.”

“It looks like mydaughter has chosen well.”

Miorine was unable to keep theirony out of her smile. “When Suletta is mobile you can becertain I will expect her to help in the kitchen.”

“You might regret that.Did she ever tell you about how she nearly set one colony’skitchen on fire?”

They were into the second taleof kitchen misadventures when it became time for Prospera’sbath. Miorine went to join Suletta and Eri in the bedroom where Maliahad left them. Based on some of Eri’s subsequent comments itsounded like Suletta had been a little too free in relating privatemoments in their married life. Clearly they would need to have wordslater.

#-#-#-#-#

Now that she had been livingon Earth for more than a year, Miorine found it impossible to regardthe ring habitats of the Fronts as anything other than a fraud. Thepath she took across the Front that held the headquarters of HouseJeturk was pleasant enough, with plenty of green grass, trees andflowerbeds. But there was just so much missing. The temperature wasthe same day and night, never would there be the damp mist of themorning, the heat of the noonday sun or the cooling of the evening.Neither would there be the playful breezes that would spring up anddisappear and dance all day long. Nor the clouds that were impossiblyfar and were never the same twice.

“This must be theplace,” Eri said from her position dangling from the blazer ofMiorine’s business suit.

“Obviously.”

Miorine walked into theresearch hospital and the receptionist directed her to where sheneeded to go. When she entered the examination room, as expected thedoctor and the technician with whom she had previously met throughvideo conference were waiting for her. There was another who she hadnot expected but probably should have.

“Guel? I hope you arenot here bringing bad news.”

“Not at all,” hesaid in a businesslike manner. “Everything is ready, I justwant to make certain you are happy with the result.”

Guel was a tall, fit man withbroad shoulders and a sturdy build. He had what many people wouldrefer to as rugged good looks. He had mostly black hair with a shockof red over his face, whether by design or by some fluke ofspace-borne mutation. She had known him when that face seemed to havebeen stuck in an arrogant sneer, but he was considerably morereserved than he had been. It was perhaps an uncharitable thought butit was unsurprising that committing patricide even in self-defencewould trigger some degree of reflection and change.

“I applaud a hands-onapproach but there is also something to be said for trusting yourstaff to do their jobs.”

“This was something of arush job and there is a lot riding on it, for both of us.”

The three cyberbrains Miorinehad brought with her from Earth were lined up on the table. Theylooked no different to the eye, but she knew that they nowincorporated Permet devices installed by a lab associated with theJeturk group.

They were easilydistinguishable. The casings of Suletta’s and her own onematched their particular skin tones, and were curved to fit behindthe neck. Eri’s on the other hand was more or less rectangularwith a slot where the little plushy could be fit.

Miorine picked up her own andfelt the weight. “It doesn’t seem any heavier.”

“Less than five gramsextra,” the technician said. He was a young man in a lab coat.

She reached back and fitted itto the back of her neck. The surgically implanted magnets held it inplace. The surgery for those and for the magnetic interface devicesunder the skull had been simple and uneventful, being very similar tothe muscle stimulation implants Suletta had previously received. Assoon as her cyberbrain was fitted in place the familiar colour-codedtranslucent menu dots appeared around her peripheral vision.

“I’d like to haveyou look at a plain background to make sure the menu is clean.”

“Fine.” It wasprobably not necessary since the new components were not related tothe visual cortex interface, but she could not fault them for beingdiligent. A plain white wall in front of her lit up slightly. Shesoon confirmed there were no issues with the menu. She saccaded tothe new menu item and the expected two new menu dots came up. “Ican network Eri directly to any of these, correct?”

“Yes,” thetechnician said. “If she is in the slot of her own unit then nonetwork connection is needed, she can just use the built-in speakerand mic. There is also an optional networked privacy setting, allvoice-activated and Faraday caged.

“Eri, do you rememberthe commands?”

“Yes!” Eri saidbrightly. “This is exciting, I really want to try it out!”

“I’d actually liketo test Suletta’s unit first, can you network to that one?”

“Sure!” Eri gavethe voice commands. Immediately Miorine got the response. “Eri’sicon flashed three times.”

“Then you’ve got alink.” The technician pointed to another door. “I’dlike to take the unit into a sealed room, just to confirm that theyare using the Permet link. You should send messages that confirm youridentities.”

This was mostly for herbenefit, to confirm that it was not just a standard wireless link.Probably not necessary, but again she could not fault theirdiligence.

He pointed to the tray thatSuletta’s cyberbrain was sitting on. “Um... you can puther here.”

Various people reacteddifferently when they encountered Eri. So far these two – well,Guel included actually – had been very casual and professional.But a little hint of the terminal weirdness surrounding this sentientplushy was leaking out of their reactions.

When the technician took Eriand the cyberbrain into the next room and closed the door thatFaraday sealed both of them, Miorine said “I’d like totest this with the sub-vocalization.”

“That will be fine,”the doctor said.

Whatthey were testing was the purpose of the Permet device upgrades, theability to communicate from any distance with no networkinfrastructure. Theoretically they could be as far apart as theywanted, Mercury or Mars or whatever. Of course then it would not beinstantaneous, it would be at the speed of light... or perhaps moreproperly the speed of causality. As to whatexactly was going at that speed... Miorine had tried to do her owndeep dive into that question but gave up after she encountered morethan one qualified person declare that they had no idea whetherobtaining further insight into that question would require spendingthe next thousand years building a particle collider that wenthalfway across the Solar System or the next million years buildingone that went halfway to the Centauri system. Until then, just shutup and engineer.

Miorinesaccaded to the call function. ‘Thisis Tomato Angel to Funny Face, come in.’

‘Thisis Funny Face, I read you Tomato Angel.’

‘Iguess we should humour them and establish our identities to eachother.’

‘Okay.When we get home I’m going to tell Suletta that you really dothink she smells like a cat.’

‘Whenwe get home I will have a press conference and announce that yourlittle-girl routine hides a psychopathic child that fell very closeto the tree of the world’s most notorious terrorist.’

‘I’lltell Suletta that I hear you moaning Guel’s name in yoursleep.’

‘Ifyou spread that sort of slanderous libel I will flush you down thenearest toilet after relieving myself.’

‘Iam convinced that I am speaking with my sister-in-law. Over and out.’

‘Iam convinced that I am speaking with the plushy in the next room.Over and out.’

She gave the doctor a smilethat she thought was sweet but seemed to disturb her. “I wasdefinitely able to speak with Eri. If we can try out her unit then Ibelieve we’re done.”

When they finished thepaperwork Miorine kept her own unit on and put Eri into her own unit.“Hey! It’s dark and scary in here!”

“You know perfectly wellthat you can slave to the cameras on my unit. Stop being such a baby,I’m tired of wearing you as an accessory.” She placed Eriand Suletta’s units into her little shoulder-bag, then lookedat Guel. “I guess we can conclude our business now, aspromised.”

“Thanks. I have ameeting room reserved.”

What they needed to do couldbe concluded just with her phone, but she had no objection toobserving the niceties. “Fine, lead the way.”

Somebody had laid out coffeeand dainties, Miorine helped herself to the former. She had intendedto speak out of politeness and obligation, but found a good deal ofsincerity leaking out. “Thanks for getting this done soquickly, I appreciate it.”

“Since there areone-time custom jobs, we didn’t need to be worried aboutoptimizing for mass production, that will come later.” Hesmiled. “Still lifetime warranty.”

“I know that already,it’s in the contract.”

“Any other concernsbefore we seal the deal?”

“You already know myconcern.”

To his credit he did not lookirritated. “A clause against military use would never haveflown with the board, I’m sure you know that. All I can give isa verbal assurance.”

“I can accept that onone condition.”

“What condition?”

“If you break yourpromise I get to slap your face.”

He smiled. “I guessthat’s only fair.”

They both pulled out theirphones, brought up the agreement and submitted it to the escrowservice. It was a two-way technology transfer where Jeturk wasobtaining the medical technology of the cyberbrain interface andGUND-ARM was obtaining the Permet devices that allowed directuntraceable communication without wireless networks. There wasbenefit to both companies and somewhere along the line they likelywould have done something like this, but Miorine’s desire forher family to be able to communicate reliably and privately whenapart was the impetus for pushing the schedule forward.

Guel put his phone away. “Ihope I haven’t got you in trouble with your board. I mean,insisting on just the verbal assurance. I know it can be a sorepoint.” Miorine detected some part sympathy and also some partcalculation of possible obstacles against future business.

Miorine understood that was aperfectly legitimate balance to be making, and did not feel at alloffended or put off. “I impressed upon them that you can betrusted to keep your promises.” Her expression sobered. “Itold them how your last duel with Suletta was on the honour system.”

His expression also becamemore serious. It was something they had not spoken of since then. “SoSuletta told you about that.”

“She told me that youinsisted on the duel. And that you honoured the result. I’vebeen searching for a way to thank you that doesn’t soundbeastly.”

He smiled. “You meansome way that doesn’t also say thank you for agreeing to breakoff our engagement.”

“No. What I really wantto say is, thank you for allowing me to marry the love of my life.”

The way he looked at her madeit clear he understood there was only one possible response. “You’rewelcome.”

“We’re both verydifferent people from when you first became the Holder. I believe Ican trust you now, and I hope you feel the same way.”

“I know I can trust youto take care of Suletta. Back then I probably had some notion that Iwas the only one who could protect her.”

“That is something wehad in common.”

Guel smiled. “I thinkthe difference is that you were right.”

“You just need to findthe one who wants to be protected by you and protect you in return.”She co*cked her head. “So, are you going to be asking Fersi tomarry you sometime soon?”

Helooked even more dumbstruck than she had expected. “Where didthatcome from?”

“It’s perfectlyobvious that the two of you are in love, even just seeing you workingtogether on a technology deal it’s practically blinding.”

“Just because you’remarried now this makes you an expert?”

“Does that mean theanswer is no?”

He looked really irritatednow, though surprisingly less embarrassed than she would havethought. “It means we’ve had rather a lot on our plateafter you and your mother-in-law turned the world upside-down.”He did look a bit embarrassed now, as if he thought he might havesaid too much.

Miorine did not react. “Youthink finding love will cut into your business performance? I cantell you it will do exactly the opposite, it will inspire you in waysyou never thought possible.”

“Is that so? Well, I’mglad to hear you two are happy.” It sounded like he meant it,despite his obvious irritation.

“I still didn’thear a ‘no’.”

He stubbornly folded his arms.“How about ‘none of your business’?”

“Fair enough. I’msorry if I overstepped my bounds, but I am grateful to you so a bitof friendly advice was really all I had to offer.”

“Thanks.” Hisgratitude looked grudging, but it was there.

Miorine stood up. “Well,if you’ll excuse me I have some headhunting to do while I’min the region. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I don’tscavenge from business partners, that’s just common courtesy.”

#-#-#-#-#

The hangar of the AsticassiaFront reserved for Grassley House was looking rather empty now. Amongthe row of unoccupied bays there was just a single Heindree mobilesuit. Miorine was more interested in the person she had been led tobelieve was here. She spotted what appeared to be her, sitting in theopen co*ckpit.

Miorine launched herselfacross the floor of the enclosure, floating until she reached out tothe approaching massive leg of the mobile suit and absorbed hermomentum with her arm. She kicked against the armour of the suit’sfoot and sailed up the secured mobile suit’s leg and torsountil she grabbed the upper co*ckpit door and swung in to brace herfeet against the lower door. “Hello, Sabina. I thought youmight be here, I’m glad I found you.”

The woman was not startled byher sudden appearance, but did show growing surprise as she clearlyrecognized Miorine. “Lady Rembran...” she saidhesitantly.

“Miorine is fine. I washoping we could talk. Can you take a break?”

Sabina Fardin was a tall,statuesque woman who was not much older than Miorine but always gavean impression of greater maturity. Even right now in workplacecoveralls and with her dark wavy hair tied back in a practical knotshe had a very striking presence. Her lovely face and dark,penetrating eyes always seemed to be in a state of alert observation,like she was on permanent sentry duty.

“Yes, it’s fine. Iwas just doing a regular checkup.” She sounded a littleself-conscious as if what she said was not quite true, as if she hadbeen just looking for a way to pass the time.

“I brought coffee andbuns.” Miorine slid the little micro-gravity friendly pack fromher back to her front and opened it up.

“Thank you.”Sabina reached out her hands and accepted the sealed cup and the bunin its wrap.

“Pardon me.”Miorine came into the co*ckpit proper and lightly wedged herselfbetween the bulkheads on one side. “I’m sorry we didn’thave time to talk much at the wedding. I know you were there toescort the Grassley representative but I was happy to see you.”

“I was happy to bethere. And I’m glad everything turned out for you.”

There were a number of ways tointerpret the polite comment. “It all happened a little soonerthan we were expecting so it was a challenge for Suletta, but itworked out fine.”

For a moment Sabina had thatlook which suggested somebody is wavering between saying somethingpolite and saying what they really want to. The way in which shecontinued suggested she had settled on the latter. “She heldherself with such poise and grace. I’m sure very few otherpeople could see how much work it was for her. I understand therewere circ*mstances at play but it’s a shame you could not havewaited until her condition improved. She... you both deservedbetter.”

It was more honesty thanMiorine had been expecting from the usually reserved woman. She wasgrateful, on a number of levels. “As you supposed, we needed tohead off any challenges to her position as Holder.”

“Your concern was notunfounded. There had already been rumours floating around of peopleinquiring about that very possibility.”

Miorine was more than a littlealarmed to hear that. “Well, you’ve given me a bit moreconfidence that we made the right decision.” She smiled. “Butyou need not be concerned. My wife is going through a challengingtime, but as she likes to remind me she is very happy with our newlife. And that day was just as magical for her as it was for me.”

That actually brought out abit of a smile, the first one Miorine could recall seeing from her.“It showed. I hope she is doing well.”

“She’s gettingbetter all the time, and actually having a lot of fun with ourfriends at the clinic.”

“I’m very glad tohear that.”

Miorine felt it was time toraise another issue. “Sabina, another reason I’m here isthat I feel I owe you an apology.”

She looked puzzled. “Anapology?”

“Shaddiq has confessedto his role in the Quinharbor incident, which has left me off thehook. He is not being untruthful but the fact is that I have to sharesome of the blame. I may have been betrayed but the fact is that Ilet myself be betrayed and ignored the obvious risks of what I wasdoing, all for selfish political reasons. You and the others who havebeen loyal to Shaddiq, all of your friends, you are paying theprice.” She looked around at the empty, silent space aroundthem. “It’s pretty clear that House Grassley has all butabandoned you, just because of your association with Shaddiq. It’sso unfair, and I feel responsible. I’m sorry, I allowed myselfto get taken in and now all of you are paying the price.”

Sabinaregarded her unflinchingly with those intense, piercing eyes. Herexpression was calm and thoughtful. At length she answered with wordsthat sounded sincere but also chosen with care. “I will alwaysbe deeply grateful to master Shaddiq. But he made some poorchoices... no, some wrongchoices. I followed along when I knew that I shouldn’t have. Ifeel that I have let him down, so... I have no less reason for regretthan you, Miorine. I thank you, but I don’t feel I haveanything to blame you for.”

Miorine smiled. “I amalso grateful to Shaddiq, even when he and I were at odds he alwaystreated me with kindness and respect. One day I will go thank him inperson, but right now I don’t know if I can find the rightwords to say. I can only imagine how cowardly that looks.”

“I have visited him, andI am not ashamed to say that it was difficult for me. I understand.”

“Is he well?”Miorine hoped that had not sounded desperate.

Again, there was just thathint of a smile. “He is unflappable, as always.”

“Of course he is. Ialmost feel silly asking the question.” She took a drink fromthe straw of her cup. “I see you are by yourself today. Yourfriends in the pilot cadre, Henao and Ireesha and Maisie and Renee,are they still here with you?”

“Yes, we’re alltogether in the barracks.”

“I see. I have toconfess, I have a somewhat selfish reason for confirming that. I’lljust come out and say it directly. I was hoping you could all comework for me at GUND-ARM.”

She looked astonished. “Workfor you?”

“Yes. From here on I amgoing to be making more and more public appearances and I am going toneed a group of people who can act as both a security detail andassistants in managing my itinerary. I think that all of you would beuniquely qualified.”

“I’m not sure whyyou think that. We’ve all been very focused on pilot training.”

Miorine could see that she hadSabina thinking analytically, taking the notion seriously at least ata theoretical level. Perfect. “I know the sort of trainingmobile suit pilots go through. You take both martial arts and smallweapons training to get a feel for how you will need to operate themobile suits in close combat. You have all trained at an elite levelin one of the most prestigious academies, so I don’t even needto ask about your qualifications at that level. At another level youhave worked successfully as a team navigating the snake-pit that isthe political economy of the Asticassia academy, I doubt theenvironment I will be in could present you with anything worse.”

She looked skeptical, butstill analytical. “I would expect there are people available onEarth who would be more qualified.”

“There might be. Butthere is another reason I am asking you and your friends. I want formy company to be a link between the Earthian and the Spacian worlds.You are an Earthian who has embraced the Spacian world, and you havebeen accepted as both a friend and leader by a team of people whowere born Earthian and bred Spacian. If you were to come to Earth andbe by my side while I forge these links, your very presence would bea message all in itself. That is another reason why I think you areall uniquely qualified. Of course I know you can’t speak foranyone else, so I would meet with everyone individually and ask fortheir support.”

Sabina appeared genuinelyawkward now. “Some of them, especially... that is, they mightbe more than a little intimidated by the idea of a one-on-one meetingwith Miorine Rembran. She, that is they might... react poorly.”

Miorine smiled. She had anidea what the issue might be. “Sabina, if you and I were totrade stories to see who has the more eccentric set of friends I feelcertain that at best you might win out by a very narrow margin. Ihave experienced the sort of strength that can emerge from a varietyof personalities when they are devoted to each other. You have turnedthose girls into a team so I am certain you know what I am talkingabout.”

Sabina looked very thoughtful.“If I asked them I’m sure they would follow me, but I’mnot certain I have the right to even ask.”

“I’m not certainwhat your circ*mstances are right now, but I suspect that in oneaspect it is not dissimilar to mine. Your reputations have beentarnished just because you got caught up in a conflict that so manypeople feel bitter about. I have been taking some small steps tocross those boundaries and now I want to do more. To be part of that,to be seen as part of that, might help us all remove that tarnish sothat we can go on and do what we really want.”

Sabina thought about thatsilently for a while. She looked at Miorine again. “I think itwould be best if all of us meet with you together.”

“Whenever and whereveryou want.”

“Before that, I have aselfish request of my own. It is only a request, not a condition, andit is not something I can expect you to agree to right away becauseit is not just a request to you. It is a request for your wife.”

“For Suletta?”

She hesitated as if gatheringher thoughts. “Whenever I faced her as a pilot, whether thatwas in training or duels or battles, I could feel her strength inevery move she made. And it was not just when she was in the Ariel.Even in a trainer there was no mistaking the grace she could bringout of it.”

Miorine was perplexed. “It’srather out of my wheelhouse but I was there when she miserably failedher first mobile suit exercise.”

The anger that suddenly surgedacross Sabina’s face was astonishing. “That was only whenher suit had been sabotaged in the most cowardly fashion, and thatwas not the only time either.” She suddenly seemed to realizeshe was speaking with one of those saboteurs. “Forgive me,I...”

“I absolutely deservedthat.”

Sabina seemed to accept thatno offence had been taken. Still, she spoke with a smaller voice thatsounded chastised. “I gave no thought to your feelings, andthat was wrong. But I already told you I have a request, so I willmake it. When Suletta has fully recovered, and if she wishes, I wouldlike to challenge her to a duel of any form she chooses for no otherstakes than the duel itself.”

“I see.” Miorinetook a moment to collect her thoughts. “Sabina, you have beenvery honest and forthcoming with me, so I will try my best to do thesame. The truth is the very thought of Suletta ever again entering amobile suit at all simply terrifies me. But you are not the firstperson to remind me that the day might come when she has to, or maybejust wants to, and I might need to get used to that idea.”

Miorine managed a smile. “Ifshe does, I can think of no better reason than entering a duel withyou just for the challenge or the simple joy of it. I will be veryhappy to pass on your request, and I hope that one day she canaccept.”

“Thank you, I am verygrateful.”

They set the time for theirmeeting and Miorine took her leave. When they were out of earshot shegot an incoming on her cyberbrain.

‘Hey,Miorine, can you let me out of here?’

Miorine sighed. “Fine, Iguess it’s safe now.”

When Miorine had clipped herto her jacket, Eri said “Will I be incognito for the meeting aswell?”

“Yes. Getting used toyou is something for after they’ve taken the job.”

“Sabina seems to be onboard,” Eri noted.

“That’s what I’mdepending on. I had to spring this idea on her cold, but the othersare all Spacians so this will be a harder sell. Having her get themused to the idea first will make things a lot easier.”

“You’re a Spacianwho got used to living on Earth very quickly.”

“Yes, I’ll also beleveraging that,” Miorine confirmed. It was a lot more thangetting used to it, Miorine could not imagine living anywhere elsenow. But she would not say that to them here. When the time came shewould just let the Earth work its magic and speak for itself, evenfor those who might have forgotten its beauty.

“The other girls arekind of unknowns from our perspective,” Eri pointed out.

“I know enough, and ifsome turn out to have less aptitude that’s fine. As long as wepay attention we can find a role for everyone.”

“Sounds like you’reall ready to reel them in.”

“I wouldn’t evenbe asking them if I didn’t think this would benefit them aswell.”

“So you’re reallynot going to visit Shaddiq?”

Miorine had been wonderingwhen Eri would bring that up. “At this early stage it would beall to easy for him to interpret my purpose as gloating.”

“That depends on whatyou say to him.”

Miorine hesitated just amoment before answering. “I still need to give more thought tothat.”

“Are you sure you’renot just afraid of your own feelings for him?”

“Flush.”

Eri did not miss a beat.“Moving right along then, we just got a note that our offer onthe alternate school site has been accepted.”

“Good. It’s alittle smaller, but closer to the clinic. That’s where most ofthe students will be coming from.”

“Suletta will be reallyhappy!” A bit of Eri’s little-girl public persona cameout.

Miorine smiled. “Yes, itwill be a nice surprise.”

#-#-#-#-#

“It all looks ratherchaotic,” Sabina observed.

“There is method to hermadness,” Miorine assured her.

The school consisted of mostlyone large shared space, with tables arrayed across the floor in rows.There was a steady background noise of voices, though nothing likewhat she had become accustomed to during lunch at the clinic daycare.Mostly it was pairs of students at work, more often than not with atablet but sometimes constructing or programming things. A couple ofsmall robots could be seen in various states of assembly, and usuallythere would be one or two drones floating overhead. There were somegroups working together as well, those were the noisiest.

“Active noisedampeners?” Henao asked.

“Yes,” Miorineanswered. “My suggestion. I think it helps.”

Henao Jazz was the mostenigmatic of Miorine’s new staff headhunted from Grassley. Shewas normally a quiet, reserved young woman whose sleepy eyeshalf-hidden by a great lock of hair drooping over one side of herface seemed equal parts glazed and piercing. But she was not afraidto speak her mind when the occasion warranted. Miorine had found herto be fiercely observant and insightful, in various contexts raisingquestions she had never thought of.

They had just arrived here fortheir visit a moment ago. Sabina was almost always accompanyingMiorine now, with other members of the team rotating as needed.Generally two of them were with Miorine, or more if they felt therewere particular security issues to deal with. It was Miorine’sfirst time here since they actually started bringing students in.

Right away they had spottedSuletta at one of the tables, talking to a pair of students. Theyseemed to all be working together to try and understand or workthrough something that was on the tablet they were looking at. Aftera few minutes Suletta levered herself up from the seat on her walkerand wheeled it over to them. When they arrived Miorine had pinged hercyberbrain saying they were here but to finish whatever she was doingfirst.

“Hi Everyone!”Suletta said cheerily. “Pretty noisy now isn’t it?”

“In a good way.”Miorine gave her a peck on the cheek. She was still not ascomfortable as Suletta with public displays of affection, this hadbeen their negotiated compromise. “Everything is still in onepiece.”

“I told you they takecare of the place.”

The rule was that the firstthing any new student would be taught was how to help clean andmaintain the school building. Older students even did basicmaintenance. As long as they could find one student who knew how todo something, or temporarily bring in somebody who could teach them,the knowledge would be distributed as required. Positions ofresponsibility had status attached to them, and according to Sulettawere competed for quite aggressively.

Suletta gave them a tour,along the way introducing them to the three teachers they had hired.On a suggestion from some of their old friends and now their new oneswho had grown up in remote areas, they had recruited from smallvillages with declining populations where former teachers were eitherunemployed or doing other work. These teachers had often run one-roomschools teaching multiple grades at once, an environment much closerto Suletta’s Mercurian-based apprentice system. And they wereglad for an excuse to move to the city where friends and family hadlong since migrated to.

They went to sit down in thestaff room, which was separated from the open area by glass and wasquieter. “Have you had any problems?” Sabina asked.

“So far we’ve onlyhad to discipline two students,” Suletta said. “Just foryelling at people. We’re very strict about behaviour, there’sa three-strike rule. Bad behaviour reflects on their seniors, so thestudents usually take care of it themselves.”

Miorine had an idea how thatmight work based on observing how Suletta acted as the de factoheadmaster of Team Stray Cat. In front of their peers she would lookat a misbehaving child with her soulful eyes and ask with her sad,disappointed voice if they could please explain what is wrong. By thetime the exchange was done it was usually quite clear that thechildren would much sooner disembowel themselves than ever disappointher again. Miorine knew just how they felt.

“It sounds like it’svery competitive,” Henao observed.

“It is, sort of. Not asbad as on Mercury, though.” She smiled a little shyly. “I’ma slow learner so I got yelled at a lot. I just wished there werepeople who could explain things more carefully.” Her facebrightened. “Some of the senpai-kohai relationships arebecoming more permanent. We have a sort of critical mass now sothat’s easier. It’s kind of what I wanted to see happen.They care about the people they’re teaching.”

“You’re taking alot of pressure off the clinic’s daycare,” Miorine said.“They’re happy about that, I’m pretty sure this isgoing to be a permanent arrangement now.”

“There weren’tenough teachers where I grew up,” Sabina said. “Ourclasses were very large and it was hard for everyone. So I’mreally surprised by how many students you have here with just threeteachers and yourself.”

“The kids do most of theteaching. But we’re busy too.” She smiled at Miorine.“Mostly what my wife calls fighting fires. There’s alwayssome who are having trouble. It’s nice to be able to give themattention when they need it. That’s what I had always wanted.”

“You managed very wellfor yourself regardless,” Sabina said.

Again with that adorable shylittle smile. “I learned some things well, but a lot of otherthings not so well. Mother taught me as much as she could, but shecouldn’t always be around.”

It was not as sharp now, thefeeling of knowing how Suletta’s whole upbringing had been forthe sole purpose of facilitating Prospera’s terrible vengeance.But Sabina was right, Suletta had managed for herself in a way whichrose far above that legacy.

“You’re athoroughbred, like us,” Henao said. “It’s okay todo one thing very well.”

“I’d like to learnto do other things, too,” Suletta said. “But I know whatyou mean. I liked doing that one thing well and I’d like to doit again.” She smiled at Sabina. “And then we can reallyhave some fun together.”

When both Miorine and Sabinahad come to Suletta with Sabina’s request for a duel, herreaction of joy and gratitude and anticipation had made it all seemlike the most natural and expected thing in the world. A great dealof Miorine’s dread and anxiety over the suggestion had meltedaway. Later Miorine had made a point of confessing those feelings toSabina and thanking her for her role in setting Miorine’s mindat ease just a little. Sabina had been delighted at Suletta’sresponse but also it seemed a little taken aback, it was apparently alittle difficult for her to grasp that Suletta could take the idea ofa duel very seriously and still approach it with such childlike gleeat the same time.

They all talked for a bitlonger, mostly about the school. Suletta had been invested enough init that Miorine sometimes had to put her foot down when it looks likeSuletta’s treatment regimen might suffer. But her treatment wasreaching a phase that required fewer hours per day, and now it lookedlike the school was settling into a state where she could largelyleave it to run on its own, so it had worked out. The agreement withthe clinic would largely keep it financed, Miorine had really justprovided the up-front capital. It was almost scandalous how far Frontcurrency went in Rio.

In answer to Suletta’squery, Miorine said “We’ll be driving over to thehospital. The doctors agreed that Sammi can do the interview with us.Don will be there too.”

Suletta smiled. “I betshe’s nervous.”

“Not really. I’mjust more concerned about her condition. She’s a lot betterthan she was, but this could be exhausting for her.”

“Sammi is really strong.She’ll be okay, you’ll see.”

Suletta had clearly picked upon her anxiety. Miorine was asking so much of a sick little girl, buther story was such a compelling one it just begged to be told.Especially now when the Attorney-General had announced the chargesthat were being laid in the joint investigation with Dominicus.

“We’ve got plentyof time, but I wouldn’t mind getting there early,” Sabinasaid.

“I think you’reright.” Miorine smiled at her wife. “I’m sorry Icouldn’t come here earlier. I’m really proud of whatyou’ve done here.”

Suletta’s smile wastempered by an inquiring look. “So you’re sure you don’twant me to come?”

“I don’t thinkthat’s necessary. Don will be there too. Like you said, Sammiis strong.”

It was a bit of a delicatebalance that was playing out between them and also within Miorine’smind. Miorine was putting herself more in the public eye and therewere plenty of good reasons for that, but it did not come withoutcost and risk. So far the Hero of Quiet Zero had remained anenigmatic character in most people’s mind, and there was a lotto be said for keeping it that way.

“Will you be doing aninterview too?” Suletta asked. To Miorine’s relief shedid not seem at all put off with Miorine’s response norinclined to argue the point.

“Probably a short one,nothing at all like my first interview I’m sure.”

Her first public interviewsince dissolving the Benerit Group had been broadcast a couple ofweeks ago. It was a long one-on-one interview with an analyst she hadcarefully chosen to avoid the equal risks of facing a hostile hostand being perceived as having recruited a shill. It had gone prettymuch by the numbers, covering everything from the Quinharbor incidentright through to her role in facilitating the recently announcedprosecution of Front groups for peddling illegal Permet devices. Ofcourse there had been questions about the family that Miorine hadmarried into, but as she had been hoping this interviewer had beenmore interested in her public and commercial activities.

They said their goodbyes.Before they left, Miorine’s cyberbrain pinged for an incominglink.

‘Eri,are you there?’Suletta’s sub-vocalization called.

‘Don’tmind me, I’m just a fly on the wall.’

‘Sorryyou just had to just listen.’

‘Thesekids aren’t ready for me yet.’

Managing Eri’s presencein the public sphere was another balancing act they were engaged in.Keeping her out of view left room for all sorts of conspiracytheories including the questioning of her very existence. At least sofar nobody had started up any weird cults or anything.

‘Okay,I’d better let you all go now. Kisses.’

‘Keepon cracking the whip, sister.’

“They’re doing thetelepathy thing again,” Henao said wearily, having notedMiorine’s hand-signal of same.

“You’re notsupposed to say that,” Sabina scolded.

“My statement wassufficiently ambiguous and anyway we’re alone. But pointtaken.”

As they left, and clearly byprior plan, all the students stood and bowed and in perfect unisonthanked them for coming. Miorine wished Suletta had warned them toexpect this, but no matter.

#-#-#-#-#

“Miorine, it’sabout to start!” Suletta called from the living room.

“I know,” Miorinecalled back from the kitchen. She put the last of the fresh-bakedcupcakes out and carried the tray over. Suletta and Prospera were onthe love-seat, their respective walker and wheelchair now havingauto-driven themselves into the corner. Prospera had her arm aroundher daughter, who was happily snuggled up next to her.

“Those look great!”Suletta said as Miorine put the tray down on the coffee-table.

“Let me feed you onedear,” Prospera said.

“Thank you Mother.”She could probably have managed on her own, but it was stilldifficult so more often than not she was eating with assistance.

Miorinesat down on the couch, relatively certain she had not let any of herirritation show. Iknow this is supposed to be their time but you’d think theycould read the room and be a little less clingy the few times Imanage to get here.

“How is it?” Eriasked after Suletta had swallowed her first bite. Eri was hanging onthe hook that had been set up for her. Her nearby cyberbrain wasamplifying her voice, making it easier to hear her.

“It’s heavenly!Melts in my mouth. Just the right amount of cinnamon. It’s ashame you can’t have any.”

“Vicarious eating is mynew hobby. Anyway, I’m glad to hear my sister-in-law has uppedher game.”

“Idon’t recall hearing any complaints the first time,”Miorine said indifferently, not looking away from the big wallscreen. Really,would it kill Mother to take the couch now and then?

The news documentary started.It opened with an overview of how children all over Earth were beingrecruited by mercenary units and armed with everything from assaultrifles to mobile suits. They described the Permet-capable suits ascheap and dirty versions of Gundams, which was not far from thetruth. Then they narrowed the focus to the South New World sector andparticularly the region in and around Rio, naming Blackhawke andother units that were now known to have employed child pilots. Theytalked about the efforts of the Southern Cross Family to shut downtheir training camps. This was where they cut to the first segment ofMiorine’s interview, which had been done in a meeting room lentfor their use by the hospital. “I first became aware of thechild pilots when I met some of them who were being treated forchronic Data Storm syndrome at the same clinic where my wife is beingtreated for the acute form of the syndrome. I was astonished at howyoung some of them were, one girl was only eleven. I had my staff atGUND-ARM see if we could trace the supply lines for their Permetdevices and that led to our identifying some of the training camps.It was not clear what we could do, so through a trusted contact inDominicus I reached out to the Southern Cross Family.”

That led to a discussion ofthe group within the Family that was a militia in all but name. Theyreviewed some of their other operations which had been done with ifnot the support at least the tolerance of the governance, such asweeding out the most violent of the drug cartels. There were mixedopinions among people in Rio regarding this aspect of the Family’spresence here, but most regarded them positively.

Cut to the interview again. “Iwas allowed to be present at these raids. The children were freed andthe camps were destroyed, but the staff were set free. The onlyexception was the base commander. He was placed in one of thePermet-capable simulators and made to experience the pain that he hadvisited upon those children.”

Good,I don’t look deranged. Miorineresisted the urge to glance at Prospera. She was the only one in theroom who understood what a whitewash that last bit was. As far as sheknew Prospera had never said anything to Suletta or anybody else...but even if she had, Miorine knew she had no grounds for complaintand would just deal with it.

They did have just a quickvideo of the commander who had committed himself to an institution,now a gaunt man with tombstone eyes. Apparently they had tried tointerview him but could get no coherent responses. That turned out tobe a good segue to the interview with Sammi.

She seemed impossibly tinysitting in the big hospital bed. The toque she wore hid the hair thatMiorine knew was patchy and white in places. But the Data Stormmarkings on her face and arms were clear.

She was describing her firstbattle. Miorine had been afraid they would have to use subtitles buther voice was remarkably clear and steady. She had asked for thedoctors to give her as much stimulants as they were comfortablegiving. “The Everest Group’s mortars had laid down smokeand chaff. We didn’t see their Desultors until they were righton top of us. Squad lead called weapons free but we were alreadyengaging at close quarters with beam torches. I’m not even surehow it happened but the one in front of me went down and I justthrust right into the co*ckpit...”

They let her describe theentire battle. This was exactly what Miorine had wanted people tohear, the brutally surreal pathos of this little girl telling thesort of grim war story that should have been coming from the lips ofa grizzled veteran.

Don had also been given theopportunity to talk about his own first battle, which had beenequally chaotic and terrifying. They concluded by describing thecurrent efforts to prosecute the arms merchants who were supplyingthe illegal and dangerous Permet devices these children had beenusing. This included another segment of Miorine’s interviewwhere she described how she had reached out to the President topropose a joint investigation with Dominicus. Of course she made nomention of either proposed or actual sacrifice of body partsinvolved.

When it was done Sulettaseemed near tears, but her smile made it clear it was for aparticular reason. “I’m so proud of Sammi. And Don. Andyou, Miorine.”

“I’m proud of allthese kids,” Miorine said. A lot of either current ordischarged members of Team Stray Cat would be giving publictestimony, which was probably going to have just as much impact asthe actual prosecution.

“So whatever will you dofor an encore?” Prospera asked.

Miorine talked a bit about howshe had been looking into rumours that even more crude and lethalPermet-capable suits were being used in mines where they were tryingto find methods of extracting rare earth metals that could competewith the asteroid mines. These mining operations were even moresecretive than the merc groups so tracing their supply chains wasfiendishly difficult.

Miorine soon noticed thatProspera was looking tired so she suggested Suletta pick some lighterfare for them to watch together. Unsurprisingly, she pickedSunstroke. It was an old, long-running drama taking place on a mobilemining town on Mercury. It was known for its unabashedly atrociousproduction quality. Most of it took place on the same dreary lookingset, or sometimes in a gravel-pit that stood in for the surface ofMercury. It was equally known for its egregious overacting and itspossibly or possibly not intentional absurdity. Prospera and Eri tookgreat glee in tearing it apart. Suletta sometimes joined in, butmostly just laughed. Miorine for her part found their anticsinfinitely more entertaining than the show itself, which was probablythe whole point.

Any time Miorine was here theyended up watching an episode or two, and it had been providingsomething of a barometer for the shifting dynamics of the household.Prospera often brought to bear a caustic wit that left them all institches. But little by little, she was slowing down. The treatmentoptions she had chosen to manage her gradual deterioration wasoptimized for comfort and stability rather than alertness or mentalacuity. Slowly, the role of funniest and most insightful person inthe room was switching over to Eri. Miorine indulged herself byimagining an evil wizard oblivious to how her ambitious apprenticewould soon be powerful enough to overthrow her, though she strictlykept that uncharitable vision to herself.

When Miorine used the remoteto return to the series episode menu, the usual banner ads popped upon the sides. “Hey, that’s a GUND-ARM ad!” Sulettasaid in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Miorine smiled at her. “Ispecifically requested space on the Sunstroke series menu, just ongeneral principles.”

“Let’s watch it!”

Miorine selected it forviewing. The opening shot came up. “Hey, that’s Lilique!”Suletta said excitedly.

Lilique was sitting in whatlooked like a small child’s bedroom. She had a beatific smileon her face, looking at something off-screen. Without preamble, shestarted singing a lullaby. After a short while, the camera slowlypanned, with the clear expectation that a baby in a crib would becoming into view. Instead, what came into view was an incubator. Itthen faded to black. The GUND-ARM logo came up. Then below it thewords The Nest. Lilique’s lullaby came to an end. Finally thewords: Natural childbirth made safe and easy.

“Simple, direct to thepoint,” Eri observed. “And a lot less embarrassing thanthe first GUND-ARM ad.”

“Eri!”

“That’s still asore point for you isn’t it?” Eri retorted in response toSuletta’s outrage.

“It’s still one ofthe most popular ads of all time,” Miorine observed. “Wantto me to pull it up?”

“Please, no!”Suletta begged.

Miorine relented. Sulettawould never live down the little song and dance routine they had madeher do. But Miorine still watched it in secret now and then.

“No airbrushed logosthis time?” Prospera asked.

“Established companiesare forgiven for dialing up the production quality a bit.”

The history was well known. Along time ago when computer generated imagery had become essentiallyperfect and essentially free, there had been a backlash against slickadvertisem*nts. Simple ads showing authenticity were favoured. Theygot bonus points if company execs showed up in the ads, and therewould be no forgiveness if the camera digital watermarks did notprove that it was a genuine recorded image.

“So the incubator is forthe third trimester?” Prospera asked.

“Yes,” Miorinesaid. “That’s the sweet spot where safety is maximizedfor mother and child. We’re benefiting from a lot of Spacianclinical data.”

“A lot of Spaciansprobably owe their lives to the earlier generations of incubators,”Prospera said.

“On Earth it’smore of an economic issue.” Miorine wanted to deflect anypossible inquiry into Prospera’s own experience withchildbirth, especially with respect to Suletta. It could raise someawkward questions. “Pregnancy can preclude certain sorts ofwork, and prenatal support is spotty in a lot of places. We’rehoping this will help.”

Eri articulated a rathertwisted idea for a new ad, and Prospera immediately topped it. Verysoon their idea tennis had Suletta and even Miorine laughing. When itescalated into the realm of the truly grotesque, Miorine put a stopto it by noting how late it was.

When it came time for bed,Miorine enforced one rule with an iron fist. Whenever Miorine washome, she and she alone would share the bed with Suletta. To quote anoft-repeated line from Sunstroke, that was absolutely a line in theregolith.

#-#-#-#-#

When the gravel road took heras far as it could, the car’s GPS locator showed that herdestination was barely a kilometre away. Unsure whether to walk ordrive, Miorine decided to split the difference. Engaging off-roadmode, Miorine drove the VTOL port rental car down the grassy rollinghills towards the lake. When she got about halfway the trees werestarting to crowd in closer so she got out and walked the rest of theway.

He was sitting on the grassexactly where the GPS said he would be. He was faced away from her,gazing instead out over the lake. It was a quiet afternoon with justa few clouds overhead. There was not another soul in sight.

He did not look up until shewas standing right beside him. “Hello Miorine.” He lookedher up and down, from her wide-brimmed hat to her sturdy shirt andtrousers to her hiking boots. “You’re looking a good dealmore rustic than you do on TV.”

“Hello Elan.” Sheexamined his similar but much more well-worn ensemble. “You arestill looking very well-travelled.” Elan was a slim man abouther age. His attractive, androgynous face was framed by light brownhair that hung down in two long, wide sideburns but was otherwiseshort. His piercing grey eyes revealed little of his mood, he justseemed vaguely relaxed.

She sat down beside him. Theyjust looked at the lake quietly for a moment. “So, what’sthe verdict?” she finally asked.

“I’m afraid it’sa bust.”

“Can I see?”

He pulled a notebook out ofhis equally well-worn backpack. He opened it, found the page hewanted and handed it to her. It showed a sketch of a lake surroundedby rolling hills with scattered trees. She looked carefully at thescenery before them then back at the sketch. She shook her head.“Close, but no banana.”

“Didn’t take youlong to go bush,” he retorted.

“Right back at you.”She closed the book and handed it back to him.

He put it back into his packthen resumed looking out over the lake. “It would have been soperfect. I mean, it’s a day flight from where you’ve beenliving for the past couple of years. Karma. Destiny.”

“Or just another lake.”

“Take that back.”

“I do take it back,”Miorine said, meaning it. “I can see why you thought this mightbe the one.”

For the past couple of yearsElan had been trying to find the lake that Norea had drawn in hersketchbook. Norea, the Dawn of Fold pilot who Elan had befriended andtried to keep from getting herself killed as she rampaged across theAsticassia Front but could not.

Elan had come to Earth evensooner after they had both participated in the Quiet Zero operation,and they had not met again until quite recently when a lead hadbrought his travels to Rio. He had reached out to Miorine and she hadinvited him to the house. Back in the day they certainly had plentyof reason to dislike and mistrust each other, but none of them werequite the same people any more. It had felt very much like a reunion.

When he had managed tohitchhike out here, Elan texted her to say that he had arrived at thelake. Miorine was not sure why but she suddenly felt the urge to booka charter VTOL and just come straight out here. It made no sense, butnow that she was here it somehow made perfect sense. Just this viewwas worth it.

“Do you know whereyou’re going next?”

“It’s a long list.It’s growing rather than shrinking. As to where next, It’sreally where the wind blows me.”

She looked closely at him.“What is this, really? Obligation? Penance?”

“More like a pilgrimageI guess. A connection. Something that she and I share, even if it’sat different times.”

Theywere silent for a while. Miorine couldn’t hold it back anymore. “It’s so unfair.You should be doing this withher, not chasing her ghost.”

He smiled wistfully. “Youknow what I do when I think that? When I’ve found another placethat is close but not close enough?”

“Tell me.”

He pointed vaguely out infront of them. “Just look. Listen. Feel. Breathe it in.”

They sat there silently forseveral minutes. Eventually she looked at him and smiled. “Whydid we ever leave this world? What were we thinking?”

“Maybe we just haven’tfigured out how to make it ourselves yet. What we do out there islike her little sketches. So sincere yet so incomplete. That’swhat I’ve been learning.”

“Are you getting by?”

He shrugged with his handsout. “I’m not starving. I do odd jobs along the way whenthe opportunity arises.”

“I know what sort ofstipend is likely to have come out of the bankruptcy. Maybe I can getyou more.”

“You can’t getblood out of a turnip.”

“Oh, Peil Technologiesis far from penniless, you can be sure the three-norns-and-a-sparehave more than a pair of eyeballs to rub together.”

Elan shook his head with abemused expression. “Your references are getting more and moreobscure. What have you been reading now?”

She ignored the question. “I’mserious. I can make inquiries.”

“I’d rather justleave all that behind. Anyway, I’m just grateful to still behere.” He smiled at her. “I mean, think of what I am. Iam the fifth copy of a spoiled rich boy, the last one left standing.By all rights I should not even be here.”

After a moment Miorine decidedto just let that be. “What are you going to do when you findit?”

“Does it matter? MaybeI’ll keep walking the Earth until I find something better oruntil I just can’t.”

“Do you think that’syour destiny?”

“Maybe my destiny isjust to do little things along the way. Say the right thing to theright person that makes them do the thing that changes their life.”

She gave him a devilish grin.“You could be right.” She pulled out her phone and workedit while she spoke. “When you texted me about this place Ifound something interesting. It’s actually the other reason Icame here today.”

“Is this place famousfor something that I missed?”

“Not famous. Justsomething I noticed that really did look like destiny.” Shecontinued tapping on the phone. He just sat there watching her.“Well. Their algorithm accepted my offer right away.”

“Offer for what?”

“The land we’resitting on. I just bought it.” He looked dumbfounded. She heldthe phone up to him. “See? Everything from the road to thelake-shore.”

His look of astonishmentslowly transformed into a wide grin. Then he started laughinguncontrollably. It looked painful. After a minute he was left lyingdown on his back wheezing, helpless. Miorine decided to lie down nextto him. She could not keep the grin off her face.

It was another minute beforehe spoke. “You’re actually going to move here, aren’tyou?”

“I told you, it feltlike destiny. If you walk from one end of the world to the other justimagine what else you can do. It doesn’t even matter if youfind the lake. Maybe every one is the right one.”

“I’ll still keeplooking.”

“And listening andfeeling and breathing, I know.”

“I’m going to bereluctant to text you. I’m afraid you’ll buy them allup.”

“One’s as good asthe next for me.” She got up, put her hands to her hips andlooked around at her new acquisition. “So, where do you think Ishould build the house?”

END OF PART TWO

Chapter 3: Dance Moves

Chapter Text

Small Steps

AMobile Suite Gundam: The Witch from Mercury story

PART THREE

Dance Moves

“I guess she’ll beour first house-guest here!” Suletta said excitedly.

“We had the housewarmingparty, remember?”

“That doesn’tcount.”

They were both in the kitchengetting dinner ready. Miorine was still the more experienced cook soshe was in charge. But as she had promised Mother, Suletta was beingput to work as well. She could walk on crutches now, and even alittle without, but for working here she sat in a high chair withcasters that could be moved either manually or with a joystick. Herdexterity was still developing, so there were limits. She only didchopping that could be performed using the accessibility cutters,definitely not the graphene knives.

Miorine saw Malia enter thekitchen. “I’ve put your mother to bed, Ma’am. Sheis already asleep. Eri is in her room reading.”

Prospera was sleeping a lotmore now. They had been told to expect that. More and more of thetime she was only marginally responsive. She would almost alwayssmile when addressed, certainly if it was her daughter. And Sulettawas right, she did appear to like it here. A lot of time she would becontent just sitting watching the scenery.

That was rather easy in thishouse. The whole thing was essentially floor to ceiling glass walls,all of which could be made any degree of tinting, smoked glass ortransparency. It was a long rectangle most of which was this greatliving dining kitchen area. Along the front facing the lake was along veranda, and a corner sliding glass door to the back led to aglass corridor accessing the bath and bedrooms. Only those were nowopaque. All lighting was in the ceiling, which was dotted withskylights.

“Thank you Malia. We’vegot everything under control here, so unless anything comes up therest of the day is yours.”

“Then I will wish youboth a good night, Ma’am.” She went back down thecorridor. As likely as not she would return to her needlepoint. Shehad already gifted them with two stunning examples of her work whichwere now hanging in their bedroom.

Their house being what it was,they saw their guest’s rental car approach as soon as itcrested the last ridge crossed by the unpaved drive. Miorine andSuletta went to wait for her at the sliding glass door in the corner.She got out of her car and they all waved to each other.

Nika was a slim woman withpale skin, blue eyes and short black hair with blue highlights. Shehad been a member of the Earthian House at the Asticassia academy,and under other circ*mstances would likely have also become aGUND-ARM executive. As it had turned out, she had spent the pastthree years in prison for her involvement in the Dawn of Foldterrorist organization. She had not participated in its acts ofviolence, but had acted as a liaison with Shaddiq and the Grassleygroup. Soon after she had her reunion with the other Earthian Housemembers Miorine had extended an invitation to come stay over, onethat had a charter flight ticket attached.

Naturally, after they allhugged the first priority was to show off their wedding rings. Nikawas already in custody when the wedding was held, and with the Frontbeing still under martial law at the time releases on bail were notbeing handed out.

Dinner was mostly them justgetting caught up. Suletta did most of the talking. Hearing it allgushing out in her wife’s frenetic stream-of-consciousnessnarrative impressed upon Miorine just how much had changed in thepast three years. Nika herself had certainly not been idle either.She had competed her engineering degree with flying colours not longbefore being released.

As the sun set the walls hadgone opaque and the ceiling lights had waxed in time with the sunset.Miorine suggested they all go sit around the fire-pit just outsidethe front veranda.

Some time after Miorine hadcoaxed the fire to a crackling blaze, she thought perhaps it was timeto raise a subject they all likely knew was coming. “Nika, Idon’t know if it’s too early but have you given anythought to what work you want to do? It goes without saying that youare welcome to join us, nothing would make us happier.”

Nika smiled, clearly havinganticipated the question. “I would love nothing more, in fact Icouldn’t imagine doing anything else.” There was just thebarest of hesitation before she continued. “There might be somework life balance issues I need to iron out.”

“We’re open toanything. If you agree to come on you could even start with a longsabbatical. And after that, you can just write your own jobdescription and choose your projects. We’re getting past thestage of having a long list of things we need to get done and moreinto the stage of picking what we want to do. We’ve establishedourselves so things are a lot less hectic and chaotic now. You cantake your time and ease your way in.”

Nika smiled and nodded. “Ireally appreciate that. I would like to start soon. There is aspecific reason I might need to be selective in what work I take on.”Again, there was just that moment of hesitation like she wascollecting her thoughts. “I’m not sure where to begin. Itinvolves a favour I need to ask, so maybe I’ll start there.Miorine, I’m going to ask you some questions that might notmake much sense at first.” She looked over to Suletta.“Suletta, I should be asking you too because in a way I’masking you the favour. It has to do with the duels you fought as theHolder at Asticassia academy. Do you mind talking about that?”

Suletta shook her head. “No,not at all. Please ask me anything.”

“It has to do with theduels you fought with Sophie and Norea. They ended up being more thanjust duels... well, I’ll just come out and say it, they bothended up dying when the duels turned into actual battles. My questionis, did Asticassia still acknowledge that you were one of the winnersin those duels?”

Suletta looked mildly puzzledbut answered immediately. “Yes, they did. I thought it was verystrange and sad, that’s why I remember so well.”

“I’m really sorryto be dredging this up, I know that must have been terrible for you.”

She shook her head. “It’sokay. It was really sad about what happened, but I don’t mindtalking about it.”

“I appreciate that.”Nika returned her attention to Miorine. “Miorine, did you everlook in detail at the contract that the Holder duels were heldunder?”

Miorine had difficulty keepinga wry smile off her lips. “I went over it with a fine-toothedcomb. I was looking for loopholes, but my lousy father has some ofthe best-paid attorneys in the Front so I never found anythinguseful.”

“I looked at it too.There was a clause saying that if the loser of a duel were to die,anything they had left at the Academy would become the property ofthe winner.”

“I do recall that. Icould never figure out why that clause was there. It almost soundedspiteful. I might have been the prize but everything surroundingthose duels was just another way for the winner to establishdominance, that was almost like a cherry on top.”

“Would that include thegenetic samples that all students were required to give?”

Miorine was taken aback by thequestion. “Well... technically yes but if they are survived byfamily they could probably challenge that.”

“Sophia and Norea wereboth orphans, they left no wills.”

Miorine had little idea wherethis was going but just answered as best she could. “In thatcase then yes I would say Suletta could claim ownership over thosesamples. They are kept in the school archive and I’m quite surethat was never damaged so they would still be there.”

Nika nodded. Her gaze moved tothe fire they were seated around. When next she spoke it seemed to bepartly to herself. “After they died my mind was just goingaround in circles. I kept wondering how things could have gone sowrong and what I could have done to make it turn out differently.Eventually I just wanted to find some meaning in it all, something Icould do so that it would not just have been for nothing.”

Suletta reached out and restedher hand on Nika’s. “Nika, I’m not sure what I cando, but if there is any way I can help then please tell me.”

Nika looked at her in a waythat was almost desperate. “Suletta, I want you to donate theirgenetic samples to me. I want to have their baby.”

Suletta appeared just asstunned as Miorine felt. They looked at each other. It was obviousthey were both struggling to understand what had just happened.

Miorine was the first one whomanaged to speak again. “Nika, how long have you been thinkingabout this?”

“For a long time. Yearsnow. I would have asked sooner if I had not been in prison. Itstarted as something I felt I had to do and then it was something Iwanted to do. You are the first ones I have even dared to mentionthis to.”

Up to now, she had beenspeaking with a sort of calm assurance. But now she hesitated.Something like indecision crept into her face. “Now that it’sout there I have to ask you... am I mad even to think about this? AmI just looking for some way to convince myself that I am doing mypenance? Am I selfishly trying to make myself feel better about whatI have done?”

“Nika, I can’tthink of anything less selfish than raising a child,” Miorinesaid gently, still trying to wrap her head around all this. “But...I’m just trying to understand. They tried to kill you.”

Nika nodded. “I know.They also killed many other people, maybe even ones we’ll neverfind out about. But I had my part in what happened too. Andeverything I heard about them told me how horribly they’d beenused by the people they looked up to.” She cast her gaze down,and spoke in a smaller voice. “I’m just so desperate forsomething good to come out of it all.”

“I think it’s awonderful idea!” Suletta’s eyes were dancing, her handsclasped under her face. Suddenly any traces of her perpetual burdenof movement had vanished, it was stunning to see. “They wereboth so pretty, I’m sure she’ll be a beautiful baby!”She seemed to be treating this as if Nika had already announced thatshe is pregnant.

Miorine put a hand to herforehead and sighed. “Suletta, I think it’s a wonderfulidea too but there are a hundred different issues to think about.”

Suletta looked a littleworried now. “I can donate their genes to Nika, can’t I?”

Miorinesmiled. God,how I love you.“That’s probably the first of the hundred things we willneed to find out.” She looked over to Nika. “If this iswhat you really want, then one way or another I promise we will makeit happen.”

“Have you picked aname?”

“Suletta! She’snot even pregnant yet! That is like ninety-nine on the list!”

“Well she’s beenthinking of this for years!”Suletta shifted her gaze and lookedeagerly at Nika. “You must have a list of names, right?”

Nika looked dumbfounded. Thensuddenly she was laughing joyously and uncontrollably. When she waseventually able to stop, she wiped a tear away. “I’msorry, it’s just... it’s been so long.” She closedher eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, still grinning. “Thisis the first time I’ve allowed myself to think that I’mnot crazy and I’m really going to do this. Thank you. Thankyou.”

After they had all calmed downa bit, Miorine started a little brainstorming, putting together anaction plan for the inquiries she would need to make. For the momentit was a short list and the rest would have to be tabled. Shewondered if this was the time and place for what she thought of next,but somehow it just felt right. “Both of you met Sophie andNorea, but I never really did. If you don’t mind, can you tellme about them?”

Their stories were very sadones. They were both orphans who had been recruited into the Dawn ofFold terrorist group for their aptitude as pilots. They both boredeep grudges towards Spacians, and their desire to prosecute thosegrudges was what ultimately got them killed. Suletta had only beenacquainted them for a few short days. Sophie in particular hadlatched onto her, obsessed with their common legacy as the witcheswho piloted the cursed Gundams. But Suletta also had some fondmemories of them. For a short while she had become their guide to theworld of the Asticassia school, and in the festive space of theschool’s open-house celebration they had tried to do everythingthe place had to offer all at once.

Itwas a brief interlude of peace and companionship that had been cuttragically short. Underorders or compulsion from the Earth Liberation faction Dawn of Fold,they had attacked the Asticassia academy, killing many and renderingthe school facilities unusable. They had been given advanced Lfrithmobile suits from the mysterious and now legendary Ochs Earthcompany. It had been the world’s introduction to thisterrible new type of Gundam mobile suits. But in the end they hadboth been overwhelmed, and had died in battle.

Miorine made up her mind thatshe would not let their story end with that.

#-#-#-#-#

“Felsi looked justgorgeous!” Suletta enthused as they filed out of the weddinghall.

“Yes, but even in heelsshe looked like a midget next to that gorilla.”

“Miorine!”

“I’m allowed tosay that. Only a midget can call another midget a midget.”

“You are not a midget.”

“That is the correctanswer from a non-midget.”

They walked slowly, butSuletta was doing fine with Miorine on one arm and a cane in theother hand. Miorine had ordered a custom cane to match her dark bluestrapless gown, it was worth it even if she never had to use itagain.

“Guel seemed reallyhappy to see you,” Suletta said.

“Jealous?”

“No.”

Miorine’s face fell.“I’m disappointed. Anyway he should be happy since I’mthe one who gave him the kick in the pants he needed to finallypropose.” And no doubt she had been shocked beyond words whenhe had. As one of the most eligible bachelors in the Front, he wouldbe expected to seek a political marriage with the scion of anotherGreat House. But it seemed Miorine had convinced him to take a pagefrom her book: why settle when you can marry the hot pilot who lovesyou?

Sabina was waiting for them inthe ring habitat green-space, a discreet distance from the hall.Miorine had not been intending to ask her to accompany them, but shehad reasonably pointed out that her greater visibility now extendedbeyond the Earth sphere, so she still needed to be mindful of hersecurity. And so Sabina was not their only bodyguard.

Her partner this time wasMaisie, a pale young woman with short dark hair parted in the middle.In Miorine’s eyes Maisie was an enigma of a somewhat differentnature. She never seemed to lose that perpetual cheerful littlesmile. Miorine had it on good authority that she was able to maintainthat smile even in a firefight. One might be tempted to see that as awarning sign, but she showed sincere affection and devotion to allher friends, and that now extended to Miorine and even moreenthusiastically to Suletta. If there was anything that could evicther from her happy place, it would appear she had not found it yet.

Suletta greeted them happily.Somehow the first order of the day was for her to describe Felsi’swedding gown to Maisie. With that out of the way, Miorine confirmedto Sabina that they would be going to their rented room to change.

“So you’ll bechanging into your workout gear, right?” Maisie asked brightly.

“Yes, we haven’tforgotten,” Miorine answered. While they were in the Front forthe wedding Miorine had arranged to deal with some other accumulatedbusiness. They had quite a bit of free time before her next scheduledevent so Maisie had suggested some micro-gravity game that Miorinewas not familiar with. Suletta’s condition was advancing to thepoint where the doctors were encouraging her to try out as manydifferent physical activities as she could, so Miorine had raised noobjection.

Suletta did not really needhelp getting out of the gown, but Miorine gave it just because shewanted to. The athletic gear was tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt,shorts and sweatbands. Miorine very much appreciated how it looked onSuletta. “I hear this involves holding a paddle, will you beokay?”

“My grip strength was upon my last test so I think so. Still, go easy on me okay?”

“I suspect you’llhave to go easy on me.”

“You have moreexperience in micro-gravity than I do.”

“Experience movingaround, not much else.”

They met Sabina and Maisieoutside, similarly dressed. They all took the elevator from the ringhabitat to the hub structure. Maisie was the one who had rented thespace for them, so she led them to the facility. The court was a cubefive meters on a side. The surfaces had colour patterns on themshowing zones with point numbers. In principle the game was simple.Two teams of two used their paddles to hit the ball against parts ofthe court walls that would score points for them. The first teamthat reached a set threshold won.

Needless to say, in practiceit was not quite that simple.

BothSabina and Maisie had a little experience with the game, so theydecided that the fair pairings would be Sabina and Miorine versusMaisie and Suletta. For the most part it was Sabina versus Maisiewith Miorine and Suletta variously swinging at the air, getting inthe way of their partners, spinning and flailing or hitting thewalls. The walls were well-padded and friction-less so it usuallydidn’t hurt much. In between games their bodyguards would givethem pointers and let them practice basic moves. For the finale,their bodyguards left the court and let them play a singles game. Ittook forever. There were probably as many own goals as not. Suletta’sstill slightly limited mobility was less of a disadvantage in thisenvironment, but she had an athleticism that Miorine lacked. Miorinetook the game by a narrow margin, but by then it didn’t matterand they were mostly doing a lot of laughing. After the final goal,as they sailed past each other by apparent silent agreement theygrasped both of each others’ hands and just spun around andaround, panting and smiling and looking into each others’ eyes.Until Miorine’s foot hit a wall and they crashed into eachother. Then they were just spinning even faster with their armsaround each other, laughing even louder.

“We’ll have to dothis every time we come back to space,” Miorine declaredbreathlessly.

“But we’re bothreally terrible.”

“Maybe we’ll getbetter.” It was just such a joy for her to see Suletta in anenvironment where she could move like something close to the way sheused to. It was a beautiful vision of a near future to look forwardto.

Miorine tapped the exitsequence on the designated spot and the nearby section of the wallopened out for them. Sabina and Maisie were waiting for them in thesmaller practice room. “So did you watch us embarrassourselves?” Miorine asked. The eight corners of the court hadboth vents and cameras.

“Don’t worry, wegave you privacy,” Maisie said brightly. Miorine was unsurewhether she was implying something. “The score was beingdisplayed, though. Congratulations.”

“I think Suletta scoredmore of my goals than I did.”

“Hey! That’s not acompliment you know,” Suletta protested.

“Well I’m sure itcuts both ways.”

Sabina suggested a cool-downexercise. It involved pairs of them slowly pushing off opposite wallswith their legs, clasping forearms to rotate each other in midair andreleasing in time to drift back to the same spot, then repeat. It wasintended to build up a good feel for how to control rotation inspace.

Sabina paired up with Miorine,and the two pairs went to opposite ends of the longer but narrowerpractice room. Miorine could soon hear that Suletta and Maisie werehaving a lot of fun with it. Before long, the practice becameautomatic enough that Miorine could talk comfortably. “Icollided with you more than once, I think we’ll both havebruises.”

“The bruises are part ofthe education,” Sabina said in her usual soft tone that withher friends was four-fifths polite and one-fifth elder-sister.

“I have spent my lifeassiduously avoiding competitive sports,” Miorine confessed. “Ihave to acknowledge that I might have been missing something. There’sthe desire to win but there’s also the desire for your opponentto enjoy it as much as you are.”

“There’s always abalance between those two. Different people balance in a differentplace than others.”

“I wonder if this is alittle bit how you feel when you are duelling in a mobile suit, atleast when your lives are not at stake. Was that the point of cominghere?”

“This was Maisie’sidea, but when she suggested it I thought maybe it would help youunderstand a little how Suletta felt when she was duelling.”

Miorine smiled at her as theydrifted close, clasped arms and rotated. “I suspect Sulettaleans a little more on the fun side and you on the competitive side.”

Sabina gave her a littlesmile. “That would be hard for me to deny. I have worried abouthow my request to Suletta might be causing you anxiety. I thoughtthis might help you be more comfortable with the spirit behind theduel.”

“I think it has. And notjust with the duel. If this is how she feels when she is pilotingthen that is what I want her to do, as much as she wants.”

Nobody felt like braving themicro-gravity showers or water-closets so they soon took the elevatorback down to the ring habitat. In their room Miorine let Suletta usethe shower first while she checked for messages. The main item was aconfirmation of their meeting at the Asticassia academy to takepossession of the freezer container that held Sophie and Norea’sgenetic samples. Getting to this point had involved jumping through alot of hoops, one of which was confirming the necessity to bephysically present at the academy Front for the transfer ofownership. When that necessity came to light Nika had made thempromise not to make a special trip since she was not in a hurry. Soit had become another line item in their schedule for this trip.

Miorine knew how longSuletta’s programmed shower cycle went so she stripped down andwalked into the bathroom, both to take her turn and in case Sulettaneeded any assistance. Suletta smiled at her through the drippingglass door as the shower heads all around her rinsed her off. “Didyou want to watch me that badly?”

“I want a shower thatbadly,” Miorine responded by way of not saying no.

The cycle ended and the doorswung open. Suletta stepped out, then suddenly approached withoutstretched arms and embraced her. “Whoa. Are you havingtrouble standing?” Miorine put steadying hands on Suletta’swaist.

“No. I just felt likeit.”

“You’re wet.”

“You’re going tobe wet right away.”

Miorinereturned her embrace. As her strength and mobility improved ithad been delightful feeling the return of Suletta’s arms aroundher. It was comforting in the way of giving each other a warm bath.But this had taken Miorine by surprise so she was reacting a littledifferently. Iwonder if she can feel how fast my heart is beating?

Suletta shifted her arms toMiorine’s waist and stepped back just enough to look into herface. It was a now familiar look that told Miorine exactly what toexpect. They kissed. It was deeper and lingered a lot longer than itusually did.

Suletta backed away again justenough to give her an impish smile. “Do you want to dry me offlike you used to?”

Miorine immediately understoodthat it was up to her to decide exactly where this was going to go.She balanced what her heart and her body were telling her againstsome cold hard facts. The possibility that she was mistakingaffection and playfulness for something more. The reality thatSuletta’s current state of recovery would present challengesfor them. And the simple fact that there were some aspects of theirmarriage that they had not discussed yet.

Miorine stepped back, reachedup and flicked Suletta’s forehead. “Ow!”

“Don’t get lazy.You are perfectly capable of drying yourself now.”

“Awww...”Suletta’s little drawn-out cry of indignation anddisappointment only sounded half-serious. “You’re beingstingy.” She dutifully walked over and picked up one of thefolded towels.

“It’s called toughlove.” Miorine stepped into the shower and keyed in atemperature considerably colder than was her norm.

Maybe one day another stepforward. But for today, a step back.

#-#-#-#-#

After their meeting with theSuletta’s doctor, they went to visit Prospera in the palliativecare facility. She floated in a prone position, enveloped by the gelbed. A monitor and care casem*nt covered her lower body, so only herupper body was exposed. Silently, Miorine and Suletta went and satdown to either side of her. They each took one of her hands and heldit gently. Suletta just sat there silently looking down at hermother’s still face. The Data Storm markings almost covered itnow.

After just a couple ofminutes, Suletta released her hand, and it sank back down to bepartially embedded in the gel. “We can go now,” she saidsoftly.

“Okay.” Theywalked back into the hall, where their bodyguards were waiting forthem.

Today Sabina was accompaniedby Ireesha. She was a light-skinned woman almost as tall as Sabina,with long wavy brown hair worn loosely. She was a terminally shywoman, whom Miorine had never heard speak unless spoken to. Maisiewas about the only one she ever opened up to at all. Most of whatMiorine knew of her came indirectly from Sabina. According to her,outside the context of her social anxiety she seemed to lack theability to generate adrenaline and could be relied upon to actquickly and decisively in any crisis. Miorine had something of a softspot for her since she reminded Miorine so much of how Suletta wasright after she arrived at the Asticassia academy.

They walked to the limousineand Sabina drove them to the apartment they had been staying in. Thepartition to the front seat area was up, giving them privacy. Miorinetook Suletta’s hand. “That was the first time you didn’tspeak with her.”

Suletta nodded, not looking ather. “I won’t be talking to her any more. I’ve saideverything I need to. And I accept that she can’t hear me anymore.”

Miorine lifted her hand andkissed it. The doctors had informed them that Prospera was no longerresponding to any stimuli. It was unlikely she had any level ofconsciousness left. About all they could tell was that she was notsuffering.

“I think I’ll beready to move back to the estate soon. I wish she had been able tospend more time there.”

“She saw a complete turnof the seasons there. She always looked happy.”

Suletta smiled. “Yes.I’ll always remember that.”

Prospera’s current levelof care was the result of many long, difficult discussions. She wasbeing given nutrition so she could easily last months, though likelynot more than a year. Suletta had agonized over the prospect of herdying alone. But eventually they both came to accept that ultimatelyeverybody dies alone. No matter what they did, Prospera wasirretrievably alone now and would remain so until the end.

“Have you thought aboutwhat the doctor suggested?”

“Not yet.”

“You don’t soundtoo enthused.” The doctor had suggested now that Suletta hadpretty close to full mobility and her rehab hour were further reducedshe could benefit from taking up one or more spots. They already knewthat she had studied martial arts so they had suggested she resumethat.

“I don’t reallyhave good memories of it. The teachers on Mercury were reallystrict.”

“What are all themartial arts you studied?”

Miorine counted them off onher fingers. “Ken-do, fencing, HEMA and knife-fighting.”

“I’m detecting apattern here.”

“Weapons training ispretty standard for people who want to be mobile suit pilots. Itbuilds the reflexes for operating the suit, especially with thebeam-sabre.”

“I actually read throughthe whole list of the therapists’ suggestions. If you’relooking for another option there was one that looked interesting.Ballroom dancing.”

“What’s aballroom?”

Miorine sighed. “Youremember where the Incubation Party was held?”

“Sure.”

“That’s aballroom.”

“I don’t rememberseeing anyone dancing.”

“If there’s goingto be dancing then they would move all the tables out.”

“Have you done ballroomdancing?”

“Actually I have.”Miorine tried not to let her irritation over bad memories show.“After my mother passed, my lousy father developed somepeculiar notions of what a proper young lady ought to be learning.For some reason I could not fathom that did not include piano, whichwas about the only performance art I had any interest in. I justbarely managed to weasel my way out of the ballet and the operaticsinging. But ballroom dancing was part of the negotiated deal. At thetime I resented it as a profound waste of time.” She turned andsmiled at Suletta. “But if it’s with you, it might befun.”

As soon as Miorine describedthe basics of what it looked like, Suletta was instantly hooked onthe idea. Soon after they got home they found a place that gavelessons and had an instructor booked. It seemed they would be stayingin Rio for at least a few more weeks. That actually worked out well.Now that Suletta was more mobile they had been promising themselvesto drive out to the coast and see the ocean from... now what was itcalled? Oh yes, the beach.

#-#-#-#-#

Till resumed his seat at thehead of the boardroom table. “Well, if there’s nothingelse...” he looked around inquiringly.

“Actually, I have anannouncement.” Nika stood up and smiled, her fingers resting onthe table. “I’m pregnant.”

Thatbrought the board meeting to a screeching halt. Miorine smiled ather. I justknew you were going to do that.

The pandemonium broke outimmediately. Everybody had been expecting this to happen soon, butthey also knew all the challenges there had been along the way. Itwas clearly a catharsis for everyone. Even the ones who had clearlythought this was the weirdest idea they had ever heard of.

Everybody had to line up andgive Nika a big hug, ranging from the slightly awkward right up tothe squealing and dancing. Even Sabina and Renee got in on the act.

When things had quieted downjust a little Ojelo loudly asked “While we’re here, justwondering if anybody else has any announcements. You know, just tosteal the thunder. Girls? Anyone? Lilique, how about you?”

Lilique brought a hand to herround cheek and laughed, giving a dismissive wave with her otherhand. “My goodness no, why would you think that?”

“Just checking to see ifanyone’s captured your heart yet. Bound to happen some day.”

Attention shifted back to thegroup gathered around Nika and got noisy again. Miorine discreetlystepped back to where Sabina and Renee stood. She smiled at Renee.“Try not to look too annoyed.”

Renee was a relatively shortwoman with a rather generous figure and shaggy brown hair gathered upin two great pigtails on her sides. She was usually an almostaggressively cheerful girl but had a bit of a mean streak that showedup now and then. Since the academy days she had something of aperceived rivalry with Lilique for boys’ attention, a possibleissue that Miorine was always mindful to try and head off.

In fact Renee looked justmildly irritated. “Is she still completely clueless about howmany men worship the ground she treads?”

“Don’t mistakeindifference for ignorance.”

“It just seems a shame.I wish she would pick one and move on.”

“Lilique is the Madonna,she is married to all men.”

Renee shook her head. “Ihave no idea what that’s supposed to mean but it’sclearly above my pay grade.”

Miorine knew that Nika wouldbe breaking the news today so she already had a private room at theirfavourite restaurant booked for the celebration. She ended up sittingbetween Till and Nuno, at the other end of the long table from thecentre of attention.

She leaned back a bit andglanced at Till’s cyberbrain. “Are you used to that now?”

“Sure, though I’mstill jumping when it pings me at odd hours.”

“I don’t call youat odd hours,” Eri protested. “I stick to theboundaries.”

Her voice was coming from thePermet link brick sitting on the table. Till was the only member ofthe board who had not balked at getting his own cyberbrain so theothers shared the brick that gave network-free access to thecyberbrains used by Eri, Till and Miorine. Today Nuno had the detailof carrying the brick. Eri had been gradually shifting from beingMiorine’s personal assistant to something between Till’spartner and a full-fledged board member.

“The pings at odd hoursare from my message notifications and news feeds, the ones that usedto alarm my phone. I’m still leery about activating any of themore advanced functions.”

“There’s a lot ofnonsense written about that,” Miorine assured him. “It’snot like somebody whispering in your ear or pulling your puppetstrings or anything like that. It’s more like you noticingthings or thinking of things or remembering things you wouldn’thave otherwise. The key is to take your time setting up the trainingparameters, then just have it on so that it can learn. I don’teven notice it any more.”

“So no waking upwondering how that blood got on your hands?” Nuno quipped.

Miorine smiled. “Wewatched that movie. Almost as funny as Sunstroke.”

Nuno screwed up his face.“Please tell me you’re not still watching that.”

“Only sixty moreepisodes to catch up on. Suletta and Eri’s running commentaryhas probably told me more about life on Mercury than I could learnany place else.”

Nuno shook his head. “Justread a book, less painful.”

“It makes Suletta laugh,it’s worth it just for that.”

Nuno shrugged, conceding thepoint. “A price to be paid for wedded bliss.”

“How’s her dancingbeen going?” Till asked.

“We’ve been havinga lot of fun with it. It seems to be just the thing she needed, herphysiotherapists are really astonished at her progress. The communityclub near our estate has regular dances we’ll be able to goto.”

“You’ll be movingback there soon?” Till asked. Miorine caught the subtext.

“After this next sitetour and my follow-up at Quinharbor we’ll be moving backthere.” She looked at Till more intently. “We’vemade some friends out there, especially those kids Suletta isteaching. But now that Eri is working here pretty much full-time andwe’ve said our goodbyes to Mother, other than the staff shewill be pretty much alone when I’m not there. I’m goingto be scaling back my activities here and depending on you a lot morethan I have been.”

“I’ve beenexpecting that,” Till assured her. “We’ll be fine.”

“I’ll still beworking remotely, but I’ll likely be scaling that back as timegoes on.”

“Don’t worry aboutit,” Nuno said. “You’ve been doing as much as anythree of us.” He tapped the brick. “And we’ve gotSteel Trap here now.”

“Who does the work offive,” Eri declared.

Eri’s new monikerreflected her uncanny ability to remember anything. Everybody hadeventually learned that when she told you who had said what and whenyou had best believe her.

After the last of the dinnerwas taken away and it was just snacks and drinks, people shuffledaround as the conversations went. Eventually Miorine ended up sittingwith Nika and Lilique. “I’ve been talking with Liliqueabout the incubator,” Nika said. “I’ve decided togo with that.”

Miorine nodded her approval.“I’m glad to hear that. It will make this so much easierfor you.”

The incubator was a GUND-ARMproduct that had just finished its second stage trial and would soonbe released for general availability. It was an artificial wombcapable of supporting a fetus that was in the third trimester. It wasbased on a device used by Spacians who had backgrounds or conditionsor were in jobs or environments that made a full-term pregnancyrisky. It’s safety record exceeded that of natural childbirthby a wide margin, and it drastically reduced the burden on themother.

Lilique put a hand on Nika’sarm. “I can introduce you to one of the women who was in thetrial, she’s right here in Rio. She’s actually a nurse soshe can answer questions as well as tell you about her experience.Her little boy is out of the incubator now, he’s justadorable!”

Miorine squeezed Nika’sother arm. “If that’s what you decide to do, we’llabsolutely make it happen,” Miorine assured her.

Nika transfixed her with aradiant smile. “Thank you for making this possible, Miorine. Idon’t think I will ever be able to return this favour.”

“Just keep inspiring me,Nika.” She looked slightly puzzled, as if she did not reallyunderstand but did not know quite how or what to ask. “Imean... just everything you do.” For now, that was about asmuch as Miorine could articulate what Nika’s child meant toher.

#-#-#-#-#

Naturally the phone rang justas she was changing. She picked it up off the bed-table, checked thecaller ID and accepted. “Hi ChuChu.”

“Hi Miorine. Whoa, youneed to be more careful with video calls.”

“I knew it was you andit’s nothing you haven’t seen at the spa.”

“Guess it’s a goodthing there’s nobody behind me, huh?”

“Fair point.”

“Just confirming I’mat the Rio spaceport so I’ll be connecting with the girlstomorrow morning and we’ll be heading out there as planned.”

“Sounds good, the roomis all ready.”

“Great. My ride’shere, gotta go. Bye.”

“Bye.” Miorine setthe phone down and walked back to the closet. She had just arrivedhome herself minutes ago and her grungy-feeling clothes from the longflight had already been tossed down the laundry chute. She threw onlounging shorts and shirt and headed to the kitchen. Suletta hadstarted preparing dinner, she was similarly dressed. She wascurrently chopping vegetables. “ChuChu called from Rio.”

“She’s coming?”

“Of course.” Theywere coming to celebrate the official end of Suletta’s rehab.Team Stray Cat had already given her goodbye party, and at some pointthey would manage to get the whole Earthian House crew together. Butfor tomorrow and the next day it was going to be a ladies’gathering. Nika had to bow out because it was getting close to theinduced second trimester birth for moving her baby to the incubator.But ChuChu would be linking up with Lilique and Aliya and arrivingtomorrow morning.

“What are you looking soclosely at?” Suletta asked. “Am I cutting the veggiessmall enough?”

“I’m countingfingers, making sure there are still ten.”

“I’m perfectlyfine with the knives now. Watch.” She flipped the knife up inthe air, let it rotate once and caught it again.

“Okay, okay, I get it!You don’t have to show off!”

Suletta laughed at Miorine’spanic. “I’d like to do the cooking today, but you canstill help.”

The two of them got caught upas they ate dinner. Miorine had just come from what might be her lastvisit to Quinharbor. Her main purpose had been to testify at thenegotiations for the former Benerit group members to providecompensation to victims of Data Storm syndrome related to theirbusiness. The members’ negotiator had been trying to push theconcept of keeping the patients in the community, which was euphemismfor offloading care to their families. Miorine had been able todetail by her own personal experience just how difficult that carecould be even under ideal circ*mstances. That had been instrumentalin securing a commitment to institutionalized care and rehab forthose who needed it.

Suletta had started upchildren’s classes at the nearby community centre based on herhybrid apprentice system. It was still very small scale, but with aclear template set by her school in Rio they had quickly got thingsgoing. She had also shown up at a meeting of an exoskeleton combatsport club. From the way she described it, after learning the rulesshe had promptly left their star players on the floor. Knowing whoshe was, hopefully they did not feel too bad. She had received morethan one invitation to the next dance that was being held at thehall, but she absolutely refused to go unless Miorine was here to gowith her.

“Speaking of which,would you like to dance?” Suletta abruptly asked.

“Now? Sure, but whatbrought this on?”

“Now that my rehab isover the dancing isn’t therapy anymore, it’s just forus.”

“It was always for us.”

Suletta gave a shy littlesmile. “I know. But it just seems different somehow. Like itwill be our first dance.”

Miorine understood what shemeant. She would have been fine dancing as they were, but Suletta gotthe idea into her head that they should get dressed up. They went tothe bedroom and Miorine started fingering through the gowns in thecloset, wondering which one she felt like wearing.

“Miorine, what aboutthese?”

Miorineturned to see the two outfits Suletta was holding up in her hands.She co*cked her head. “You’re kidding.”

She was holding up theirAsticassia school uniforms. Miorine had almost forgot they still hadthem. Her own uniform with the zipped up jacket with baggy sleevesand short shorts was the standard blue-grey with black trim.Suletta’s uniform was the same design except with knee shorts,it had the same black trim but the e-ink fabric was set to white, anoption only permitted for the Holder.

“I haven’t seenyou in this for years,” Suletta said with great anticipation.Miorine found herself quickly warming to the idea. To see Suletta asshe was then, with the strength and vitality that she had lost andnow gained again...

“Okay, let’s dothat.”

Almost as soon as Miorine puther uniform down on the bed she heard Suletta call her name in analmost panicked voice. She quickly turned to face Suletta. “Whatis it?”

“You still have thosestockings you wore, right? You kept them, right?”

Miorine blinked. She had justalmost forgotten about those pinstripe stockings. For visual impactshe felt her legs were her greatest asset, so the stockings thatemphasized them had been a sort of twisted conception ofpsychological dominance which she now found embarrassing. But if itwas just for her... “I’m pretty sure I did, let me checkthe drawer.”

She found them after somerummaging. Soon they were both standing there, admiring each other.It was... breathtaking. Other than the whisker marks on her cheeks,this could be the Suletta of their school days. How is it that theyhad not done this sooner? But something was missing. “Do youstill have your hairband?”

“Oh, right!” Thatactually took a few minutes of searching. Suletta had long sincestarted wearing her red hair loosely, which Miorine actuallypreferred. But dressed this way, the hairband seemed somehowmandatory. “I think we’re set. Let’s godownstairs!”

As well as the utilities,workroom, laundry and storage, the basem*nt level had a large workoutroom which included a wide open exercise area. Soon after theystarted dancing Miorine had a mirror wall and balance bar installedon one side.

Suletta was already workingthe sound system wall tablet. “How about this one?”

“Oh, that new tango.Tricky. We’ve tried it twice and didn’t nail it eithertime. And our exercise room here is barely big enough for all thosemoves. If we mess up we could end up against the wall.”

“I’m feelingconfident.”

Miorine returned her fiercegrin. “So am I.”

Suletta cued up the music withlead time, and they got into position. Suletta’s hand in herown and the hand around her waist were that gentle firmness which hadbecome so familiar.

The music started and Miorinelost herself in the dance. Suletta’s moves were quick andprecise. This was one of the most difficult routines they had everattempted, it took all of Miorine’s strength and speed to keepup and the cognitive load was complete. But Suletta’s hand werealways there exactly when and where they needed to be, holding her,pulling her along, leading her. Soon there was simply no thought thatit could ever be anything other than perfect.

They ended up with a flourish,Miorine’s back arched and Suletta’s arm wrapped aroundher, holding her up. Suletta’s face was inches above hers. Theypanted in unison, their eyes locked. They just stood like that, notsaying anything. When her breathing eased a little, Miorine indicatedwhat she wanted with a little movement of her head and mouth. Sulettakissed her, then eased her back up.

Miorine caressed her cheek.“Let’s get something to drink. Then try another.”

When they were absolutelyexhausted they put their sweaty uniforms in the laundry and wentupstairs to soak in the tub. It was early, but they put on theirnight clothes and went to sit on the couch that faced the lake.Miorine combed Suletta’s hair, then Suletta’s returnedthe favour. “This is hardly any work for me. I’m reallylooking forward to your hair growing out again. And you’dbetter not give it away again or whatever you did.”

“If that’s how youfeel then they will have to cut it from my dead body.”

When Suletta was done Miorineturned to face her. They were close with their legs touching andMiorine’s arm draped across the back of the couch. Suletta gavea sort of quizzical look as if she sensed that something was up.

Miorine collected herthoughts. “Suletta, I’ve been thinking about how thingscould start to be different for the two of us. I mean, now thatyou’re better, and we’ve said good bye to Mother, and Erihas her own life. A lot of the things I’ve been doing arewinding down, or being done by other people. After this next trip I’mgoing to be around a lot more than I have been. We’re going tohave a lot more time for just the two of us.”

Suletta nodded. “I know.There’s all sorts of things we’ll be able to do now.”

“There’s somethingI’ve been thinking of.” Miorine found herself fidgeting alittle. “I’ve felt inspired by the things we’vebeen doing. Me helping the child soldiers. You with your school. Andthen what Nika is doing. It’s just got me thinking aboutthings.”

“Miorine, I get thefeeling you’re trying to tell me something.”

Clearly she had been busted.“It doesn’t need to be right away, but maybe it’stime for us to think about starting a family.” The moment thewords left her mouth they sounded so hopelessly hamfisted. “Suletta,I want to have your baby.”

Suletta’s eyes and mouthopened wide. Her lips quivered as if she were searching for words.But then abruptly she drew up her legs, wrapped her arms around themand buried her head in her knees. Miorine thought she might startcrying but by her body language she was perfectly calm, her breathingdeep and elevated only slightly. After a few moments she raised herhead. Her eyes were barely open, and her mouth was in an impossiblywide grin. “Miorine... I can’t really talk right now. Ifeel like I’m in this new place and... I just need to lookaround first. Does that make any sense?”

“It makes perfect sense.Take as much time as you want.”

She laid the side of her headon her knees and just sat there, her eyes closed and her mouth curledin that big grin. She was sitting still but also restless. She wouldturn her head one way, then the other, then sort of curl up verytight. It was as if she were being bombarded with visions, and shewas just letting them move her. Miorine could think of nothing shewould rather do than sit here watching Suletta explore this new spacein her head.

At length, Suletta finallylooked at Miorine with dreamy eyes. “I guess it’s goingto have to be a girl.”

“Neitherof us has a Y chromosome, so that stands to reason. I want to haveyourbaby. Our baby, yours and mine. I’ve been thinking of it for awhile, and I’d like to know how you feel about it.”

“Can we have two? I wanther to have a sister.”

Miorine reached out andstarted stroking her hair. “We don’t have to decideeverything today, Suletta. I just wanted to know how you feel aboutthe idea, that’s all.”

“Now that you’vesaid it, I want it more than anything.”

“Then that’s all Ineed to know right now. The rest is details. Why don’t we justspend some time getting used to the idea.”

Her expression was animpossible mix of dreamy and giddy. “I know. You’reright. But I can’t help thinking about it. I want to imagineeverything. We’re going to have to do what Nika did, right?”

Miorine nodded. “Yes. Wecan go to the same fertility clinic. They can take samples from bothof us, just like they did from Sophie and Norea. Then the egg withour combined genes would be implanted back in me.”

“In you?”

Miorine nodded. “I thinkthat would be best. You’re fully recovered, but you still hadData Storm syndrome and that’s a risk factor. It would be saferfor me.”

“I thought maybe I couldhave the next one. I know we have to do what’s best for thebabies. I just... you know, want to be involved somehow.”

“They’ll still beboth our children, Suletta. Plenty of couples don’t get theoption of who will have the children.” She smiled. It wascrass, but she just couldn’t resist. “Guel certainlycan’t have Felsi’s child now can he?”

“They won’t need afertility clinic.”

“I should hope not.”

Suletta gave that shy littlesmile she adored. “I mean, they both get to make the babytogether. It’s too bad we can’t do that. I mean, byourselves. That would have been so nice. Don’t you think so?”

Miorine spoke more seriouslynow. It felt like a role reversal. “Suletta, is there somethingyou’re trying to tell me?”

Suletta hesitated, but whenshe did answer it was in a very resolute way. “Yes. I justwanted you to know that if there is anything I can do for you as yourgroom, even if I’m a woman, I want you to tell me.”

Miorine smiled. It was more ofa relief than she thought, finally addressing that old, sleepyelephant in the room. The thought invoked a vivid memory. “I’llnever forget when I told you that you had just become my groom. Youwere so shocked, you pointed out the obvious fact that we are bothwomen. I brushed you off with some sarcastic remark, and we’venever talked about it since. Suletta, I want to tell you about myfeelings for you. Are you ready to listen?”

She nodded. Miorine continuedwith something that was long rehearsed but somehow felt brand new asshe spoke. “Since we’ve been married, whenever I show myaffection for you I have always been careful never to approach you inan overtly sexual way. It was not because I am not attracted to youin that way. I am, and I have been for a long time. But my greatestanxiety has been that without even knowing it I was going back to myold habits and manipulating you into a sort of intimate relationshipyou didn’t want. I didn’t know whether you could reallyfeel the same way about me as I do about you.”

“I do feel the sameway.”

She said it in the sameresolute fashion. Miorine wanted to just accept that, but she knewthat she could not. “Suletta, I really need to know if that’show you feel. This isn’t something you can do out ofobligation, it can’t work that way.”

Miorine had been unsure howSuletta would react, she was prepared for a difficult conversation.But Suletta just smiled calmly. “When I was having a meetingwith the doctor at the end of my rehab, they were telling me aboutwhat to expect now that my sense of touch was back to normal and Iwas off the meds. One thing she told me is that my libido would beback to normal. It took me a second to remember what that meant. AllI could think was, is that why my wife has been looking more sexythan ever? Is that why my heart beats faster when we touch? Or evenwhen I look at her?” She leaned over and rested her headagainst the back of the couch and Miorine’s arm draped over it.“I guess I was wondering the same thing as you. I was wonderingif you feel the same way.”

Miorine could think of nothingother than to repeat what Suletta had said. “I do feel the sameway.” She sensed that Suletta was happy to hear that, but therewas a hint of something else that she needed to tease out. “We’regoing to have to be very honest with each other. I’ve told youabout the anxiety I had. I want to hear any that you have.”

Suletta still had her armswrapped around her knees. She seemed to hold them a little tighter,as if working up the courage to continue. “There is one thing.It’s just that... I’m not sure what I’m supposed todo.”

“I think we’llhave to figure that out together. Before we do anything we’regoing to have to talk with each other and listen to each other. Abouthow we feel and what we want. Do you think you’re ready to dothat?”

Suletta nodded. “Yes.But...” she bowed her head down shyly and looked up at herthrough her red bangs. “Could we talk in the bedroom?”

“Don’t you thinkthat would be rushing things?”

Sulettafrowned a little. “Miorine, it’s not... thatday for you, is it?”

Miorine sighed. “No,that’s not what I meant. We can do that if you want.” Shereached out and lightly took the fingers of Suletta’s hand inher own. “But let’s promise that we’ll talk for aslong as we both think we need to. Then we can take things slowly andsee where it leads. Does that sound okay?”

“Yes.”

They both got off the couch,still holding hands. Miorine started towards the door but Sulettaheld her back. “Wait.”

Miorine turned to look back ather. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” Sulettareleased her hand and stood closely in front of Miorine. “There’sjust something I’d like to do first, something I’ve heardthe groom is supposed to do for the bride.”

“Suletta, I’m opento anything but I think it’s important we talk first.”

Suletta just shook her head,that same calm smile on her face. “I mean, before any of that.It’s just something I wasn’t able to do when we gotmarried.”

Miorine looked expectantly upinto her face and nodded. “Okay.” Suddenly there was thatswift, sure movement that Miorine had become so used to seeing fromher on the dance floor. She yelped as she suddenly found herselflifted off her feet and held tightly in Suletta’s arms, her ownarms reflexively wrapping around her wife’s neck.

Suletta’s smile, nowjust inches from her face, was more playful now. “I’veheard this is called carrying the bride across the threshold. I guessthat’s supposed to be the door into the house, but I thoughtthe door to the bedroom would be just as good. It’s okay if youdon’t want to.”

“No,No, I...” Iwill absolutely not be able to say no. “Ilike it. Just... a little different than I had been expecting.”

“Is that good?”

“It always is.”

They did talk for a good longtime. It just made them both all the more eager. They agreed thatMiorine would give her attention to Suletta first. They continued totalk, with Miorine asking and receiving permission for what shewanted to do and affirmation of Suletta’s mounting feelings.When it was time for Miorine’s attention to become morefocused, Suletta began breaking out in great peals of joyouslaughter. Soon Miorine felt compelled to ask. “Suletta, whatI’m doing isn’t just tickling you is it?”

“No, that’s notit!” she said breathlessly. “It just feels so good... Idon’t know what else to do!”

It was not quite the responseMiorine had been expecting. But there was no denying it was a verySuletta-like response. The thrashing of her body became morefrenetic. Again, Miorine felt she should ask. “Am I hurtingyou?”

“No! My body won’tstay still!”

“As long as you don’thit me or fall out of the bed it’s fine,” Miorine said,careful not to interrupt what she was doing. “Should I slowdown?”

“No!”

At the end Suletta didinadvertently kick one of Miorine’s intertwined legs, thoughnot hard enough to hurt much. When her body stopped racing Sulettaalternately kissed it better and rubbed it. Then she started doingthat everywhere. What Miorine felt at the end radiated out to everypore of her body. With her last remaining shred of coherence Miorinethought surely her dear witch must have hit her with some sort ofreverse-polarity Data Storm that let her body feel a rapture that wasbeyond mere flesh.

Much, much later Miorinefinally had to say no.

Suletta ran her knuckleslightly along Miorine’s arm. “Please?”

“Suletta, your last timewas a lot of work for both of us. My last time was wonderful but italso hurt. Do you want me to hemorrhage?”

Suletta relented, contentingherself with admiring her wife lying next to her. “You’reabsolutely glowing this time.”

“I can’t tell asmuch. You’re just your usual gorgeous self.”

“Did you think so whenwe were in school?”

“What are you askingabout that for?” Miorine continued in a less irritated voice.“I wasn’t looking at anyone that way. The state I was inback then I was beyond frigid. I’ve heard that people wouldcall me the cryogenic princess.”

“I thought you weregorgeous right from when I first saw you.”

“I was gorgeous in apressure suit?”

Suletta giggled. “I meanwhen I first saw you in your school uniform. And it wasn’t justyour face. I thought your legs were stunning.”

“I was kind of ondisplay back then. I guess this explains why you insisted I wearthose stockings today.”

“They look even betterlike this.”

“Lucky for me you’rea leg girl, I don’t have much to look at up top.”

“I love every part ofyou. Here too.” Suletta lightly caressed her.

“I said no.”

“I’m not beingaggressive.”

In fact she was not. It wasjust a light caress on her side, with Suletta’s thumb teasingher chest just enough to be nice but not enough to suggest she wasgoing anywhere with it. Miorine returned the favour, a little furtherdown Suletta’s flank. “I love every part of you too.”

“You never got to see mylike this without my scars.”

“I don’t think ofthem as scars. If you were picking a design for tattoos then youcould certainly do worse. You’re my cute tabby-cat.”

“Is that what you’llcall me from now on?”

“When the mood strikesme.”

Suletta smiled. “There’ssomething I’d like to call you.”

“Why, did I do somethingwrong?”

“No. Do you remember thenickname I tried to give you?”

Miorine had not thought aboutthat for a long time. “Yes, but I’ll let you remind me.”

“MioMio!”

The first time Suletta had putup that particular test balloon Miorine had shot it right out of thesky. It might have been the afterglow talking but somehow Miorinecould not work up any of that outrage. “I guess I don’tmind.”

“You’ll have tocome up with one for me now.”

Miorine smiled, immediatelyarriving at what she thought was the obvious choice. “Leta!”

“I love it!”

“I guess that’ssettled then.” Miorine fixed her with a stern frown. “Youneed to understand, this is strictly for when we’re alone. I’mnot kidding.”

“That’s okay.”Suletta pounced, wrapped her arms around Miorine and set themtumbling over each other. “MioMio! MioMio!”

“Leta, we’re goingto fall!” They stopped at the edge of the bed and somehow theyboth started laughing loudly. Miorine just basked in the deliciousabsurdity of trading little girls’ nicknames after hours ofmaking mad, passionate violent love.

Suletta lifted her weight offMiorine and looked down into her eyes. “MioMio, are you sure wecan’t?”

Miorine sighed. “Leta,look at the time. We have to get up early tomorrow.”

“I guess you’reright. Can we sleep like this?”

“With you on top of me?”

“If you want.”

“It was rhetorical!”

They found a position thatsuited both of them. A few minutes after the lights went out, Miorinesighed again. “I said no. Go to sleep.”

“Okay. Good night,MioMio.”

“Good night Leta.”

#-#-#-#-#

“So do you think weshould tell them?” Suletta asked eagerly.

“There’s nothingto tell yet.” Miorine smiled at Suletta sitting beside her onthe couch. “I told you how Nika broke the news to everyone,right?”

“But they already knewshe was planning to have a baby.”

“Wouldn’t it havebeen even more fun if they hadn’t? It would be worth it.”

Miorine had spent much of themorning deflecting Suletta’s notion of telling the world theywere going to start a family, even though they would not even bescheduling a meeting with the fertility clinic until Miorine hadreturned from her upcoming trip. And she really was looking forwardto seeing the looks on everyone’s faces. Suletta agreed she wasamenable to the idea of keeping this private until they actually hadsomething to announce.

After breakfast they had justsat here and talked. Miorine had been wondering whether it was goingto be different between them now. Somehow she imagined that it shouldbe. There was nothing overt, maybe just a little more show ofaffection here and there. If anything it was just more a feeling ofopenness, as if the last barrier had gone down.

Miorine still hurt a little,and in more than one place. She suspected the same went for Suletta,so it appeared neither of them felt tempted to resume anymonkey-business right away.

Soon they heard what soundedlike the VTOL. Sure enough, it came into view and circled over thelake. Clearly ChuChu was flying manually and had decided to take abit of a scenic diversion. Before long it vectored in towards thehouse and flew overhead, its four ducted fans swivelling to thehorizontal position. It came down smoothly onto their helipad uphillfrom the house.

By the time Miorine andSuletta walked up to greet them, they were already approaching downthe path, carrying their overnight bags. Suletta’s greeting ofChuChu was particularly enthusiastic. It had been a while since anyof them had seen ChuChu. As Miorine had suspected would happen, shehad been gradually becoming a GUND-ARM executive only in name, movingmore into operations inspection and then into actual hands-onprojects. For a while now she had been working in space on a jointventure with the Burion company. They had reached a stage whereGUND-ARM could benefit from securing some space-based manufacturingcapacity, and ChuChu was thriving on the practical business ofgetting that in place. She had fallen into an odd partnership withRouji Chante, a member of the Burion group who had been in theDuelling Committee at Asticassia academy. Rouji was a strangecharacter who carried around a little round Haro drone like it was asecurity blanket. On the surface ChuChu’s treatment of himoften looked borderline abusive. But like Martin, he seemed to be astabilizing element for her, something she could well benefit from.

When they all arrived at thehouse, they showed their guests to the bedroom they would be using.It was the bedroom Prospera had been using but was now a guest roomwith two sets of bunk-beds and extra wall-beds. Miorine and Sulettahad been considering a number of possible things to do with the restof the morning but it appeared that on the way Aliya had convincedChuChu and Lilique that they should go bird-watching. She had broughther own expensive looking pair of image-stabilizing binoculars.

Since they started living hereMiorine had sort of casually noticed the various birds that inhabitedthe area, treating them as a pleasing part of the background. Afterjust a couple of hours tagging along with Aliya she began to graspjust how hardcore the hobby of finding and observing birds could get.She already knew of Aliya’s love of animals, but this wastaking it to a whole new level. She soon lost count of the speciesAliya had identified. She would pass around the binoculars whenevershe came across something she thought was particularly interesting.Miorine was most struck with the smallest of the birds, ones that shelikely had never noticed and never would have without having thempointed out. Those Aliya often zeroed in on just from their songs.Now that they were being pointed out to her Miorine had to agree withone point Aliya made early on: the smallest birds sang the prettiestsongs.

ForMiorine it was a sobering lesson in just how little effort she hadtaken to really appreciate this world she had been so desperate toreach. There was a vast web of life and death and rebirth in thisspace that she had so casually claimed as her own. And crucially,none of these birds had been placed here by her or by anyone. Thiswas theirworld, they had been here millions of years before there was anybodyto see them. She could as yet not claim to be much more than avisitor.

They got back to the houserather late for lunch so they decided to make just one large mealtoday. Miorine and Suletta got things ready in the kitchen.

“Suletta, are youalready okay using knives?” Lilique asked, sounding a bitworried.

“Shehas been jugglingknives,” Miorine assured her.

“I have not! I flipped aknife in the air once. I know you don’t like it so I don’tdo it any more.”

“Did you ever tryknife-throwing?” ChuChu asked. She had perched herself close byon the high stool that Suletta did not need to use any more. Miorinewas tempted to suggest that she found cooking so fascinating shecould sit and watch it being done for hours.

“My knife-fightinginstructor on Mercury taught me a bit.”

“Cool. I’ll bringmy throwing-knives the next time I’m here.”

“I’m really hopingthat just involves throwing at a target,” Miorine said.

“Mostly.”

“Entirely,”Suletta corrected her with a scolding look. “Oh, maybe we cantry that with exoskeletons.”

“That’s prettyhigh-level stuff. You got your own suit yet?”

“Miorine said she’llget me one!”

The two of them geeked out onexoskeletons for a bit. Miorine sort of zoned out, but she did make amental note that she would like to watch Suletta compete the nexttime she attended the local combat sport club, hopefully in her ownsuit this time. Maybe it could be a sort of gateway drug that makesher more comfortable with the idea of Suletta doing piloting again.

“Hey, Earth to Miorine.”

Miorine blinked. “Sorry,what was that?”

ChuChu looked at hersuspiciously. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Sorry, just a littletired.”

ChuChu grinned in a way thatset off warning bells. “Well, not surprising. You had a latenight last night.”

“Excuse me?”

ChuChuthrew her hands out and looked up at the ceiling. “You reallyshould be more careful about properly closing your phone calls. Youtwo love-birds kept me up allnight long.”

Miorine’s mind froze ina state of panic stuck between the firm assurance that such a thingcould not possibly be true and the gnawing dread that it might be.She heard what was probably Suletta dropping something, imagining heralso gazing at ChuChu stuck in that same vice formed by denial on oneside and terror on the other.

ChuChu laughed so hard shealmost fell off the stool. She slapped her forehead with one hand andpointed out to her hosts with the other. “I knew it! I knew it!This was totally a conjugal visit!”

Miorine boiled with rage. “Howdare you!” she shouted.

ChuChu put her hands updefensively. “Whoa! Chill! It’s all good, I’m notjudging your sexuality or anything.”

“Iwill murder you!”Miorine was not sure what happened but suddenly she found herself inthe air. It took her a moment to realize that Suletta had picked herup and had Miorine slung over her shoulder, rapidly taking her out ofthe room. Miorine kicked and screamed impotently. At some point theysomehow ended up in their bedroom.

“MioMio, I think youshould put that down.”

Put what down? Some level ofcoherence was returning to her. She looked at what was in her hand. Arolling-pin? Really?

Whatever had been driving herjust popped like a balloon. She let all her limbs hang down limply.The rolling-pin hit the floor with a thud. Suletta eased her downonto the ground, but kept her hands firmly around Miorine’swaist as if afraid she might try to escape. “MioMio, what wasthat about?” she asked in a voice that was gentle but wasclearly trying to conceal her alarm.

Miorine looked at her indisbelief. “Aren’t you angry about what she said?”

“I was... embarrassed, Iguess. I don’t understand, why were you so mad?”

Miorinerealized there was one misunderstanding she had to clear right away.She grabbed Suletta roughly by the shoulders, startling her. “Leta,I am notashamedof our relationship! It is exactly the opposite. I regard ourmarriage as a sacred thing. I can’t abide anyone trivializingit.”

“I feel the same way,”Suletta said, still looking like she was bewildered but trying tounderstand. “I think ChuChu was just trying to be funny. It...sort of was.”

“Was what?”

“Funny.”

Yes, of course it was funny.Worth maybe one moment’s indignation but nothing more. Miorineput her hand to her face and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry.I really thought I was better than this now.”

“What do you want todo?”

It was the most reasonablequestion. She had messed up and now she needed to fix it. She thoughtfor a moment, then she looked up at Suletta again. “How aboutthis?”

They reached an agreement thenwalked back to the living area. ChuChu was seated on one of thechairs in the living room now, her head bowed, looking utterlycrestfallen. Lilique and Aliya were standing to either side of her.Now that they had noticed their hosts’ arrival they regardedthem with worried expressions. The vibe in the room made it clearthat the two of them had been reading ChuChu the riot act.

Miorine stood in front ofthem, her wife at her side. “Everyone, I apologize for what Isaid. It was completely uncalled for. Before we say anything else,there is something that Suletta and I would like you to know. We havebeen married in name for three years now. But quite recently weconfessed our feelings of attraction for one another. We have enteredinto a close and intimate relationship now.”

“We’re a couple!”Suletta said brightly.

Miorine looked to her wife andsmiled fondly. “Yes, we’re a couple now.” Shelooked back at their friends. “I just wanted there to be nomisunderstanding. Now that we’ve cleared the air, maybe I won’tbe so sensitive any more.”

“I think that’sjust wonderful!” Lilique said, her hands clasped in front ofher.

“Congratulations,”Aliya said warmly.

Lilique turned aside andfolded her arms, all in an instant assuming her kindergarten-teacheridiom. “I think you two should come over here. I believe ChuChuhas something to say to you.”

Miorine and Suletta complied.ChuChu looked up at Miorine. “I’m sorry,” she saidin a voice that was tiny but crystal clear. “I was way out ofline. If I knew it would upset you I would never have said that.I...” she sniffed and drew a hand across her eye. “Thanksfor telling us. I’m really happy for both of you. I hope youcan forgive me.”

“We both know you didn’tmean any harm,” Miorine said sternly. “Still, the factremains you crossed the line and there are going to be consequences.I hope you’re prepared.”

ChuChu nodded. “I am.”

Miorine glanced over to herwife. They both nodded. They then both looked down at ChuChu, notsaying anything. She shifted her gaze between them, looking veryunsure of herself.

As one, they both bent down,grabbed one of the great pink pom-poms of hair at each side of herhead and buried their faces in them, making loud nuzzling sounds.ChuChu’s shrieks of horror and indignation quickly escalatedinto something like the wailing of the damned. Their two friendslooked on in stunned silence, as if unsure whether they werewitnessing a practical joke or the most terrible vengeance. WhenChuChu’s pleas for mercy started sticking in her throat theyfinally relented.

She sat there panting andshaking. She put her hands up defensively. “Okay... Okay...That’s a sore point... Off limits... I get it.”

“It appears we’vefound your sore point,” Miorine said dryly. “I willconsider this to have been payment in full.”

“Considering you wereready to kill me I guess I got off light.” She tentativelypatted her pom-poms. “Is my hair okay?”

“It’s delicious.”

Her outrage returned in fullforce. “That’s disgusting!”

After dinner ChuChu insistedon washing her hair and Miorine insisted on helping her. By unspokenagreement it was a chance for them to make their peace.

“What’s with thisshampoo cap?” ChuChu asked testily, pointing to the wide bandMiorine had put around her head. “I’m not a child.”

“I used it when I had todo Suletta’s hair. With the amount of hair you have I wasn’tconfident about keeping it out of your face. This looks like it willtake an hour.”

“Actually you’realmost done. This shampoo has nanoparticles for body, they soak infast.”

“So that’s yoursecret, I thought it smelled odd. Is it a controlled substance? I’msurprised it cleared customs.”

“Long since patented.Want to try some?”

“And have my hair biggerthan my head? Pass. If you let Suletta use it I really will killyou.”

“I see you’regrowing yours back. We’re all still wondering what was up withthe short cut.”

“It was a noblesacrifice.”

“I’ll bet there’sa good story behind that. Hey, where are you going?”

“You said I’mdone, so I’m going to the master console to activate thewaterfall faucet.”

“Whydo you have to go-” Ten litres of water dumped on her in thespan of three seconds. She sputtered and wrapped her arms aroundherself. “That’scold!”

“Well who ever heard ofa warm waterfall? That’s absurd.”

“Stepping into awaterfall is absurd!”

“A cold shower is goodtherapy, we do it all the time.” Miorine picked up the bucketbeside ChuChu which was now incidentally full of cold water anddumped it over herself. “See? Nothing to it.”

Of course after this radicaltherapy they had to soak in the tub. ChuChu was looking at her with aworried expression. “Boss, you and I are still okay, right?”

Miorine playfully splashedwater on her. “I’m not your boss here. And you and I arebetter than okay. We’ve been through a whole more together thanjust a few bad jokes.”

“After all this time Iguess we can still push each other’s buttons by mistake.”

“We both have our shareof soft spots. This one was just fresh, that’s all.”

“Okay, just bad timing.”They soaked in comfortable silence for a bit. Then ChuChu looked ather with a more serious expression. “I’ve been keeping myears open for talk from the contractors we bump into. There’sstill a lot of work going out to the League.”

“They should haverebuilt their fleet by now.”

“It’s just from afew instances I’ve heard, but there’s been a lot of callfor re-entry systems expertise.”

Miorine frowned. “Newdrop-ships?”

“Could be. Definitelynothing that’s showing up in open RFPs.”

“So part of their blackbudget.”

“We usually hear aboutthat stuff eventually, even if it’s just rumours.”

Miorine smiled, rememberingwhat Tunnel Rat had said. “It just takes one person talking toanother, then wash, rinse repeat.”

The Space Assembly League hadrecently held a highly publicized exercise with the new ships theyhad been building to fill the gaps left by the Quiet Zero battle. Butthose were all capital ships for operations in space. It suggestedthat was exactly what they wanted everyone to be focused on.

“Plenty of mobile suitassembly contracts being worked on. No hint of work on Gundams, forwhat that’s worth. Other than that, pretty quiet.”

“Thanks. Ears to theground, okay?”

“Always.”

#-#-#-#-#

The arena was in the samecounty so it was a short flight from their estate by VTOL. Sulettawas flying manually, but from the co-pilot’s seat with which itshared the forward-thrust canopy bubble Miorine was also being fedthe HUD showing the prescribed corridor.

“I see it,”Miorine said, pointing. The arena was an ovoid shape, truncated ontop now since the roof panels had been withdrawn to take advantage ofthe fair weather. It was situated on the outskirts of the small citywhich formed the county seat. As they approached, it was obvious thatboth the arena and the surrounding vehicle lots were full. “Isthis sort of a turnout normal?”

“Not really. It lookslike word of our exhibition match got around.”

“We weren’tparticularly keeping it a secret, but... do you know it’scapacity?”

“Fifty thousand Ithink.”

Suletta brought them down ontothe reserved helipad. The fan ducts rotated to wheel mode and liftedthe VTOL off its embedded landing skids. Suletta drove them to theirdesignated spot in the enclosed participants’ vehicle park. Theexpected entourage was there waiting for them.

The two of them descended fromthe aircraft and walked over. Miorine looked up and down the line ofsmiling faces. “Okay, what’s this all about?”

On one side was Miorine’sentire security detail. Sabina was in blue coveralls with matchinggloves and boots. Henao, Ireesha, Maisie and Renee were in their darksecurity uniforms, but they all also had ribbons tied around theirheads matching the colour of Sabina’s coveralls. Beside themwas arrayed the entire Earthian House. Martin, Nuno, Ojelo, Till,Lilique, Aliya, Nika and ChuChu were all in casual warm-weatherclothes, most of it very loud. They were all wearing red ribbons ontheir heads matching Suletta’s coveralls. Till was holdingEri’s Permet brick, and sure enough it had a ribbon too.

ChuChu put her hands on herhips. “Suletta, we are your cheerleaders!”

Similarly Renee put her handson her hips and declared “We are Sabina’s cheerleaders!”Everyone together crouched down and then jumped up with a yell and afist-pump.

Suletta laughed with delight.She then trotted over to Sabina and bowed. “I look forward toour match.”

Sabina bowed. “Likewise.It is an honour.”

A pair of men who had beenwaiting at a respectful distance approached and introduced themselvesto Suletta as tournament officials, here to direct the contestantsand their guests to their places. First there was a brief ceremonywhere ChuChu tied a wide white cloth band around Suletta’sforehead and Renee tied a similar one around Sabina’s forehead.Each bore the Lingua pictograph for victory.

“So where’s mine?”Miorine asked, pointing to her forehead.

“Which colour?”Renee asked with a smirk.

“You need to ask?”

“We have yours righthere!” Lilique said, waving a red ribbon. “Shall I put iton for you?”

“Thanks.”With that done Miorine walked up close to Suletta and gave a familiarmove of head and mouth. Suletta looked startled, but did nothesitate. Miorine held the kiss just beyond the point of beingaudience-appropriate. “For luck.” She glanced over toSabina. Then she looked at Renee and grinned. Idare you.

Renee’s eye twitched,but her hesitation was only sub-second. She turned smartly on herheel and bowed to Sabina. “Good luck, senpai.”

One official led the twocontestants away, and the other led the rest to their private box.They emerged out to the heat and dazzling light of the afternoon,accompanied by the background noise of the packed crowd.

Miorine asked ChuChu to sitbeside her since she had actually dabbled in this sport and couldgive her proper commentary. Lilique sat to Miorine’s otherside. “I’ve heard this looks a lot more rough than itreally is,” Lilique said, giving Miorine’s arm a briefsqueeze.

Bless her heart she thoughtMiorine might be worried. “I’ve shared a co*ckpit with herin one of her duels. As long as you’re strapped in and nobody’strying to shoot at you or head-butt you it’s fine.”

The event started with aleague match. At each end of the field, a pair of great double doorsopened up from the ground and freight elevators lifted thecontestants from the underground garages. They were both in thestandard league mobile suits, which were based on the Demi Trainerscommonly used at Asticassia and other training facilities. They werelightweight sixteen meter suits, quite slim and flexible. Themodifications made for league standards sacrificed pretty mucheverything for speed of movement. Armour was replaced with flexiblefoil over spring-reinforced foam, the sacrifice of weight and spaceallowing for more powerful actuators. The power systems in turnsacrificed duration for raw power.

The contestants moved to thecentre and faced each other with the one weapon used in the matches:a fifteen-meter bo staff. They were flexible and unable to causeactual damage to the well-padded suits. Points were scored by hits ondesignated areas or by forcing the opponent to contact the groundwith points above the feet. There were no time-outs and a matchcontinued until one player accumulated enough points for a win. Otherthan that it was no holds barred, there was an absolute time limitbut a match could be short and swift or long and gruelling dependingon the players’ styles.

Miorine had seen videos ofleague play but it did not convey the brutal power displayed by thesemonstrous machines flaying at each other at seemingly impossiblespeeds right in front of you. She had witnessed actual firefightsbetween mobile suits whose specs far exceeded anything like DemiTrainer, but somehow those seemed like lumbering golems when comparedto these dancing dervishes.

Sherecalled when Suletta and Sabina had informed her what sort of duelthey planned to do, by implication asking her permission. It was soobvious looking at them how badly they wanted her to approve.Thinking of that now she could not help but smile. Ican see why they are both wet for these machines. I almost feel likemy wife is going to be cheating on me.

After the league play was donethere was another intermission before the exhibition match. Thelogistics administrator in Miorine could not help but comment“Maintenance for these monsters must be a challenge.”

“It’s anightmare,” ChuChu assured her. “Like an entire day downafter one bout. More often than not at least one major component hasto be swapped out.”

Nika had been listening in.“The league doesn’t have anything like the budget of acombat unit. They have to do things cheap instead of fast. Kind oflike what we had to do when we were at the academy.”

“Yeah, that waslow-budget, no mistake,” ChuChu groused.

“Nika!” Liliquecalled. “Can you get a live feed of the baby?”

Nika’ssmile was indulgent but there was a hint of notagain.Without complaint she pulled out her phone and brought up the privatefeed. Of course it was the same as they had all seen before, her babyfloating in the synthetic amniotic fluid that filled the incubator.“She’s still not far enough along to move at all.”

“How are you feelingafter the birth?” Lilique asked.

“Good. I’m noteating weird stuff any more.”

Soon the exhibition match wasannounced. The crowd became even louder than they already had been.In return for the loan of the mobile suits for the duel, the leaguehad asked that they allow it to be a public match in an arena. Fromwhat Miorine recalled even they had not anticipated this degree ofinterest. Miorine had mixed feelings. She was proud of how her wifewas diving into this challenge, but also felt protective of her.Miorine knew in her bones exactly what being in the public eye couldexpose her to.

The two suits emerged,Sabina’s fitted in blue trim and Suletta’s in red. Theywalked to the centre, bowed, and assumed opening positions. Thestarting bell pealed.

Their opening moves wereinstant and blinding, a thrust from Suletta parried by a preciseswing from Sabina that segued immediately into a strike which was inturn parried. The moves and counter-moves crossed at a dizzying pacewith not a single let-up. Footwork and dodges were equally fast andrelentless, every inch of their machines was in frenetic but precisemovement. The two of them moved hardly at all from the centre of thearena, it was like the space outside the range of their weapons nolonger registered at all.

Sabina got the first strike, ahit to the leg. It was almost too fast to see and the action simplycontinued at the same frenetic pace. Sabina’s entourage leapedup and cheered. ChuChu let out a frustrated rasp. “ThatSabina’s a technical fighter. You can’t take your eyesoff her for a second, she’ll exploit any chance she’sgiven.” Then she and most of the Earthian House were on theirfeet howling. “Ha!” ChuChu cried triumphantly. “Betshe didn’t see that one coming!”

Whatever it was Miorine hadn’tseen it either, but Suletta now also had points on the board. Theybegan to pile up rapidly on both sides. It was usually a strike and acounter-strike in quick succession. It was like the only way eitherof them could score a hit was to lower their defence and give theopponent an opening, which they always took unerringly. It seemed togo on forever but scant minutes had passed.

Suletta dipped and swung allaround, her staff executing a sweep to the legs that combined speedimparted by legs, torso, arms and wrists. Sabina was forced to leapover it, absorb her fall with a suddenly free hand, and return to herfeet further away from her opponent.

“Okay!” ChuChusaid with a wicked smile and clenched fists. “Now it’sthe main event!” The roar of the crowd escalated, as if inagreement.

Verysoon Miorine could see what ChuChuhadmeant. She had been harbouring a growing suspicion that they wereboth in fact playing very cautious, defensive, probing games. Incontrast to what was emerging here that was now absolutely confirmed.They both seemed to throw caution to the wind. They would leap intothe air, they would leap overeach other, often as not pushing off their opponent with a free hand,trying to get them off-balance or get a strike from behind. They wereusing the whole space, running then turning to meet the chasing suitthen chasing them in turn. Then they would return to another flurryof strikes and parries, then their linked staffs would spin furiouslytogether, both of them barely keeping their balance. Bythis time the roars and screams of the ecstatic crowd were deafening.

Sabina managed a kick frombehind that forced Suletta to come down on a hand and knee for asplit second before launching herself to safety. That gave Sabinaenough points to be just one strike from a win. But she absolutelydid not revert to any sort of cautious stance, she bore down onSuletta with a running charge.

Suletta parried the thrustwith one hand and threw her staff in the air with the other. Suddenlythey were locked together, Suletta using one free hand to holdSabina’s arm while the other wrapped around her torso. Shedirected Sabina’s momentum into a spin that lifted her into theair. When Suletta released her Sabina was spinning face up, all herlimbs flailing. Her suit slammed down on its back.

The bell pealed again and theboards declared Suletta the winner. Now Miorine was on her feet witheverybody else, adding her voice to the deafening roar of the crowd.

Eventually when the noise fellto something tolerable ChuChu shouted to nobody in particular “Whatthe hell was that anyway?”

Miorine wolf-grinned at her.“That was a weaponized dance move.”

Suletta had caught her staffout of the air when Sabina had hit the ground, and stood with herleft hand planting it in the ground. Sabina’s suit rose andwalked over to her. In a league game this was when the two suitswould bow and return to the elevators. There was no particular rulefor exhibition games, so it appeared they had something else in mind.They both opened up their co*ckpit hatches, and Suletta brought hersuit’s hand up to Sabina’s co*ckpit. Sabina stepped ontothe outstretched palm, and Suletta brought her smoothly up to her ownopen co*ckpit. She stood out of her crash couch, reached out and theyshook hands.

The crowd roared all overagain. But Miorine just watched silently, smiling. The twocontestants seemed utterly oblivious to anything but each other.Suletta was talking and gesturing excitedly, like she was alreadyanalyzing their fight. Sabina would nod and speak and then they wouldboth laugh. Eventually, it appeared that Sabina had politelysuggested they ought to wrap up. Suletta got back into her seat andher suit’s hand deposited Sabina back into her own co*ckpit.Suddenly Suletta seemed to remember there were other people here too.She leaned forward and waved at her assembled friends, who all wavedback, Miorine included. Miorine also blew her wife a kiss, thoughSuletta probably could not see it from there.

After they got home, Miorineshowed her the surprise she had waiting. Suletta squealed and huggedher and they spun in an impromptu dance in front of her brand-newcombat-sport exoskeleton. It was already prepped so Suletta tried iton. It was Miorine’s turn to squeal when Suletta used the powersuit to pick her up in a princess carry.

The helmet was tilted back, soSuletta’s smiling face was right in front of her. “Wereyou only going to give me this if I won?”

“What do you mean if? Itold you a long time ago you can’t lose any duels.”

Her smile became impish. “Youtold me it was okay just for me to have fun.”

Miorine tried to think of whatit meant seeing what she did today, seeing Suletta’s joy andpride, her childlike eagerness and her laser-focused effort. Shetried to think of exactly what it is she wanted for her wife, howbest to convey what she hoped for.

Miorine reached out andcaressed Suletta’s cheek. Her voice was both imploring andemphatic. “Leta, I want you to spread your wings.”

#-#-#-#-#

“Are you sure I can’twear Eri on my dress?” Suletta asked.

Miorine looked at her from theVTOL co-pilot’s seat. They were both wearing their eveninggowns with the crease-free fabric against the safety harnesses.“Don’t you think that would clash?”

“I make anything lookgood,” Eri said from her black brick cyberbrain mounted overthe central console of the instrument panel.

The argument had been going onas the night lights of Rio passed below them. “I’m notsure about all that the man we will be having dinner with wants totalk about, I was hoping to have Eri in her cyberbrain for silentconsultation if needed.”

“Wouldn’t that becheating? It would look like we don’t trust him.”

It annoyed her that Sulettawas right. “You have a point. I would like to build arelationship of trust here if I can. Go ahead if you want.”

Suletta opened up thecyberbrain case door, extracted the plushy that was Eri and pinned itto the front of her gown.

“You realize this givesthe men an excuse to look at your chest,” Miorine pointed out.

“I’ll know they’relooking at Eri.”

“Don’t be so sure.Do you realize how stunning you are in that dress?”

The red gown was fastenedbehind her neck, leaving her back and arms completely exposed.Miorine had been encouraging her to put the stripes across her backon unabashed display. She had to admit it was a selfish move, sheloved showing off her gorgeous tabby-cat.

“Well, it’s themost practical place to put Eri.”

“Maybe we should getyour ears pierced so that you can wear her as an earring.”

“Miorine!” Sulettasounded outraged on Eri’s behalf.

“Okay then, I can doit.”

“Even worse!”

“If their eyes aren’ton me, I’ll let you know,” Eri said, now in the tinnylittle voice from the plushy speaker.

“Not in real time,”Miorine cautioned, though she pretty much knew that went withoutsaying. “That would be awkward.”

The HUD showed them theirdescent path, but their destination was already obvious from thefloodlights that illuminated it. They were on autopilot so the VTOLtook them to the helipad behind the presidential palace all byitself. There were limousines lined up for those guests who werearriving on the helipad. The VTOL drove itself to its designated spoton the airfield and an attendant directed them to their car. It tookthem through the spectacular garden behind the palace, with all itsgreenery and fountains lit up practically bright as day. Anotherattendant opened the car door and directed them to where people werefiling into the palace.

Just inside the entrance tothe ballroom, the President and his wife were receiving the guests asthey arrived. Everyone else was in formal evening wear, but TheJackal was still in his trademark khakis and red beret.

Miorine and Suletta bothbowed. “Thank you for the invitation, Mister President. May Ipresent my wife Suletta and her sister Eri.”

“A pleasure to meet youboth,” he said pleasantly. “I must say the greatest pilotof our age cuts a stunning figure, your strength and grace are quitepalpable.”

“You are too kind.”Suletta appeared much more comfortable taking praise than she hadbeen not long ago. She had been getting plenty of practice of late.

His grin broadened. “Andto think the greatest mystery of our age comes in such a modest andadorable package!”

“Thank you!” Erisaid in her best little-girl voice.

The Jackal raised a finger andspoke in a lower, sort of faux-conspiratorial voice. “If youwill indulge me, before you go mingle my boy is a great fan of the BoLeague and especially of the Red Tiger.” He gave a look andsmall gesture that directed their attention to where a young boy in atuxedo was standing more or less at attention, smiling a bitawkwardly. “He would very much like to meet you.”

“It would be mypleasure!” Suletta said brightly.

The boy was starstruck butimpeccably polite, and detained them just long enough to geek out onsome finer points of mobile suit piloting and to get an autograph.This whole Red Tiger business had started up soon after theexhibition match. It had supposedly been spontaneous but in alllikelihood had been a meme planted by the league. The remarkablefractal stripes across her back had become a familiar sight at thedances they went to, and in conjunction with her face marks the tigermotif had been suggested more than once. Suletta quite liked it andif others wanted to project her dear tabby-cat onto something largerthen Miorine had no objection.

The mingling portion of thesoiree was more fun than she thought it would be. It was simply aregular event held at the palace for no other reason than to give themovers and shakers of the Rio city-state region an opportunity tomeet and talk. If Miorine were here by herself then likely as not shewould have been speaking with mostly GUND-ARM business partners orpotential partners or customers. In fact she did end up doing nosmall part of that, but Suletta and Eri soon became something of amagnet for attention. As the President had suggested, the greatestpilot of the age and the greatest mystery of the age were going to bea draw, which was no doubt the reason they had specifically beeninvited. Suletta had her share of admirers, both as a war hero andnow increasingly as a sport hero. But it was even more fun watchingpeople’s reaction to Eri. She had great fun with it, neverstepping out of the little-girl savant persona she wore.

Eventually the door to thedining hall opened, signalling that it was time for dinner. Peoplesaid their goodbyes to whomever they had been speaking with andslowly made their way to their designated table numbers, which weredisplayed as holograms over each table that winked out once all theseats were filled.

Their dinner guest was alreadyat the table, and rose to greet them as they approached. He was atall, slim but robust looking elderly man with a long white beard andmatching bushy hair that wrapped around his bald pate. His homely,serene face made one feel he must surely be a professor or scholar.

“Simon Bolens,” hesaid in a strong baritone voice. “A pleasure to meet you.”

They introduced themselves andsat down. Miorine had never met him but had recognized him from hislong and varied career. He had put himself through law school byjoining the army and had made a name for himself in contract andpatent law. He had then been a professor in the region’s toplaw school for many years. He was best known for having held cabinetpositions in two previous administrations, once in finance and oncein industrial development. Since then he had been on the boards ofseveral NGOs, the largest being a global charitable foundation foreducation.

But the one thing that hadprompted Miorine to accept his invitation to be their dinner-partnerfor tonight was finding out that he had spoken publicly more thanonce at conferences held by the South New World branch of the EarthIndependence League.

Miorine had been expecting himto also be escorted by his wife, so out of courtesy inquired abouther absence. “We both like for her to be able to pleadignorance of any conversation where delicate matters might bediscussed,” he said in a pleasant and slightly apologetic way.

“I see.” Thatpiqued Miorine’s interest. “Was there a delicate matteryou wished to raise with us?”

“The Jackal has no truckwith those who break a confidence,” he said as of that were ananswer. “When he says that a venue is for private conversationthen we can be sure that it is such.” His expansive gestureseemed to draw attention to a fact that had not been lost on Miorine,the wide spacing of the tables that seemed to be for facilitatingprivate conversations.

Miorine did nothing to hidethe suspicion and worry from her expression or body language. “Thendo you intend to discuss anything that my wife or sister might wishto deny hearing?”

He smiled. “Quite theopposite.” His gaze encompassed everybody at the table. “Ihave been intrigued by the way all of you have managed to subvert oldnotions of what is possible. I regard subversion to be a synonym ofprogress, and would love nothing more than to explore all thiscreative subversion with you.”

Miorine gave Suletta a quick,fond smile. “My wife has certainly transformed my own notion ofwhat is possible, not the least being the little miracle that shewears like a trinket.”

“I should probablyresent being compared to a trinket,” said trinket commented.The level of sass she used signalled that she was now treating thisas a private conversation, not for public consumption.

Miorine simply continued. “ButI am not sure what might put me in the august realm of thesubversives.”

He clearly understood andappreciated her implied question. “People’s exhibit Awould be the fertility technology that GUND-ARM is now selling. Muchof it has been available to Spacians for years, but until now somehowit never made its way to Earth. The incubators in particular willmake childbirth less intrusive than most cosmetic surgeries.”

“Isn’t that a goodthing?” Suletta asked, sounding genuinely curious about wherehe was going with this. “What’s subversive about it?”

“That should beobvious,” Simon answered in the polite but chiding way thatMiorine could imagine him having used in his days as a professor whenpresented with such a basic question. “Earth has had a slowlydeclining population for generations now, and that contributes to thegeneral economic malaise. Anything that makes childbirth lessintrusive could turn that around. I cannot believe that was lost onyou.”

Miorine took her wife’shand. “It could be I introduced fertility technology just sothat we could use it when the time comes, don’t you think?”

Suletta slapped her handlightly. “Stop that.” She sounded half joking, but alsohalf embarrassed.

Simon appeared to accept thedeflection as a jest. “Be that as it may, I doubt you coulddeny its profound impact, given time.”

“Granted.” Miorineleaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. “And People’sExhibit B?”

Simon just continued, treatingit as a legitimate question. “For some time now a growingnumber of my former students who are now practising law haveconsulted me regarding partnerships their customers are drawing upwith GUND-ARM. More often than not it has been a nitpicking queryabout how some particular clause sounded too vague or broad orflexible. I would always reassure them honestly that there did notappear to be any issue of concern. But the common pattern I saw wasopenings being left for the application of dual use technology.”

Miorine kept a neutral face.Her answer included a clarification for Suletta’s sake sinceshe was likely the only one at the table who might not be certainwhat that referred to. “Pretty much any technology haspotential military application, even and perhaps especially medicaltechnology.”

“Quite right. But nodual use technology has greater potential impact than manufacturingtechnology. And the manufacturing base you have been building up ispractically tailor-made for quick retooling. You have consistentlysacrificed efficiency for flexibility.”

“We were entering themarket when it was in a very unpredictable state. And what’smore we have been investing heavily in putting out new civilianlabour suits since we found such a shocking shortage of them. Thedifference between a labour suit and a mobile suit is a lot less thanmost people suppose.”

“Which might explain whythe Fronts have been so reluctant to export labour suits or theirmanufacture to the Earth sphere.”

Miorine shrugged. “Whatcan I say, I guess I just don’t share their paranoia.”

“Labour suits can be hadfor about half the price they went for just a couple of years ago,”Simon pointed out. He smiled at Suletta. “I hear the Bo Leagueyou are in has been taking advantage of that.”

“That’s right!”Suletta was restraining her enthusiasm, but only just. “Theleague is almost twice as big as when I first heard about it. Thereare some new leagues starting up too, different sized suits anddifferent melee weapons. Even skeet shooting.”

“That might be makingthe Fronts just as nervous as the suits themselves.”

Suletta’s indulgentsmile was one Miorine had seen her direct to students who confidentlygave an answer that was actually incorrect. “I’ve doneboth training for mobile suit sports and combat training. They’rea lot different.”

“How well do formermobile suit pilots adapt to the sport?”

Suletta looked a bit surprisedby the question. She hesitated before giving an answer that soundedlike it was something that had not occurred to her before now. “Iknow a couple of players who were in mercenary groups. They learnedvery quickly. They’re difficult opponents.”

“Are you suggesting mywife and I have some sort of hidden agenda?” Miorine asked in away that left plausible deniability of seriousness.

“In fact I would like towelcome you to the hidden agenda.”

Miorine raised an eyebrow.“I’m not certain what it is we are being welcomed into.”

“I am guessing that assomebody with total recall Eri’s homework for the evening wasto delve into my interface with the Earth Independence League.”He was now looking at the plushy dangling from the front of Suletta’sgown. “Did you come to any conclusions?”

“You do not seem to be acard-carrying member,” Eri said by way of confirming his guess.“In fact you have been quite critical of the organization,often coming into conflict with actual members when you appear onpanels at their conferences. But they continue to invite you bothbecause of your status and the insights you bring. Your disagreementsappear to be not with principle or ideology but with tactics andgoals. They are more or less world federalists who want to form somesort of central government. You have been vague but you seem tofavour a separate mutual-defence alliance of existing polities oneach continent. So how did I do?”

“Splendidly,”Simon said. “You have given the high level summary that wouldprobably be made by any good analyst reporting on my politicalactivities based on publicly available intelligence. My compliments.”

“So if that is yourpublic face then what is your hidden agenda?” Miorine asked.

“It is simply this. Iand like-minded people would like to facilitate the creation ofcontinental mutual-defence alliances. We would then like to fostercooperative relationships between them.”

“That’s a tallorder,” Miorine said. “A lot of those polities are in astate of cold or hot war with each other.”

“A lot less than beforeyou dissolved the Benerit group. The infusion of cash from the formergroup has meant there are fewer economic disputes that takeneighbours above the threshold where they consider military action.And the Fronts that would provoke these disputes have been distracteddealing with the financial disruption.” Simon’s tonebecame more emphatic. “We think there is a window ofopportunity to make real progress right now.”

Miorine looked at himintently, taking a moment to let that sink in. “So, what is ityou want from us?”

“These alliances willhave to form from a position of strength. We will need a counter tothe mercenary groups that the Fronts use to foment discord and tipthe balance in conflicts where they have an agenda.” He lookedto Miorine. “We will need to build mobile suits, and,” helooked at Suletta. “We will need to train pilots.”

Miorine regarded him coldly.“I promised my colleagues – my friends – atGUND-ARM that we would never be in the business of makingwar-machines. And I promised my wife that she would never have to goto war again. Do you understand what you are asking?”

“Inever actually saw action when I was in the army,” Simonanswered. “But I know full well what it is we ask of soldiers,of realsoldiers who are loyal to a people and not just to a customer whoshowed up with enough money. Over the years I’ve had friendsand family pay the ultimate price. I’m sure you understand.”

Miorine nodded. “Yes,all too well. I confess to being conflicted. I would like to hearmore about what you have been doing and what you plan. But evenknowing more could put my family in danger.”

“You are right to becautious,” Simon assured her. “But consider this. Thecurrent interregnum of relative peace cannot last for long. Theeconomic boom on Earth is fading and the Fronts have recovered muchof their losses. They are currently manoeuvring for positions withina new united front. Once they achieve some degree of unity their oldpatterns of exploitation and intervention will resume.” Heleaned forward and looked more intently at Miorine. “I’velived most of my life on an Earth that was pinned under their boot,so I know just how fragile and fleeting this brief moment of respitereally is. So I ask, is the safety of your family and mine betterserved by waiting for their return or preparing for it?”

Miorine regarded him closelyfor a few seconds before replying. “For this agenda to beimplemented, there will come a point when it can no longer behidden.”

“That time will likelybe soon. When it comes, we will all be called upon to decide how torespond to this new call to action.” He shrugged. “I canonly decide for myself. Beyond that, all I can do is plant the seedof an idea.”

While they had been talking,the army of waiters had been bringing out the first course of dinner.The three plates had just been laid out for them. Simon smiled. “Butwe are also here to break bread tonight. So for now perhaps we canleave these weighty matters behind us. Let us speak of tomatoes andheroes and whatever we will.”

Miorine could think of noobjection. “You grow tomatoes?”

“The modest garden in myyard includes a few plants, yes.”

“So you grow themoutside a greenhouse? Interesting, I might want to get some pointersfrom you.”

The conversation quickly wentfar and wide. Simon opened up about his own life but even more so wasendlessly curious about all of them, and in a way that went farbeyond the subversion he had professed such interest in. His readinghabits were both varied and voracious, he and Eri had a veritablefield day comparing their recent reading lists. And he was able totake much of what they had seen here in Rio and put it in a contextof recent local history that gave Miorine a whole new perspective onher adopted home.

At some point in a discussionof local military history Suletta asked him if he had flown mobilesuits in the army. “I took the training and the competency testlike all recruits.” He smiled. “Unfortunately I did notmake the grade, so I was a ground pounder until the day I wasdischarged. The number of people who can effectively pilot a mobilesuit even after training is remarkably small.” His mannerbecame more grave. “The Permet capable suits can compensate forthat, but only at a terrible cost.”

“Even the sport suitsare like that,” Suletta confirmed. “A lot of people tryout but most of them can never get beyond the basic moves even in thesimulators.”

“We have been at themercy of that equation for so long it is just the air we breathenow,” Simon lamented. “The battlefield is dominated by asmall number of war machines that are all but invincible againstanything but each other, piloted by the few people who are capable.”He gave them an ironic smile. “And by some caprice of naturethose people tend to be the most eccentric among us. Present companyexcepted.”

“I like ‘eccentric’a lot better than some of the other things I’ve been called,”Suletta said brightly.

“She is far from beingthe only eccentric in our family,” Eri assured him.

“Officers I spoke withwhen I was in the army compared commanding mobile suit pilots toherding cats,” Simon quipped.

Miorine quickly pointed atSuletta. “Don’t do it. I mean it.”

“Awww.” She putdown the hand that had clearly been preparing for her catimpersonation.

“About the only thingthat allows them to be effective is that they can operate alone or invery small groups,” Simon continued. “The weaponplatforms they operate are so powerful they do not need largenumbers.”

“Right,” Eriagreed. “Pilots seem to make the worst team players.”

“Do you miss being apilot, Eri?” Simon asked.

Very uncharacteristically, Erihesitated a moment before answering, as if she were taken aback. “Ihaven’t thought about that in a long time. I’m not evensure you could call me a pilot. You might as well talk about somebodypiloting their own body.”

“It might be interestingto try again if you could.”

“I’m kind of likeSuletta was right after the Data Storm, all I can do is listen andtalk.”

“Maybe you just haven’ttried yet.”

Again, there was a moment’sdelay. Simon had a real talent for asking unexpected but intriguingquestions. “Even if I could move the itty-bitty arms on thisplushy I doubt that would do much good.”

“Did you ever trylevitating?”

“Okay, now you’replaying with fire,” Miorine said only half jokingly. “Justremember she came from a Data Storm that vaporized a doomsday weaponand every Gundam at the Lagrange point. I don’t want her tryingweird stuff.”

“I would venture thatweird is baked in to Eri’s condition,” Simon retorted.

“All the more reason notto try and make it even more weird.”

Simon gave a smile akin to agremlin. “Give it time, we’ll make a proper subversiveout of you yet.”

They had long since finishedthe dessert and people were starting to leave, so they said theirgoodbyes. After they were airborne, Miorine asked for Eri’sassessment first.

“He really cuts to thebone, I’ll give him that,” Eri said from her cyberbrain.

“Do you have a feel forwhether we can trust him?”

“I think he’slegit. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got his agenda. But Ithink he was being honest with us.”

“Miorine?” Sulettahad been quiet, looking rather thoughtful. “Do you think he’sright? I mean, about the Fronts coming down to Earth like they usedto?”

“I’ve beenthinking much the same thing for some time,” Miorine confirmed.

“Is that why you’vedone things at GUND-ARM the way he said?” It was not in any wayaccusatory, she just knew that Miorine rarely did things for noreason.

“That has been at theback of my mind, yes. If the Fronts do get aggressive again, we mightneed to think of new ways to resist.”

“So what are we going todo?”

Miorine smiled at her. “Fornow, keep our eyes open and keep doing what we have been doing.”She reached over and gently squeezed her wife’s leg. “Andalso keep having fun.”

Suletta returned her smile.“Can I help with the new tomato plants when you start them?”

“I insist.”

At home, Miorine had justshowered and got into her night clothes and was about to check formessages when she heard Suletta laughing from the bedroom. She walkedover to see her sitting on the bed, still laughing. “Some jokeI missed?”

“No!” Suletta saidbreathlessly. “Eri is tickling me!”

“Tickling you? What, isshe interfacing some perverted telepresence device?”

“No, by herself!”

The little plushy was sittingface-down in the palm of Suletta’s hand. Miorine couldn’tsee anything happening. “What, can that thing generate acurrent or something?”

“No, she’s usingthe hairs. Here, you try!”

“Okay.” Sulettapicked up Eri and placed her face-down in Miorine’s palm. Herarm twitched and tensed up a little. “That feels... weird.”The little white hairs that formed the face of the little plushy weremoving, sort of writhing together.

She used her other hand topick up Eri by the key-chain. Looking closely she could see themovement. After a moment it stopped. “Eri, how long have youbeen able to do this?”

“I’ve sort of feltlike I could for a while, but I didn’t see much point intrying. I’m a bit surprised too. I think it’s been kindof like Suletta’s rehab, it’s just taken me a while toconnect with the rest of this body. Recently it reached a sortcritical threshold and suddenly I can do it.”

“Anything else you cando?”

“I’m not a circusact!”

A little later, after checkingand responding to messages, almost on a whim Miorine checked whattime zone Nuno was in. She placed a voice call. His image came upalmost immediately. “Hey Boss. What’s up?”

“I have a question abouta piece of accessibility hardware we’ve been doing trials on,the skin patch for the blind.”

“Yeah, I know the one.”

“I know it’s notyour wheelhouse but you were monitoring it and I just have some basicquestions. Have they got good results?”

“In limited cases. It’sa steep learning curve for the patients, most of them just give up.But a few of them were able to get a pretty effective visionsubstitute.”

“Wasn’t there anew version that also stimulated hair follicles?”

“Yeah, but that’seven more extreme disparity of results. In one or two cases reallygood vision substitute, the rest a no go.”

“Do the stimulationunits also act as sensors?”

“They have to forcalibration. But after that the sensors would only detect say theskin forming goose-flesh and that gets filtered out as noise.”

“Any limits on hairdensity?”

“The issue has nevercome up but in theory could go a lot higher. Not sure where you’regoing with this, Boss.” Miorine described what Eri had justdone. Nuno looked intrigued. “Is that for real?”

“I saw it with my owneyes, more to the point I felt it with my own hand.” She thenexplained where she was going with this.

Nuno was silent for a moment.He went into the sort of meta-engineer fugue state that she wasfamiliar with, one that would lead to either a solution or a gameplan for finding one.

“Let me get back toyou.”

#-#-#-#-#

“Do I look okay?”Suletta asked.

Miorine had just finishedinspecting herself in front of their bedroom’s full-lengthmirror. She turned to look Suletta up and down. Her new dark businesssuit was almost a carbon-copy of the one Miorine was wearing, withmatching slacks, leather boots and jacket over a white blouse. Herhair was gathered behind her head, and the picture was completed witha light application of makeup.

Miorinewanted to say something like youown that,but the occasion merited a more gentle reassurance. “You lookgreat.”

Outside it was cloudy but dryand not cool enough to need coats. They met Eri on the patio, whereshe was practising walking with her Mark-2 robot body. Unlike thewheeled robot with the single manipulator arm she had started withthis one was bipedal. It was a gynoid shape about Suletta’sheight that presented a smooth, continuous flexible surface overlow-impedance activators that mimicked the anatomy and function ofhuman muscle. It was based on the latest generation of prostheticlimbs.

“We’re ready togo,” Suletta told her.

“Okay, I’mcoming.” Eri’s voice was recognizably her but somewhatmore rich and deep than what would come out of herself or hercyberbrain. Her walking was still slow and a bit stiff.

“I have your flower,”Suletta told her. “Do you want it now?”

“Just a second.”The e-ink embedded in the surface turned from its default white to adark blue, in keeping with the occasion. The exception was the head,which stayed as is. It all gave the impression of wearing a darksuit, but did not detract from the cute and innocent look she hadbeen going for with the design of the two camera eyes and the speakermouth on the robot face. “I can take it now.” Sulettacarefully handed the flower in its holder to Eri. She was stillworking on manipulation as she was with locomotion, but she took andheld onto it with no issues.

They made their way along thepath, letting Eri set the pace. The path led to a small wooden gazebothey had recently installed. But their destination lay just a littlebeyond, up a gentle grass slope to a large, sprawling tree. Near thebase of a tree, a simple marble platform was embedded in the ground.At the edge of the platform nearest the tree was a small headstonebearing the name Elnora Samaya.

Miorine put a hand onSuletta’s shoulder and smiled. Suletta returned her smile andnodded, understanding that she should go first. She stepped onto theplatform and knelt down. She placed her flower by the headstone.“Hello Mother. It’s been a year since we laid you to resthere at your favourite place. It’s one of our favourite placesnow too, as you’ve probably noticed. We come out here when wecan, but we’re all busy with other things now.

“I’m in threedifferent mobile suit sport leagues now. I’ve won championshipsin all of them. It’s getting harder though, there are a lot ofnew players and some of them are really incredible. I’ve beenhaving so much fun, I am really grateful that you taught me to be apilot.

“I’ve also becomean instructor for labour suit pilots. We need a lot more of them hereon Earth, so I’m really happy I can do that. The trainees areso happy and proud to be pilots. Some of them have already gone offto work on mega-projects far away. I’m trying to teach them theway that you taught me. You were always patient but you always toldme when I wasn’t doing my best, and you were always right.

“I opened a secondschool not far from the estate here. I can’t be there as muchas I was when it was just starting. But we found some wonderfulteachers. And the students are teaching each other just like we hadto do on Mercury. I had to learn from so many people, but you werealways there when I really needed help. I want to give the studentshere what you gave to me.

“You must remember Nika.She’s done something wonderful. She has a little baby girl now,named Chloe. Chloe is actually the daughter of Sophie and Norea, twopilots who were killed in the fighting at the Asticassia academy.

“I have some wonderfulnews. Miorine and I are going to have a baby. We’re going toname her after you. I’m sorry that she’ll never get tosee her grandmother. But when she’s old enough we’ll tellher all about you. I’m going to tell her everything that I canremember. And of course we’ll bring her here. I will try toteach her and love her in the way that you did for me. Thank you,Mother.”

She knelt there silently now.It looked as if she were taking a moment to compose herself. Then sherose, turned and stepped off the platform. “Eri?” sheasked gently.

“Okay.” Eristepped onto the platform and went down on one knee, just a littlewobbly. She placed her flower next to Suletta’s.

It had been Suletta’sidea that they should speak their messages to their mother aloud.Miorine suspected it was a misunderstanding of how this was supposedto work, but nobody had raised any objections.

“Hello, Mother. Yes, itreally is Eri. Can you believe it? This is the dream you had for me,to be able to walk freely wherever I want. You saved me and put meinside Ariel while you worked on that dream. Then Suletta saved mefrom the Data Storm and gave me a brand new life. Now Miorine and herfriends have worked their own magic. Thanks to all of you I have castaside the curse of the Gundam.

“I am an executive atGUND-ARM now. Every day we are finding new ways to help people andsave people and heal people and to do it without sacrificing people.We are doing what you and your dear teacher at the Vanadis Institutewanted to do. You set the example and I am trying to live by it.

“Oh, we finally finishedwatching Sunstroke. It was never quite as much fun as when you werethere with us. Thank you, Mother.”

She rose to her feet, turnedand stepped off the platform. As expected she had kept it simple anddirect to the point.

Miorine exchanged a warm smilewith her wife, and Suletta nodded in encouragement. Miorine steppedonto the platform, knelt and placed her flower next to the others.This was something quite new to her. Her father had never evenallowed her to attend her mother’s funeral. She had been givenjust a couple of minutes alone with the casket. She had not even beentall enough to look into it to see her mother. That young girl hadwondered what exactly was expected of her, what it was she wassupposed to do when she had been told she was not even allowed tocry. This time she knew what she was expected to do, but she foundthe whole notion of speaking to the dead no less baffling. What didit even mean, and what was one supposed to say?

The answer, when it came, wasso blindingly obvious. What you say to the dead are the things thatyou always found so difficult to say to the living.

“Hello, Mother. Thereare so many things that I could tell you about the life that Sulettaand I have made for ourselves here on our new home-world. But shealready told you the only one that really matters. I am bearing ourchild. We are going to raise her together. And we have alreadydecided that before long we will give her a sister, just as you gaveone to Eri.

“It is that one thingyou did that I will always be grateful for, regardless of yourreasons or your motives. None of that matters to me any more becauseshe is the only thing that matters. You gave Eri a sister but yougave me my life. When you brought Suletta before me I was deadinside, so dead that I could not even understand the gift that youhad given me. But she taught me to understand, every day, in waysthat I did not even realize. When I did realize how I felt I cast heraside because I thought it was the only way she would be safe,because I was the one who knew what was good for her. But even thenshe walked through the fire again and won my hand again and came tomy side again and took my hand again. She did that because she sawinto my heart in a way I could not yet see for myself. That is thesort of daughter you raised. That is the gift that you have given me.

“I know I am unworthybut I will accept your gift in all humility. I will make Suletta myworld and I will become her world. Keeping her safe and happy andfree to spread her wings and become whatever she will is the end ofall that I will do. She is my sun and my moon and my stars and I willcherish her for as long as we live. That is my promise to you. Thankyou, Mother.”

Miorine rose, turned andjoined the others. Suletta stood where she was, her head slightlybowed, not looking at anyone. “Eri, could you give us aminute?” she said in a voice they could barely hear.

“I’ll head back tothe house,” Eri said softly. She turned and carefully traversedthe grassy slope back down to the gazebo.

Suletta continued to stare atnothing for a moment before speaking. “Didn’t I tell you?What you say here is supposed to be for her.” On the surface itsounded like she was trying to hold back something like anger orannoyance.

“It was for her. Everyword.”

Suletta came forward andrested her left side against Miorine’s left shoulder, Miorinecould no longer see her face. She reached up with one hand andlightly punched Miorine in the side. “Liar,” shewhimpered in a husky voice.

Miorine just wrapped her armsaround Suletta and held her. There was nothing else to say. Sulettawas right, she was a liar.

#-#-#-#-#

“Well, the front gate issure impressive,” Renee commented from the front passenger seatof the rental limousine they had picked up at the heliport.

“It’s the topgirls’ academy in the region,” Miorine reminded her,speaking from her lonely seat in the back section. “Been herefor generations.”

“Looks it.”

Miorine would have to agree.The imposing black wrought-iron gate of the Adneda academy couldalmost give the one in front of the Rio presidential palace a run forits money. The similarly imposing fence seemed to go on forever.

Sabina stopped the car,lowered the driver’s window and used her phone to show theircredentials at the intercom. The gate opened and they entered theschool grounds. They drove around the imposing ancient edifice of theschool complex and the rooming houses that served the boardingschool. Behind those was a parking lot next to the athletic field. Asthey had been told, two students were there to direct them to theirdesignated place. When they disembarked the two girls approached,bowed and introduced themselves. They were in the academy uniform, adark blue blazer and white shirt with a kerchief, and an ankle-lengthmatching dark pleated skirt. They led Miorine and her security detailto the back of the bleachers that faced the athletic field.

When they emerged into the VIPbox at the foot of the bleachers Miorine was surprised to see thatthey were filled with a sea of those same uniforms. She should nothave been surprised, knowing what she had come to see. But even fromhere there was barely a faint murmur of background noise. Some of theseated girls were speaking, but it seemed everyone was speaking inhushed tones. It was an utterly different atmosphere than the leagueevents Miorine had attended.

The other guests invited tothe VIP box were already seated. They rose to greet the new arrivals.The one who stepped forward was a tall, elderly woman in an elegantmauve jacket with big puffy sleeves and a matching long skirt. Sheintroduced herself as the dean of the academy. “Thank you forcoming.”

“Thank you for invitingme, headmistress.”

“Please just call meElaine. I believe you know our other guest.”

“Of course. It’sgood to see you again, Don Vincent.” She had been informed hewould be joining them. She was happy to see that Marsh was hissecurity detail today. She hoped that somewhere along the way shewould get a chance to speak with him, it had been a while.

“Elaine heard from yourwife that congratulations are in order,” Don Vincent said witha smile. “No wonder you are looking so radiant.”

Miorine smiled. Suletta hadbeen working here for weeks and she would take any excuse to talk soit was not surprising word had got out. She rested a hand on herabdomen. “I daresay she’ll be in the incubator beforethere is any change that you would notice.”

“Are you not callingyour device a nest?” Elaine asked.

“I believe that is whatour marketing folks came up with. I’m afraid you’ll findI have the crude vocabulary of a technocrat.”

The jest went over wellenough. They sat down. “We are very grateful for the loan ofyour machines,” Elaine said. “I am glad you could comeand see some of the result.”

“When we got yourrequest I insisted we make this happen and my wife was equallyinsistent she come help out.”

Arrayed in front of them werefour large labour suits. They were heavy-duty suits outfitted andtuned for quick, precise movement in unpredictable environments suchas emergency response. Of course, today the students who had beenlearning from Suletta would be putting them to a rather differentuse.

Shortly, the start of theevent was announced. As the participants filed onto the field, themood of the crowd switched like a light coming on. There were raucouscheers, and she could hear nearby girls shout out names. It seemedthe school ken-do club had its fan base.

Suletta filed out with them asthe chief referee. Miorine thought she might take the opportunity towave at her wife, but she was all business. The crowd dutifullybecame silent and the officials got things moving.

What followed was in every waya ken-do match at larger scale. Even to Miorine’s relativelyuntrained eye it was apparent that whatever their credentials in theken-do sport the players were beginners with respect to labouroperation. Nevertheless there were few really embarrassing moments.The great shinai they held did connect as often as not. Consideringhow little time they had to learn and to practice, the result wasrather astonishing. And these were stock machines, not theoverpowered beasts used in the leagues.

The victor received a long,deafening ovation from the jumping and shouting crowd. When she andthe other participants filed out that was a signal for the crowd todo likewise. They were now just marginally more noisy than they hadbeen before the match. Elaine invited her two guests to join her inthe nearby tea-house, which they accepted.

As they walked among thedispersing crowd, Miorine pointed out something to Elaine. “I’venoticed a lot of the girls walking in pairs.”

“They are bond-sisters,”Elaine explained. “One senior and one junior. Every freshmanstudent is chosen by a senior who will guide her through her schoolyears.”

“Like a tutor?”

“Rather more than that.The senior is more like an elder sister, also an advisor.”

“My wife’s schoolhas something similar, they call it a senpai-kohai relationship. Itstarts off as tutoring but often becomes a friendship.”

“She and I havediscussed her tutoring system at some length. We encourage that here,but it is more or less on an ad-hoc basis.”

“My niece is a juniorhere,” Don Vincent said. “Her bond-sister tutors herregularly, more often than not invading my tea room in the process.”

“Can you blame them?”Miorine asked. “If I were your favourite niece I wouldcertainly take advantage.”

“She does seem tobenefit, so I don’t mind.”

“The curricula atSuletta’s schools is geared explicitly around the tutorials,”Miorine said to Elaine.

“Ours is geared tosemester-long courses,” Elaine explained. “It would bedifficult to do something like that with just tutors.”

“It might be a match forsome elective courses,” Miorine suggested. She asked halfjokingly “Are your students getting extra credits for mobilesuit mastery?”

The look Elaine gave her wassomewhat enigmatic. “We might want to talk about that.”

They arrived at the tea house.Students welcomed them and attended them, always in pairs. Elainerequested a private discussion with her two guests in a sun roomwhere a tea service had been put out for them. In the process ofparting from their respective security details Miorine got her chanceto get reacquainted with Marsh, and to introduce him to her newbodyguards. Sabina politely acknowledged Marsh as her predecessor andthanked him for his service, something that he seemed to bothappreciate and find somewhat amusing.

Very soon after they werealone Elaine gave Don Vincent a sort of warm smile Miorine had notseen from her before, one that very much suggested they were oldfriends. “Don Vincent, should we get right to the point?”

“Yes Elaine, I believewe should.”

Elaine fixed her friendlysmile on Miorine. “My good friend Simon Bolens told me howhappy he was to be able to speak with you. I am certain that he toldyou about his hidden agenda. Don Vincent and I count ourselves amonghis subversive friends. We very much support his notion of forming amutual-defence alliance in the region.”

“If you are willing, wewould like to talk with you about what we might all be able to do inorder to help make that happen,” Don Vincent said in the mannerof a dinner invitation.

Miorine raised an eyebrow.“Well, well. I feel like I should be learning a secrethandshake.”

“That’s prettyold-school,” Don Vincent said pleasantly. “We haveend-to-end encryption on our phones like everybody else.”

“None of us arecommitting or proposing any criminal activity,” Elaine assuredher. “Our secrecy is intended to prevent the Fronts fromgetting nervous or worse.”

“That makes good sense.Yes, Simon did speak with me about his agenda. I’m happy toshare my thoughts, for what it’s worth.”

“By all means,”Don Vincent encouraged her.

It took just an intake ofbreath for Miorine to gather her thoughts. “The bulk ofmilitary strength on Earth lies with the mercenary groups. They are amotley assortment but there are two things they all have in common.First, their contracts always leave them with the option of immediatecancellation at any time. Second, they always work for the highestbidder. Any alliance whose strength depends on them could beundermined in one swift stroke by a sufficient investment of cashfrom the Fronts. I am certain this problem cannot be lost on you.”

“Indeed it is not,”Elaine. “Any alliance would need a new source of strength.”

“At the risk of beingflippant I certainly hope you do not have any notion of students witharmed labour suits being a counterweight to professionals flyingstate-of-the-art mobile suits.”

“Nothing of the sort,”Elaine said, showing no sign of being put off by her question. “Weare taking a long-term view. We wish to prepare the ground and putall the pieces in place that will lead to a new sort of militaryunit.”

“A new sort?”

“A militia,” DonVincent said. “Are you familiar with the term?”

“In a general sense. Itis an irregular unit comprising citizens of a particular polity thattakes orders exclusively from the leadership of that polity.”

“Most people do not evenhave that level of understanding,” Elaine said. “It issomething that has all but vanished. A combination of particulartechnologies and long-standing policy of Front organizations haveconspired to leave these mercenaries and their paymasters the solemasters of the battlefield.”

Miorine smiled. “Forgiveme, it is probably base prejudice but hearing this insight comingfrom the headmistress of such an elegant girls’ school israther surreal.”

Elaine did not react to theobservation. “I can largely thank Simon for the insight. Whenhe did manage to direct my attention to the nature of the water weall swim in, to me the proper response was obvious. When the girlsunder my care leave here, I want the ones who are so inclined to havethe background that will make them prime candidates for a mobile suitmilitia. One that will fight for their homeland and for nothingelse.”

“And so today’sdemonstration was the first step in that direction,” Miorinesaid.

“Exactly so. I wouldlike to ask your continued support.”

“I will be happy to.”Miorine smiled. “My wife has rarely been more enthusiastic thanwhen she tells me about the girls she is training here. That alone isreason enough. But of course pilots are just one side of theequation.”

“The other half is morein the wheelhouse of your company,” Don Vincent said. “Simongives good reason to believe that you have your own hidden agenda inthat regard.”

“Yes, I have been doingeverything I can to see that GUND-ARM and its partners have thecapacity to rapidly gear up for development and production of mobilesuits. But we are already close to the point where that capacitymoves from the potential to the overt. And by the same token if youand others pursue pilot training more aggressively it will becomeincreasingly obvious that you are interested in more than preparingthem for sport or labour. It will not be long before our intentbecomes clear for all to see.”

“The Fronts regard Earthwith a prejudice of low expectations,” Don Vincent said. “Mostlikely we will be able to depend upon plausible deniability on ourpart and the wish for denial on their part for some time to come.”

Miorine nodded agreement.“That is true as far as it goes. But make no mistake, they arewatching. The Fronts are in a chaotic state now but they areregrouping. If they perceive a threat they are not above finding anexcuse for preemptive action.” She smiled. “And from myphilistine technocrat perspective the difference between a militiaand a standing army is just the difference between part-time andfull-time workers. It won’t be long before that little fig-leafcan no longer hide what is underneath.”

“They might actually seethe formation of regional alliances as another opportunity for themto play regions against each other,” Don Vincent pointed out.

“If the formation of thealliance is framed in that way then possibly so.”

Don Vincent smiled. “Luckily,that is exactly how our President plans to frame it.”

Miorine co*cked her head. “Soyou are telling me that The Jackal is also one of Simon’sfriends?”

“For quite some timenow, yes.”

“And how are otherregional leaders going to know that it is really part or the hiddenagenda?”

Don Vincent put up a handdefensively. “I’m afraid that is well beyond my need toknow. My involvement is local.”

“Let me guess, you wantSouthern Cross to eventually form a militia unit.”

“As always, I can hidelittle from you. She is likely to be in greater and greater demandbut when the time comes I hope we can avail upon your wife as aninstructor.”

Miorine smiled. “I knowyou have been respecting the distance I have kept between my wife andthe work that you and I did together. I am grateful for that. But Ihave been thinking for a while that it is high time that I introducedyou.”

“Then by all meansconsider yourselves as having an open invitation.”

That meeting did end uphappening a few days later. Suletta just loved Don Vincent’stea room and garden. He continued to respect the distance, he mostlyjust prompted her to talk excitedly about her work in the leagues andthe schools. As a fellow manipulator with long-term goals, Miorinewatched a master at work with equal amounts of admiration andcontrition. She reminded herself that old habits die hard.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine finished dryingherself and walked from the bathroom into their bedroom. Suletta wasalready dressed in shorts and a loose top that left her midriff bare.The video screen was still showing the same image it had been before,it filled most of that wall. “Suletta, are you really going toleave that up there all the time?”

“I like to watch.”

“It’s going to bea long time before she moves at all.” The live feed showedtheir daughter floating motionless in the incubator. In gloriousmaximum resolution, no less. Suletta had insisted on that. The levelof detail was... somewhat unsettling. “I know you’regoing to want to show her to our guests but maybe just do that onyour phone.”

“But this is so muchmore immersive.” Suletta spread out her arms. “It’slike we’re in there with her!”

“It’s like we’resmaller than her.” Miorine frowned. “Are you stillrecording this?”

“From the beginning,yes.”

That was a week ago now. Whoknows how many exabytes that was already. Memory was cheap but thiswasn’t exactly going to be compelling family video.

Miorine got dressed and theyhad breakfast. The VTOL arrived not long after they were done,exactly when they had been told. Eri was doing the flying, whichMiorine was trying hard not to be nervous about. Getting her licensehad required going through some hoops. The cyberbrain that shetransferred between her robot bodies interfaced vehicle controlsthrough the universal interface, so it took a while to convince thelicensing office that she was applying for a pilot’s licensewith an accessibility prosthetic and not a drone license.

They both stood a respectabledistance from the helipad, then approached closer as the fans wounddown. They saw Nika in the window and exchanged waves. When sheopened the door they could see that she had little Chloe in a chestcarry strap. This was their first time seeing her after she came outof the incubator. She was still a little antsy after the noisyflight, so the two of them backed off a bit to give the mother andchild a little space. This was when Suletta became the one whothought to ask “Where’s Eri?”

Nika laughed a littlenervously. “Her new robot body wouldn’t fit in theco*ckpit so she flew from the cargo hold using the cameras.”

“What?” Miorinelooked at the cargo hatch. “She left you alone in the cabin?”

“It was fine. We talkedthe whole way, through the comm gear.”

“Is she even licensed todo that?” Miorine asked, really alarmed now.

“She said so.”

“So is she stuck inthere or something?”

Nika still sounded a bitnervous. “I guess she waited so that she didn’t stealChloe’s thunder.”

The cargo hatch opened.Something slithered out.

Miorine and Suletta just stoodthere, trying to understand what they were looking at. The top partof the robot, about the size of a human head, was a larger version ofthe little plushy that was Eri’s new existence. The tiny bodythat formed the base and the comically oversized round head were inthe same red parka motif. But the white fluffy face with its buttoneyes had been replaced with a round video screen that was displayingsomething that could alternately be seen as a burning cats-eye orjust a vertical inky slit exuding lurid orange flames to left andright.

Below that was just...tentacles. A mass of them, too many to count. The way they allslithered together to propel her along the ground in a manner thatwas not altogether clear did something to the pit of Miorine’sstomach.

Suletta was the first tospeak. “Eri, is that you?”

“Hi Suletta! How do youlike it?” It was Eri’s voice and yet it was not, therewere deep resonances that suggested the sound could actually becoming from the ground below her.

Miorine asked the obviousquestion. “Where did you get that?”

“I ordered parts andmade it!”

“What on Earth is itfor?”

“Nothing in particular,I just thought it would be fun.” She slithered closer and someof the tentacles reached out toward her with startling speed. “CanI get a hug?”

Miorine cried out,instinctively stepping back with her body turned to one side and herarms crossed over her chest. “Stay away with those things! I donot want tentacles all over me, that’s obscene!”

Suletta stepped forward inapparent morbid fascination. She reached out. “Can I touchthem?”

“Suletta!”

“Sure!” Eri saidbrightly. She slithered right up to Suletta and some of the tentacleswriggled around her arm. More reached under her and around her back.Miorine was about to shout a warning but it was too late. Sulettasquealed as she was suddenly held aloft by a nest of tentacles. Shelaughed and curled up. “That feels weird!”

Miorine needed an excuse tolook away from this mad spectacle. She turned back to Nika. “Iam so sorry, I had no idea she was going to pull off something likethis.”

“It’s fine,really,” Nika assured her. “It was pretty funny when shemet me at the heliport.”

“I’m surprisedthey didn’t call security.”

“Chloe thought it wasfunny so Eri carried her to the VTOL for me.”

“Shedid what?” Miorine turned around again, vaguely aware thatSuletta was still laughing. “Eri what were you think- Hey!”She jabbed an accusatory finger out in front of her. “Justwhere do you think you are touching your sister with those? That isbeyondincestuous! You put her down this instant!”

Eri complied. Suletta wasdoubled over and panting from... hopefully the laughing. Miorine waspanting almost as hard from indignant rage. She put one hand on herhip and pointed out at Eri again with the other. “What is thatmonstrosity supposed to be anyway? Are you just trying to show offhow many prehensile limbs you can control at the same time?”

“Miorine, you’remaking the baby cry.”

“I don’t want tohere it from somebody who shows up looking like that!”

Chloe was in fact starting tocry, so Miorine bit her tongue and decided to table the lecture thather sister-in-law had coming. Her mother got her calmed down to thepoint where their hosts could come get a closer look. Before theywalked to the house Miorine suggested – calmly but firmly –that Eri transfer to her bipedal robot. The transformation seemed togo over well with Chloe as well, though Nika continued to assure themthat she had liked the tentacle thing too.

However shaky the start, theremainder of their day together was fun and relaxing. Nika was takingfull-time parental leave for the next few months, so the only timethey or the rest of Earthian House saw her was when they came tovisit each other. Miorine was gratified to see how happy she looked.

Nika was not spending thenight, so when it started getting dark Eri took her back home... thistime, thankfully in her bipedal body, which she was now able to usewith perfect ease. Now that Eri was in her cute gynoid body and hertentacle thing was tagging along on autopilot she was more or lessbehaving herself. Miorine had to wonder whether the radical bodychanges was impacting her mental state. She had not spoken with anymental health care professionals since before her mother had beenreleased from prison, and those had been more or less doing research.It might be high time to have a frank discussion.

Or, much more likely, Eri wasjust messing with them.

Miorine’sphone chimed a text from her core contact list. She frowned. That’sweird, why is Suletta texting me?She had been in the bedroom looking at something or other that Erihad brought for her.

‘Come see the robot bodythat Eri brought for me!’

Robot body? Oh, great. Shetexted ‘Coming’ and made her way over. If this was somedemented Haro-Cthulhu chimera then by hell she would take it straightto the workroom and cannibalize it for parts. Girding herself for theworst, Miorine walked into the bedroom. “Suletta? Oh, thereyou-”

Shewas on her hands and knees up on the mirror dresser of all places,wearing a furry body suit. The fur was the colour of her skin, withtabby-cat stripes from head to toe the colour of her hair. There wasa tail that moved and swayed with her like it was a living part ofher. There were matching cat-ears that swivelled and twitched. As shearched her back and made an intoxicating purring sound Miorine couldsee that the suit left her front exposed... thoroughlyexposed.

Suletta licked her lips andpawed the air with what really looked like a paw. In a voice thatstill sounded like purring she said “Would mistress like toplay with her kitty meow?”

Miorinelooked upon this surreal sight with equal parts giddy delight and...I absolutelymust get her into our bed before she takes that off.

That ended up taking a while.Suletta made Miorine chase her all over the place first. Her anticsactually made it difficult for Miorine to get undressed. Suletta’sroutine involved a lot of licking. And she never broke characteronce, even right up to her final joyous howl of delight.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine had not been to theFront that housed the headquarters of House Jeturk since Guel andFelsi’s wedding. She had not expected to be back even thissoon. But the circ*mstances had merited a special trip. She made herway along the familiar path around the ring habitat to theheadquarters building.

‘Atleast be civil to the staff,’Eri reminded her through the cyberbrain. She had actually accompaniedMiorine into space in her gynoid body, which had remained at theirrented accommodation. Miorine wanted her present but in stealth mode.

‘Naturally.It’s Guel who’s got it coming.’

‘Trynot to do anything that will draw blood.’

Miorine did manage to smile atthe receptionist. The young woman’s manner was impeccablypolite to a fault, like she was walking on eggshells. No doubt thestaff had been briefed that a very angry guest would be arrivingtoday.

Guel was alone in his office.When the receptionist closed the door behind her, Guel did not sayanything, he simply rose from his chair and walked around to the sideof his desk. Miorine strode briskly over toward him, stood right infront of him and glared up into his face for just a second.

She wound up and slapped himacross the face. He showed no surprise and did nothing to avoid it,his face simply carried to the side by momentum. He turned his headback toward her again. His expression was still neutral, as ifnothing had happened.

“Was that leak intendedto rub your broken promise in my face or did you think I was toostupid to read between the lines?”

“There was amiscommunication and somebody jumped the gun,” he said, genuineremorse in his voice. “I was going to speak with you beforethere was any announcement, official or otherwise.”

“And what exactly wereyou going to say? Sorry, I lied?”

“Do you really want tolisten?”

“Don’t get mewrong.” Miorine turned around, marched over to one of the guestchairs in front of Guel’s desk and sat down. “I want tohear exactly what you have to say for yourself, in great detail.”She crossed her legs then her arms. “I’ve cleared myschedule.”

“So have I.” Hewent to sit back down behind his desk. “I’ll start byjust putting it out there. We have been developing a pilot interfaceusing the cyberbrain Permet device that we jointly developed withGUND-ARM.”

“And whom have youvolunteered to test it?” Miorine asked bitterly.

“I have been doing theflight tests myself. Just me and nobody else.”

Miorine stared at him in uttershock. “Guel... you’re a husband and father now. Whatwere you thinking?”

He leaned forward on his desk.“Miorine, I’d like to show you something that I believewill help you understand. Before you say anything else, I would likeyou to look very carefully. After you’ve done that, I’llanswer any question you have, or find whomever has the answer.”He touched something on the desk tablet. A wall-sized video screen toMiorine’s right came to life, showing a schematic diagram. Itwas a high-level design for a co*ckpit pilot interface. The diagramwas detailed but the various labels were more or less at theexecutive summary level, so anybody with a basic understanding of thetechnology could get a good feel for the design. Miorine did as shehad been asked and examined it very carefully.

Erispoon-fed her the key conclusion at about the same time that Miorinehad reached it on her own. ‘Thereis no in vivo Permet. It’s all external.’

“I’m not sure Iunderstand,” Miorine said. “The pilot is not interfacingthe Permet at all. Does this even work?”

Guel nodded. “It works.But it’s like the deep-level functions of a regular cyberbrain,it takes a lot of training of both the pilot and the cyberbrain toget up to anything like the level of the in vivo Permet interface.”He took out his phone and worked it while he spoke. “I’msending you my training schedule. It will give you an idea of whatwe’ve found is needed.”

Miorine received the messageand reviewed the training schedule he sent. It went on and on. SoonMiorine just gave up on the schedule and went straight to the flighttime summary. She had already known from both private communicationand public news how active Guel had been managing the Jeturk companyover this same time period. She looked back up at him. “Haveyou been getting any sleep at all?”

“Here and there.”

She looked back down at thedocument and reviewed the performance data over time. It was notquite her wheelhouse but... “It looks like you’ve reachedthe equivalent of Permet level three at the very least.”

“That’s aboutright. Not that there is any reason to expect any problem but I’vebeen getting regular checkups.” He smiled. “I’mdead tired but otherwise I’m fine.”

Miorine shook her head. “Thiscould be an absolute game changer. It could make in vivo Permetobsolete.”

“We’re not sureyet. I’ve reached a plateau. I feel like I’m missingsomething but I’m not sure what. We’re at the stage whereI think we need to get more skilled and experienced pilots to try itout, get their input and get a more robust set of data.”

“I can’t imaginethere are many available pilots at a much higher level than you.”

“There is one.”

They exchanged a look ofmutual understanding. “So that is what you were planning tocome talk with me about.”

“Before you say anythingelse I want you to try and understand what is at stake.” He wasa good deal more animated now. “I don’t think this willever make the old Permet devices obsolete. That option will always bequicker and easier, and more tempting. But this might be a way to letpilots meet even a Gundam on a level playing field. Not desperatepeople who have been compelled or seduced by something that is goingto rot them from within. But instead proud pilots who have earnedtheir wings by their own hand.”

He stood up and bowed low.With his face down close to his desk, he spoke very formally.“Miorine Rembran. I deeply apologize for breaking the promisethat I made to you. I have no right to be asking you any favours. Ifyou can find it in your heart to forgive me, and to trust me again,then I ask that you consider helping me to complete the work ofgiving our pilots the power to meet the curse of the Gundam head on.I also ask for the help of your dear wife, if she will consent.”

After a few seconds Miorinesighed heavily. “Raise your head already. You look ridiculous.”

Guel straightened up. He gavean ironic smile. “I see this apology went over about as well asmy last one.”

“If you had led withthat diagram of yours instead of a botched leak I would haveforgotten all about my promise to slap your face.”

“I had been hoping thesame thing, but that’s just not how it turned out.” Hesat back down. “I hope you’ll consider helping us.”

“Let’s just beclear, it’s Suletta’s help you want.”

“Yes. But I’masking how you feel about the idea.”

‘She’llwant to do this,’Eri said, probably knowing that she was stating the obvious.

“I have become verycomfortable with the idea of my wife being a pilot. And I am equallycomfortable with placing her in your care, I know that you wouldprotect her with your life. I am more worried for you than for her.”

He frowned. “How do youmean?”

“You imagine that youwould be getting a new test pilot, maybe a flight instructor. But ifthis new system turns out to be everything you are hoping for, justthink about what it would mean to put it into her hands. Rememberwhat she did the last time she was in the Data Storm. She walked intothe realm of the dead and walked back out, bearing scars but alsobearing her sister, resurrected. She reduced a doomsday weapon andevery Gundam at the Lagrange point to ash, and she reached rightacross space and rendered another doomsday weapon impotent.”

Miorine stabbed her fingertoward the diagram that was still on display, her eyes still boringinto Guel’s. “That thing could give her the ability to doall that and more without cost and without limit. It could make hermore powerful than any of us can imagine. I told you that I do notfear for her, I fear for the rest of you. I would love her and accepther even if she upends everything that we know. But you think veryhard about what you are asking for, Guel Jeturk! I thought Sulettawas a helpless child and her mother thought she was an obedientweapon and neither of us could have been more wrong. Whatever youthink you will be getting from her I promise you it will be far, farmore than you imagine and you had better be prepared for that.”

It was several seconds beforehe answered. “I trust Suletta as much as you do. I would trusther with my life, or with anything.”

“Fine. I told you how Ifeel as Suletta’s wife. Now I am speaking as the CEO ofGUND-ARM. If you wish to deploy our joint technology venture tocustomers for military use then I just have just one condition.GUND-ARM will share unrestricted access to all test data and alladvances that are obtained from these tests.”

Guel looked a bit puzzled.“GUND-ARM does not deal in military technology. Are you tellingme that might change?”

“All sorts of thingscould change.”

“I would have to putthat past the board. Off the top of my head, I’m sure theywould want a proviso that GUND-ARM would maintain the restriction inits charter that excepting upstream supply chains its operationswould be restricted to the Earth sphere.”

“That would be noproblem.”

“Then I’m prettysure I can swing that.”

“I’ll send acontract proposal. Do you know when you’ll be coming to Earth?”

Guel appeared surprised.“Going to Earth?”

Miorine raised an eyebrow.“Well I presume you want to headhunt Suletta in person. You dohave to sell her on this idea, you know.”

He looked worried now. “Youthink she might be reluctant? I know you have a child on the way...”

Miorine shrugged. “I’mher wife, not her keeper. I don’t know what sort of deal she’llwant to make. Maybe she’ll want to duel you for the option ofmarrying off our daughter to your son.” She laughed at hisbewildered look. “Don’t worry, I won’t suggest thatto her. And if she does ask my advice I will tell her she should jumpat the opportunity. I want her to spread her wings in every way shecan. And I do want this project to succeed, I think you’reright to be excited about it.”

He looked infinitely relieved.“I’ll let you know when I can make it to your place.”

Miorine stood up. “Staywhere you are.” She walked around his desk to where he wassitting. He looked like he was wondering if there was some reason hewas not aware of that he was going to get slapped again. She bentdown and kissed his cheek. “I can’t do that unless you’resitting down. Congratulations. I’m sure you were hoping for ason. You must be very happy.”

He smiled warmly. “Thankyou. We’re both very happy.”

“Bring the family whenyou come, we’ve plenty of room.”

“It’s still earlyfor him to be travelling yet. And thanks, but I’m probablygoing to be making it a day trip from Rio spaceport.”

“So can I see thembefore I go?”

Guel smiled awkwardly. “Theymight be nervous. I told them I didn’t know how angry you wouldbe so they should probably avoid meeting you. I told Lauda and Petrathe same thing.”

Miorine laughed. “Well,you can call and let them know that you managed to tame the shrew.”He had no idea what she was talking about but it didn’t matter.She ended up being the guest of honour at a lovely family dinner.Petra showed off her new GUND-ARM prosthetic leg. Leaning into theprosthetic rather than concealing it was becoming more popularlately. Hers was a custom two-tone model, and Miorine was happy totell her that she totally owned the look. But of course Guel andFelsi’s new baby boy got the lion’s share of theattention. Naturally they had named him Vim, after Guel’sdeceased father. It was a name with an unfortunate legacy. Butnevertheless, Miorine approved.

She could forget for a while,just how much there was that she was not telling them.

#-#-#-#-#

After the briefing, Miorine,Suletta, Sabina and ChuChu filed into the change-room of the testinggrounds complex. Their orange flight-suits were all hanging in a row,the e-ink on each breast pocket showing their names. There were alsocorresponding boots on the floor and helmets on the shelf. Theypicked lockers and got undressed.

“It sounds like thefirst part of this will be boring for the rest of you,” Miorinesaid.

“Oh, I’m used toit,” ChuChu assured her. “Outside of the Asticassiaacademy they’re pretty anal about running a pilot through thefull sequence of test moves every time they start using a new modelsuit for the first time. Can’t just hop in and go like we woulddo at school.”

“The leagues have thesame rule,” Sabina said. “Both Suletta and I had to runthrough the full movement set on their suits before we could train inthem.”

“It will give you a goodfeel for the suit,” Suletta assured her.

“That’s what youkeep telling me.”

“Are you nervous?”Suletta asked.

“Well, it can’t beany worse than when I tried to fly Ariel. I really did just hop inand go.”

“It showed.”

“You’re nevergoing to let that go are you?” It was an old joke between them,that Miorine had tried stealing Ariel from Suletta, and then hadended up stealing Suletta from Ariel.

She noticed ChuChu taking hernew cyberbrain out of its case and looking at it a bit dubiously.“Are you used to that now?” Miorine asked.

“I guess. Still can’tbelieve you talked me into this.” She had just had the surgerytwo days ago.

“Half the pilots havethem these days.”

“And half of them don’t.It doesn’t seem to make a difference.”

“Maybe we’ll findout.”

Now that the use ofcyberbrains was expanding so rapidly, there were ongoing debates onhow they impacted effectiveness and performance in many domains. Oneof the hottest debates was among pilots. Many swore by them, butthere was little hard data to back them up. By a bit of serendipity,Miorine had identified an opportunity for an interesting test.Suletta, Sabina and ChuChu were all experienced pilots whoseexperience with cyberbrains was measured in years, weeks and daysrespectively. Miorine was a beginner pilot who had been using acyberbrain for years. Today they were going to try and measurelearning curves for a new model labour suit that none of them hadever tried yet.

A second motivation thatMiorine had expressed openly was her desire to delve into the worldof mobile suit piloting that so consumed her wife and her friends. Ofcourse she had no pretensions of ever becoming a pilot of anythinglike their calibre. But it was something that she wanted to be ableto share with them at least a little, and they had all respondedpositively to her desire.

Of course, Miorine’srule of thumb was to always have at least three reasons foreverything she did. A common and valid criticism of the cyberbrainwas that it had no direct interface to the suit. Right now Miorinewas the only one here who knew there was a place where that hadalready changed. It was a revelation that she felt would go over bestafter being prepared with some groundwork.

After donning their flightsuits they filed out into the warehouse where the test supervisorswere waiting for them. Their four suits were also prepped andwaiting. They were the heaviest models of labour suits released sofar, ones that were actually in a similar size and weight class tosome lighter mobile suits. They also incorporated some features thathad previously been considered too complex or expensive for anythingother than combat suits. The distinction between the two realms ofsuits continued to shrink.

Her three companions lookedjust short of being giddy as they got a close look at the new laboursuit for the first time. Miorine found that their enthusiasm wasinfectious. She was able to convince herself this might actually befun.

Thefirst part mostly was, at least for her. The most disquieting aspectof piloting was the moment when the immersive co*ckpit screensactivated and she suddenly found herself seeming to float severalmeters off the ground. But Suletta had pointed out her mistakebefore. Yourfeet are on the ground. You really are that tall. That’s howyou need to think of it.

The other mental barrier thatapparently Miorine was far from alone in facing was the seemingimpossibility of moving this thing like her own body using a coupleof joysticks. Yes of course she knew all about how the helmet and thecrash couch were translating electromagnetic signals andmicro-movements from her body through a Permet neural net and thehand controls were just to direct gross movement. But it always feltlike that whole invisible apparatus could be ripped out of hercontrol at any moment.

After the suits completedtheir internal diagnostics, the supervisors gave them their first setof instructions. The test moves struck her as being an oddcombination of calisthenics and Tai-Chi. As the tests proceeded overthe next couple of hours, the moves demanded of her became faster andmore complex, moving further and further out of her comfort zone.More and more she was falling behind or moving incorrectly. Twice shestaggered and nearly fell over, recovering just on time. Thedifference between her and the experienced pilots was becoming moreapparent.

To her surprise, during thebreak both her companions and the supervisors praised herperformance. They had been fully expecting her to fall down at leasta couple of times over the course of the test. “You’re anice-cube pilot,” ChuChu declared. “Always cool, alwaysstill, just letting everything in and refracting it back out.”

“What is the down sideof being an ice-cube pilot?” was the first question that cameto Miorine’s mind.

“Ice can be fragile,”Sabina said. “It can shatter when hit with an unexpected blow.”

“Sometimes you mightneed to be more like water,” Suletta suggested.

“That sounds very Zen.”

Miorine actually found herselftaking that advice to heart during the next segment. They weredirected to perform specific tasks that the labour suits might bedoing in the field. They were picking up things like steel girderswith builtin fasteners or prefabricated building components andputting them together based on blueprints that appeared on theirscreens. In the process they had to either avoid or remove varioussorts of obstructions that had been placed in the work areas. By thetime the allotted time was done, Miorine had completed far less thanthe others had. She was physically and mentally exhausted.

Again, to her surprise she wastold that her performance improved significantly even over the courseof that relatively short work period. It was a sample size of one andthere was no way to draw any firm conclusion, but there wereindications that the cyberbrain had played a part in letting herlearn more rapidly.

The briefing had actually saidvery little about what the final segment of the test might entail.After the break was over, they stood in front of the chief supervisorfor their new instructions. He smiled. “Just have fun. Dowhatever you want to do.”

The suggestions came thick andfast and with increasing glee. As her three companions talked withand over each other and quickly hammered the chaotic burst of ideasinto a consensus, Miorine pretty much smiled and nodded and agreed.

They ended up doing just abouteverything. They did wrestling. They did somersaults. They didbreak-dancing. They threw girders like spears. Then they found thisgreat huge rubber ball and they did soccer and then hand-ball againstthe warehouse wall and then dodge-ball.

It was pure hell.

Later in the change-room,Miorine winced as she stripped off the sweaty flight suit.

“Did you hurt yourself?”Suletta asked, looking concerned.

“Not really. I just feelstiff.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere.”

“Do you want a massageanywhere?”

“Not in front of thekids.”

After the shower anddebriefing, it was already late evening so most of the staff wenthome. The food delivery that Miorine had ordered ahead of time waswaiting for them in its big thermos box. They decided to eat at atable in the cavernous warehouse where the four suits were once againlined up, just because that seemed right. They had the now dimly litspace all to themselves now.

The three real pilots wereconcerned it had been an ordeal for Miorine. “I won’tlie, it was a humbling experience. But there’s a refreshingclarity to competitive sport, whatever the stakes might be. I mean, Ithink I understand a little better that ritual they would recitebefore duelling at the academy. Whatever notions you enter the duelwith, those notions won’t survive contact with the reality ofwhatever happens. They’re right, the result is the only truth.”

“However humbling itmight have been, you never gave up and you never complained,”Sabina pointed out. “That matters as much as the result.”

“My bruised ego thanksyou.”

“You were getting betteralong the way,” Suletta assured her. “Was it gettingeasier for you?”

“Yes, it was. Especiallyas we were doing all those weird and wonderful things that the suitswere absolutely not designed for. It felt like I was connecting moreclosely to the machine, just out of sheer desperation.”

“Maybe we should makethat part of standard labour suit training,” ChuChu quipped.

“Let us pray...”Miorine intoned.

Suletta laughed. “Hey,maybe we should have tried dancing!”

“To do that I wouldn’tneed a cyberbrain,” Miorine said with an ironic smile. “Iwould need a miracle.”

“I’m still notsure the cyberbrains do much good,” ChuChu said. “They’realmost trying to duplicate what the co*ckpit electronics are doing,but there’s no feedback with the suit.”

“I’m thinking thesame thing,” Sabina said. “Without direct feedbackbetween the suit and the cyberbrain, it’s hard to see how itcan help much.”

“That might change verysoon.” Miorine had their full attention now. “Besidestoday’s test there’s something else I wanted to discusswith the three of you. It’s something that I only found outabout a few days ago.”

She told them the entirestory, starting from the point where she made a special trip to spacein response to a leak from Jeturk House that implied they were goingto be applying cyberbrains to mobile suit development. She told themof her discussion with Guel where he confessed the truth. She usedtheir phones to send them the schematics for their co*ckpit design,and the results they had obtained from Guel’s testing.

As experienced pilots withadvanced technical training, they were better able to judge theimplications of the materials than Miorine was, and they were evenmore astonished than she had been.

“It looks like theirprogress has been stalling,” Sabina pointed out, reviewing agraph of the test results plotted over time.

“Guel thinks they needto get more test pilots involved to advance further.” Miorinelooked at her wife. “Suletta, when Guel comes to our house nextweek he’s not just coming for a visit. He told me he wants toask you to be a test pilot for their system. I want to know how youfeel about that.”

Suletta looked veryintrospective for a few seconds before she answered. “Does hereally think I can help?”

“Yes, he believes thatyou can. He sounded almost desperate for you to help.”

“Then I’d like todo it. I agree with what you and everyone said.” Suletta lookedaround the table at all of them. “This could be reallyimportant. It could mean no more people getting Data Storm syndrome.Or at least fewer. I think that would be worth it.”

“It would be a movingtarget, but they’re estimating a test program of six months toa year. You would be spending most of your time in space. Would thatreally be okay?”

After a moment’sconsideration, Suletta nodded. “Yes, that would be okay.”She smiled at ChuChu. “ChuChu has been spending most of hertime in space, but we still get to meet like this.”

“Miorine...”Sabina hesitated, but then spoke resolutely. “I’m sorry,but I have to ask this. Do you believe you can trust Guel’sintentions?”

“Yes, I do. But thatdoesn’t mean I don’t have concerns. Guel is navigatingthe same snake-pit of Spacian power politics that have brought us somuch grief. I don’t want to send Suletta or anyone into thatenvironment alone. So I have a very big favour to ask both of you.Sabina, ChuChu, when Guel arrives next week I’d like you to bethere and I’d like you both to offer to be test pilots. I’msure he would jump at the chance of getting two pilots of yourcalibre on board. How would you feel about doing that?”

ChuChu’s grin waswicked. “When I offer him my services I am absolutely not goingto take no for an answer.”

“I will also insist ongoing,” Sabina said with equal assurance if less flamboyance.

Miorine smiled with genuinegratitude. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

They had already known thatthe testing would go late into the day, and had probably gone on evenlonger than the supervisors had intended after they had essentiallyunleashed the pilots and let them carry on until they’d hadenough. Rather than getting home at an ungodly hour Miorine hadrented a pair of suites at a nearby resort. After retiring to theirown room and changing, Miorine and Suletta relaxed on the couch. Shestill seemed excited about the new co*ckpit system and they ended upreviewing some of Guel’s materials on the room’s wallscreen.

“I hadn’t expectedyou to go down into the weeds on the design details like this,”Miorine commented with genuine surprise.

“A lot of the time wehad to do our own maintenance on Mercury, manpower is at a premiumthere.” She smiled. “And the leagues are kind ofself-serve sometimes too, though that’s getting better now.”

“It sounds like you wantthis to succeed as much as I do.”

She nodded. “If it cansave even a few people like Sammi and Don, it’s worth it.”

Those two were now among thosewho had paid the ultimate price for being exposed to the Data Storm.Miorine took her hand. “You will be doing what amounts to mockcombat. I feel like I’m asking a lot. It might bring back somevery bad memories. If it ever starts bothering you then you shouldquit.”

Suletta took her hand in bothof hers and gave her that saintly smile that always convinced hereverything would be fine. “I’ll think of it as being anew league with different rules. I’m more worried about beingaway a lot. I mean, with Elnora on the way.”

“I’ll make sureyou can be here when she comes out of the nest. And I will negotiategenerous parental leave provisions for you. But to be honest thefirst year will be mostly changing diapers. You might appreciatebeing away.”

“I’ll do that toowhenever I’m here.”

“You’d betterbelieve you will.”

Miorine did not like it, butfor now it was best that the three pilots not be aware of the largercontext into which this new system they would be testing might fit.All the pieces were not in place yet. The time would come in duecourse.

#-#-#-#-#

Now that everybody in EarthianHouse and all of Shaddiq’s former pilots were over the legaldrinking age even in the socially conservative jurisdiction of Rio,their parties had become noisier and would go on longer. This one wasto see off the three pilots who would soon be returning to space, andto celebrate GUND-ARM’s associated joint venture with JeturkIndustries. Miorine could not remember where the suggestion had comefrom but they ended up renting a private party room that had animpressive collection of retro games arrayed across the room. Afterthe boisterous toasts, people had soon paired up and started gaming.She and Till were currently playing on some strange table game thathad a soccer field and little wooden players skewered on rotatingspits. Neither of them were taking it particularly seriously, it wasjust something to do while they talked.

“Those three have verydifferent personalities,” Till pointed out. “I’mhaving trouble imagining that particular team dynamic.”

“Sabina and ChuChu lookat things in radically different ways, but they can cover eachothers’ blind spots. If they are at odds, Suletta can be thepeace-maker. They both look up to her and listen to her.” Andshe did have some experience herding cats.

“They’re allrather competitive in their different ways.”

“They’re pilots,that comes with the territory. I recently got to see that up close.They are united in loving the challenge for its own sake.”

“Yet they all seem tounderstand the real stakes.”

“Yes, that’s whythey were all so eager to go.”

“Are you worried aboutthe optics of combat training?”

Miorine suddenly moved morequickly, scoring a goal with a coordinated two-hand move. That itactually worked seemed to annoy Till as much as it surprised her.“Our interest is in shortening the learning curve for laboursuits. If they get promising results then they will be bringing insome novice pilots to see how quickly they adapt to the system.That’s what I’m really interested in.”

Till moved more quickly now aswell, trying something similar to what Miorine had. She barelyblocked it. He looked even more annoyed. “It hasn’t beenlost on analysts that this is yet another dual use technology in ourarsenal.”

“I don’t mind thespeculation. It works in our favour, right?”

“The Great Houses mightthink we have designs on their arms market.”

“At one time or anotherthe Great Houses have probably suspected their cats of having designson their arms market. Their paranoia knows no bounds.”

His hands moved quickly,scoring an impressively fast goal that brought a smile to his face.“I just hope we are not giving them reason to think of us as athreat.”

“Only if they arethreatened by seeing even more productivity gains in the Earthsphere. It’s a tide that is lifting their boats too.”

They were doing as muchplaying as talking now. “They might be more concerned with thevolatile politics down here.”

“That is by theirdesign, the politics on Earth is exactly as volatile as they decideto make it.”

“They might be worriedabout losing the control they have had up to now.”

They were moving withaggressive swiftness now. It was becoming harder for Miorine toconcentrate on what she was saying. “If any particular regionalpolity gets out of line, they still have the mercenaries in theirpockets. Nothing we do is going to change that.”

“Do you ever wish itwere otherwise?”

“If wishes were horses,beggars would ride.”

“Never heard that one.Oh, you got me. Your game.”

“It was a lucky shot.”Miorine picked up her wine glass and took a sip. “Anyway, wedon’t even know if this project will pan out, there are a lotof unknowns. I don’t want to spend time worrying about beingthe victim of our own success until we’ve actually succeeded.”She looked around the room. “Want to try something different?”

They went to the buffet tablefirst. People were getting into the pattern of returning to the tableafter a game, swapping opponents and trying something different. Sheended up in a game of air hockey with Nuno. They gave the game justenough attention that they could still talk. Like Till, Miorinesensed a distraction in Nuno.

Miorine did not need to waitlong for him to voice his concern. “Hypothetical, here. Thisco*ckpit works beyond all expectations. What’s our next move?”

“Hard to say. Depends onhow easy it turns out to adapt to different platforms. It could lowerthe training requirements and raise productivity on everything fromexoskeletons to labour suits even bigger than the new ones we justput out. We don’t know yet.”

“Are you worried aboutwhat Jeturk might do?”

Miorine’s fast shot wentwide. “They’ll likely be too busy developing new mobilesuits to compete in the civilian market, that’s kind of theimplicit understanding in this deal.”

“Yeah, that’s whatI mean. More mobile suits.”

“Not more, better. Onesthat don’t kill the pilot. If they insist on enabling proxywars then at least the only casualties will be battlefieldcasualties.”

Nuno scored a deflection goal.“When something gets easier, you get more of it happening.”

Miorine put the puck back inplay. “It’s the in vivo Permet that’s quicker andeasier. Training with this system takes a lot more work, at leastthat’s how it looks now. That makes pilots better, but moreexpensive and therefore less expendable.” She tried her owndeflection shot, and scored.

Nuno just continued playingsilently for a while before responding. “So you don’t seethis getting rid of the old Permet systems?”

“Sadly, no. With luck,there would be a lot less of them. Less kids we have to bury.”

“Yeah, no argumentthere. Oh, I guess that’s game. You sure you’ve neverplayed this before?”

“I didn’t evenknow this game existed before today.”

In a subsequent round Henaothoroughly obliterated her in the first-person shooter game. Her onlyresponse was to reset the game and start shooting with both handgunsat once. Miorine walked away with a cursory “You have fun now.”

Once again at the table,Miorine suddenly had an arm draped around her. “MioMio! Let’stry the basketball hoop!”

Miorinemustered her patience and in a low, modulated voice said. “Suletta,I’ve told you... what is that?”

Suletta’s flushed faceright next to hers broke into a big grin while she chuckled happily.“It’s a co*cktail. Renee called it a Permet Eight.”

That probably meant that thenow almost empty glass had been loaded down with eight shots of...“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’mfeeling wonderful!”

Astonishingly she walked moreor less a straight line to the hoops game. They were missing prettymuch every shot, Miorine because she really was that atrocious at itand Suletta for the obvious reason.

Between giggles Sulettasuddenly asked. “MioMio, are you hiding something from me?”She tossed the ball wide again.

Miorine was quite certain shehad never asked that before. “Like what?”

“I don’t know.It’s just a feeling.” She did not seem too concerned, shejust kept shooting the ball whenever it was returned to her.

“When did this startup?”

“I’m not sure.Like slowly. For a while now. You know you can tell me anything,right?”

Suletta was perceptive in waysthat Miorine was still learning. Even setting that aside, it was onlyright to give a truthful answer. There were any number of possibleones, more than she would care to admit.

She just had to pick one.

“I’ve been worriedabout how we’ll raise our children.”

“Why?”

“We’ve both hadcomplicated relationships with our parents. In their different waysthey tried to control our lives. I don’t want to do anythinglike that to our children.”

Suletta shook her headvigorously. “You’re right. Neither do I.”

“We might need help, sothat we don’t do that without even knowing it. I’m noteven sure what that would look like. Maybe even asking one or more ofour friends to be their godparents.”

“I think that’s awonderful idea!”

“Sorry, I thought it wastoo early to really talk about, but it’s been on my mind.Anyway, we have a lot of time to think about it.”

“Okay, I’ll thinkabout it too. Hey, you sank one!”

“Barely. At this ratewe’ll be here all night.”

Miorinecongratulated herself on dousing yet another spark, deflecting yetanother suspicion. Ohwhat a tangled web we weave.

END OF PART THREE

Chapter 4: "To Stand..."

Chapter Text

Small Steps

AMobile Suite Gundam: The Witch from Mercury story

PART FOUR

“To Stand...”

From the co-pilot seat ofMiorine’s VTOL, Simon surveyed the landscape that was passingbelow them. “I haven’t been to these training groundssince my army days.”

“So this really is ownedby the army like Elaine told me,” Miorine said. “I waswondering how we got to use it.”

“She has some clout withthe army. The Adneda academy’s affiliated boys’ schoolhas a cadet program. She said that next year Adneda will be startingup its own program. Anyway, the army doesn’t use it much. Themobile suit company is more or less a token force, pretty much usedjust for disaster relief.”

“Look.” Miorinepointed. “They’re already in their starting positions.”There were two lines of large trainer suits separated by an expanseof mixed meadow and woodlands.

They landed at the helipad. Apath led to a ramp going down into a bunker. They walked through anopened hatchway into the bunker. It consisted of a single room, withthe slit window on the opposite side of the space just above groundlevel. The monitors below the window were active, showing maps of theregion and mobile suit telemetry.

Two students in their Adnedaschool uniforms with the long dark skirts bowed and directed them tothe table. What was presumably a map table of the situation room hadbeen transformed into an elegant tea service: white tablecloth,china, the works. Elaine and her other two guests rose to greet them.

Miorine made theintroductions. “Simon, you’ve already met my wife. Thisis our friend and colleague Sabina Fardin.

Sabina bowed. “Apleasure, sir.”

“Likewise. Will the twoof you be participating in the exercise?” He had obviouslytaken note that Suletta and Sabina were in flight suits. They alsohad team ribbons around their heads, red and blue respectively.

“No sir.” She andSuletta shared a quick, fond smile. “We each have trained oneof the teams, but we will only be observing. We are showing them oursupport in the traditional manner.”

“Miorine told me the twoof you have been back from space for just half a year. That’s apretty tight training schedule for these girls, if I may say.”

“That is largely thanksto the cyberbrain system, sir. For pilots with sufficientproficiency, it accelerates the learning process.”

The mock combat soon began.They all sat at raised chairs where they could view both the slitwindow and the monitors. With their tea, of course.

When the first detonationcame, loud even through the thick bunker armour and glass, Simonturned to look at Miorine to find her already smiling wickedly at hissurprise. “Was that live fire?”

“Just ceramic rounds,”Suletta said with a very different, reassuring smile. “Theyshatter on impact, no penetration. But being hit is still noisy inthe co*ckpit. It can be pretty scary.”

Like the rest of them Simonhad mostly been looking at the monitors until any suits actuallyshowed up in their field of view. Miorine had been dividing herattention between those and Simon himself. He watched with thefocused, calculating attention of somebody who understood theimplication of what he was seeing.

After several minutes and alot of noisy live fire, a brief buzzer sounded. “Blue team tookthe flag,” Sabina declared.

“I concur,”Suletta said. The two of them stood and shook hands, both smilingproudly on behalf of their respective teams.

The two of them contactedtheir respective team leads to confirm that the exercise was over andall participants had sounded off with no reported issues.

Elaine rose and gestured tothe table. “Perhaps we can sit down and relax.” Sheturned to the senior of the two attendants. “You can leave usnow.” They bowed, wished everyone a good afternoon, and exitedthrough the hatchway, closing it behind them.

“Truly remarkable,”Simon said. “They moved and fought just like infantry squads.They all consented to use the cyberbrain system?”

“All these girls haveused a cyberbrain for over a year. Most of our students have themnow. Any stigma surrounding them has all but vanished.”

“You can take at leastsome credit for that.” Miorine said to Elaine. “Encouragingyour students to use them and be open about it has had a big impact.”

“Some are more open thanothers.” Elaine smiled. “I have noticed that longer hairworn loosely has become more popular. It seems at least some of ourgirls do not like to show off their devices the way some boys like toshow off their custom gear.”

“It won’t be longbefore their use is all but ubiquitous,” Miorine said. “Simon,there’s something I need to tell you. I have taken the libertyof explaining your hidden agenda to Sabina.”

“Indeed?” Simonlooked over to Sabina. “May I ask how you fee about oursubversive notion?”

Sabina took a very shortmoment before answering, as if collecting thoughts that had been longsince carefully considered. “When I went into space I thought Ihad left behind a backward place. But my notions of Spacianprosperity did not survive contact with the reality. So much of whatthey have they owe to this world. They should be made to at leastacknowledge that. I don’t think that can happen until Earthianscan speak to them from a position of strength. I would like tosupport your cause in any way I can, sir.”

“Call me Simon, please.”

“Thank you, Simon.Please call me Sabina.”

“Sabina, I have to askyou. Am I wrong in thinking this new system could become the linchpinof our agenda?”

“I think it could. Bothin our trials at Jeturk Industries and here at the school we havesuccessfully brought novice pilots up to a level where they are allbut ready for combat. It takes longer than the in vivo Permetsystems, but not prohibitively so.” She drove home her pointwith a more emphatic tone. “With additional training, the bestof them could hold their own against mobile suits operating at highPermet levels.”

“This is all ratherunder the radar right now,” Miorine said. “But Jeturkwill be offering this to their customers before long, and people willbegin to understand its implications.”

Simon regarded her with knitbrows. “Do you intend for GUND-ARM to enter that market?”

“I want GUND-ARM tosupply Earthian polities who will fight for their citizens, not forthe highest bidder.”

He smiled. “In short,you need those polities to become your customers.”

“Not necessarily rightaway. There will be some development needed to make more advancedsuits, we can finance that ourselves. I have already made a start onthat. But ultimately nothing less than regional alliances will havethe resources to support the sort of large scale production we willeventually need to do.”

“Still, there is nodenying that the mobile suit developers in the Fronts have a headstart,” Simon noted.

“I have an idea of howto even that up,” Miorine said. “I’m putting outfeelers to see if I can find locate any remnants of Ochs Earth.”

Simon did not look assurprised or skeptical as Miorine had expected. Ochs Earth was thecompany that had developed the Lfrith suits which had been used inthe terror attacks on the Asticassia academy. In the aftermath ofthat and of the destruction of what had been presumed the last oftheir mobile suits at Quinharbor, the company had dissolved and itsalways secretive members dropped from sight. The company had analmost legendary status, they were the subject of a host ofconspiracy theories regarding who they really were.

“Do you have any leads?”he asked.

“Not as yet. But that’smore long-term. For now, for what we want to do as our first steps,we can take care of that with the resources we have.”

Simon looked thoughtful. “Iwonder if an existence proof is what we need to get the ballrolling.”

Miorine was unsure where hewas going with that. “How do you mean?”

“How quickly could youdevelop a mobile suit that would be effective against light laboursuits armed with off-the-shelf cannon and gattlings?”

“We practically havethat right now.”

He smiled. “How wouldyou like to break the embargo on the Oceania region?”

Miorine was taken aback by thequestion, but only for a moment. “I see. Nobody else will helpthem with their blue-sea piracy problem, so you want us to helpthem.”

Simon nodded. “Yes. Andmore importantly, help them help themselves.”

“I thought you operatedlocally, that’s right on the other side of the planet.”

“It’s a hotbed ofEarth independence activism, which is the main reason the Fronts andtheir cronies embargo them. They can’t even get labour suitsfor love or money. Half the Earth Independence League’s membersare from there and a lot of them are in the governments, so I havecontacts there.”

“I have some contacts inthe region myself. I’ll send you my list, if they intersectwith your contacts that could speed things up.”

Simon looked surprised. “Yourbusiness extends to there?”

“We’ve recentlysold some exoskeletons in the area.” Miorine smiled. “Wegot some very stern letters of protest from various tradeassociations. I just forwarded the letters to my customers with anote saying if they don’t care they I don’t care either.”

Simon laughed. “Thatprobably made you some admirers over there.”

“I guess one bottleneckis that we only have two qualified instructors for the new system.”Miorine glanced at Suletta and Sabina.

“Renee has tried it outa couple of times,” Sabina said. “The others haveexpressed interest.”

“Then getting themtrained up is our first priority.” Miorine smiled. “I’llbet they’re all itching to get back into the saddle.”

“Then it looks like wehave our action plans for the moment,” Simon said with themanner of adjournment. His tone now became less formal. “Suletta,it is unspeakably late but let me congratulate you on the birth ofyour daughter. I trust she is well?”

Suletta beamed happily. “Sheis very well, thank you! I’m sure Miorine has already shown youpictures so I’ll restrain myself.”

“I’m afraid ouragenda keeps pulling you from her, I appreciate the sacrifice.”

“She’s in goodhands. My sister Eri is looking after her.”

Simon’s eyebrows cameup. “Ah yes, Miorine has told me about how she is mobile now.”

Suletta grinned. “Yes,she’s got this really cute gynoid body!”

“We might have you tothank for inspiring Eri to try manipulating her physical form in waysthat she hadn’t really considered before,” Miorine saidto Simon. “It has really transformed her life.”

“That’s wonderfulto hear. I hope she continues to push the boundaries of herextraordinary existence.”

“She’s tried somedifferent robot bodies,” Miorine confirmed. “Unfortunatelythey mostly did a hard crash straight down into the uncanny valleyand soon got cannibalized for parts. As to her more experimentalbodies... well, perhaps the less said about that the better.”

“The six-limbed one wasneat,” Suletta said. “It could stand up and use the topfour limbs as arms, or go down and walk on four legs lie a...Miorine, what was it called?”

“A Centaur, but it wasactually inspired by some old fantasy series I’d never heardof. It was rather unstable so it turned out to be one of those ideasthat looked good on paper but did not survive contact with reality.”

Simon gestured to encompassall present company. “Perhaps there is something to be said forthe human form after all.”

“Yes,” Miorineagreed. “Evolution is smarter than we are.”

They spent a few more minutesenjoying the opportunity to speak of less weighty matters. At length,Elaine received notice that the participants in the exercise wereready to greet their guests. They walked outside where the two teamswere lined up next to each other, in front of their trainer suits.They both paid their respects to Simon and Miorine. Then it was timefor Sabina and Suletta to go debrief their respective teams. From arespectful distance, Miorine could see that the debriefing was mostlythe teachers praising their teams for their performance. Suletta’steam looked rather dejected and apologetic. But she worked her magicand cheered them up, even hugging one who seemed on the verge oftears. It looked for all the world like a coach consoling her losingteam at a sports tournament. Seeing this with a backdrop of mobilesuits marked by the powdered remains of the live rounds that hadimpacted them, it was both adorable and surreal.

It occurred to Miorine thatsome of these girls would be old enough to join the military in lessthan a year. It was true she had met former child soldiers not muchmore than half their age. Nevertheless, they all just looked soimpossibly young.

#-#-#-#-#

The open-top off-road car andthe uniform of its driver both bore the insignia of the new islandmilitia. He was driving Miorine up toward the tip of this spit ofland that consisted of mostly sand and palm trees. Their destinationlay ahead, a tall construction site tarp structure that enclosed aspace large enough to span a good part of the spit. The young driverbrought them up beside the fabric building. Miorine thanked him,stepped down from the car and walked over to a part of the tarp thatformed a man-door. The heavy cloth fluttered a little in the lightbreeze, emblazoned with the universal signs telling people to keepout. Miorine pushed the cloth aside and stepped within the enclosure.

There was one fairly largework shed within the steel frames that supported the tarp structure.But the space was dominated by five mobile suits packed closelytogether. The suits themselves were identical to the ones issued tothe militia. But the rocket packs on their backs were larger,long-duration rockets. Only the pilots who had been the militiamobile suit company’s instructors were qualified to fly thesepacks.

Miorine walked over to theshed and entered through the man-door. Conditioned air wafting overher came as a relief from the heat. The space was well-lit but hereyes still needed to adjust from the glare of the noonday sun. Thenearest corner of the shed had a line of desk chairs facing a longtable against the wall that held a more or less contiguous array ofmonitors underneath windows. Only one of the chairs was occupied. Itwas Sabina in her flight suit. She just turned in response toMiorine’s entry and nodded a greeting. “How is thecouncil feeling?” It was a question motivated by theunderstanding that the civilian leadership was likely the weak linkin the act of defiance they were participating in.

Miorine gave a little smile.“They’re nervous. It’s hard to blame them. Butthey’re still resolute.”

“That’s good tohear.”

Miorine looked out the window.“I have to wonder about this camouflage. Isn’t it a bitobvious just from the size? We’re practically advertising thepresence of a mobile suit platoon.”

“This is not where thepirates’ attention will be directed. And it is only obvious ifthey are expecting them.”

Only the infantry militiatraining had been done here, by professional trainers. The mobilesuit training had been done secretly in Rio by Sabina’s team.Very few people on the island knew that the militia mobile suitcompany was already on active duty.

Miorine glanced at the emptyseats. “So where are the others?”

“On the beach.”

Miorine frowned. “I knowwe are not expecting to be called upon, but aren’t we taking arather lackadaisical attitude here?”

“I am very certain wewill not be called upon.”

“I just hope nobody fromthe Council makes a surprise inspection. Our presence here is theonly thing giving them enough confidence to go through with this.”

There was just the hint of asmile on Sabina’s face. “The militia spotters are notjust watching out for the enemy.”

Miorine frowned. “I hopewe’re not fostering disrespect for the civilian leadership.”

“More than one Councilmember have children who have joined the militia. Those childrenharbour the same mix of respect and skepticism for the previousgeneration as any others.”

Miorine laughed. “I’vebeen on the giving end of that, and no doubt I’m destined to beon the receiving end one day, so I take your point.”

“Are you staying on theisland for now?”

“My meeting with theseasteaders isn’t for two days, so there’s no reason toleave just yet. Still no sign of them I take it?”

“No, but based on pastbehaviour today is the most likely day.”

“I hope the girls arenot leaving you here alone all the time.”

“We take turns.”She smiled. “They said to send you out to the beach when youarrive.”

“I don’t know, I’menjoying the air conditioned space. People go on about tropicalislands but I’ve got mixed feelings.”

“The view is nice.”

“Well, since you’retwisting my arm. I’ll see you again before I leave.”

She walked over to anotherman-sized flap in the side of the fabric building that faced thebeach and passed through. Sure enough, past some palm trees and aboutten meters away there was a line of beach chairs facing the inlet.Miorine walked over to them. Sure enough, Henao, Ireesha, Maisie andRenee were sitting in a row. They were all in different styles ofskimpy swimsuits and sunglasses, with a variety of drinks sitting inthe beach chair armrest cup-holders. They all greeted her. “Howcome you’re dressed so formally?” Renee asked.

“It’s called asundress.” She also had a sunhat, shoulder bag and sandals.“There’s nothing formal about it.”

Renee grinned. “I’llbet you’ve got a string bikini under there.”

“You wish. Can youreally pilot a mobile suit dressed like that?”

“She had to pilot onenaked once,” Henao deadpanned.

“It was an emergency!And I wasn’t naked, I was wearing panties!”

“And?”

“And what?”

“My point exactly. Youwere legally indecent.”

“They say the mobilesuit can read your micro-movements better that way,” Maisiesaid cheerily. “Maybe we should make that SOP.”

“That’s a myth,”Henao said wearily.

Renee gestured to one of thetwo empty beach chairs. “Why don’t you get a drink andtake a load off?”

“Okay.” Miorinewent over to the drink cooler box, got herself a bottle of sparklingwater and went to sit down. Sabina was right, the view wastremendous. The inlet formed by this spit and another one across fromthem spread out in front of them. To the left was the small citywhich was the main settlement of the island and the capital of thisparticular archipelago in the southern hemisphere of the Oceaniaregion. It was a typical warm, sunny day with great fluffy cumulusclouds rolling across the sky.

“We’ve got betsgoing on when they show up,” Renee told her. “Today isthe odds favourite.”

“I’m loathe toanticipate the caprice of a pirate,” Miorine said.

“They’ve been verypredictable,” Henao pointed out.

She was right, and there was areason. A week ago the island leadership publicly announced that theywould cease sending their weekly cryptocurrency protection tribute tothe pirate gang who had been blackmailing them for years. The pirateshad sent an ultimatum, which had been immediately rejected by theCouncil. Yesterday had been the deadline they had set. One thingpirates in the region prided themselves on was the punctuality oftheir retaliation. Up to now they had little reason to be morecautious or deceptive in their tactics.

It was exactly this sort ofsystematic humiliation that had driven the islanders’acceptance of this act of defiance. They had been itching for paybackfor a very, very long time now.

For a while they just drank inthe intoxicating surroundings. Every now and then Maisie would pointout a cloud that looked like something weird. Renee told a couple ofoff-colour jokes she had heard from her trainees. At mention oftrainees, Miorine directed the conversation in that direction. Itsounded like they had been having altogether too much fun lordingover the young militiamen and whipping them into shape. There hadbeen many more volunteers than positions to fill, so the whittlingprocess had been just as brutal for the trainees as it had been ablast for their instructors.

Miorine already had an ideahow that had gone down. Sabina had supervised the training and haddone much of it herself. The others had worked in pairs, Maisie withIreesha and Renee with Henao. Just thinking of it Miorine couldbarely suppress a smile. The poor young recruits had been tossedunceremoniously into the wild neurodiversity of Sabina’s team,and only the strong had endured.

Ireesha, who had been silentuntil now, was the first to spot them. She pointed and just said“There.”

They all used theirbinoculars. Miorine’s was a civilian version of their navalimage-stabilizing binoculars, the ones Aliya had recommended forbird-watching. She saw three conning towers emerging from the watersof the inlet. All at once all of their phones were sounding alarms.The militia had spotted them too.

The three submarines surfacedand the big clam-shell doors on their upper hulls opened up. An armedlabour suit with bolted-on armour plates and rocket pack emerged fromeach submarine and walked onto the hull just behind the conningtowers. Almost as one they all blasted off, went into a briefballistic trajectory, then fired rockets again for a soft landing onthe beach just on the other side of the city.

“Those labours don’ttake rocket packs,” Renee pointed out. “Kudos to theirtechies, putting that together. But damn, they’ll be wayoff-balance.”

Another set of three suitsemerged and rocketed to the beach, then another.

Maisie laughed. “Look athow they’re bunching up! It’s a circus!”

“None of our boys arefiring,” Renee said, sounding relieved.

“Just like we toldthem,” Henao said with just a hint of satisfaction. “Waituntil they’re all on the beach.”

Four suits had launched fromeach boat, which is what Miorine had been told was expected. Theystarted to walk toward the city.

“Okay,” Maisiesaid, like she was anticipating a cricket pitch. “Right aboutnow I think. Three, two, one, BAM!”

There was no way to tell wherethat first shot came from. Then there were more. Then the militiamobile suits all came into view at once. Some stepped from around theport warehouses that had been evacuated for days now. Some came fromwhere they had been lying behind beach houses right in front of thepirates. Some rocketed up and over to the spit of land behind thepirates.

The pirates were in the open,crowded together, surrounded, and in the crossfire of an enemy thatoutnumbered and outgunned them. They didn’t stand a chance.

In seconds half of them weredown. The remaining ones began to return fire. The barking of theircannon and the squealing of their gattling guns sounded like a paltrything next to the withering fusillade they faced.

One of the last remainingpirates made a desperate jump back to the submarines. He promptlydrew the fire of half the militia suits. His rocket pack was hit andhe went spinning.

“Oh look, he’sgoing to hit the boat!” Maisie said. “Wham! Right intothe door! That one won’t be submerging again!”

The other two submarines wereclosing their hatches, presumably in preparation for a crash dive.But with the pirate suits neutralized, all the militia mobile suitswere now directing their attention to the submarines. They all angledup their massive assault rifles and fired the attached grenadelaunchers. In seconds, founts of water erupted around the submarines.Rounds that hit them exploded on impact, leaving gaping holes thatcould be seen from here.

“Cavitation hull,”Henao commented. “Inlets for magneto-hydrodynamic propulsiontoo. All that stealth gear won’t do them any good now.”

One of the submarines that hadalmost closed its clam-shell doors suddenly exploded, seeming tosplit in half. Maisie fist-pumped. “Kablooey! Bullseye on themagazine, right through the door!”

The sub with the jammed doorssoon suffered the same fate. The third one actually did manage tosubmerge, but multiple trails of surfacing air bubbles attested tothe water it was rapidly taking on. Soon that too stopped. “They’llbe on the bottom by now” was Renee’s assessment.

Militia amphibious armouredcars rolled into the water from the beach, rotated their wheels towater-fan mode and sped out to where the subs had gone down,presumably on the off-chance there were any survivors to pick up.

Miorine set aside herbinoculars. “Well, I guess the cat is well and truly out of thebag now.”

“And how,” Reneeagreed.

“No more plausibledeniability,” Henao said with just a hint of irony.

“GUND-ARM mobile suitsales, open for business!” Maisie said, raising her glass. “AndSabina Team expert pilot training, beat you into shape with a smile!”

Ireesha got up, walked over tothe cooler and opened the lid on the cooler box. She pulled out abottle and turned around. With the backdrop of the columns of smokerising from the ruined pirate mobile suits, she spoke for a secondtime, perhaps innocently encompassing her reaction to the day’sevents.

“Anyone else want abeer?”

#-#-#-#-#

It was the first time Miorinehad ever called for an immediate meeting of the GUND-ARM board withmandatory in-person attendance. Since Miorine had arranged for ChuChuto already be Earth-side, Miorine was actually the furthest one fromRio, so they ended up waiting on her.

Miorine walked into the boardroom with Sabina, Renee, Maisie and Suletta in tow. Their meetingswere always casual dress, but today Miorine was in her business suit.So was Suletta, only the second time she had worn hers. Eri was notwith them, she was back home taking care of Elnora. But Miorine hadalready got her input on today’s agenda, so she had declinedparticipating remotely.

Everyone greeted them warmly.For some it had been a while since they had met in person. Nika hadChloe with her, so Maisie happily offered to take charge of Chloe andtake her to the next room. Maisie was becoming something of agodmother to the toddler, so Chloe showed no objection at all tobeing taken from her mother.

It was all perfectly normal,all as per usual. But Miorine could feel the undercurrents of unease.They could sense that something was up, especially when Miorine askedboth Sabina and Suletta to take seats at the table.

Miorine sat at the end of thetable. “Again, thanks for being here and sorry for the shortnotice. I’ll start with the obvious item. We sold light mobilesuits to the Solomon Republic and trained their new militia as adeterrent against pirates. Everyone now knows that deterrent hasfailed. They are now in open conflict. The pirates have backed offfor now. But they were obviously getting outside support, one way oranother from the Fronts. What happens now will depend a lot on whattheir supporters decide to do.”

She looked around the table.“I can imagine you are thinking that this did not go as we hadintended and we’ve made a bad situation worse. There’ssomething I need to come clean on. The Council intended from thebeginning to defy the pirates. They want to fight them and win, andthat is what they intend to do. That is exactly what I intended tohelp them do.”

She let that sink in for a fewseconds. She saw various levels of puzzlement and disbelief. Nobodylooked happy.

“Before we talk aboutthat, there is one more thing I need to tell you all. It will set thecontext for what I have done and what I propose to do.”

She laid it all out for them.The Hidden Agenda, how she found out about it and how she had beenpreparing to play her part in it. In some cases she was veryspecific. At various points one or another of them had raisedconcerns that GUND-ARM might be on the slippery slope to developingweapons of war rather than just weapons for paramilitary deterrenceforces. Miorine let their be no question about what she was tellingthem now. She had been anticipating this from the beginning. And nowthat the pieces were falling into place, it is something she had beenactively pursuing.

“There is one finalthing I have to tell you. I cannot name names or give specifics yet,but before I flew here I was at a meeting in one of the seasteadingpolities in the region. They plan to announce a defence allianceencompassing the entire Oceania region. But they need a commitment todevelop and provide military hardware. I have already made thatcommitment.”

She leaned forward and foldedher hands on the table. “I’ll just make it clear, I knowthis is not what any of you signed up for. But this is the directionI intend for GUND-ARM to go. If there are any objections, now is thetime to raise them.”

Till was the first to speak.“If we start arming these alliances, how do we know they won’tjust go to war with each other?”

“We don’t. Itcould happen.”

“Wouldn’t we justbe putting more weapons out there?” Lilique asked, a worriedexpression on her face. “Wouldn’t that be making thingsworse?”

“These weapons would bebuilt by Earthians for Earthians. A strong alliance would have noneed for mercenaries, and would have every reason to kick them offtheir territories altogether. They might still go to war, but atleast it would not be a proxy war provoked by powers looking down onthem from far overhead.”

“Haven’t wealready started a new war in Oceania?” Ojelo asked in an angryvoice. “Haven’t we already made things worse?”

“They don’t thinkso.” Everybody looked surprised to hear Sabina speak. “Theyoung citizens of the Solomon Republic were practically begging us toteach them how to fight back. The men I trained were proud and happyto be fighting for their people.”

“Their leaders felt thesame,” Miorine added. “They were frightened, but now theyhave hope and they have pride. That is what we were able to help themachieve.”

“It still sounds like wewould be doing the same thing as the Front companies,” Nunosaid. His voice was calm, but his eyes bore into Miorine under knitbrows that were an accusation all in themselves. “We would beprofiting from war.”

“We are where the warwould happen,” Miorine pointed out. “We can only profitby preventing war. Or by providing the means to bring one to an end.”

“Do you really think youcan end war with more weapons?” Aliya asked. “I’msorry, I’m not trying to ridicule you, Miorine. I’m justtrying to understand.”

Miorine gave her a brief smilethat hopefully conveyed that no offence had been taken. “No,weapons can’t end wars. But I think it really does matter howthe weapons get into people’s hands. It matters whether apaymaster gives them to mercenaries or leaders give them to theircitizens.”

“Miorine.” Nikaimmediately got everybody’s attention. Her tone and herexpression conveyed something deep, like her life was at stake. “I’malso trying to understand. Let me ask you as one mother to another.”She put a hand to her breast. “My child came from two peoplewho died fighting a war because somebody told them it was the rightthing to do. I don’t want that for Chloe. I’m sure youunderstand. Can you tell me that what you want to do will keep thatfrom happening to them?”

Miorine had to take a deepbreath and close her eyes a moment to collect herself. She lookedinto Nika’s eyes shook her head. “No, I can’t. AllI can say is this. If what I want to see does come to pass thenmaybe, just maybe, they will never need to fight in a war. And ifthey do, it will only be to protect their homes and their families,not to make somebody else a little more wealthy.”

“What if it makes warmore likely?” Martin looked nervously around the table, thenback to Miorine. “If we start arming ourselves, won’tthat make us look more like a threat to the Fronts? What if theydecide that they need to start a war before we get too strong?”

Miorine slammed her hand onthe table and stood up, making Martin squeak in alarm. “TheFronts wage constant war on Earth precisely to keep us weak! If weare strong then it is up to them whether they want to fight us orbargain with us as equals. But whatever happens you can be sure theywon’t just leave us alone. We’ve had a reprieve butsooner or later, one way or another we will need to engage them onceagain. When the time comes, we need to decide whether we will meetthem on our knees or on our feet!”

“You make it sound likethey’re already on their way,” Martin protested. “Whatif they’re not?”

“They are.” ChuChulooked sternly at Martin, then around the table. “There aresigns. More and more engineers and workers are disappearing intoblack budget programs, both development and production. I’vetalked with some of the ones who have come back.” She smiledwickedly. “After a few drinks a lot of them forget about theirnon-disclosures. You hear interesting things. The Great Houses areworking on new mobile suits that aren’t on the open market butare already in production. Since Jeturk put out their version of thecyberbrain co*ckpit, all that has gone into overdrive. And that’snot all. The Space Assembly League has projects that all point to newdrop-ships.”

“That doesn’t makesense,” Nika said. “Their charter doesn’t includeEarth.”

“That’s not quitetrue,” Miorine said. “Their charter includes anythingthat impacts the welfare of League members. That includes anyinvestments they have on Earth.”

“Are you telling usthey’re gearing up to invade?” Nuno asked, soundingskeptical.

“Both the Houses and theLeague are putting in a lot of work to make sure they have thatoption if they want it,” ChuChu said.

“And the more deterrentwe have, the less likely that becomes,” Miorine said. “We’vealready seen that a deterrent doesn’t always work. But even ifit doesn’t, it might still save us from losing everything wehave.”

“Isn’t there a wayto defend ourselves without being a threat?” Lilique asked.

“If we can defendourselves then by definition we’re a threat,” Till saidin answer. “If nothing else, their bottom line is threatenedjust by being forced to bargain with equals.”

“Till is right,”Miorine said. “The only way to not be a threat is to behelpless.” She could still see people agonizing over this. Shesighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, this is just thesecurity paradox and it’s as old as history. I don’t havea solution and I don’t think there is one. None other than toaccept it.”

“I just don’t wantto be a part of the problem,” Nuno said. Others nodded, itseemed to be a good summary of the prevailing attitude.

“I don’t thinkwe’re part of the problem.” Suletta looked uneasy athaving suddenly attracted everybody’s attention. “Wealready had to fight in a war. I fought side-by-side with all of you.I’m proud of that. I hope we don’t have to do that again.But I would if I had to.” She suddenly seemed to come to arealization and smiled nervously. “I’m sorry, I shouldhave waited before talking, at least until you knew the reason I’mhere.”

“The reason?”Lilique asked.

Suletta looked over toMiorine, who smiled and nodded encouragingly. Suletta’s smilebecame just a little shy, but also proud. “I want to start anew GUND-ARM service. I want to start a pilot school.”

After a couple of seconds, itwas Till who voiced the thought that many of them likely had. “Youmean a combat training school for mobile suit pilots, don’tyou?”

“Yes. I want to trainpilots to use the new cyberbrain co*ckpits.” She gave Sabina abrief, fond look. “Sabina and her team will be our firstinstructors. The new militias that the Oceania alliance want to setup will be our first students. We learned a lot from teaching thestudents at Adneda academy, and Sabina learned a lot from trainingthe men from the Solomon militia. We have some ideas, I think we cando even better.”

“Suletta.” Ojelolooked just a little less angry now. “You’re all in withthis not-so Hidden Agenda, aren’t you?”

Aliya, who was sitting besidehim, put a hand on his arm and they exchanged a look that he brokefirst. Aliya looked back at Suletta. “If it’s okay, I’dalso like to know how you feel about what Miorine is proposing.”

Suletta nodded. “Yes,It’s okay.” She paused and looked down at her hands,which had their fingers steepled together. “I learned about allthis the same time Miorine did. I’ve had a lot of time to thinkabout it. When she told me about what she had been doing since then,I was still thinking about it. There are a lot of things I don’tunderstand. There are probably a lot more parts of this that I don’teven know that I don’t know... if that makes any sense. But...it just feels right to me. So many people helped me stand on my owntwo feet again. Now I want to... sorry, I’m not sure how to putit.”

“Pay it forward,”Till suggested.

Suletta smiled. “Yes,pay it forward. I don’t want people to fight, I just want tohelp them be strong. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“Thank you, Suletta,”Aliya said gently. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”

Miorine looked around thetable. “Are we ready to get down to specifics?”

They were.

#-#-#-#-#

“Look, Elnora!”Miorine pointed to the big red button on the co*ckpit front console.“That’s a power switch. Can you say power switch?”

From her position balanced onMiorine’s knee Elnora pointed and said “Pawa!”

“Very good!”

Suletta was crouched in theopen co*ckpit beside the crash-couch where Miorine was seated. Shelaughed nervously. “Mio, I don’t think she understands.”

“Well, not yet. Can wepower up?”

Suletta did not lookenthusiastic. “If you want.”

“You want to push thebutton? Go on, push the button.” Miorine picked Elnora up andheld her in reach of the big red thing. After a moment’shesitation her little hand lifted up and pressed against the button.“You did it!”

The interior lights came onand the front screen displayed a twirling GUND-ARM logo as the mobilesuit booted up. Elnora squealed in delight. She pointed to thescreen. “Gunda!”

“See? She knows our logoalready.”

“Half the toys you giveher have our logo on them,” Suletta pointed out.

“You’reexaggerating.” The boot-up completed and the main menu came up.It identified the mobile suit model number and software version.Miorine read it with satisfaction. Their new high performance mobilesuit had been released ahead of schedule, this was the first one offthe assembly line. Miorine had insisted on being the first to take aclose look.

“Can I register as apilot?”

“Do you want to take iton a trial run?” Suletta asked nervously.

“Not today. I’lllet the experienced pilots do that first.”

“Then I guess it wouldbe okay.”

Miorine went through theregistration process. “Oh, it automatically registered mycyberbrain as well. I was wondering about that. What shall I test?Oh, I know.” She pointed. “Elnora, that one closes thehatch. Can you say hatch?”

“Hachi!” Elnorareached out and pushed the button.

“Mio, I don’tthink that’s a good idea...” But it was too late, theco*ckpit hatch slid down and locked into place. The immersive screensall around them activated, and suddenly they were floating in space.The vast GUND-ARM pilot school hanger was arrayed around them... andmore to the point, far below them.

Elnora cried out in alarm.“Miorine!” Suletta quickly picked up the bawling toddlerand held her tightly. “Look at what you’ve done, she’sterrified!”

“Ah, sorry. I forgotthat would happen.” She pressed the button again and the hatchopened. The surrounding screens went back to their default grey.

It took a while for Suletta tocalm their daughter down. She was reluctant to hand the girl back toher birth-mother but after some coaxing she relented. “Youknow, we can leave her with somebody if you really want to play withthe system,” Suletta suggested encouragingly.

“I thought it would befun for her,” Miorine said, smiling playfully at her wife andbouncing their daughter on her knee. “She might be a pilot oneday, after all.”

“I’m afraid wemight be traumatizing her instead.”

“So how old were youwhen you first learned to pilot a suit?”

“I don’t evenremember.”

“My point exactly. Oh,you want to play with that? It’s a joystick. Can you sayjoystick?”

“Miorine! That’s-”

Elnora grabbed the leftjoystick and moved it around. There was a shudder and through theopen co*ckpit they could see the mobile suit’s left arm shootstraight out in front. It was trying to respond to Elnora’srandom movements, but without the associated body monitoring it wasmaking crude guesses as to the pilot’s intent. The arm movedaround in a haphazard fashion. Elnora watched with fascination.“Look, see? You made that move!”

Suletta hit a button and thearm returned to its rest state. She took a deep breath and gave agreat sigh of relief. “I’ve disabled movement function.”

“But she can only movethe arm with the joystick,” Miorine protested. “Thatshould be okay, right?”

Before Suletta could answer,their security detail for the day rose up the ladder to the accessplatform and peered inside the co*ckpit. Henao fixed her world-wearylook first on Miorine and then on Suletta. “Her hormoneskicking in again?”

“Miorine, that couldhave been dangerous,” Suletta scolded. “Sorry, Henao.That must have surprised you.”

“Not really. Between thebaby she’s holding and the one inside, the neurotransmitterco*cktail pumping through her head must be epic.” She pointed atMiorine’s abdomen and addressed herself to it. “Kid, tryto ease off the chemical warfare, okay?”

“Can we get down now?”Suletta pleaded.

“I suppose so. Oh, firstcan we maybe register Elnora as a pilot?”

“Of course not!”

Miorine felt bad about askingthat. They had both heard Prospera’s story about how Eri hadregistered as a pilot to their experimental Gundam at the Vanadisbase when she was not much older... and had gone on to innocentlykill several attacking mobile suit pilots. “Sorry, I waskidding. Let’s go.”

Miorine was not here just totest out their new mobile suit model. She was assisting with theadministration of the pilot school, so they proceeded to theirscheduled meeting. Of course word had got around so everyone theymet along the way congratulated them on having a second child on theway. Here on the hangar floor they mostly encountered the maintenancecrew, but they all seemed to be on a first-name basis with Suletta.

An open-top cart took them tothe administration building. The hangar had been the only largebuilding on the property when it was purchased, it had been aleftover from an old mega-project, still being used for storage andsometimes repair of heavy labour suits. The rest of the campus was arather rough and ready affair put together with prefabricatedbuildings or sections. An adjacent undeveloped parcel of the propertyprovided space aplenty for most training, but live-fire exercises hadto be done by arrangement at the same army testing range that theAdneda academy had borrowed.

The other participants werewaiting in the meeting room. Sabina chaired the meeting, which was afairly routine review of supply and cash flow. Miorine was self-awareenough to know that a confluence of influences were imposing on herright now, so she made sure to behave herself.

Right up to when she sprangthe surprise on them. She checked the time. “Sorry tointerrupt, but there’s something I think we should see rightnow. Can we put the RNN feed on the screen?”

Sabina looked puzzled butcomplied. They tuned into ongoing coverage of the day’s majortopic. Today was the last day of a conference being hosted by Rio forthe leaders of all the major polities in the South New World sector.As the commentator was saying, any moment they were expected to fileout to the empty table currently being televised and make a jointstatement. Miorine could see that everyone was wondering why theywere watching this. They were expected to have dealt with some fairlyprosaic economic matters, with some hints they might discuss theongoing expansion of the Oceania defence alliance.

Shortly, the leaders all filedin, accompanied by a blizzard of flash photography. As host, thePresident of the Rio city-state took the dais to speak. The Jackalwas dressed in his usual khakis and beret.

His face wasuncharacteristically solemn. “Today I am pleased to make thefollowing announcement. All those present here have agreed to form anew defence alliance. The terms have been set, and we will be signingthem shortly.”

When the new flurry of cameraflashes died down, he spoke for just a few minutes, speaking of theneed and the benefits of the alliance, and praising his counterpartsfor their bold action. Halfway through his speech the big redBREAKING NEWS banner started scrolling across the bottom. When he wasdone the leader of the Amazonia federation came to speak next. “Ithink you get the gist,” Miorine said.

Sabina muted the broadcast.“Were you expecting this?” she asked Miorine.

“Yes, I was.”

“How did you know?”

She smiled. “A littlebird told me. It also told me that over the next few days most of themajor powers in the region will be announcing the creation of newmilitia programs. It is at least weeks or months to come but at somepoint they will be approaching the school for requests to train onnext-generation mobile suits.”

“Miorine.” Sulettalooked a bit worried. “The mobile suit that GUND-ARM just putout is the last one that is even on the drawing board. You won’thave anything new available for a long time.”

“Today we don’t.But tomorrow we will. You and I will be going to pick it up. We leavetonight.”

#-#-#-#-#

The whole thing had feltrather like searching for the last surviving descendants in the ruinsof a lost kingdom. As their rented executive jet went supersonic andclimbed into the stratosphere, Miorine laid it out for Suletta.

Ochs Earth was an entity witha pedigree that seemed to defy all reason. It was unique in being anadvanced weapons technology company based on Earth. It had formed analliance with the Vanadis Institute, a remote deep space researchstation whose purpose had been developing medical technology thatwould help the human body cope with the terrible strains of the spaceenvironment. Ochs Earth had absorbed and corrupted that technology tocreate a new generation of Gundam mobile suit that they claimed wouldnot be deadly to the very pilots who flew them.

Miorine’s own father hadbrought that dream to a swift and terrible end by invading theVanadis Institute, the very act that had sent Suletta’s motherfleeing to Mercury.

Ostensibly Ochs Earth had beendissolved. But it showed up again, supplying their new Gundams toDawn of Fold, a group of Earthian freedom fighters who ended up beingconscripted into Shaddiq’s mad plan to reshape the Beneritgroup into some grand utopia that only he seemed to comprehend. Twoof their new Gundam models had ended up in the hands of Sophie andNorea, who had only succeeded in devastating the Asticassia academybefore falling in battle.

The next time it was Suletta’smother who had hunted down the remains of Ochs Earth at their hiddenbase of operations in Quinharbor, obliterating it in a fieryspectacle. Once again, whatever was left of them seemed to vanishinto thin air.

Now it had been Miorine’sturn to hunt them down. It had taken years. On and off she hadexplored the mystery from many different angles. First by herself,then by soliciting others as her network on Earth slowly grew. Thebreakthrough had come when she had taken all she knew and passed itto Tunnel Rat, that magician of the digital underworld. He delivereda verdict. The converging evidence had pointed to a dark web entityknown as Vaucanson. They knew things and were interested in thingsthat aligned with Ochs Earth.

Miorine had probed, sendinginquiries. She wanted to do business. She sent things she knew abouttheir Caliban suit, the one Suletta had used to destroy Quiet Zero,to establish her credentials.

They sent a single responsethat similarly established their knowledge of the Ochs Earth mobilesuit. It then said but one thing. Show us that you support theHidden Agenda. It was clear that if she did not even know whatthat meant then they were done here.

Miorine accepted thechallenge. She leveraged the network around Simon to tell Vaucansonabout the Oceania defence alliance a day before it was announced.They responded. One more example and they could talk.

“Yesterday I told themabout the South New World alliance being announced today. They saidthat if this turns out to be true they would send me the time andplace to meet.” Miorine held out her phone to Suletta. “Theysent that to me five minutes after the announcement.”

Suletta read it. “That’swhere we’re going?” It was a city in the centre of theNorth New World region.

“Yes. It’s ahigh-class restaurant in the city centre where they’ve reserveda private room. They’ve told us that they want to meet onneutral ground. And that it has to be the two of us.”

Suletta looked worried. “Mio,this all sounds very strange.”

“They’re beingvery cautious. They want to make certain we are who we say we are,and not another group who wants to hunt them down again.”

“What do they want fromus?”

“I’m not sure, Iexpect we’ll find out.”

“Is it safe?”

“This place is more thana restaurant, they pride themselves on providing a safe, secure venuefor people to be able to meet in private. Pretty much any city has atleast one such place. It is an important tool in doing business andnobody wants to have their membership revoked, so nobody makestrouble. I’m confident that regardless of their intentions,we’ll be safe there.”

She took Suletta’s hand.“But this isn’t my decision alone. They specificallyspecified for you to come, but I have my own reason. I’ve beenplunging headlong into this and I need somebody who can tell me whenI need to back off. That’s you and that starts right now. Doyou think we should go ahead with this?”

She nodded. “Yes. If youthink it’s important, then let’s go.”

Miorine smiled and squeezedher hand. “You always want to step forward. But promise meyou’ll tell me if you think we need to step back.”

“I promise.”

“Okay. Let’s tryand get some sleep.”

The couches reclined to formvery comfortable cots, so it was a reasonably restful night. Theplane landed soon after sunrise, so they could watch through thewindows. The small city was on a plain abutted against a range ofmountains to the west. It was early morning and their appointment wasnot until noon, so they found a cafe to relax in for a while. It setMiorine’s mind at ease, just being with her like this. They didnot get to do this often enough.

At the appointed time theytook a cab to the restaurant. The high-rise building had a wide,elegant reception area on the main floor. They gave their names andan attendant accompanied them on the elevator. The floor they exitedon had a restaurant and lounge that were already busy, but he ledthem down a corridor with a series of doors. He opened one for them.

Tinted glass facing themountains and an array of pinpoint ceiling lights left the roomrelatively dim. There was a table with three settings on whitetablecloth. The man seated behind it rose to greet them. He was astout middle-aged man with close-cropped brown hair. His lips spreadinto just the hint of a polite smile. “I am Vaucanson. Ofcourse neither of you need introduction. Thank you for coming.”He gestured. “Please, join me.”

The two of them thanked him,and they all sat down. Since he introduced himself by his onlinehandle Miorine supposed that was not his real name. “Yousuddenly seemed in a hurry to meet. Is there some urgency that weshould be aware of?”

“No, we just wanted tominimize risk if it turned out you were not who you claimed to be.With that out of the way, we are on no schedule save yours.”

“Then maybe we canconfirm a few things. Are you here representing Ochs Earth?”

“Yes. We are interestedin doing business with you.”

“Likewise. I have goneto great pains to find you, so clearly you did not want to be foundby just anybody. Is there anybody in particular you are hiding from?”

Again there was just that hintof a smile. “We are hiding from anybody who wants to keep theEarth weak and helpless. Their numbers are legion, as we have learnedfrom bitter experience.”

Miorine looked intently athim. “Your most bitter experiences were perpetrated by myfather and my wife’s mother. Which leads me to the mostpuzzling question, why did you explicitly insist on meeting the twoof us?”

“Because the two of youare potentially the greatest friends of the Hidden Agenda, and wewould like to realize that potential. As to your pedigree, if that isany factor it is perhaps an indicator that both of you are able torise above the roles that had been set for you.”

“It is likely impoliteto ask how you found out about the Hidden Agenda so I’ll justask this: what is your version?”

Vaucanson articulated a visionvery much like the one Simon had suggested to her years ago. Ifanything there was just a slight shift in emphasis, from the ideal ofcollective action to the ideal of regional sovereignty. What Miorinefound more interesting than what he said was how he said it. Ever soslightly, he became more animated, less detached.

To the careful observer, heshowed all indications of being a believer.

“I have heard more thanone slightly different version of this ideal,” Miorineconfirmed. “They all more or less align with my own currentthinking. I am wondering, is this the ideal under which Ochs Earthwas founded?”

“No,” he saidsimply. “It is something we became aware of recently, thoughlikely earlier than yourself. Ochs Earth was founded on the desire togive Earthians the means to bargain with Spacians on an equalfooting.”

“What went wrong?”Suletta asked.

On the surface the answerseemed obvious: they were crushed under the foot of a greater power,not once but twice. But the way she asked it hinted at somethingdifferent. She was implying – no, more just stating outright –that something had gone wrong long before that.

Vaucanson seemed to pick up onthat right away. “What went wrong was that we got greedy andimpatient. We pinned our hopes on something that looked shiny and newbut was in fact an ancient curse.”

“The Gundam,”Suletta confirmed.

“Yes. It was justanother weapon that was as dangerous to the wielder as to anyintended target.”

“I’ve told you myintent is to adapt the GUND-Format to cyberbrains,” Miorinesaid. “Are you not afraid this is another curse in disguise?”

“What you are doing hasthe feel of something earned rather than something taken.”Vaucanson directed his next words to Suletta. “I have spoken topilots of the Gundams. When I listen carefully, they speak of thePermet levels in much the same way as addicts speak of the hits theycrave and the highs they aspire to.”

Now his voice softenedincrementally. “Pilots of conventional suits speak more interms of a dialogue between them and the machine, a subtle dance thatis learned over time. I imagine the cyberbrain co*ckpit to besomething which extends that even further.”

Suletta did not respond, buther thoughtful expression clearly showed that he was onto something.

Miorine sensed it was time toget down to brass tacks. “You already know that I want accessto the Ochs Earth Gundam models so that I can adapt them forcyberbrain co*ckpits. What can I offer you in exchange?”

He had a poker face whichindicated they had now entered negotiation. “I’ll get thetrivial item out of the way. A one percent per-unit licensing fee.”

That was just short of beingtrivial, they were practically giving charity. “And?”

“Just one last thing. Apublic acknowledgement of this deal with Ochs Earth.”

Miorine took a moment toabsorb that. “If your name becomes associated with Permet-freemobile suits being sold to the newly forming militias across theglobe that will do much to rehabilitate the name of Ochs Earth. Areyou reserving the right to do further development and deployment onyour own?”

“No.” Again, therewas that little enigmatic smile. “For our part, the purpose ofthe name rehabilitation and the money is to provide us the securityto simply come out of hiding. We are more interested in how theacknowledgement will impact the way that GUND-ARM is seen.”

Miorine had already guessedthat. “It will show one and all that GUND-ARM is all-in witharming the new militias, heedless of objection.”

“Yes. To the Fronts andthe Great Houses we are a detested interlocutor. To the SpaceAssembly League we are an investment that went horribly wrong. Openlydeclaring common cause with Ochs would show more than anything thattheir opinions no longer govern how Earthians conduct their affairs.”

Miorine could see the prideseeping through his poker face. But there was also hints of somethingelse. He was anticipating payback for a long-nurtured resentment.

“This will simplyaccelerate a change of perception that was inevitable, so I have noobjection. However, before we proceed any further I am going to needto see some collateral.” She leaned forward and looked intentlyat him. “You’ll have to show us the goods.”

“Of course. The place weneed to go is nearby.” His face was transformed by a friendlysmile. “But I did ask them to prepare a light lunch for us. Itwill not take long.”

Breaking bread was part ofbusiness courtesy, so Miorine thanked him and accepted. He called fortheir meal to be brought out. As they waited, for both politeness andinterest Miorine asked about the local economic and politicalenvironment. In his answers, Vaucanson showed hints of being a localwho had lived here much of his life. She took note of that. After thefood arrived and they had been eating for a while, Miorine inquiredabout his particular role in Ochs Earth.

“I am a non-votingmember of the board,” he answered. “My background is inacademia as an historian.”

“That sounds like anunusual background for running a technology company.”

“My specialty ismilitary history. I did not get far in academia because I alwaysrefused to specialize on specific eras. My desire to study the grandsweep of trends in human conflict branded me as a hopelessdilettante.”

“Do you think that givesyou some insight on how mobile suits fit into that grand sweep?”

He looked thoughtful for amoment. “When we get to where we are going today, before we seethe goods so to speak there is something else I can show you. Perhapsit will help answer your question.”

He clearly intended to tablethat discussion for later so Miorine did not press further. When theyhad finished eating he took them down to the underground parkinggarage. They walked a short distance along the parked vehicles and hepointed. “This one is mine.”

The big red car was... odd. Itwas a big rectangular shape with sharp corners, resting on fouroversized black tires. The whole thing gave the impression of greatbulk, but rather than a heavy utility vehicle it seemed to promiseboth luxury and speed. In front of the windshield was an enormouslong hood that could have housed the power core of a large mobilesuit. Miorine supposed most of it must be for storage, though havingit in front like that made little sense.

Suletta seemed fascinated. Shequickened her pace, took a brief look inside and pointed. “MisterVaucanson, is this an electronics-free vehicle?”

He smiled. “Good guess.What tipped you off?”

“There are no screens.No sensors either.”

“I hadn’t thoughtyou might share my retro car hobby.”

“I didn’t know itwas a hobby, but on Mercury the umbrella settlements hadelectronics-free emergency rovers for operating at daytimetemperatures.”

“The retro car movementhere has its origins in old support communities that prepared for ananticipated wartime, which I’m sure must make no sense to youat all. These days it is just a hobby.”

Suletta pointed through thewindow. “Does the floor lever control a gearbox?”

“Yes, in conjunctionwith a clutch pedal.”

“Why don’t youtake the front seat,” Miorine suggested. “I’m sureyou’d like to see it in operation.” They were clearlybonding over this, which was certainly a plus for their establishinga good working relationship... but mostly, Suletta just seemed to behaving fun.

Vaucanson smiled at Suletta.“I’d offer to let you drive, but you need a speciallicense.”

Since there were just the twogreat heavy doors, getting into the back seat took just a bit ofsquirming. It was exquisitely comfortable, if a bit cramped evenafter Suletta adjusted her seat forward... on a manual slider, noless.

Between the front seatsMiorine saw Vaucanson insert something like a padlock key and twistit. An electric motor whined briefly as if it were strainingmightily, and then there was an explosion. Or that is what it feltlike. Miorine expected to see smoke and was quite prepared for anemergency exit. But Vaucanson showed no reaction to that or to thesubsequent rumbling that was felt as much as heard, a steadythrumming that seemed to lightly massage her down to her bones.

“Is that a pistonengine?” Suletta asked in surprise.

“Yes. Nine-litre V8.”

They exited the city and droveup into the foothills of the nearby mountain. Shortly after theyentered wild woodlands the road ended at a semicircular tunnel thatwent right into the mountainside. It was covered by a pair of gatesmade from heavy bars that swung aside for them. To both sides therewere large signs with the universal symbols for radiation hazard,chemical hazard and bio-hazard, along with text in Lingua and threeother languages warning to stay out. “This facility startedlife as a military base. When we took ownership it was a hazarddumping site. We quietly had the materials moved out for disposal inspace, where most hazardous waste goes these days. We cleaned it up,but as far as everybody else is concerned it’s still ahazardous waste site.”

The tunnel was dimly lit withan overhead line of lamps. The chipped concrete gave way to roughrock. They passed through a set of blast doors that looked like theyhad not been closed in ages. Where the tunnel widened out they parkednext to some utility trucks and disembarked.

The whole place lookedancient. It really did feel like the remains of a lost kingdom.

There was a large vehicletunnel that continued on but now that they were on foot they took aslight detour. The new hallway they entered was smaller and lower,clearly not for vehicles. But it was not just a corridor. It lookedmore like a museum. Along both sides, the walls were lined with glasswalls that had objects behind them. There were more objects laid outlower to the ground on long tables in front of the glass.

“The items in the inertgas enclosures are originals,” Vaucanson explained. “Everythingin front are replicas, you can touch anything you want.”

“Did you collect allthis yourself?” Miorine asked.

“This is the work ofgenerations, started by one of my predecessors.” He walked overto the left side and picked up some sort of odd rifle that had asteel bar fitted across it that was pulled into a shallow arc by athin cable. A similar item was on display behind the glass, thoughthat one looked truly ancient, much the worse for the passage oftime. There were no signs or labels anywhere, the objects were leftto speak for themselves. He showed them the weapon he held. “Thisis a crossbow. As far as we know, it was the first weapon that wasever banned.” With his free hand he picked up a large wickedlooking dart with a shaft. “These quarrels were designed topenetrate that.” He used it to point to the other side of thehall. Over there was shown something that had caught Miorine’sattention as soon as they entered the space. Behind the glass was afull set of shining steel armour, mounted on a man-sized frame.

In front of that, a bipedalrobot wearing a similar set of armour sat in a chair. On some signalfrom Vaucanson it stood up, executed an elegant bow, and sat downagain. “Hard to believe that knights could actually move intheir shining armour, but it was remarkably well-designed. All thatintricate design wouldn’t do much good against one of these.The powers that be depended on the knights for security, so theytried banning crossbows, with limited success.”

“Is this the same?”Suletta had picked up a pair of items that had been next to thecrossbow. The first was a wooden bow longer than she was tall, curvedinto a shallow arc by a string. The second was an almost equally longarrow.

“That is a longbow. Itwas a weapon mastered only by a lifetime of practice, hunting andcompetitive shooting. But this,” he hefted the crossbow, “thisI could teach you to use in a day.”

“It sounds like a goodmetaphor for Permet versus cyberbrain co*ckpits,” Miorinesuggested.

“That is very apt,”Vaucanson agreed. He smiled and pointed to the bow in Suletta’shand. “The thing is, in the hands of an expert, that couldshoot twice as fast and twice as far as any crossbow. You could sayit is a case where the tortoise beats the hare.”

Further down the hall,Vaucanson picked up a more ordinary looking rifle. “Thesemuskets were even easier to use than a crossbow. They came at a timewhen industry was learning to do mass production. Instead of a smallnumber of professional soldiers they could mobilize entire countries.That was one of the ages of total war.”

“Is that how you seecyberbrain co*ckpits?” Miorine asked. “A weapon that canbring about total war?”

“They could escalate thescope of war. That’s always possible. But they can also changethe balance of power between different classes. That is what musketsand more advanced firearms did. After they arrived, kings andemperors gave way to parliaments and republics. Of course there weremany other factors, most of which are above my pay grade. But theweapons definitely had an impact.”

They moved on. Miorine heftedan impossibly heavy rifle. “That is a large-calibre rifle thatis now banned for anything other than big-game hunting,”Vaucanson explained. “Assault rifles are all small calibrenow.”

“So that it is lesslikely to kill?” Suletta asked.

“Yes, though notnecessarily out of the goodness of their hearts. Enemy wounded aremore of a burden on their logistics. The reasons for banning weaponscan be complex, they are driven by competing interests.”

Further on there was amannequin that had been fitted with a cloth uniform and a breathingapparatus. “There was a time when these gas-masks were beingissued to millions of soldiers. Other than small-scale use by theoccasional two-bit tin-pot dictator here and there, poison gas hasn’tbeen used since.”

Suletta took off the maskreplica she had tried on. “Is there a treaty? Like the oneagainst projectile weapons in cislunar space? I remember theAsticassia school checked Ariel for those.”

“Any explicit treatieslong since expired. It’s more of an informal agreement now, Iguess you could call it a taboo.”

There were some enigmatic,featureless cone-shaped objects in an enclosure further along.“Thermonuclear warheads. The fissile materials and detonatorshave been long since removed, of course. Having even working partsfor these is a capital offence pretty much everywhere.”

“Could you even callthose weapons?” Miorine asked. “They’re justinstruments of double-suicide.”

“Yes. Not long afterthese showed up, everyone realized that from then on the mostpowerful brute-force weapons we could make would always just beinstruments of collective suicide. Total war just was not an optionany more. Combinations of treaties, conventions and taboos wouldalways restrict how wars were conducted.”

Miorine pointed to one of aseries of items on display further down the hall. “Taboos likethat one.”

“Indeed.”

There were several of them ondisplay, all behind glass. Nobody would even want to makenon-functioning replicas of these any more. There were differenttypes lined up, some on wheels, some on legs, some obviously meant tofly. In the age when they were used they all had their names. Butsince then, everybody knew them by a single name, the greatest tabooof them all. Slaughterbots.

There was no need forVaucanson to elaborate, it was now part of the collective memory, anassumption that was just the air they breathed. One and all agreed,only a madman would unleash a weapon that killed without humanintervention. Down that path truly lay collective suicide. Advancedautomation was what let them do things and build things orders ofmagnitude faster than could be done in the past. But everyschoolchild could tell you why there had to be a human in the loopfor every important decision.

Suletta immediately identifiedthe next display, clearly a scale model. “It’s the MS2Centurion.”

“That’s right,”Vaucanson confirmed. “The first really successful mobile suit.We’ve now come full circle. The knights in shining armour havereturned. The battlefield is once again dominated by a small numberof highly trained professional warriors who use very expensiveweapons that only a few are able to master.”

Miorine pointed to theenclosure on the opposite side, which was empty. “I see noequivalent to a crossbow here.”

Vaucanson smiled. “Perhapsone of your cyberbrain enabled suits will fill the role. That remainsto be seen.”

Miorine wondered if the finaldisplay was some sort of joke.

On the left was a male peaco*ckthat had been arranged by the taxidermist to have its tail feathersfanned out behind it on full display, its eerie array of eye-shapedfeathers iridescent under the enclosure lights. On the right were agroup of stuffed... Miorine wanted to call them weasels, but the furcolouring was wrong.

“They’re meerkats,one of the most violent animals alive. Most meerkats die at the handof other members of their species. If there is any animal other thanus who practices something like total war, it is them.”

“I think I see what youare getting at here.” Miorine pointed to the peaco*ck. “Theypractice the opposite of total war. Their disputes are settled by acontest of performances where nobody gets hurt.”

“That’s thegeneral idea. Nobody gets hurt, but there is still a cost. Thoseridiculous feathers require an enormous expenditure of resources, andleave them so much more vulnerable to predation. The risk of death isstill there, it’s just hidden.”

“So calling it peacefulis a lie.”

“Yes. Believe it or not,there were some among us who looked to the duelling system atAsticassia as a model for the future of war. The contest would bedecided and the battle would end when what amounted to a symbolicflag was taken.”

Miorine’s face wasdarkened by a deep frown. She stepped closer to her wife, theyexchanged a brief look of understanding, then looked back at theirhost. “We both have seen firsthand just how catastrophicallythat illusion can break down.”

“I expected you wouldappreciate the paradoxes on display here. With that, perhaps weshould proceed to what you came here for.”

They entered a tunnel that washundreds of meters long, but barely tall and wide enough for the fivemobile suits lined up. Miorine recognized them all. She had knownwhat to expect, but... had not been prepared for the feelings invokedby seeing them all here, towering over her. I should have thoughtof this.

Miorine stepped over to standclose beside her wife. They pretended to just be evaluating thegoods, as it were. But Miorine was just waiting. Slowly, Suletta’sbreathing became less laboured, her tension eased. Miorine glancedover to Suletta, who looked back and just nodded. I’ll beokay.

Miorine looked over atVaucanson. “Forgive me, you’ve shown us exactly what yousaid you would. We... have some personal history with all thesesuits. None of it good.”

He nodded in understanding.“So I take it you recognize them all.”

“Yes.” Miorine didrecognize them, but she let Suletta spoon-feed the names for her asthey walked close underfoot the suits.

“The Lfrith.” Itwas the one piloted by Suletta’s mother at Vanadis, which sheused to escape to Mercury.

“The Lfrith Ur.”It had been piloted by Sophie. It was the place she died.

“The Lfrith Thorn.”Likewise, the suit that became Norea’s tomb.

“The Lfrith Calibarn.”It was the suit Suletta had piloted against Quiet Zero, the one thathad left her paralyzed.

“So, you really did haveat least two of each model,” Miorine said.

“We always left a spare.Technical designs are fine, but the end product itself holds its ownsort of memory. In other tunnels here we have also preserved the keymanufacturing tools. And of course all the associated specificationsand test data.”

Miorine looked up at thenearest suit. “We’ll need to go to the co*ckpits andconfirm the systems, then I think we will be ready to proceed.”She smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. “We seem to have theplace to ourselves. I’m guessing we won’t be seeing anyother Ochs Earth members and won’t be learning any of your realnames until the deal has been announced.”

He returned her smile. “Youclearly understand our situation.”

Before they flew back home,Suletta managed to puppy-eye her way into taking Vaucanson’scar for a spin at a local racetrack. Using her delicate condition asan excuse to beg off, Miorine let the kids have their fun.

#-#-#-#-#

“We need to stop meetinglike this,” Kenanji said as he sat down on the padded benchopposite Miorine in the booth.

“Then how should we bemeeting?” It had become one of their running jokes over theyears. As often as they could, they planned on being in Rio at thesame time, and each time they would meet at a different restaurant,never the same one twice. And the more obscure the better. Miorinehad long since developed enough of a local network to get good adviceon the best places, and they had not been disappointed yet. Ratherthan some of the dark, quiet intimate places this one leaned moretoward the bright, noisy open places. But their corner booth wasprivate enough.

They both had reasons not todraw attention to these meetings. It was not quite consorting withthe enemy, but increasingly it might be perceived as somethingadjacent.

He was delighted to hear abouther big piece of personal news. “Another six weeks and she goesinto the nest,” she said in response to his query.

“Soon you’ll havetwo to take care of. You and Suletta will be busy.”

“We get a lot of helpfrom Eri. And from Sabina’s team.”

He gave a warm smile. “Itsounds like they’re a lot more than your security detail now.”

“They always have been,really. Even more so since Elnora showed up. Suletta and I had beentossing around the idea of asking one or more of our friends to begodparents to our children. But something like that just seems to behappening all by itself.”

The waiter came to take theirorder. They both already knew what they wanted from the online menu,so it just took a few seconds.

“Is the pilot schoolkeeping Suletta busy?” Kenanji asked.

“Yes, she’sdevoting pretty much all of her time there. She’s taken ahiatus from the leagues, that broke a lot of fans’ hearts. Shewas a few weeks in the Europa region, consulting on a new pilotschool that’s being set up there.”

“It went well?”

Miorine laughed a bit. “Itappears so. The dean had actually asked her to teach there, theywanted her to move there in the worst way. It might not have evenbeen a bad idea for either of us, GUND-ARM does a lot of businessthere and I’ve flown out there more than she has. But it lookslike we have dug down roots here, neither of us were keen on the ideaof moving.”

Kenanji seemed rather amusedat that. “That’s a turn of phrase that most Spacianswould not even understand. The two of you really have... what wasthat phrase?”

“We have well and trulygone bush.”

“Yes, that’s it.I’m not surprised to hear she is in such demand, I’vebeen hearing really good things about her school.”

“I know about theDominicus observers who showed up, I presume you have been speakingwith them.”

“They were veryimpressed, but they weren’t sure what to make of it.”

“How so?”

“They were astonished athow early students were recruited as instructors. Some were doinginstruction even before they had completed their program. In anyother school I know of that is unheard of.”

“That’s an ideawhich goes back to the children’s schools she had founded.”She smiled. “Suletta was about the only one who thought itwould work with such a demanding subject matter. It hasn’talways worked out well, the senior instructors have to keep an eye onthings. Particularly looking for personality conflicts.”

Kenanji nodded in a way thatconfirmed she had a witness. “Some of the units I served inwere all personality conflict all the time. Everybody thought theywere the top gun or deserved to be.”

“I can tell you thatbeing humbled by some real top guns is a character buildingexperience.” She related her story of testing out a new laboursuit with Suletta, Sabina and ChuChu, and ended up hearing a coupleof Kenanji’s similar tales of woe.

“Our observers noted adistinct lack of grandstanding at her school and they were trying tofigure out why. There was something I’d been wondering about.”

Miorine did not think she wasmistaken in noting a subtle change in tone. Kenanji was asking out ofgenuine curiosity. But now he was also gathering intel. “What’sthat?”

“I was wondering whetherthese relationships of particular instructors and students persistacross time.”

“They often do, it isencouraged. It is an idea Suletta inherited from her experiences onMercury, but she was also inspired by what we saw at a boardingschool where she started a pilot training program. The idea has evenbeen influencing the units that the pilots eventually go serve in.”

“You mean fighting astwo-ship elements?”

“Yes, but a bit morethan that. I think of it as a kind of Knight-Squire relationship.”

“My, you really havebeen digging deep in your reading.”

She smiled. “Diggingeven deeper, it makes me think of the sorts of relationships youwould see among Spartan warriors.”

He looked skeptical. “Thatone is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”

She shrugged. “I mighthave a perspective that biases me to the notion, but perhaps I’lljust leave it at that. There was somebody at Ochs Earth I met who hada very long-term perspective on military matters, so I’ve hadthat on my mind.”

The look they exchanged showedan understanding, she had just given her consent to address theelephant in the room. Kenanji spoke less casually now. “Yourannouncement took a lot of people by surprise. Everyone had assumedthat at best there might be some leftover data to scavenge. But anentire management team, engineering team, a development site nobodyeven knew about. It gives you a head-start nobody expected.”

Miorine also spoke moreseriously. “I’ll be honest, their name comes with a lotof baggage. But our investors and our customers have respondedpositively. And we already have results with the cyberbrain co*ckpitsto point to. We’ve shown that a Permet-free alternative to theGundam is possible.”

There was a pause before heanswered. His expression and his tone changed again. He was no longergathering intel. He was speaking to her personally. “A lot ofpeople are nervous, Miorine. The Ochs Earth deal, the cyberbrains,the schools, the militias, the alliances. It’s all happeningquickly and it all seems to be pointing in the same direction. Earthis arming itself.”

Miorine had no reason todispute the point. “I can see why people are nervous, Kenanji.I spent most of my life looking at this from the Spacian side. Thetwo sides are so dependent on each other, and up to now Spacians havedictated the terms. But now it looks like we want to be treated on anequal basis, suddenly things aren’t so certain any more.”

“I can tell you thequestion people are asking themselves, are asking us.”He pointed to himself, by implication meaning the Dominicusintelligence service. “They’re wondering, who’s incharge down here?”

To Miorine’s ears it wasa nonsensical question, but she had to take it seriously. “Who’sin charge? Kenanji, there are billions of people divided up intohundreds of individual polities. Even if they form the largestalliances that are even remotely conceivable there will be dozens ofthem. Who do they think could possibly be in charge?”

Kenanji looked at herintently. “How about you?”

Again, she tried her best totake the question seriously. “Me? At best I am riding a wave,something that has been moving long before I got here and will rollthrough regardless of how I ride it. If I happen to be in the centreof the wave that is only because of the people that helped me gethere, all the way from my lousy father to the people on the tips ofmy company’s supply chains.”

“I’m wondering ifthere’s anything we can do to alleviate people’s fearsover what’s happening.”

“I’ve been tryingto reach out to any Spacians I can,” Miorine said, trying notto let her frustration show. “I’ve wanted to start morecollaborations like the ones you and I had, to save the childsoldiers and the work slaves. But every time I run up againstsomebody’s vested interest and they won’t budge. So I goback to forming collaborations with other Earthians, because they’llactually listen, and they have a stake.” She pointed up.“People up there have grown so used to us being on our knees.Now we’re trying to stand on our own feet. If they don’teven want to hear our point of view then I don’t know any wayto do that without making them nervous.”

“I’m not sayingyou’re wrong. But I’m worried about a backlash, and notjust from Spacians. Already some mercenary outfits are being evictedfrom places that have got tired of hosting them and now have themuscle to back up the eviction. They’re starting to realizethat eventually they’ll have no place to go.”

“I know about that, it’sstarted to happen in this region too. The smart ones are joininglocal militias.”

“That’s what thesensible ones are doing.” He knitted his brows and lookedsternly at her. “But Miorine, you have to understand. Being asoldier of fortune isn’t always about being sensible. You’vemade enemies among them, and now they’re being backed into acorner. You could become a target.”

“I’m not unawareof the risks,” Miorine said softly. “I don’t expectall this to go smoothly any more than you do. But this is the newreality, and one way or another people will need to get used to it.”

Kenanji regarded her for amoment. When he next spoke he sounded more insistent, almostimploring. “I had to send you and your friends into battleonce. I’ve always hoped you would never have to do that again.But the forces converging around you are dangerous. You’re notjust buying and selling any more, you’re a player in theworld’s power game.”

“I was borne into dirtypower politics that could turn violent. One of his competitors triedto assassinate my father. I know the stakes.”

Kenanji sighed. “Well atleast your eyes are open.” He smiled. “But let me be justa little bit worried about you.”

“I appreciate it. Buttell me honestly. I really do beat my head against a wall trying totalk to Spacians in their natural environment where they should becomfortable. Why won’t they listen? Do I have a provincialaccent now? Am I talking funny?”

His manner relaxed a bit.“You’re just telling them what they don’t want tohear.”

“All I try to tell themis that there is so much that we could do together. It just takessome listening and some honesty and some courage. Is that such a tallorder?”

“Sometimes it is.”

The food arrived. Kenanji’sface lit up. “This looks even better than I had expected.”

“And a lot bigger.”Miorine’s order was rather more modest. “I’m dyingto see if you can finish that.”

“Who do you think you’retalking to?”

When they were done, they bothagreed it would be another four-star review. Anonymous, of course.

#-#-#-#-#

Working remotely from the deskin their bedroom was Miorine’s favourite way to go. It was onthe opposite side of the house from the living area, so with thewalls set to be transparent she was surrounded on three sides bytheir lake-shore property.

It made saying no to people somuch more refreshing.

To be fair, it was Martin whowas saying no to the customer. They had insisted he kick the issueupstairs. His face on the screen appeared just mildly stressed. Itlooked like he was getting used to being the one who had to say no.

“Whatever way you lookat it, even with the outsourcing and the licensing agreements we canonly build capacity so fast,” Miorine pointed out. “Demandis outstripping supply, it’s as simple as that.”

“They’re accusingus of favouring their larger neighbours,” Martin said.

“Their neighbours areonly larger customers because they are part of an alliance and theynegotiated a contract to supply all members of the alliance. That isour preferred way of doing business.”

“They are noticing thatso far it is our only way of doing business.”

“New alliances arestarting up all the time, we can barely keep up. We also favourplaces that are promising for opening up new manufacturing capacity.Why don’t you have a look at their entries in the global supplychain database and see if there is anything that matches what we’relooking for. If so, suggest that and see where it goes.”

“Okay. They were alsoasking about the Lfrith suits.”

“Tell them the samething we tell everybody else, still under development, no commitmentto a timeline. No promises we can’t keep, okay?”

“Got it. I guess that’sit for now.”

“Okay, don’t letthem get you down.”

Miorine got up and stretched.It was time for a break. She walked down the hall and into the livingarea. She had left Elnora here with Ireesha when she started work.Eri was here, but she was downstairs working on some new robot.Ireesha said she had brought something for Elnora to play with,Miorine wanted to see.

They had the coffee-table inthe living room covered with an inordinate number of little plasticrods and multicoloured blocks in various shapes with holes in thesides. Is this what I think it is?

“Mommy!” Elnoracried. From her toddler-time perspective no doubt her mother had beengone forever and a day.

Miorine picked her up. “Whathave you been making?”

“Molly-cules!”

“Molecules?”

“Yes!”

She crouched down and setElnora back on the floor. “Can you show mommy?”

Elnora pointed to a set ofthree balls joined at an angle by two rods. “That’swater!”

Ireesha pointed to the centreball. “Do you remember what that is?”

“Oxygen!”

“And that?”

“Hydrogen!”

“Very good.”

“Look Mommy!”Elnora picked up a pair of joined balls. “This is Cyanide!”

“And what is cyanidelike?” Ireesha asked.

“It’s icky!”

Ireesha held her finger up.“Here’s a hard one. We made ammonia. Can you makeammonia?”

“I remember!” Sheproceeded to look for the balls she wanted and started joining themtogether.

Miorine looked at Ireesha, whoseemed very pleased with herself. “She’s just learningthe alphabet, you know. Do you really think she’ll remember anyof this?”

“Says the one who wantedher to pilot a combat mobile suit.”

“You’remisrepresenting what happened.”

Of all Elnora’s de factogodparents, Ireesha was the one who had stepped up to task ofco-parenting with greatest gusto, surprising everybody. She opened upto the little girl in a way Miorine had never seen from her. Theyoung woman’s face was usually a placid mask placed between thecascades of her wavy long brown hair, but became animated whenevershe spoke with Elnora. It was a remarkable transformation.

All of the girls on Sabina’steam had their own way of caring for Elnora, no two of them quitealike, some working better than others. Miorine’s idea to finda godparent had been motivated by the desire to find... oh just goahead and say it, an influence from somebody with a little morenormal background than either of her parents. It turned out thingswere leaning rather in the other direction. Well, if Miorine wasreally going to tout the benefits of neurodiversity then rather thanfretting about it she had better just accept it. At any rate, therewere days where she was sent to a nearby private daycare to benefitfrom being with professional caregivers and other children her age.

Elnora proudly showed off herammonia. Ireesha got her working on methane. She pondered the girlworking diligently, her hand to her chin. “I’m wonderingif it was too early to introduce organic chemistry.”

Miorine sighed. “Ireesha,listen to what you just said.”

“It’s definitelytoo early for a chemistry set.”

“I should think so. Hasshe eaten and had her nap?”

“Both.”

“Then maybe we can makelunch.”

That was a trigger word forElnora, meaning she could do something on her own for a while. “CanI watch Moon Princess?”

Miorine patted her head. “Yes,you can.”

They set her in a place wherethey could keep an eye on her from the kitchen. “She was reallyhaving fun. Thanks for getting those.”

“I was having fun too. Iwish I could be here more.”

“You have other kids totake care of at the school, so you have to share the load.”

“That’s gettingmore fun too. But never as fun as here.”

“How’s yourunderstudy working out?”

“He’s doing hisown instruction now. I hope he stays and applies to be a permanentinstructor.”

Miorine really had never heardher say that about anyone before. “You like him?”

“He’s a goodpilot.”

Miorine decided to leave it atthat. She sort of got the impression that Ireesha was becoming quiteclose to her understudy. But Miorine knew that she was in no wayshape or form qualified to be a matchmaker. The love of her life hadbeen essentially dropped in her lap, so asking her about how to findlove was like seeking investment advice from a lottery winner.

“You’re cuttingthose too fine,” Ireesha observed.

“Right.” Miorinewas experimental in the kitchen, but she found that pilots were analabout following recipes... they probably were treating it like apreflight checklist.

Ireesha’s phone rangwith an alarm signal. She quickly pulled it out and looked at thescreen. She frowned.

“Problem?”

“It’s warningabout the transport Blackhawke is doing today.”

“So?” Weeks agothe Rio government told the Blackhawke mercenary group that the landleases on their bases would not be renewed next year. It was a signof the times, more and more mercenary groups were being told thatthey were no longer welcome. She recalled that one of their bases wasbeing vacated today. “Good riddance to them.”

“One of their convoyswas diverted because of a road accident. It will be passing nearbyand you have that merc units on proximity alert. That’s whywe’ve only been alerted now.” She looked at Miorine,clearly waiting for instruction.

Miorine had a bad feeling.It’s probably nothing, just a coincidence. But... “I’dfeel more comfortable if Sabina’s team was here with theschool’s fast-response suits.”

“Should Suletta comewith the Lfrith?”

“I don’t think-”

There was a series of muffledpops. They seemed to come from overhead but all around them. “Didyou hear that?” Miorine asked.

Ireesha stepped away from thecounter and assumed a combat stance. Her placid face scanned all thewindows. “There.” She pointed up. “Multi-spectrumchaff.”

Something was floating down,sparkling and barely visible. It was everywhere.

“We’ve lostsignal.” Ireesha’s phone clattered on the counter. Hergun was held up in a military grip. Miorine had not even seen herdraw it. “We should get to the panic room.”

There was the scream of rocketengines and three mobile suits came straight down and landed hardright in front of the three glass walls that faced the outside,shaking the house.

Miorine activated thecyberbrain Permet link emergency broadcast mode. It was awell-practised move, as was the sub-vocalization that followed.‘We’re under attack! Three mobile suits! We need-’

All three mobile suits steppedforward then kicked out at their respective windows. Tons of safetyglass shattered and exploded into the room as blinding white torrentsof tiny pellets. Miorine barely threw her arms up when it hit withshocking force, bowling her over, leaving her lying stunned on theglass-covered floor. Her ears were ringing but she heard things.Wailing. Elnora. Ducted propellers. A troop transport.

Somebody was hauling her toher feet. Ireesha. “Get Elnora below.”

“What-” But shewas already running and rapid-firing her gun. She saw what Ireeshawas running towards and shooting at, a squad of armoured soldierswith face-shields down, advancing quickly into the room. She had aninstant to note their odd dual-barrel assault rifles when they allfired at once with precise single shots. Ireesha’s bodyconvulsed and she went down.

“Wait!” Miorineshouted, advancing with her arms up. “We won’t resist!”Her raging mind bifurcated as its attention was torn apart by herwailing daughter and her friend lying face-up on the floor. The tinypart of her analytical mind that remained noted the lack of blood.One of their dual guns had non-lethal rounds. Of course they were nothere to kill everyone, if they were it would already be over. Whatdo they want? Kidnapping for ransom?

She stopped right beside herfallen friend just on time for the lead soldier to come up in frontof her. This one had his rifle slung. He flipped up his face-shieldto reveal a scowling, angry face. “Remember me?”

She did not remember the name,but she did remember the face. He was the commander of a Blackhawketraining camp. One of the men she had put into a Permet co*ckpit andsubjected to the highest level it would go. “If it’smoney you want we can take care of that right now.”

He moved with blinding speed,Miorine barely saw it coming. The hammer-blow to her abdomen was hardenough to lift her off her feet. She came down hard on theglass-dusted floor, already doubled over. Everything inside her feltutterly wrong. The impossible need to scream had nothing to do withthe physical agony. Oh God. Oh no.

He lifted her roughly into asitting position and jabbed something into her neck. “Not youraverage knockout juice. Enjoy.”

A new sort of agony spread outfrom where he had injected her, this one an acidic burning thatspread with shocking speed. He prepared to lift her up when suddenlythere was shouting and then shooting. Not the dull reports that hadbrought Ireesha down but the sharp crack of supersonic rounds.“Report!” the commander shouted, hoisting his rifle.There was confusion on his face, like he was trying to understandwhat was happening around him and what he was hearing on his commlink.

Whatever he had injected herwith was no anaesthetic at all, it seemed to just paralyze her withthe spreading pain. Almost. She could turn enough to see where thenoise was coming from. A soldier flew into the room from the hallway,tumbling end over end, almost hitting his fellows. His body seemedbroken in some odd way.

Something rocketed into theroom. It was a mass of tentacles, whipping around like flails,bowling men over.

“Freeze!”

Eri’s robot body stoppedmoving. Miorine could see the commander pointing his rifle. It wasnot pointed at Eri. Fighting the agony and despair, Miorine guessedwhat was happening. He’s pointing it at Elnora.

She saw movement in the cornerof her eye. He saw it an instant later and turned. Ireesha was almoston top of him. How can she still be moving? He shot her with afull burst at point-blank range. This time blood sprayed everywhere.He immediately turned back to face Eri, who was already leapingstraight at him. There was a dull report and Miorine barely saw atentacle swat something away. Then he was swathed in tentacles. Theysavagely pulled him apart in a torrent of blood. A second afterMiorine registered that he had fired a grenade, it went off. Itseemed like something hit her. All she knew was that it had been toofar away to kill her instantly.

“Miorine!” It wasEri. Tentacles wrapped protectively around her.

Miorine tried to speak butcould not. Protect Elnora, not me.

There was suddenly new soundsshe knew all too well. Heavy beam weapons. One of the mobile suitscame crashing down, then another. The remaining men were runningaway. A familiar mobile suit came down right on top of them, crushingthem underfoot and shaking the house again.

There was a new set of noisesthat was much softer but closer and more ominous. In an instant sheunderstood what was happening but there was nothing she could do.

The roof collapsed down onthem. There was a blow to her entire body, then blackness.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine woke to an unfamiliarceiling. The surroundings were something that seemed to be from adistant past and yet all too familiar, somehow they were now seenfrom a different perspective. This time she was the one in thehospital bed. Just as the recollection of why she was here cameflooding back, she became aware of the hand that had been holdinghers and was now squeezing, and a familiar face came down close toher.

“Mio?” Sulettasaid softly. “Can you hear me?”

“Leta?” Miorine’sbed was already propping her up, so she did not need to move much tosit up straight. She was weak, it took effort. There was no seriouspain, but the motion provoked a series of aches and just a feeling ofwrongness.

“Take it slowly,”Suletta said gently. “You’ve been hurt, but you’regoing to be fine.” She took Miorine by the shoulders, as if tohelp her stay sitting up and hold her steady.

Miorine put a hand to herabdomen. “Leta... everything feels wrong.” She lookeddesperately into her wife’s eyes. “Tell me.”

She could see it in Suletta’seyes even before she spoke. “Mio, you lost the baby. There wasnothing they could do.”

Which meant they had to takeher out. Miorine knew her mind was going to spiral down a hole,imagining how that had been done, what it looked like. While shestill retained some power of speech, she asked. “Elnora?”

“She has a concussion.We’re waiting for her to wake up.” Miorine saw her owndespair reflected in her wife’s eyes. Her mouth came open, shewas desperate to ask more, but any question she could ask simplyinvited new reasons for agony. Suletta seemed to be guessing at whatshe was trying to ask. “Ireesha didn’t make it. She...she saved our daughter.”

Miorine clenched her eyes shutand bowed her head. “No.” No, she didn’t saveour daughter. I killed her. Because of what I’ve done, I’vekilled both our children.

She felt Suletta wrap herclosely in an embrace that was gentle but also firm enough to holdher in place, as if she anticipated what Miorine knew was coming. Hernext breath came in as a shuddering rasp and then burst out again asa long, agonized scream. Then the next breath was the same. Then thenext. She just kept screaming and screaming until she could not. Thenshe was just crying, her body wracked with great uncontrollable sobs.When she could not even do that any more she just sat there tremblingin her wife’s arms, every breath a gasp that her racing bodydesperately told her that it needed but that the core of her beingjust as desperately wished would be her last.

She had no idea how much timepassed. By the time Suletta spoke she was just numb, utterly drained.“Mio, do you want me to set you down?”

Miorine’s answer was tofeebly put her arms around Suletta’s waist. She could not lookinto her wife’s face and still say what she had to say. Thishad to be like the confessional of an ancient faith, where therewould be only a voice, only words. Her voice was hoarse and tiny. “Itortured that man. The one who shot Ireesha. I put him in a Permetco*ckpit and I set it up as high as it would go. I almost killed him.I did kill another. I did it to others. I told myself it was justice.They were child killers. But it was all for me. I was lashing out atthem. For what happened to you.”

She knew that Suletta wouldnever judge her, so she delivered her own verdict. “I amnothing but a monster. How could I have thought I can be your wife?How could I think that I deserve to have children?”

She could feel Suletta gentlystroking her long hair with one hand. “You are not a monster.You are the one who slays monsters.”

Suletta was not wrong. But shedid not take the next step. Miorine exposed what she was missing.“I’ve become what I was trying to fight.”

There was just a moment’spause before Suletta responded in her calm, gentle voice. “I’vekilled too. I did it again, when I came to our house, when I saw whatthey were doing. I just kept killing until there was nobody left. Ihaven’t even thought about it until right now.”

The challenge to Miorine’sverdict stood there before them. If you are a monster then so amI.

Miorine did what she had donebefore. Layer by layer she stripped away all the impossible questionsthat yielded no answers, the deluge of dilemmas that the worldassailed them with, all the doubts and fears and paradoxes. Shepulled it all away until all that was left was the only thing thatreally mattered. All that was left was what she was holding in herarms, and the ones she had held in her arms.

She let go of Suletta, wholeaned back and just gently held her shoulders, looking into her eyesonce more. Miorine was the first one to voice the fear they saw ineach others’ faces. “What if she never wakes up?”

“I woke up. She willtoo.”

“Can I really ask fortwo miracles?”

“You know what we sayabout miracles.” There was confidence in her voice but alsodesperation, pleading. I need to hear it. I need to know that youbelieve too.

Miorine could say it, even asher voice trembled with all her doubt and dread. “Themiraculous... just take a little longer.”

#-#-#-#-#

“I see four mommys!”Elnora said brightly.

“That’s good.”The doctor slowly moved her raised finger back from in front of thetoddler’s face. “How many do you see now?”

“Two!”

“Very good. We’reall done.”

Miorine and Suletta moved fromwhere they had been standing behind the doctor, to get out of her wayas she stood up. It was not the first time they had made this testinto a little game. Suletta reached out and picked Elnora up. “Thatdidn’t take long, did it?”

“It was easy!”

“So what do you say tothe nice doctor?”

“Thank you, Doctor!”

Suletta took her out of theliving room of their on-campus suite while the doctor gathered herequipment and put it into her carrying case. She reviewed the resultswith Miorine. It was a testament to how much progress had been madethat Miorine and Suletta were not both here anxiously hanging onevery word. They were simply confirming that there were no relapses.Gradually, the check-ups would become less frequent.

The early days had beenhellish. They had to make the risky decision to go ahead with acyberbrain operation. It was almost unprecedented for a child herage. Progress had not been immediate, but when it came it hadaccelerated rapidly. With assistance from the cyberbrain, the inducedneurogenesis had left no traces of her brain damage.

By now Miorine knew to avoidany nagging speculation about how Elnora might have developeddifferently without the injury. That was a rabbit-hole without anybottom.

Miorine thanked the doctor forher house-call and saw her out. She greeted the guard outside thedoor. Miorine had met him before and already knew his name, but hewas knew so they chatted for a bit. Like most of the newest batch ofstudents he was already a member of the local militia in his area,and was here hoping to qualify as a pilot.

They had repaired the house ontheir estate, but had not been there since that day. Miorine wasstill unsure whether she could ever move back there again. Thenightmares were coming less frequently, so it was something she mightbe able to consider before too long. It was just so comfortable beinghere, surrounded by hundreds of people armed to the teeth, all ofwhom practically worshipped the ground Suletta trod and any of whomwould lay down their lives for her or for her family.

As expected, she found bothSuletta and Maisie in the bedroom playing with Elnora. They wereflying little quad-copters in formation using gaming consoles. Ortrying to, anyway. “Steady hand, steady hand,” Maisieintoned. “That’s it! Formation flying is important, isn’tit Suletta mommy?”

“Yes,” Sulettaagreed. “Oops, we crashed!”

“That’s okay,”Maisie assured her. “Now that Miorine mommy is here, we can trythe finger-four formation!” On Maisie’s continuedinsistence, Miorine joined in. The four of them did eventually getthat formation right.

Maisie was dealing with theloss of her lifelong friend in her usual perpetually sunny-faced way,most obviously by taking up the slack in Elnora’s care left byIreesha’s absence. Her disposition had not been seen to wavermuch more than the tiniest blip. Her eulogy at Ireesha’sservice had been emblematic of her approach. At great length she hadgleefully related a litany embarrassing mishaps in her departedfriend’s life, many of them shockingly personal, many of themleaving everybody unabashedly laughing. She ended by proudly relatingthe details of her utterly kick-ass death. It had been so strange,and so utterly perfect. If it were anybody else, Miorine would haveworried that she was not waving but drowning. Where grieving wasconcerned, she concluded that one size most emphatically did not fitall.

Soon it was time for Maisie totake Elnora to the base daycare for the afternoon. She just gaveMiorine the briefest of querying looks. “You go ahead,”Miorine said. “We’ll see you later.” It was not ashard as it had been, watching them leave. Suletta put a hand on hershoulder and smiled at her, letting Miorine know that she was proudof her.

It had taken a long time. Formonths, Elnora could never be out of Miorine’s sight. Miorinewould sleep in the same room, take her everywhere she needed to go,everything. Even now, unless Suletta was with her it was hard.

“Can we watch yourinterview from yesterday?” Suletta asked. “I couldn’twatch it live, I was doing a class.”

“Sure. I’mreasonably sure I didn’t embarrass myself.”

“One of my students toldme he thought you killed it.”

Suletta joined her on thecouch, one arm around her and the other holding her hand. In factMiorine was confident about the result, and watching it presented nosurprises. It was not her first public appearance since the attack,but the others had just been quick interviews from the hospitaltowards the end of her recovery. This one was much longer. Of coursethey touched on the tragic result of the attack for her family. Butthe focus was on the Blackhawke outfit, and the threat of themercenary groups.

Public outrage over theincident had been swift and loud. The Blackhawke leadership continuedto insist it had been a rogue group who had concocted some plan tohold Miorine and possibly her family for ransom, maybe even negotiatea reprieve of the group’s eviction from Rio. The answer thatmost people were giving to Blackhawke was: you do not have a rogueelement, you are a rogue element.

The backlash was being feltfar beyond Rio. The process of evicting mercenary groups from theirbases was accelerating. Many were disbanding, their members oftenjoining new militia units. It had taken Miorine a long time to evencare. She had no delusions about her own role in bringing about whathad been visited upon her family, and felt no right to blame anybodyelse.

“You looked reallygood,” Suletta assured her when they were done watching. “Howdid yo feel?”

“I actually felt okay.Mostly I was just feeling something missing.”

Suletta squeezed her hand,showing that she understood. For something like that Miorine wouldhave her whole security detail with her, and now there was one less.ChuChu had come straight down when she heard the news, and hadoffered to take up the slack. It would have been a great comfort. ButMiorine still wanted her eyes and ears in space, ones she couldtrust. Guel had come as well. Partly he had looked as devastated asif he had lost his own child, partly he had looked like he wanted tofind somebody to blame, somebody to kill. Somebody else. Herfather... well, she was about the only one not shocked that she hadto content herself with a video call.

“Till did an interviewthe day before last,” Suletta said.

“Yes, I saw.” Hewas still acting CEO of GUND-ARM. It was a role he was able to slipinto quite easily, since he had effectively been taking over much ofMiorine’s work as she juggled that with her family life. Havingher out of the picture for a while had caused little disruption. Theone aspect he was less comfortable with was becoming the public facefor the company. He did a good job, but Miorine could see it was notsomething he would choose to do. He was no doubt eagerly awaiting herreturn. Miorine felt confident that she would not need to keep himwaiting much longer.

“He called me againyesterday.”

Miorine sighed. “I wishhe would stop.”

“He’s worriedyou’re not telling him everything.”

“I guess I can’tblame him. What do you think would set his mind at ease?”

“Maybe seeing you inRio.”

“That sounds like a goodidea.” Miorine had been more or less cocooning here at theschool, yesterday’s interview had been one of her fewexcursions. “I’ll call him and suggest a dinner.”

“Okay.” Sulettakissed the side of her head. “Want to relax in the hot tub?”

“Sure.”

When they were done dressing,Suletta lay down on their bed. Her smile showed that she already knewwhat Miorine wanted. Miorine crawled onto the bed, laid down alongits width and rested her head on Suletta’s abdomen. She reachedup and very gently stroked her wife’s belly. There was just themerest hint of a bulge. They exchanged a blissful look.

Suletta had been the drivingforce behind taking this step. She had pushed past the doctorswarning her about the risk factors. She had pushed past Miorine’scounsellor, worried about how it might rouse resentment over howMiorine could never bear a child again. She had pushed past theirfriends, all wondering if it was just too soon. And she had evenpushed past Miorine, who felt so utterly unworthy of this gift.Somehow she alone realized that this was the one thing that couldrestore what Miorine had lost, what had been so utterly shattered onthat day.

Hope.

Elnora’s recovery hadcertainly become a source of hope for them. But for Miorine it hadmostly felt like fixing something that she had carelessly broken.This was something different. It was proof that the two of them werestill able to bring about new life.

Miorine stopped what she wasdoing and just put her hand down on the bed. “Leta?”

“Yes Mio?”

“When she comes, I thinkwe should refer to her as our second child.”

Suletta looked intently ather. “Not our third?” she asked gently.

“No, I don’t thinkso.”

Suletta reached out andstroked her hair. “Don’t you think we should talk aboutthat?”

In response, Miorine sat up.She faced her wife in a way she had not done in a long time, with astraight spine and a steady gaze. She said something that had been along time coming. Far, far too long.

“Yes. I’d like totalk about it.”

#-#-#-#-#

“Is it my imagination,or is the hood looking a bit livelier since we were here last?”

“I think you’reright,” Marsh agreed. “It’s been a few years sinceyour last face time with Tunnel Rat.”

He parallel parked his car onthe street. This time they were almost right in front of Tunnel Rat’soffice. It seemed that even here the protocol and considerations formeeting a long-time business partner differed from those of afirst-time meeting.

Marsh got out and opened theback door for Miorine. He was relaxed, but she could sense in theconstant movement of his eyes the zone of awareness he always keptaround him. She had reached out to the family to have him rideshotgun for her, because he knew the area and was a familiar face. Hewas in his white suit as before. She was somewhat less radicallydressed than the last time she had been here, there really being noneed to make a first impression any more. Certainly no braids thistime. But she had worn the lace boots, just on general principles.

There were three boys loungingon the steps in front of the door. As Miorine and Marsh approached,they all stood up. They were not quite standing at attention, butsomehow it kind of had that feeling.

“Hey Marsh,” oneof the boys said, in perfect Lingua. “Heard you’d bebringing around a guest today.”

“Heard right,”Marsh answered.

The boy addressed himself toMiorine now, in a sort of rough but deferential way. “Glad tosee you’re out and about.”

She smiled. He obviously knewwho she was. “Thanks.”

“That was some messed-upcrap that got dumped on you, real shame.”

Behind the almost ritualizedroughness of language she could sense the sincerity, so it was onlyproper to respond in kind. “It is what it is. I’m justmoving on, you know?”

“I heard that. Won’thold you up no more, have a good one.”

They ascended the narrow,musty staircase. The big dark-skinned man who opened the door was thesame one who had been here before.

He smiled broadly. “HeyMarsh. You taking good care of this little lady?”

“With my life, brother.”

“Good to hear.” Hemoved aside and addressed himself to Miorine. “You go on innow, bossman’s waiting. Marsh and I will get caught up outhere.”

“Thanks.”

Neither Tunnel Rat nor hisroom had changed a bit. He waved. “Hey, great to see you again.Long time.”

“It’s good to seeyou again. Sorry, I’ve been very neglectful in making courtesycalls.”

“Hey, you’re likethe busiest lady on the planet.” He gestured to an empty seat.

She shut the door and satdown. “Thank you for your message. It seems you’ve beenworking on my behalf, above and beyond our business.”

For a while now she had beenpaying him what amounted to a subscription fee, to be her eyes andears on the dark web. His service had proven valuable, allowing herto track down Ochs Earth among other things. But then all of a suddenhe had sent a cryptic note saying he had found something pertainingto the Blackhawke attack on her home, something best discussed inperson.

He gave a dismissive wave. “Itwasn’t just me. When folks heard what those psychos did to ourTomato Angel they were right pissed. Since I was the one had facetime, people reached out and I coordinated. Real big team efforthere, lots of top-flight names doing serious digging. This ispersonal so won’t leave you in suspense, bottom line somebodyhired them.” He took a tablet off the table, turned it on andslid it over. “Executive summary cued up. Folks you know, Ithink.”

Miorine picked up the tabletand examined the screen. There were four names. “Yes. I knowthem all too well.”

“Take your time perusingthe particulars.”

Miorine’s mind was castback to the events leading up to the Quiet Zero incident. One of thekey drivers had been Peil Technologies. From her perspective theirsins were legion. They had been surreptitiously building new Gundams.As if that were not enough, they had created a set of EnhancedPersons to pilot them, essentially clones of their top pilot ElanCeres. They had then proceeded to unceremoniously dispose of all ofthem save the one who got away. They had then conspired with theSpace Assembly League to use their doomsday weapon to gain the upperhand in the aftermath of the destruction of Quiet Zero, somethingSuletta had paid a terrible price to prevent.

The company had been run by aquadrumvirate of women. Nugen, Kai, Nevola and Goineri. Nobody knewmuch about them, other than that they were old enough to have beenrunning the company for decades. The consensus was that they had beenusing radical longevity technology.

Miorine examined the materialsthat followed. A lot of the computer and networking details that itwas pinned on went over her head. But the general pattern was clearenough. A series of inquiries put together a set of convergingevidence that pointed to communications between the quadrumvirate anda Blackhawke base. One key had been a private investigator hired inher area, presumably to confirm her movements. Another had been acryptocurrency service for people who did not want to manage theirown passwords. It had all just been an accumulation of people beingless careful than they ought to have been.

There was no clear-textcommunications that had been uncovered, so no indication of motive.It could be for ransom money. Or it could be simple revenge.Miorine’s dissolving of the Benerit group had left themessentially bankrupt.

Miorine looked back up atTunnel Rat. “This all looks very solid. But nothing that can beproven.”

“Yeah, especiallyconsidering some of the sources.”

He did not need to explain.Some people had hacked into the Blackhawke base, others had hackedgovernment intelligence services, others regulatory agencies. Justpossessing this information could expose somebody to some veryserious retribution. She could see why he had suggested an in-personmeeting.

“Does anybody except youhave the whole picture?”

“Nope, just you and menow.”

“Let’s keep itthat way.”

He looked surprised. “Younot going to move on this?”

“Let’s say I’mplaying a long game. Can you keep an eye on them?”

“Goes without saying,that’s part of your subscription.”

“I see you’vealready got this on an encrypted cloud. I’ll just grab thequick code.” She used her phone camera to get the link. Thesite prompted for her to make a pass phrase. She texted ThreeNorns and a spare.

“Saw you on the news,”he said, clearly sensing that the business was done. “You gottwo little ones now, right? Everything solid?”

“You know. The new onecries all night and craps all day. It’s wonderful.”

His face fell a bit. “Ifeel like I dropped the ball on this one.”

“You shouldn’t,”Miorine said emphatically. She gestured at his tablet. “I cansee how even connecting the dots after the fact was well-nighimpossible. There was no way anyone could pick up on this in realtime.” She smiled. “We can’t find everybody’ssecrets all the time, right?”

“Sad but true.”

As Marsh drove her back home,Miorine contemplated what she was feeling. She had been here before,so this time she knew the lay of the land. The trick was not to buryit, but to hang it up, right out in the open. Like an oldwell-polished weapon hanging over a fireplace it would always bethere, infinitely patient. Ready to be picked up, whenever it wastime for the hunt to begin.

By the time she got home itwas just a part of the background, barely noticed in passing. Onceshe picked up little Athena for her feeding, it was simply forgotten.There were more important things to deal with, and more delightfulthings to savour. There would be many, many more of both.

#-#-#-#-#

“Mio-ma!” Elnoracalled from the bedroom of their hotel suite. “Have you seen mycyber?”

“You left it in thebathroom, sweetie,” Miorine called back from the living roomcouch.

“Glad mine’s adifferent colour,” Athena said in a voice that wouldn’tcarry.

“That was a good move,”Miorine agreed in a similar tone, continuing to brush their youngerdaughter’s hair, winking at her in the room screen set tomirror mode.

Athena had straight flaxenhair that she wore down to her waist. With her pale blue eyes andpearly skin, she was something like what Miorine would look if shewere not just all white and silver like a ghost. In disposition, shewas perhaps something like Miorine would be with much less of atemper.

Her very first, brand newcyberbrain was a prime example. There had been no temper tantrums, nowhining, no nagging. Just relentless, calm tempered argument. Againand again and again, a process of chipping away that hinted at almostinhuman patience. It had actually culminated in a day when she satdown the whole family and showed them a carefully preparedpresentation. Charts, graphs, risk analysis, the works. They hadfinally relented. They flew to a jurisdiction where the age limit forthe cyberbrain operation was twelve and there was a clinic with along, near-perfect, independently verified record.

Athena had soon tried out acyberbrain co*ckpit and had taken to it well. But that was a footnotefor her. She was already two grades ahead in her studies, and burnedto advance even more quickly. It seemed like she wanted to understandeverything down to its core, and she wanted it now.

They switched positions andAthena returned the favour to her mother. They referred to this astheir primate bonding. Miorine’s hair had long since grown outto the same length she wore it in school, so it took about the sameamount of work.

Suletta entered the room,still towelling herself dry, looking a bit flustered.

“Leta-ma, you’redripping everywhere,” Athena scolded.

Suletta was looking around theroom. “Have you seen my-”

“Right there.”Miorine pointed. “Nora took yours accidentally.”

“I know, she said.”She picked up her cyberbrain and put it in place. “Will thesereally be okay scuba diving?”

“They’re rated fora hundred meters,” Miorine assured her. “By the way,aren’t you worried about the open window?”

Suletta yelped and clutchedthe towel against her. “Should I be?”

“Not really, we’vegot an ocean view,” Athena said. “Haven’t youlooked yet?”

The placid waters of the greatocean that encompassed the Oceania region stretched out beyond thefloor-to-ceiling glass doors that led out to their balcony. The doorswere open to admit the warm breeze. They had not arrived at theseasteading colony until late yesterday, since the supersonictransport from Rio had to land at a nearby island and the journey hadto be completed by hydrofoil.

Soon Elnora walked in, now inher swimsuit like the rest of them. “Are we ready to go now?”She looked very eager.

With her wavy auburn hair worndown to the shoulder, hazel eyes and just ever so slightly darkercomplexion, Miorine’s birth-child took a bit more afterSuletta. In height and build it appeared she would settle out to besomething more like her donor-mother. It all seemed rather backwards,but in truth the selection of birth-mother did not govern anythingmuch beyond the mitochondria. In disposition one could make a casethat she was much like Suletta but with both more confidence and morerecklessness.

One had only to look at herpiloting career, which was an odd thing to say about somebody who hadnot long ago become a teenager. Where most children leave behind themwhole sets of clothing they outgrew, Elnora left behind a pile ofco*ckpit adaptations, resizing the couches of ever more advanced suitsthat had never been intended for a pilot so young and so small. Ifnomad children of old had grown up in a saddle, she had grown up in acrash-couch.

She had crashed plenty oftimes, and had even hurt herself. But she almost never made the samemistake twice. Miorine had long since stopped fretting over herfrantic need to spread her wings and soar. It was what she was meantto do.

They made their way to thepart of the floating colony where the vast array of cultured coralreefs spread out before them, just under the surface. Their scubagear was waiting for them at the rental shop. The diver in chargeconfirmed their qualifications. Miorine and Suletta both had EVA suitrating, so getting their scuba licenses had required just a day’sinstruction. Elnora and Athena had taken lessons in Rio inanticipation of the trip. It had mostly been at Elnora’sprompting, but Athena was not averse to anything that included sometechnical challenges.

Once they were suited up andchecked out, Elnora was the first to establish the Permet link withthe rest. ‘Okay, all together now... one, two, three!’They all flipped backwards at the same time and plunged into thewater. Miorine found herself drifting down into...

A magical wonderland.

It was an unbelievable riot ofcolour and gentle movement. So serene and so alien. It seemed like itcould have been here for millions of years.

Miorine knew the history. Thenatural coral reefs had been all but wiped out. Some yet remained.But almost all the current ones were like this, clinging tostructures that had been put there for no other purpose. This one wasalmost a century old, some were older.

She had to wonder, was thisjust a flash in the pan? Or could they really make something thatwould last far into deep time?

Their two girls had quicklygone off together. She established a private Permet link withSuletta. ‘Is this even more alien than Mercury?’

‘No. It’salive. I thought it would feel like drifting through space.But I feel at home here.’

‘You’re right.Space never felt like this.’

They did not so much exploreas just drink it all in. There were other divers that they passed nowand then, but for the most part it was just the two of themtraversing a transplanted web of life. It made Miorine wonder if theycould learn to transplant Earth’s web of life to spaces beyondin a way that was not just a facade.

The kids were late gettingback. Miorine contacted them.

‘Ispotted a whale!’ Evensub-vocalizing, she could hear the fire in Elnora’s belly.

‘You’llnever catch it and you’ll be running out of air. Get back nowor no dinner for you.’

‘Toldyou so,’ Athena added.

Atthe restaurant, Athena explainedit to her sister. “The colony’s anchors pipe sedimentfrom the sea floor and eject it at the surface. The nutrients supporta whole ecosystem that goes for miles. Whales hang out here for thefood.”

“I still think I couldhave caught up.”

“Maybe with a seascooter. I think you can rent those.”

Thedinner was such an extravagant array of seafood, Miorine had towonder if they were sampling the very things they had just beenswimming among. Wherever her species went, it was always the apexpredator.

Beforethey were done, Miorine had to leave. “It’s time for mymeeting.” She slipped on the armband that identified herself asa staff officer in the Rio militia. Hermain reason for coming here was to liaise with one of hercounterparts in the Oceania militia. Apparently an idiosyncrasy ofmany seasteading colonies was that they tended to work in theevenings instead of the days, leaving the daylight hours free.

“Do you think you couldswing letting us try their undersea-capable suits?” Elnoraasked eagerly.

Miorine stood up. “Becauseyou were late I’m missing dessert. Know some shame.”

Athena raised her hand. “IfNora can’t go, can I?”

“Tina!”

“I’ll see what Ican do.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Honey, you’regoing to start a fight,” Suletta scolded.

“Fine,but I expect to have my dessert waiting for me whenI get back.”

Themilitia base was just a short light-rail ride to a different moduleof the colony. She identifiedherself at the security gate and was ushered to a small meeting room.A tall, brown-skinned womanwith short straight black hair rose from her chair. “HelloMiorine, it’s good to see you again.”

“Hello Anahera.”They shook hands. Like Miorine, Anahera was in a business suit, herarmband being her only designation of rank. This had become a verycommon practice worldwide. Uniforms tended to be generic and onlyprovided when dictated by practical considerations.

“Did your family have agood time today?”

“Yes,we took your advice.” They had met more than once before,Anahera knew a bit about herdaughters and had recommended the scuba diving.

They got down to the firstorder of business. The first joint exercise between the South NewWorld alliance and the Oceania alliance was in the planning stages.The political hurdles had been cleared, so now it was a matter ofdeciding the scale and nature of the exercises.

Underlyingall of this was the delicate question of whom exactly they expectedto be allied against. The official answer was, potentially anybody.The real answer was, forcesdropped from orbit.

Miorine presented a suggestionwhere the opposing force in the exercise would enter the arena inheavy transports that do a fast dive from high altitude. It was not aperfect simulation of an attack by drop ships, but there were alsosuggestions for how to compensate for that to make it more realistic.Anahera had a few questions, took some notes, and promised to sendthe proposal up the chain.

Anahera smiled. “I cangive you that tour of the shipyard now.”

It was the mutually agreedsignal. They were going to show her what she had really come to see.

They did indeed take a VTOLover to the separate floating module that held the shipyard. Likemost seasteading modules it was hexagonal in shape. This one was openon one side to admit ships into the sheltered port within. Anadjoining hexagonal module was completely roofed over.

Miorine did get a quick tourof the shipyard, mostly for appearance’s sake. They thencrossed over to the second segment. The security at this entryway wasmore strict. They were issued tight wristbands that would monitortheir movements, and could not be removed anywhere else but herewithout raising an alarm.

There were rows of mobilesuits that had never been seen in public. Miorine pointed to one thatwas particularly bulky. “That’s the one?”

“Yes,” Anaheraconfirmed. “Operates down to five thousand meters.”

It was not a GUND-ARM suit.Like most regions Oceania had its own arms industry now. More thanany other, theirs had been borne from the needs of their particularenvironment: the ocean. A good part of the global industry wereformer GUND-ARM partners who had exercised their option to goindependent. Even putting on her CEO hat Miorine acknowledged howhealthy that had been for everyone. Nobody liked a monopolist, andGUND-ARM had long since washed away that label. And some of theircompetitors had gone in surprising directions, such as leaning intovarious sorts of asymmetrical warfare. Her own company had borrowedfrom their ideas more than once. They were like a pool of comediansengaging in mutual joke theft... that was the running joke, anyway.So if there were conflicts of interest stacked on top of each otherhere, there was really nobody else who had much grounds forcomplaint.

“I know a suborbitalbooster when I see one,” Miorine quipped. A set of mobile suitshad almost comically large booster packs attached.

“That will be a realsurprise for drop-ships,” Anahera said by way of confirming herassessment. “Hit them from behind when they’re mostvulnerable.”

There were more levels belowthis one, where actual construction of mobile suits and other weaponswas taking place. It underscored the point that was easy tounderstand but hard to internalize until you had seen it: many ofthese seasteading complexes were like icebergs, with a surfacefootprint that only hinted at the great volume of living and workingspace hidden underneath. It was something that a Spacian might findeven harder to internalize, coming from an environment whereeverything was naked to space and visible to anyone who looked.

It was all very interesting.But this was not really what she had come to see either.

Theytook an elevator to a sub-basem*nt. Thenthey walked through a tunnel that connected to a third hexagonalmodule, hidden below the surface.At the entrance to themodule, they went through full-body scanners and had theirelectronics and cyberbrains confiscated. Behind the door was anothershort hallway. Two armedguards stood near thedoor at the far end.Miorine and Anahera passedthem and approached the door.To either side of the doorwas what looked like a sort of helmet at the end of an adjustable armthat stuck out of the wall. Each of them approached one of thescanners and lowered it onto their heads. It did retinal andbrainwave scans while they entered pass-codes on numeric keypads.They also spoke voice-printphrases. Anahera went first, hers was in a local language thatMiorine did not follow. Miorine’s was a phrase from a poemwhich she spoke in its original archaic form. “Miles to gobefore I sleep.” Therewas the sharp, low metallic sound of multiple heavy bolts unlocking,and the thick metal door swung in.

Beyondwas a small metal balcony and railing that seemed to hang in emptyspace. The door closed, and the only light was from the illuminatedsign over the door. Almost comically it was an exit sign. Like therewas anyplace else to go.

Anahera turned to face her.The dim light beside them starkly illuminated her grim face. Asexpected, before the show and tell they would take the opportunity tospeak where privacy was assured.

“TheOceania alliance command sent a private query to the Space AssemblyLeague.” The vast empty space swallowed her voice with only themerest hint of an echo. “We’ve received no response.”

“Same for us.”

One of the first acts of thenewly reconstituted Benerit group had been to send notes to all Earthpolities where companies were using technology licensed from Earthianpartners of the previous Benerit group. They were claiming ownershipof those licenses and demanding both back-pay and then eithercontinued payment or relinquishment of the licenses. The SpaceAssembly League had soon sent notes indicating their support andwarning of the consequences of non-compliance. Both parties wereignoring any regional alliances, not recognizing them in any way.

In public, nobody on Earth wastaking it seriously. But there was mounting evidence for what manysuspected might be coming next.

“Do you know any of themajor players?” Anahera asked, obviously asking about both theLeague and the new Benerit group.

“Only by reputation. Thenew group is made of entirely of bit players from the originalBenerit group. Their President is simply somebody acceptable toeveryone else. There is no clear counterweight to the League. So theAssembly League seems to be calling the shots, and it’s mostlynew faces there.” She gave a lopsided grin. “I’mafraid that I am as much in the dark as everybody else.”

Anahera regarded her with analmost pleading expression. “Do you think there’s anyhope we can come to terms?”

“I’m pretty sure Ican get a meeting with the League Chairman. He seems to have a solidpower base, so if he’ll listen there might be hope.”

“If worse comes toworst, I think we’re more ready than we were a year ago.”

“By far.” A yearago a major conflict had erupted across the central Eurasian uplands.It had been short and sharp. With both sides using state of the artweapons on a large scale, the casualties and devastation had mountedat an appalling rate. A peace deal had been brokered by a thirdparty, and things had more or less returned to the status quo. Thelesson for one and all had been very clear: no winner was ever likelyto emerge from any major conflict between large alliances.

There seemed to be a mutualagreement between the two of them that they were done, and it wastime. Anahera reached out to the wall and pushed a set of rockerswitches. One after another, rows of lights in the ceiling faroverhead illuminated more and more of the cavernous space. Even withall of them on, the enclosure was still dimly lit. But its contentswere clearly visible. Row upon row of orbital boosters.

Miorine perused the vast arrayof tubular rockets. She had known what to expect, but having it righthere in front of her finally made it real for her. “So, this iswhat insurance looks like.”

Anahera sighed and shook herhead. “This is what a crazy-ass hail-Lona looks like.”

#-#-#-#-#

The enormous curved screen atthe front of the General Assembly room of the Space Assembly Leaguereverted to the Assembly League logo, as Miorine’s presentationcame to an end.

She returned to the podium.“In conclusion, I believe it is clear that in the long termrestricting the technology license rights of the current holders willonly serve to hamper economic growth right across the entire humansphere. On the other hand, allowing the rights to be retained willallow unprecedented collaboration opportunities for all membersacross Cislunar space and beyond. You need only look at your ownrecent growth to see how the economic boom on Earth has boostedprosperity across all the colonies. We have every reason to let thatcontinue. Thank you.”

After a moment, there was abrief round of polite applause from most members. What had she heardit called somewhere? Golf applause or some such thing.

She was facing the completegathering of delegates, representing all the Fronts and coloniesacross the Solar System. Both the voting members who paid for theprivilege, and the non-voting members who only paid indirectly viatheir trading partners who passed the expense down the pipe.Privilege and power were bought and sold here just as surely as inthe commercial entities they purported to govern. It was a vastnetwork of official committees and unofficial cliques that wasburdened with a tremendous momentum.

Miorine was hoping that shemight succeed in steering that momentum ever so slightly in the rightdirection. Her position in the Rembran group had won her the right tospeak to the Assembly. But it was another meeting on which she waspinning her hopes.

In the green room behind thestage, a man with a badge marking him as one of the Chairman’sstaff entered and exchanged murmured words with the handler she hadbeen assigned. Her handler walked over to her and smiled. “LadyRembran, the Chairman would like to speak with you,” she saidpolitely.

It seemed that her father hadcome through. “Thank you, it would be a pleasure.”

She made note of the fact thatthe room she was ushered into was a small windowless lounge adjacentto the Chairman’s office. It was the sort of place for meetingsthat never officially happened. There were four square armchairsfacing each other, three occupied. One was her father, another wasGuel Jeturk. They were the ones whose clout as heads of the twolargest of the Great Houses had got her into this meeting.

“Thank you for joiningus, Lady Rembran” the Chairman said with an excruciatingpoliteness. He gestured. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, misterChairman.” She sat down opposite him. Chairman Clark was aslim, middle-aged man with sharp features and brown hair worn justlong enough to show it was wavy. He had an intense gaze and a sternexpression that seemed to be locked in, giving the impression of aman with a mission.

Of course Miorine had done herhomework, spending hours poring over his speeches, records andanalyses of his career and his actions. She had quickly come to theconclusion that it did not really matter who he was. Chairman Clarkwas simply the one who had percolated to the top during thetumultuous years that had followed the Quiet Zero incident and herdisbanding of the Benerit group. He had done so mainly because he waswell aligned with the prevailing attitude of the Spacian elites, andhad been most adept at tapping into their Zeitgeist. She felt thatshe could look into his face and project what she saw there upon allthe people she had just finished speaking to.

They were angry. And somethingmore, something she needed to address.

“I had just beenspeaking with Lord Jeturk and your father about your speech,”the Chairman said. “The consensus appears to be that it wasexactly what we had been expecting to hear.”

“I always feel that inpublic I should stick with the facts and figures that we can allagree on. It’s a starting point that lets me hear how peoplefeel about those facts.”

“And how do you think weshould feel?”

She appreciated the question,it allowed her to an avenue along which to reach the heart of thematter. “It is pretty obvious that most people here feelcheated, like something was stolen from them. In my experience manyEarthians can sympathize with that feeling.”

He did not hide hisdispleasure at her answer. “They sympathize, yet they wish toretain what was stolen. Don’t you see a contradiction?”

She made note that he wasstill counting her among the Spacians. But rather than implying anysort of solidarity, it was more like he was branding her as anapostate. “Arguments about who owes what to whom and why willnot change anybody’s feelings on the matter. There is hardly aperson alive who does not feel that they were wronged by somebody atsome point. I’m more interested in finding how we can get pastthat and find common projects that can bring us together.”

His smile was dripping withbitterness. “Your main project appears to be orchestrating anarms build-up.”

“Soldiers of fortunehave been a scourge to the Earth sphere for generations. We wantedthem out, and the reality is that they were not going to leavepolitely. Not unless they knew we were serious.” She hadeffectively just placed herself squarely in the Earthian camp,unabashedly accepting the label of apostate.

He barely hid his contempt.“We keep hearing about your citizen militias. You eschewuniforms and traditions, like we are supposed to believe you are justsome loose agglomeration of weekend warriors. But we know a standingarmy when we see one.”

She kept her focus on theChairman, but even just in Miorine’s peripheral vision shecould sense the unease in the men to either side of her. Guel inparticular seemed anxious to leap in to her defence. But they heldtheir peace, as she had asked them to.

“I well understand thatyou feel threatened by the new reality on Earth. It would be easy forme to point out that Spacians have proven to be far more dangerous toeach other than anyone on Earth has ever been. But that is just morefacts and figures, I am here to acknowledge your feelings.”

Miorine leaned forward alittle, looking intently into the Chairman’s eyes. “Youfeel angry, you feel cheated, you feel threatened. That is all quiteobvious, but there is also something else. It was something I did notunderstand when I dissolved the Benerit group that Spacians hadinvested so much of themselves into. I still did not understand itwhen I decided that I need to help Earthians take their fate intotheir own hands.”

His contempt was now tingedwith sarcasm. “Since you appear to have the answer now I willrepeat my question. What is it you think we are feeling?”

“Humiliation.” Shelet that sink in for a moment. “To be slapped in the face, tobe laid low in front of your peers, to be unceremoniously tossed outof the winners’ circle. It masquerades as anger or as a senseof injustice, which is exactly what makes it so insidious.” Sheput a hand to her chest. “It can eat you from inside before youeven realize it, but it can also be tossed aside if you know it forwhat it is.”

“You talk as if fromexperience.” The subtext was painfully obvious: how could thepampered scion of a Great House understand humiliation?

It was her turn to smile, notone of bitterness but of understanding tinged with irony. “Ilived under a sort of systematic humiliation you could barelyunderstand. I was the glittering prize in a contest that was theobsession of everybody around me. I was the bride promised to thevictor. All I could think to do was to lash out or run away. But Ifound another solution. I chose my own bridegroom and never lookedback.”

She gestured to the two men ateither side of her. “These two were the primary instigators ofmy humiliation. They both still treat me like a little girl and Ifind it unspeakably annoying. But I am also able to feel love andrespect for them, because I know that they really never meant me anyharm.”

She leaned back and dideverything she could to take any aggression out of her body languageand voice. “Mister Chairman, through my actions I havethoughtlessly caused humiliation to so many and I am sorry for that.But I never meant you any harm. I still don’t. I was able totoss aside my own humiliation, and it was the best thing I ever did.”

He glared at her. “Youmake it sound so simple.”

She shook her head. “Itis nothing of the sort. But I think it is worth the effort because Ihave experienced something far, far worse than humiliation and thatis loss. The loss that comes from even the smallest of wars. Both onEarth and here in space we have seen the sort of loss that a majorwar brings to all of us. You are a father so I’m sure youunderstand what that could mean.”

Her hand went over herabdomen, over a womb that had been brutalized and broken. “Iwould gladly abase myself before my worst enemy for the rest of mylife if it would bring back what I have lost. The people of Earthhave suffered this sort of loss for generations. They all understandin their bones what war can bring, and they do not want it. They arewilling to do much to ensure peace. The one thing they will not do issurrender. But they will listen to anyone who is willing to returnthe courtesy.”

“Then listen to this.What we are demanding is ours by right and is not negotiable.”

“Well then, if we cannotreach an agreement then, regretfully, we might just have to partcompany. We could certainly agree to disagree and go our separateways. That would be a rather sad outcome. But it would certainly bebetter than any alternative.”

“That is an interestingpoint of view.” The Chairman stood up, prompting his guests todo likewise. “Lord Rembran, Lord Jeturk, Lady Rembran, I willhave to leave you now. Good day.” Without another word heexited the room. It was the closest thing to storming out of the roomthat was consistent with the dignity of his station.

When the door was closed,leaving the three of them alone, Miorine glanced at both hercompanions. “I really hope I haven’t made too muchtrouble for you with this.”

“No more than wasalready there,” her father assured her.

“I’m not sure howmuch good it did,” Guel said.

“I planted the seed ofan idea, that was all I was expecting to do.” She smiled. “ButI do believe that I have overstayed my welcome, perhaps we shouldgive them their room back as promptly as we can.”

They took the shuttle back tothe Asticassia Front. The two men stayed strapped in their seats butMiorine floated around above them, working out her restlessness andclearly annoying the flight-attendant. The three of them talkedbusiness. The Rembran and Jeturk houses had not been invited into thenew Benerit group, which pretty much branded it as a sort of rumpparliament. The group was clearly meant to remain in the thrall ofthe League. It was going to hurt their positions, but they had beenable to negotiate a non-member special status that did not leave thementirely shut out. Their growth had been steady of late, Jeturkmainly because of their cyberbrain development and Rembran mainlyfrom its position as an umbrella for GUND-ARM. Of course things wererather more uncertain now with the Benerit group’s ultimatum toits predecessor’s former partners.

Openly, most were speculatingabout the possibility of economic sanctions or outright embargoes.Few were acknowledging the possibility of anything worse.

They had quite the entouragewaiting for them at the exit gate. Miorine made a note of thegroupings. Suletta and Elnora were with Felsi and Vim. She knew thatVim had been planning to take Elnora out for some mock combat in theacademy training suits. Athena was with Lauda and Petra, no doubtback from their tour of the academy.

Suletta was the first to floatover to her. They kissed. “Your speech was great.”

“It didn’t put youto sleep?”

“They didn’t letyou talk long enough for that.”

“That’s not acompliment.” Elnora and Vim had floated over. “You twodid the exercise?”

“Yeah, I got my asshanded to me,” Elnora groused. “Space combat is waydifferent, the sims don’t do it justice.”

“Hope you weren’tshowing off,” Guel said to his son. He sounded half joking, butonly half.

“Didn’t need to,”Vim said with a lopsided grin, playing the strong silent role withjust a dash of irony. He was in every way a chip off the block, itwas like seeing Guel from his school years. Just minus the shock ofred hair.

Elnora showed her tongue. “Theresult was a lot different on the ground.”

“Can’t arguethere. You weaponize terrain like an animal.”

“That’s ProudPanther to you.” That was her moniker in the junior leaguesback home.

Miorine looked over to Athena.“So, you got a good look at my old stomping grounds?”

“Yes,” she saidbrightly. “Lauda and Petra spent the whole day, we saweverything.”

It was a nice acknowledgementof gratitude. “So you haven’t changed your mind?”

“I definitely want toenrol.”

Following the normal agerequirements that would be years away yet. But she was on anaccelerated program and exceptions had been made before. If she wasserious, it could happen sooner. Miorine smiled. “You wouldmake us proud.”

Athena faced Miorine’sfather and folded her hands in front of her. “Grandfather, Ihope that I can depend upon your patronage,” she said formally.

“Of course,” hesaid. “I’m sure you’ll do well.”

Miorine jabbed a finger athim. “If you try and concoct any sort of demented matchmakinggame for her like you did for me then I swear I will sell your legsfor scrap.”

“Mio-ma!” Athenasounded scandalized.

Her father just looked sternlyat Miorine. “Finding her a proper match is your responsibility,not mine,” he said in perfect seriousness.

“She’s one of ourgirls, I trust her to find a proper match herself.”

“I agree,” Sulettasaid emphatically. “Definitely no duels. I mean, that workedout for us, but it’s no way to choose a partner.”

Miorine noticed that Elnoraand Vim were looking even more awkward than Athena, so she decided toshow mercy and change the subject. “Well, Guel is the only oneof us who will actually eat shuttle food so I’m famished. Ihope somebody has made dinner plans.”

They had. Guel hosted them atthe Front’s top restaurant. Miorine mostly got caught up withGuel’s family, but she noted where her children gravitated.Elnora was grilling Vim on the finer points of deep space mobile suitoperations, and Athena was grilling her grandfather on what things tofocus on for the Asticassia entrance exams. Sponsorship was anecessary condition for admission, but not a sufficient one.Standards were strict, especially for the administrative programwhere piloting skills alone could not get one any sort of specialpass.

There was one piece of newsMiorine found somewhat disturbing. Vim was an understudy in a pilotapprentice program with Dominicus. It appeared that schools on Earthwere not the only ones trying to emulate the practices at Suletta’sschool. But what concerned Miorine was that in the new order ofthings Dominicus was more tightly coupled to the League.

Looking at Elnora and Vimtalking happily, Miorine contemplated the possibility of them findingthemselves on the opposite sides of a war.

Her thought was interrupted bya more immediately concerning development. “Overnight in amicro-gravity shelter?” she repeated back.

“Sure,” Vim saidreassuringly. “Eating and sleeping in the free-fallenvironment, you experience it in full. That’s what separatesthe tourists from the ones who are all-in.”

“I’m game,”Elnora said happily.

“I’m not surethat’s a good idea,” Felsi said. Her expression suggestedit was for the obvious reason that her son was proposing some sort ofzero-gee camping trip with her friend’s daughter.

Athena raised her hand. “I’dlike to try it out too, so I can chaperone them.”

“And what makes youqualified to be my chaperone?” Elnora asked icily.

“I’m still waitingfor my hormones to kick in, that’s what.”

“Tina!”

“Tina, that was rude,”Suletta chided.

“I agree,” Miorineadded. “But a valid point nonetheless.”

After some further negotiationthe plan was approved. One and all seemed to agree, in some casesgrudgingly, that Athena was wise beyond her years. Miorine attributedmuch of that to her almost dizzying array of effective godparents.Even more than with Elnora, the members of Sabina’s team andthe old Earthian House had participated in her upbringing. She alwaysloved learning, but just as much she loved getting her hands dirty.She probably knew more about mobile suit maintenance than Elnora.

The dinner broke up, and withthe kids going on their excursion Miorine and Suletta had the Rembransuite to themselves. After this number of years together, they hadboth long since learned the signals for when their partner wasfeeling needy. Miorine had not even been consciously aware that shewas putting out those signals, not until Suletta showed that she hadheard. Then there was simply nothing they needed to say.

Long after Miorine’sbody had stopped racing, Suletta’s expression became just alittle anxious. It was like there was something she wanted to ask,but was looking for the words. “Mio. Do you think it’sgoing to be okay?”

It was a moment before Miorineanswered. She cradled Suletta’s face in her hand. “Ithink it’s going to be up to us to make it okay.”

#-#-#-#-#

The deadline on the ultimatumwas five hours away when the call came.

They were in the command andcontrol room of the school, which was usually for directing live-fireexercises but had now been commandeered as a militia situation room.Suletta, Elnora and Miorine were in their flight suits and armbands.So were Sabina and her entire team. They had all been placed on alertas soon as the League ships had started dropping down from highorbit. The room’s main screen was divided into four: a cislunarspace chart, a South New World map, a militia situation update feed,and a civilian news feed. They had been watching these for hours.

Miorine’s phoneindicated she should go to a secure area before taking the call. Inanticipation, a debriefing room had been set aside. “Nointerruptions,” she said to the armed guard outside the door.He nodded in response. She closed the door, locked it and moved tothe opposite side of the room. She pressed the talk button.

The commander of the South NewWorld alliance came on the screen. “Are you secure?”

“Yes sir.”

“The meeting is over.”The commanders of the largest alliances that represented over ninetypercent of Earth regions had been in an emergency video conference.“We sent a message to the League and they have agreed toreceive an envoy. The only choice that was acceptable to everyone isyou.”

She had expected that tohappen. “I understand.”

His face became even moregrave. “The League added a condition, they wouldn’t saywhy. They want your wife to accompany you.”

Miorine let that sink in for amoment. “I can guess why. They see her as a witch. As thewitch. Even after all this time, they’re still afraid ofher.”

The subtext was clear enough.They wanted her out of the picture, in a place where they couldcontrol her. “I’m sorry that I have to make this anorder.”

“She would have beggedto come anyway, sir. I doubt I could have said no.”

“We are still rejectingtheir terms,” the commander confirmed. “I am sending youthe ceasefire term options. They are the same as the drafts youalready reviewed.”

They appeared on her phone. “Ihave received them, sir.” She already knew the contents. Therewere five different sets of proposed ceasefire terms, ranged fromdemanding something close to unconditional surrender to giving thesame.

“If hostilities begin,all the commanders have provisionally agreed to abide by whicheverterms you sign, if they are consistent with the situation on theground.”

“Understood. I will doall I can to make sure it doesn’t come to that.”

“That is our hope. Youcan leave for the Rio spaceport immediately.” Miorine knew himto be a man of faith, so his next words did not come as a surprise.“I will be praying for you. Go with God. Signing off.”

“Thank you sir. Signingoff.” She was appreciative, but it was not a way of thinkingshe could wrap her head around. Perhaps because the only one she cameclose to worshipping was sitting in the next room.

Suletta took the news calmly.She simply nodded. “I understand.”

They knew this might happen,but still nobody else looked as if they liked the idea one bit.Sabina approached them. Her expression was profoundly conflicted,like she was caught in a superposition between being a fellow officerand virtual family. “Miorine-”

“Denied. I want youhere.” She stepped forward, looked up into the tall woman’sdistressed face and squeezed her arm. “We will be back.”

They both exchanged a fierceembrace with Elnora, then headed to the airfield. They had beenordered to leave immediately, but they allowed themselves one detour.Athena and Eri were alone in the officers’ lounge. They weretwo of the civilians sheltering at the base, mostly family of staffand trainees. They were not in the underground shelters with theothers right now precisely because they knew there might need to be aquick goodbye on the way out.

Eri was in a heavy, robustrobot body over two meters tall, with an oversized power backpack andall covered in black armour. Since the incident at their estate shehad become rather obsessed with exploring options for combat and hadeventually settled on this. The shoulder-mounted weapons arrays weretilted back to their rest positions. Miorine had seen what she coulddo with those at the firing range. Anybody making trouble here was infor a world of hurt.

Athena’s stoicexpression did not break. “I know we can’t help worryingabout each other. I’ll do as I’m told while I’mhere. You won’t need to worry about that.”

“I’ll take care ofher,” Eri said. Her head with its sensor array tilted. It wasastonishing how much body language came through this hulking beast.“Miorine, Did we provoke this?”

From the time that Miorine hadchanged the direction of GUND-ARM, right through to now, Eri hadparticipated fully. This was the first time she had raised anyquestion of whether they were doing the right thing.

“We’ve alwaysgiven them alternatives. We still are.”

As they came through thehangar the ground crew handed them their helmets. The two-place VTOLsupersonic interceptor was waiting on the tarmac. Suletta took theminto the air and accelerated swiftly. They were at the spaceport in amatter of minutes.

The orbital transfer elevatorsacross the world had been shut down since the ultimatum was issued.The spaceport staff confirmed that the orbital station under Leagueoccupation had authorized the special transfer. Their lonely elevatorcar rose into the air. Once the acceleration phase was done, theflight attendant directed them to the VIP lounge and brought themdrinks. She was impeccably polite, but Miorine could see howfrightened she was. She bowed and left them.

“I wanted to tell herit’s going to be okay.” It seemed Suletta had picked upon that too.

“I don’t know whatit is they want from you,” Miorine said, wanting to get rightto the matter at hand. “It might be they just want you off thebattlefield. But they might try to use you against me.”

“As a hostage.”

“Possibly.”Miorine took her hand. “I only agreed to this because there isno safe option right now. We are both in danger no matter what choicewe make.”

She nodded in understanding.“What should I do?”

“I’m hoping youwon’t need to do anything. Just watch, listen and think aboutwhat our options are. They are calling the shots, but we get todecide how we respond.” She smiled. “And don’t beafraid to tell me if I’m doing something stupid.”

At the orbital station, asquad of stern-looking League soldiers took custody of them andguided them to a shuttle. Miorine did not ask where they were goingand they did not say. But it was not long before Miorine could seetheir destination through the window beside her seat. She recognizedthe ship. It was the League’s flagship, a new dreadnought-classbattleship. As soon as they boarded their cyberbrains wereconfiscated. It was breaking the promise of continuous contact, butMiorine was not surprised so she raised no objection.

The reason for theconfiscation quickly became clear. To Miorine’s surprise, theywere escorted straight to what was obviously the fleet controlcentre.

It was a large space with ahigh ceiling. The far wall was covered by a screen, most of whichshowed a map of the Earth covered with icons showing countless shipsin orbit. Most of the floor level was occupied by row after row ofoperators, dozens of them, all with active monitor screens of theirown. Toward the back of the room, where they had just entered, was atable whose glowing tabletop showed a similar map, only this oneshowing what was clearly designated targets on the Earth’ssurface.

There were two people by thetable. One was the Chairman, standing with arms behind his back,greeting them with a satisfied smile. The other was an elderly womanwho Miorine had only met briefly once by video conference in adebriefing following the Quiet Zero operation. She was the grandadmiral of the League fleet. Her hair was grey now and her face a bitmore wrinkled, but the same strong features remained. Her profilecould be described as classic, her forehead and nose formed an almostperfect straight line, like what one would expect to see on a cointhat depicted the queen of an ancient empire. She spared the newarrivals just a quick appraising glance, then returned her attentionto the other screens at her workstation beside the table.

Miorine made a quickassessment of the situation. Somebody here was so supremely confidentthey wanted to show their winning hand right up front.

“Miorine Rembran.Suletta Mercury. Please, join us.” The Chairman gestured to aspot in front of the table. Miorine and Suletta pushed themselvesforward, drifted, then set the magnetic boots of their flight suitsdown on the floor where he had indicated. “I brought you hereto give us one last chance to reach an agreement.”

“If you have new termsto offer, I am ready to listen,” Miorine said calmly.

“Your phone has localaccess.” He pulled out his phone and worked it.

Miorine’s phone beeped amessage signal. She opened the message and scanned it. She noted thatthe opening page also appeared on a panel of the room’s mainviewer, to the right of the great world map. It was an official offerbeing put on the table. “These are the same terms you offeredbefore. They are just as unacceptable now as they were before.”

“Do you have acounter-proposal?”

“Only the same one thatwas already offered.”

His face darkened. “Youmust understand by now that this is not a bluff.” He glanced atSuletta then back again. “You both have military training soyou understand the meaning of what you are seeing.”

“Of course, we both knowhow to read these charts. I can see that your entire fleet is in lowEarth orbit, with drop-ships ready to deploy.” She glanced atthe table. “Predictably, you mean to secure our arms productionfacilities.” It was what the alliance leaders agreed was themost likely opening move.

The Chairman did not react tothe suggestion that they were making an easily predictable move. “Wemean to confiscate facilities that have been illegally using ourtechnology to arm outlaw organizations that are not even registeredas our legitimate customers.”

“The technology islegitimately owned by the companies employing them, and theircustomers are polities that you yourself have diplomatic andcommercial relations with.” Miorine’s voice became morestern. “At any rate, we both know you have not surrounded theEarth with all your brand new weapons just to resolve a licensingissue. Your goal is to re-establish dominance of the Earth sphere.”

“You had betterunderstand that this is your last chance. Are you really going tomake us force the issue?”

“Is your son part of theattack force?”

The Chairman looked onlymildly surprised by the question. She knew that his son was aDominicus pilot, and that it was a source of pride for him. After amoment’s silence, he answered. “Yes, he is.”

Miorine shook her head. “Don’tdo this. We could both lose our children this day, along with so manyothers.”

“You have left us nochoice.”

“There is always achoice.”

“It seems we have wastedeach others’ time. How unfortunate.” He worked his phoneagain. “Admiral, you have permission to begin the operation.”

“I have received yourpermission,” she said formally. She tapped her screen and thenspoke in a very firm voice. “Attention. Operation Mercury is ago. Repeat, Operation Mercury is a go.”

Miorine and Suletta exchangeda look. Miorine’s eyebrow came up. Suletta did not respond, shejust looked calm and alert. But Miorine believed there was someunderstanding in her look. In the midst of this terrible historicmarch of folly, they could acknowledge that somebody in the Leaguecommand had an odd sense of humour.

The room was suddenlytransformed. Operators who had been on standby were now all busygiving orders. Miorine simply stood and watched. It seemed that thetwo of them were going to be allowed to remain and watch theoperation unfold.

After a few minutes, theAdmiral turned to the Chairman. “All drop-ships are now intransit.”

The Chairman glanced over toMiorine. “We do not wish to hurt anyone or to damage anything.If our forces do not meet resistance, they will simply occupy theirdesignated targets and direct their evacuation.”

“I see.”

“We have opened a linkwith the Earth network. You can use your phone to contact anyone.”

“I understand.”

He was starting to take on themanner of a parent trying to reason with a petulant child. “Wereally can resolve this without bloodshed, all you need to do isstand down.”

“I understand.”

He looked very annoyed now.His attention was diverted to the main screen. A number of redsignals had shown up, indicating presumed enemy actions. The timbreof voices in the room changed subtly. They were no longer directingtraffic, they were directing forces on a battlefield.

Miorine understood what shewas seeing. The bogies were mobile suits with sub-orbital boosters.There were not many of them. Most of the landings were going to beuncontested down to the low atmosphere. But a threshold had beencrossed. Everyone in the room understood they were now at war.

More red marks showed up onthe charts. Then more. Then they were everywhere. Most of thedrop-ships showed as being under fire. Some showed as releasing theirmobile suits early at higher altitude. A few were replaced by asignal lost icon. But more and more were showing as landed.

“All ships aregrounded,” the Admiral reported. All of them showed as havingtheir forces in active engagement. Miorine noted that, as expected,they had left a strategic reserve in orbit. At this point theAdmiral’s main job would be to judge when and how to deploythat reserve.

Miorine found that her eyecould not help but linger over the icons representing the activeengagements in the Rio sector. It was tempting to bring this all toan end, frighteningly so. It would be so easy to surrender. Sherecited a mantra she had come up with long ago, perhaps the closestthing to faith she could muster. Foundations of time and space,grant me patience and grace.

An operator’s amplifiedvoice came from the Admiral’s workstation. “Priorityrequest,” he said crisply.

“On screen,” theAdmiral responded.

On a screen to the left of themain map display, what had been a list of units with their status wasreplaced by a camera feed from a co*ckpit.

The pilot looked and soundedin a complete panic.

“We have taken massivecasualties!” he shouted. “We need reinforcements now! Irepeat-” There was a sharp explosion and for a split-second hewas thrown aside violently enough to be just a blur. Then the picturewas replaced by a black screen with ‘signal lost’ inblood-red characters. It was immediately replaced by the camera feedof another force commander. But before he could even complete his ownfrantic request the screen had been split into four so that otherincoming requests could be added. Then it was split into nine. Thensixteen. Then twenty-five. Even as they appeared, some were beingreplaced with the same ‘signal lost’ panel.

Miorine watched the Admiral.She was no longer paying attention to the camera feeds, which werenow reduced to an incoherent cacophony. She was watching the chartsand bringing new displays up on her own screens. Miorine could seethat she was neither panicked nor indecisive. She was doing exactlywhat she was supposed to do. She was trying to understand what washappening, what exactly she would be sending her reserves into. Theoperators on the floor were no doubt trying to find that out andincorporate what they found into the data that was available to her.

The charts were showing asimple story. Every single unit on the ground was asking forreinforcements, highest possible priority.

“What’shappening?”

Miorine had been ignoring theChairman. She looked at him now. He was in a cold sweat, and his armswere trembling. He spoke again, this time more emphatically. “What’shappening? What is this?”

“We are losing contactwith more and more drop zone commanders,” the Admiral answeredalmost incidentally, still focused on the information being sent toher.

The Chairman now looked moreangry than afraid. He jabbed a finger out at Suletta. “Is thissome new witchcraft of yours?”

“I can’t doanything from here,” she answered calmly and politely. “Ididn’t cast any sort of spell. I just taught people now to bestrong. Then they taught more people. Really, that’s all itwas.”

He redirected his angry gazeto Miorine. “You’ve been lying all along, haven’tyou? You’ve been building new Gundams, or some worseabomination!”

She shook her head. “Wehave no Gundams. You still don’t understand what you areseeing.” Miorine tried to emulate Suletta’s simpleresolve, but could not help letting the contempt leak into her voice.“You thought we were just weak and divided. But it was only thedivisions of a family that is often as not dysfunctional, one thatcomes together when they have to. That is what we are.”

She continued in a clear voicewith ancient words from a forgotten world. “One equal temper ofheroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will.”

She let her eyes alone speakto the rest. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

To stand.

“Mister Chairman.”The Admiral faced him directly now. The room had become eerilysilent. The operators on the ground were mostly just looking at eachother. It was like they no longer had anything to do. “We havelost contact with all forces on the ground. Our long-rangesurveillance is not detecting any ongoing action. But to minimize anyfurther casualties, if the envoy has an option to call a ceasefire,we should pursue that.”

“There won’t beany more casualties.” Suletta now had the full attention ofboth the Chairman and the Admiral. She continued in a voice that wassad, almost apologetic. “If our forces really have stoppedshooting, it is only because there is nothing left for them to shootat.” She directed her gaze at the Chairman. To a mother who hadlost a child, the meaning of her expression now was crystal clear.“I’m so sorry.”

“Admiral.” Thevoice of a different operator came at her workstation. “A newgroup of signals, already on the screen.”

A series of red icons wereappearing on the map, all of them in the deep oceans. They werequickly spreading like a pox. In seconds, it appeared the oceans werealive with them.

“What have you done?”The Chairman looked accusingly at Miorine. “What new violationis this? Have you resurrected atomics?”

“No,” Miorinesaid. “I am certain that in a few minutes when the first onesbreak the atmosphere, your sensors will confirm that they are notatomics.”

“Signal to all ships,”the Admiral announced. “Prepare for redeployment and mobilesuit assault.”

She had correctly guessed whatwas on the way. As Miorine had promised, in minutes they hadconfirmation. Permet signals indicated that all incoming boostersheld mobile suits. The charts also showed their projected targets.All of their orbiting ships suddenly had countdowns attached to them.Estimated times of contact.

The Admiral was now givingorders almost continuously. Miorine could follow what she was doing.It was too late for her ships to try to pull out of Earth’sgravity well and escape. All she could do was try and redeploy themin a way to support each other against an attack that was coming fromcompletely unexpected locations.

The Chairman glared atMiorine. She felt just a touch of admiration for how he was trying toput on a brave face. “Do your pilots even know how to fight inspace?”

“I guess we’regoing to find out.”

“Well ours clearly donot!” The Admiral’s voice had carried across the roomwith stunning force. She glared at the Chairman with open contempt.“Half of these snot-nosed hotshot pilots you’ve saddledme with have exited their drop-ships before we even had a chance toredeploy them. Where they are now they are going to be cut downpiecemeal!” She did not bother to repeat her suggestion of aceasefire.

“There is anotheroption.” Miorine worked her phone. The message with theLeague’s proposed terms had been up on the main screen thiswhole time. It was now replaced by Miorine’s counter-proposal.It was the most draconian of her five options. The front page stoodthere, right beside the chart full of icons with countdowns whoseminute-counts were now mostly in the single-digits. She held herphone out to the Chairman, showing the proposed terms ready for themboth to approve. She removed all trace of resolve from her face andher voice. In its place was a message from a machine, a pitilessinsensate algorithm that was presenting them a menu which had exactlytwo options.

“Do you require anarmistice?”

#-#-#-#-#

They could see the columns ofsmoke from miles away. Suletta was in the co-pilot’s seat ofthe Rio militia VTOL transport, with Miorine in the jump-seat behindher. The transport had been waiting for them at the Rio spaceport asMiorine had requested. That request had been the second item ofdiscussion as soon as Miorine had re-established contact with hercommander. She had not even needed to ask him the first item, he toldher as soon as she saw him appear on her phone screen.

Their children were safe.Everything else was details.

Some of those details had cometrickling and then poring in to Miorine’s data feed on themilitia network. They were appalling. More than twenty percent deadacross the board. Some of the League’s newest mobile suits andpilots were hell on wheels. Units that engaged them had suffered upto fifty percent dead. It was a miracle they had maintained unitcohesion right to the end. Miorine did not want to think of whatwould have happened if the engagement in orbit had proceeded. The endresult would have almost certainly been the same, but the price wouldhave been even more horrific.

It was cold comfort that allof this was a lot better than the ninety percent plus dead they hadinflicted on the invaders.

There had been so manyunknowns in their defence plans, so many untested elements.Different alliances had different approaches, but the common elementeveryone had agreed to was to immediately throw everything into onedrive that would maximize shock and speed and chaos and fog ofbattle. It was a strategy that was all but guaranteed to devastatethe Earthian forces something close to what they needed to inflict tostop the invasion cold. Almost nobody had surrendered simply becausenobody had been given enough time to even contemplate that option.

She had also been keeping aneye on the growing list of enemy pilot dead that were beingidentified as support units combed the wreckage of shattered shipsand suits, often as not relying only on the IDs from the flight datarecording boxes. Her dread grew as the low end of the agedistribution kept creeping down. The Dominicus units were not theonly ones who had obviously included some of their pilot understudiesin the first wave. It was the child soldiers all over again.

Just before the communicationblackout had set in, she had sent Guel one last message imploring himnot to let his son go. She knew how it had been dividing his family,with Guel being the most conflicted. She hoped beyond hope thatreason had prevailed.

A condition of the armisticehad been passwords giving transparency to financial transactionsbetween Front enterprises and their Earthian counterparts. It wouldalmost certainly uncover the ongoing economic warfare they hadcontinued to conduct. But when the access came, Miorine hadimmediately looked into one particular set of financial actors. Sureenough, the former quadrumvirate of Peil Technologies had beenpadding their nest with funds embezzled from their Earthiansubsidiaries. She cut and pasted the summary to a letter that hadbeen sitting in her mailbox for years. It included information shehad gathered when she had access as president if the Benerit group,detailing their clandestine Gundam program and the Enhanced Personpilots they had incubated and culled like lab rats. It also includeda redacted version of the information Tunnel Rat had sent her,linking them to the attack on her estate. Plus information he hadsince gleaned on black market organs and tissues obtained for theirongoing longevity treatments. And finally his latest guess aboutwhere they had gone to ground. She posted it to her social mediafeed, one of the most followed feeds on the network, with no commentother than the title: Who are the real witches?

It just seemed like the righttime.

“We’ve been givenan approach vector,” the pilot announced.

Miorine had been here before,when the huge factory building they could see beyond the columns ofsmoke had begun operations. It was a GUND-ARM factory putting outtheir latest generation of mobile suits. The pilot put them down onthe top of a grassy hill with a scattering of trees around its base,one of the many green spaces in this area that was only lightly builtup. It was outside the perimeter of the drop zone where the actionhad taken place. All forces had now long since stood down, but thedrop zones were still being cordoned off pending a thorough combingof the battlefields. During the battles there had already been nastysurprises, from both sides. There could be more.

A lone mobile suit wasstanding on the hill. Miorine recognized it, a custom version oftheir Lfrith model. The armour was pitted and scorched in multipleplaces, showing the locations of beam shots that the GUND Formshields had not been entirely successful at deflecting. The pilot waswaiting for them, standing on the grass in front of her suit.

Miorine was the first toembrace her. Elnora was already a little taller than she was.Miorine’s visceral joy and relief could not entirely wash awaythe part of her that railed against the backdrop of their reunion.Her daughter was almost certainly not yet full-grown, and yet she hadjust emerged from the bloodbath whose aftermath stood around them.

Miorine contended herself withjust stroking Elnora’s face, then she stepped back. She watchedfrom the side as it was Suletta’s turn to silently embracetheir daughter. They stepped back and Suletta just held her gently bythe shoulders, smiling down into her upturned face. Miorine sensedit, the extra bond these two expressed. It was not just a meeting ofmother and daughter but of teacher and student, mentor and protege.

The look on Elnora’sface was complicated, difficult to name. When she spoke, her voicealso conveyed profound ambiguity. “I made Ace, Leta-ma.”The meaning of that in the context of what had just happened wasclear to all of them. It meant five dead pilots, at the very least.

By contrast Miorine could readthe meaning behind her wife’s response like it was writtendown. She smiled and kissed Elnora’s forehead. I’mproud of you. Then her face fell into a mask of profound sadnessand regret. Once again she embraced Elnora gently. I’m sorrywe had to make you do this.

The three of them talked for afew minutes. There were some specifics, about what had happened tothem since they parted. But it was mostly just to assure each otherthat they were okay, and that all their other loved ones were stillokay. Like Miorine and Suletta, Elnora had been given permission toset aside time for this reunion. But she was still on standby, so shesoon contacted Sabina, her squadron leader. She confirmed herassigned place, got back into her mobile suit and flew away.

“Look.” Sulettapointed to the sky. There was a tiny fireball trailing smoke. “That’sone of the drop-ships.”

The terms of the armistice wasthat the League forces could withdraw their ships and mobile suits.But they would have to strip the mobile suits of all their weaponsand leave those behind inside the drop-ships. The Earthian forceswere then ordered to enter the drop-ships and program them forre-entry. The autopilots had all their safety subroutines disabled,and were explicitly programmed to re-enter at an angle that wouldensure they burn up in the atmosphere along with all their contents.Earthians regarded drop-ships for mobile suits as weapons despisedalmost as much as slaughterbots, their existence was not to besuffered. Any ships on the ground that were not already destroyed incombat were having their shields and keels shattered with shapedcharges, so they would be no good for anything but scrap.

They watched the fireball passacross the sky until there was nothing left. Miorine could not musterany feeling of satisfaction. “I wonder if this is another actof humiliation that they will never forgive us for.”

“It’s hard tobelieve anybody would be thinking about that right now,”Suletta said sadly.

Yes, it was hard to believe.Maybe the horror of what they had unleashed on each other today wouldmake all the rest irrelevant.

Miorine’s phone gave analarm. She looked at the message. Her heart sank. She had been hopingbeyond hope, but in vain.

“What is it?”Suletta asked gently.

“Vim is dead.”Miorine couldn’t look at her just now. She wondered how shecould ever look them in the eye again. The alliance forceswere sharing their battlefield investigation data with the League inreal time. Was the League passing it along to families already? DidGuel and Felsi already know? Miorine tried to imagine how they wouldfeel, how she would feel if Elnora... and how countless peoplewould be feeling over the coming hours and days.

“Mio?” Miorinesuddenly realized that Suletta had her firmly by the shoulders. Shehad not even realized that she was close to falling over. She lookedup into her wife’s eyes. Suletta looked calm but concerned.Miorine clutched at her, the only judge she really cared about. Shehardly knew what it was she wanted to ask, it just came out of itsown accord.

“Have I done the rightthings? Have I been a good person?”

Suletta hesitated beforereplying. “Mio, what is it you’re really asking me?”

In other words, give me aquestion there was some hope of answering. But Miorine had no suchquestion, only more impossible ones. “Not since the day Ialmost lost you have I felt in my bones that I might have justbrought my whole world to an end. I want to know... what have I done?Have I helped usher in the greatest peace we will ever know? Or haveI pulled the trigger on the final war to end all wars?”

Astonishingly, Suletta’slips spread into a warm smile. She spoke with confidence.

“Neither. You’vedone neither. You’ve just taken another step.”

Miorine’s gaze turned tothe remains of the battlefield in front of them, columns of smokestill billowing up from various wrecked war-machines. “Thereare so many people who will never be coming back. What else have welost forever?”

Suletta joined her incontemplating the aftermath of their Pyrrhic victory. “It maylook like the end of the world. But it’s just the end of theday.”

The setting sun on the horizonseemed to agree. But it was far from being the end of their day.“They have accommodated us patiently, but we’ve beenkeeping them waiting long enough. We should get to our debriefingnow.” She looked at her wife and managed an ironic smile. “It’sprobably going to go all night.”

There were more steps to takebefore their day was through. Many, many steps to take before theywould be through.

#-#-#-#-#

“It appears we have bothcome without escorts this time,” Simon quipped as Miorineapproached their assigned dinner table.

“My better half ishere,” Miorine assured him. “But she is escorting ourdaughter at one of the war-hero tables. She sends her regards and herregrets.”

Simon still looked dapper in adinner-jacket. But she could see that he was in a wheelchair that wasdiscreetly transformed into an ergonomic chair. Age was catching upon him. But his voice was still strong and clear. “I amdelighted to have your company once again, but it seems scandalousyou were not invited to join them.”

She sat down. “Iproactively declined to avoid any awkwardness. Only those whoexcelled in combat and their escorts should be there.”

“I suspect your role waseven more substantial in bringing about the outcome we are allcelebrating tonight.”

“I could put that rightback to you.” Her tone became more playful. “So, when areyou coming out?”

He smiled. “Perhaps I’llwrite a memoir. But as more and more of our hidden history comes tolight, I suspect I too will find that mine was a smaller role than wesuppose. But tonight is for those who put their lives on the line.”

“No argument.”

The Jackal was pulling all thestops out. The ballroom of the Presidential Palace was packed with asmany tables as they could fit. And this was just one gala of many. Onthe one-year anniversary of the One-Day War, there were celebrationsacross the globe.

The aftermath of the war hadthoroughly exposed much of what both Earthian and Spacian leadershiphad been doing in preparation for the expected conflict. As such,hidden agendas and secret networks had become all but superfluous.Nevertheless, the two of them had been keeping in touch. There wastherefore little they needed to catch up on in terms of theirpersonal and family circ*mstances. Conversation soon shifted tolarger scale matters.

“Does it seem to youthat we are premature in our celebration?” Simon asked.

“It feels more like ithas been a long time coming. We did not do anything great, we justaverted something worse. That’s still worth celebrating.”

The shock and horror of whathappened that day and the dread of worse to come had taken almostthis long to make room for the possibility of anything else.Paradoxical comfort of sorts eventually came from the realizationthat most everybody felt the same way. Right from those who shelteredwithin earshot of battle to the furthest colonies from which Earthwas barely a naked-eye object in the window, few doubted how unitedthey were in guilt and regret over their shared folly. Fewer stillimagined there could be anyone left who harboured notions of avictory that would be worth the price. So far, everyone seemed toagree that there would be no more victors. There would only be thosefew left standing, most of whom might very well envy the dead.

“It seems thecelebrations beyond Earth are a good deal more muted,” Simonnoted.

“But still not entirelyabsent. The Armistice saved at least as many of their lives as ours.”

The shakeup in the League andthe Benerit group had been almost as severe as what happened afterQuiet Zero. The League had a new Chairman who better represented thechanged mood among the colonies. A younger generation barelyremembered a time when Earth was less a partner or trader, and more abeast of burden or strip-mine.

Simon nodded. “That istrue. But there is certainly a lot of resentment that remains.”

Miorine could not disagree.But that was not the whole story. “You know what I was alwaystaught about Earthians? That they are soft and lazy and complacent.The air they breathe and the water they drink are given freely byMother Earth. She wraps them in a warm, safe cocoon. But we have tolabour hard for every breath we take, all the while being assailed bythe hellscape that lies beyond the cocoon.”

Her tone softened. “Thething is, I never felt resentment over that, I just felt pride. Isaved my resentment for the greedy moochers all around me, the oneswho felt entitled to exploit Spacian and Earthian alike.” Shegave a satisfied smile. “From what I’ve been hearing,that point of view is beginning to take hold.”

“The period of mourningis coming to an end for most people, I think. Their thoughts aremoving more towards how we should move on.”

They exchanged a look ofunderstanding. They both had been fortunate, their families hadescaped unscathed. But they both had friends who were not so lucky.Miorine and Suletta had personally brought Vim’s remains toGuel and Felsi. They had been to visit each other since. Miorine wasno stranger to the sort of loss they were feeling. Lately Felsi hadbeen confiding options that they had been considering, like adoption.On their last visit Miorine had taken them to a school for warorphans that Suletta had help set up. It was planting the seed of anidea, maybe something would come of it.

Miorine made an up-downgesture to suggest the heavens above and the Earth below. “Wehave been in something like two solitudes for so long, it’sstill so easy to blame the people on the other side of the fence foreverything before we’ve even put our own house in order.”

Simon smiled. “Oh, Ithink the solitudes run a lot deeper than that. Your characterizationof Earth as a fragmented, oft dysfunctional family hits the mark.”

“I’ve beenwondering, how does the new reality on Earth match your vision?”

“About as well as can beexpected. The fig-leaf of citizen militias formed to oust ourwould-be overlords has finally wilted and fallen. We have armed as adeterrence against each other no less than against threats fromspace. All I can hope is that the deterrence works most of the time.”

Miorine nodded. “I wish*t were otherwise, but I think that having an existence proof of howbadly things can go when it doesn’t is exactly what will helppeople make sure that it does.” And no less, it was proof thatit was possible to step back from the brink.

“I had been hoping itwould not come to that,” Simon said sadly. “But it couldhave been so much worse. It could easily have spiralled out ofcontrol.”

“Not as easily now as itwas before, I think.” Simon looked intrigued at her statement.“Perhaps my background at Asticassia biases me, but I rememberthe mobile suit pilots around me then as being something like maddogs. In particular the Gundams seemed to bring out the bestial inthem.”

She smiled fondly. “Butthen I met Suletta. She was different. She has taught people to bedifferent. The new cyberbrain co*ckpits seem to help as well, thepilots are no longer exposed to maddening pain. The new generation isless like a bunch of arrogant knights-errant and more like a row ofsoldiers marching in lockstep.”

“It seems yourappreciation of our deep history has deepened.”

“I owe much of that tosomebody I met with in Ochs Earth.” Her description of theremarkable subterranean museum she had toured was interrupted when awaiter brought their wine. They seemed to be getting theirs earlierthan everyone else. The bottle had already been opened to breathe.

“This is a specialvintage I brought for the occasion,” Simon explained. “Itwas bottled in the year that the South New World alliance wasratified.”

He gave her a solemn look. Shecould guess the meaning. It was the year that she had lost her baby.He was giving her the option of whether to speak of it.

Or to speak of the fate shehad dealt out to those she thought responsible.

Simon tasted the wine andnodded approval. As the waiter filled their glasses, Miorine gatheredher thoughts.

The reaction to the bombshellmessage she had sent out regarding the old quadrumvirate of PeilTechnologies had been swift and terrible. Within minutes, the message“Burn the witches!” had multiplied into apparentinfinity. People already out in the streets celebrating the announcedarmistice had erupted in anger. The mob had shown up at theirdoorstep scant minutes later. The mob had been just organized enoughto pass and carry out the sentence in short order. For the first timein centuries, women named as witches were burned at the stake. Alltheir various and sundry longevity treatments had proven no match fora bonfire. The pictures had gone out from hundreds of phone camerasto millions of viewers, showing from every possible vantage thisfiery orgy of righteous wrath. They all got a very, very highapproval rate.

No arrests were made. Nobodyhad the nerve.

Miorine saw no need for anysort of preamble. “After the news came of what happened I spenthours watching the videos, trying to figure out how I should feelabout it. Many people still think of my wife as a witch. Our childrentoo. If circ*mstances had been different, it could have been themburning there. It was victors’ justice, pure and simple.”

She shook her head. “Butno matter how I try, I cannot muster any guilt or shame or regret. IfI had lost it all, if I had not even my dear wife left, I know that Ihave it in me to just burn it all down until there is nothing left. Ido not go there only because there are people to pull me back.”

Simon raised his glass. “Mayyou never be alone.”

She smiled. They clinkedglasses and drank. The querying look he gave her left her the optionof answering how this vintage tasted in either the literal ormetaphorical sense. “It’s very good.” She set theglass down and allowed herself just the merest hint of a satisfiedsmile. “It tastes like something that has benefited from beingwell-aged.” She also meant the wine.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine walked into theRembran House lab building on the Asticassia campus where she used togrow her tomato seedlings. Athena had warned her to expect radicalchanges. But seen up front the reality was astonishing. She lookedaround. “Tina, are you here?”

“Under here, Mom.”Athena slid her mechanic’s creeper out from underneath thegreat torus-shaped mass of wires that dominated the room. She smiled.“You’re early.”

“The Dean has nothingbut praises for you. It got repetitive so I decided I’d heardenough.”

Athena sat up on the creeperand stood. “That’s good, right?”

Miorine walked over and kissedher cheek. “That’s as expected. The only surprise ishere. Did somebody give you a cyclotron?”

“No, I’m making aDT fusion torus.”

“That’s... kind ofold-school.”

“The DT reaction is thebread-and-butter of generation starships.”

It was an idea that had beenher obsession since long before she had enrolled here. Even as ajunior she had already made well-attended presentations on some ofthe finer points. Colonies in the outer solar system had longdepended on fusion power in place of solar, but the reactors werestill delicate and had limited lifetimes. It was generally agreedthat something more robust would be required for habitations thatexpected to spend centuries alone in interstellar space.

“Are you trying to makesomething that will last longer?”

“The opposite. I want tomake a simple one that is easily replaceable. These are allrefurbished or recycled parts.”

Miorine lightly touchedAthena’s face with her fingertips. “Unwashed parts,apparently. You’ve got grease on your face.”

“It’s vacuumsealant.” Her orange coveralls were also stained black inplaces.

“That really does soundlow-tech.”

“The idea is to dependonly on technology that can be maintained and replaced by people withlimited technical knowledge. After I’ve got it working, my nextstep will be to get the House members to build another,unsupervised.”

This space was clearlyAthena’s private domain. But unlike Miorine, her daughter hadactually recruited fellow students into House Rembran. They worked inthe House’s new assigned hanger building, mostly on theGUND-ARM mobile suits that been shipped from Earth. That included acustom Lfrith suit that Athena had trained on for a long time.

They still had a duellingsystem at the school, though with more civilized restrictions on whatsort of stakes were allowed. Recently somebody had challenged Athenaover some perceived insult. Athena had sent the family pictures ofthe result. Nobody had found any reason to challenge her since.

Miorine looked around theroom. “How are you going to deal with the radiation?”

“Water. When I’mready to go I’ll line the walls with fish-tanks and operate thetorus remotely.”

Miorine gave a little smile.“Those poor fish.”

“They’ll actuallybe for algae, radiation-resistant varieties. It will be to support mybiosphere. Want to see?”

There was a small mirror inthe middle of a wall. Athena touched a button next to it and themirrored surface became transparent. The adjacent room was even morebusy than this one. Much of it looked like a very crowded greenhouse,with rows of plants and seedlings growing under lamps. The walls weremostly covered with water tanks, some with fish floating around andothers opaque with algae that were clearly being lit from within byembedded lighting units.

“Moving the algae tanksout here will allow me to expand it and make it trulyself-sustaining. My ultimate goal is to have it powered by thereactor and have the House subsist entirely off what we grow here.”

“Including you?”

“Of course.”

All of this would likelysolidify her reputation as being the up-and-coming mad scientist ofthe school. Miorine kept her eye on the public forums that theAsticassia students used. Some were expressing their assessment ofher daughter in different terms. After the One-Day War, Miorine’spublic challenge to contemplate the question of who are the realwitches had been taken up and was still ongoing. Athena had beenbranded as a chip off the block of a real witch... and most of thosewere actually not referring to Suletta. Miorine still did not regretwhat she had done. But she had to acknowledge that it was yet anotherdecision whose consequences were being visited upon her children.

“I’m glad to seethat you’re at least growing some plants here. I had the placefull of tomato seedlings.”

“I do have a tomatoplant. See over there?”

“It looks lonely.”

“Later I’ll haveroom for more. Sorry, none are ready to eat yet. All I could offernow is shrimp with insect protein spread. Want to try?”

“Hard pass.”

“Earth slang,”Athena called her out.

“Your speech has beenslang-free, I see you’re being careful.”

“If I followed yourlead, most people here would just get confused. I only use slang tobe obtuse with people who deserve it.”

Athena was here under thepatronage of her grandfather and House Rembran, but it was no secretthat she grew up on Earth. There were actually multiple Earthcompanies who had won the right to sponsor students here, includingGUND-ARM. Like Athena they did face some discrimination from Spacianstudents. But it was different from the way it had been in the daysof the original Earth House. Rather than being looked down upon, theywere often looked upon with a mix of suspicion and trepidation.Miorine found it amusing how it seemed like it had only just recentlydawned on them that Earthians far outnumbered Spacians. The obvioussolution of having more Spacians was manifesting as both a growingpronatalist bias and relaxed immigration policies. Miorine had beenvery happy when Guel and Felsi had leaned into this trend. The cadreof House Jeturk students now included two of their adopted children.

“Speaking of obtuseactions,” Miorine pointed to the ceiling. “I’vebeen wondering about that.”

Soon after she entered theroom, Miorine had noticed three silvered balls floating just belowthe ceiling. Even a cursory observation made it clear that they weremoving in a way that simulated orbital mechanics.

“They’re suspendedand propelled by electromagnets embedded in the ceiling. They arerunning as simulation of the three-body problem. It resets to newrandom starting state when any two of them collide, or any of them isejected beyond the perimeter.”

Miorine did not even need toask what had inspired this, it was part of her longtime obsessionafter all. “Even I know that the stars in the Alpha Centaurisystem will be in stable orbits right up to when any of them leavesthe main sequence.”

“I know. It was morejust an engineering exercise. Before the torus is ready to go I’llprobably have some House members build a new one in my bedroom. Itwill be a good exercise for them.”

“So you’ll have torough it in the barracks,” Miorine quipped.

Athena shrugged. “I’vedone it before, when we pull all-nighters on a project.”

“If you do actually goon this expedition, that will be permanent.”

“It depends on whatvariant is decided on.”

Miorine had seen the variousproposals. The most ambitious of them envisioned a fleet ofnext-generation Fronts that in total would house tens of millions ofpeople in a low density setting that would be indistinguishable froman Earth environment to all but the most discerning eye. It would belike breaking off a big piece of human civilization and giving it agentle push so that it can slowly drift over to the nearest starsystem.

But there would be nothingthere to greet them except rock and gas. Gravitational-lenstelescopes and relativistic micro-probes had long since proven therewas no planet there that was remotely habitable, even with radicalterraforming. And after generations of searching nobody had foundanything like a habitable planet within the range of their greatswarm telescopes. At least within their neighbourhood of the galaxy,Earth was unique.

She gave her daughter a lookthat she knew was full of annoying mother-love. “I try toimagine what it would mean, not having the possibility of returningto Earth even for a brief time. You would be condemning yourself toforever being imprisoned in something like...” she gestured toencompass the Asticassia Front around them. “This. Won’tyou regret that?”

“Not really. TheseFronts were our first attempts to build new homes for ourselves. Thenext ones will be better, and the next better still. The Earth isjust our first world, that’s all.”

Miorine sighed. “Itseems so pointless. We could surround the sun with enough Fronts toblot it out and still not have used even the merest fraction of theresources in the solar system. Why are you so anxious to go orbit adifferent star?”

Athena did not quite roll hereyes, but it was clear this was one of those cases where her motherjust did not get it. She pointed up to the floating balls that stoodin for a trio of stars which were forty trillion miles away.

“Because it’sright there Mommy.”

#-#-#-#-#

When the family had taken on aproject of designing and making an electronics-free vehicle for theestate, they had consulted with some local retro car enthusiasts.This had immediately plugged them into a global network of people whobuilt and drove their own retro cars. There was a tradition amongmany of them that they would rent out their vehicles to fellow ownerswho had the right street cred.

They had not heard from Elanin months. But within minutes of receiving a note saying that he hadfinally found the elusive lake from Norea’s sketchbook they hadbooked the flight. Before embarking, Suletta had sent a note out to amember who was in the area. It was not the first time they hadavailed themselves of the tradition. Suletta always asked with suchhumility and politeness. But nobody was going to say no to Red Tiger.

This time they had reallyscored, a pair of big beefy muscle-cars with roaring biofuel-burningengines tuned to perfection. Elnora was setting a murderous pace inthe lead car, no doubt being egged on by Maisie and cautioned bySabina all the while. Suletta matched the pace set by their daughter,keeping their car tucked right in behind. Miorine appreciativelywatched her frenetic but precise movements as she steered the caralong the tortuous road cut into an almost sheer mountain-side. Reneein the passenger seat looked perfectly calm, just admiring thestunning mountain scenery as the gee-forces pulled them against theirfive-point safety harnesses first one way then the other.

Sitting next to Miorine in theback, Elan looked like he was having second thoughts about havinggone to meet them at the airport instead of just waiting for themsomeplace near the lake. When he had told them to expect a three-hourdrive, they had just smiled. Now he clearly understood why.

“I’m going to bereally embarrassed if you can show me that I’m wrong,”Elan said, trying to put on a brave face.

“We’ll take avote. But you still get a veto, so you can override us if you decideto. It’s the right one if you say so.”

“This one really feelsright.”

“If you change yourmind, Eri’s offer still stands.”

“Thanks.”

A long time ago Eri hadpointed out that there was analysis they could do of the sketch tofind probable matches with actual lakes basis satellite images. Asexpected Elan had politely declined. Pretty much everybody elseincluding Miorine understood that would just have been missing thepoint. The person who had set on this journey was not the same personwho was now sitting beside her. That would be the case regardless ofwhat he did or did not find.

Eri had accepted that with herusual complaints about the inscrutability of human minds. But Miorinehad begun to suspect that more and more her sister-in-law wasinhabiting a space that was diverging from her flesh-and-bloodbrethren. In most respects it was the same old Eri. But she had beenslowly, almost imperceptibly distancing herself from the family,instead throwing herself into her work at GUND-ARM. Miorine had afeeling they were all being prepared for some change that Eri alonesaw coming. She simply trusted it would be made clear in good time.

Elan braced himself and spokewith a hint of alarm. “It feels like we’re skidding!”

“It’s calleddrifting,” Miorine said casually. “They do it all thetime.”

He gave her a look oftrepidation. “I hope I did find the right lake, because I’mfeeling like it might be the last think I’ll ever do.”

“So if you are stillconvinced, what will you do? Just keep travelling?”

“I’m not sure.It’s been such a long time since I seriously thought about it.”

“Well, you have a lotmore options for you now.”

The conditions of thearmistice had opened up a lot of formerly hidden financialtransaction histories, which had exposed a veritable mountain ofmalfeasance. One of the consequences was to uncover and redistributefunds to the creditors of the Peil Technologies bankruptcy. Elan hadbeen one of the beneficiaries of this veritable windfall.

From the look Elan gave her,that roundabout reference to the fate of the former Peilquadrumvirate had not been lost on him. Her intention had been togive him the option of acknowledging it, or not.

“I’m glad that Ican finally thank you for what you’ve done. I’ve reallytried to set the past behind me. But now I feel like I can really dothat, once and for all. Whatever else happens, I’ll always begrateful for that.”

Miorine smiled. “Whenwe’re standing there, at the place you had finally found, I washoping I could text you the deed to the land.”

“You mean you actuallychecked to see if it was for sale?”

“It would have been suchperfect thanks for your finding us our little piece of paradise. Butthis one is all protected wilderness. Greedy merchants need notinquire.”

“I’m strangelyrelieved.”

“You should fly backwith us. We can celebrate. Everyone would love to see you. Elnoraisn’t the only one who’s grown up.”

Elan smiled. “Chloestill plans on medical school?”

“She’s alreadyskipped a grade, so pretty much plunging headlong.”

He never showed it overtly,but just because of how often he asked it was evident to Miorine thatElan had a soft spot for Nika’s daughter. He had only met thegirl a couple of times when he was in the area visiting Miorine andfriends. Elan had known her genetic parents back when they come toAsticassia. In particular he had spent a lot of time with Norea inthe days before her tragic end. It was pretty clear from the way hespoke of her that Elan had held a torch for her. Miorine had alwayshoped that somehow he could become part of Chloe’s life, if notas a godparent then as another link with the mother whose child Nikahad chosen to raise. Maybe now that Elan had reached a threshold,there was a chance of that happening.

“If she keeps shining sobrightly, she might get headhunted to space,” Elan said. “Theadverts are everywhere now.”

“There’s noescaping it. ‘To the stars: A new place for a new start.’Inquire within.”

Elan paused to brace himselfa*gainst a particularly sharp turn before replying. “Skeptical?”

“Everyone oversells,it’s part of the game. I’m more annoyed at how recentlythey wouldn’t give an Earthian the time of day.”

“You have beeninstrumental at changing their tune.”

“And my head is stillthrobbing from beating it against their damn wall.”

“Well then you should beproud.” His expression changed. “Just to let you know,the road gets a lot more winding from here.”

“Oh great, this will befun. Hey Renee!” she called.

“Yeah?”

“Turn that up! We canbarely hear it back here.”

“You got it.”Renee reached over to the stereo deck unit and cranked the music. Thesound system was the one component where the prohibition againstelectronics in certified retro cars made some concession. Butstrictly analog, no exceptions.

As Elan had promised, the ridewas a lot wilder now. Elnora was hardly slowing down at all, andSuletta was right behind her.

Elan really was lookingconcerned now. “Is this really going to be okay?”

“It’s all good.”Miorine lowered her shades and peeked over them as she grinned. “Youhad best believe my girls can get behind anything.”

#-#-#-#-#

Their refurbished estate homelooked just like it had before it had been wrecked. Perhaps restoringit this way had been inadvisable considering its association withthat terrible day. But somehow making that decision had felt like anact of deviance, a sort of divine stubbornness. Whatever the case, itwas no longer a source of anxiety for Miorine. Chalk it up to thesatisfaction of delayed payback, or just the passage of time.

Or, more likely, the company.

The four of them walked out ofthe living room and proceeded up the paved path to the helipad.Elnora was the first to spot her. She pointed to the sky. “Thereshe is.” Sure enough, the approaching VTOL was now visible inthe distance.

When Eri had called to say shewanted to come spend the day with the family, everybody had beenelated. They had seen little of her for months now. Miorine had seenher a bit more than the others, but only in the context of managingGUND-ARM in the aftermath of the One-Day War. It was not so much thatshe was becoming more distant, simply a less frequent presence. Thisfact had been all but invisible until brought to attention by thefact that her arrival had turned into something of an event.

Miorine could not help butfeel that was all part of a process, something of which they wouldsoon be seeing the culmination. She had her suspicions about whatthat might entail. But she kept her thoughts to herself.

“I’m dying to seeher new robot body,” Suletta said eagerly as they walked. Erihad told them to expect her to look different.

“I fairly tingle withanticipation,” Miorine said dryly. This was feeling likedeja-vu all over again.

“Any bets?” Athenaasked. “My money is on an arachnid. Eight-leg locomotion is onething she hasn’t tried yet.”

“I’ll bet it’sanother swan-dive into the uncanny valley,” Miorine said.

“Something withbat-wings,” Elnora suggested.

“I know!” Sulettasaid, raising a finger. “What about a Koko?” That was themascot character from the Moon Princess cartoon the girls used towatch.

“Getting it to hoverlike it does in the show would be hard,” Elnora pointed out.

“It could bemagnetically suspended over a drone,” Athena suggested. “Maybein the shape of a really big Moon Crown.” That was a magicalartifact from the show.

A mere second after the VTOLlanded, all speculation became moot. Eri sprang out of the hatch witha prodigious leap, landed in front of them and struck a pose. “Hieverybody! How’s it going meow?”

She was a bipedal furrytabby-cat. Twitching ears, swinging tail, big cat-eyes, the works.Her face was shockingly expressive, both alien and adorable. Hervoice was not coming from any speaker, the words were being producedby the supremely mobile black lips and pink tongue. Her voice wasclear but just the right distance from a human voice to be a perfectmatch for what they were seeing.

“Aunt Eri!” Elnorawas the first to spring forward and embrace her. “You look socute! I love it!”

Her action was so natural andhad clearly been done on impulse. But Miorine was immediately struckby its import. With some exceptions that Miorine would just as soonforget, it was understood that Eri’s robot bodies were not tobe the object of physical affection. That had been an unspokenaccord. But now that barrier had been effortlessly shattered. Oneafter another, they all got in on the act. Her new body was warm aswell as furry.

“I’ve bought youall presents!” Eri enthused. Her gynoid body operating under anAI had hauled a pair of big suitcases out of the cargo hold and stoodwith them, waiting for orders. “Let’s go to the house soyou can try them on!”

“Try what on?”Miorine asked with more than a little trepidation.

“You’ll see!”

No amount of prodding from thegirls would get anything out of Eri, so they all stood around herwith various degrees of excitement or bated breath as she laid downone of the suitcases on the living room floor and cracked it open.She picked up one of the outfits and held it out in front of her.“Ta-da!”

“Cosplay!” Athenacried.

It was a furry cat-suit. Justby the size and colour scheme, Miorine deduced this one was forAthena, which Eri immediately confirmed. Requiring littleencouragement, Athena stripped down to her underwear and with Eri’shelp slipped into it. Eri instructed her on how to activate the tailand ears using her cyberbrain. “Now that it’s registeredas a cyberbrain device, you can learn how to control the tail andears,” Eri explained. “It won’t take muchpractice.”

In short order they allstripped and got suited up. Each suit activation was accompanied byanother round of delighted cries as each one was declared just asadorable and just as perfect a match as the last. By the colourschemes that matched skin and hair, there could be no mistaking whosesuit was whose.

They wasted no time trying tomaster the tail and ears. “Whoa, look at Leta-ma go!”Elnora pointed to where Suletta already had her tail bobbing all overthe place in a way that somehow seemed utterly perfect both for herand for a delighted tabby-cat. “How did you get that sort ofcontrol so fast?”

Suletta laughed and scratchedthe back of her head nervously. “I guess I’m just anatural meow,” she said slipping into her cat-Leta mode.

She and Miorine exchanged justa momentary look, quickly broken before it could be noticed. Themeaning had been crystal clear. That was a close one. Nobodyelse knew about the first cat-suit Eri had gifted them. Or thematching open-front one that Miorine had ordered to fit. They wereboth in a locked drawer that was only opened when they wereabsolutely positively sure that nobody else was in the house. It hadbeen with the most profound relief that Miorine had noted these wereall family-friendly suits that covered everything up to the neck.

After a while they all gainedsome modicum of control over their respective exoskeletonaccessories. They spent some time trying things, chasing each others’tails or doing coordinated moves. At some point Suletta stoppedshowing off and just got snuggly with Eri in the corner of theconversation pit couch. Only half faking jealousy, Miorine soonjoined them, though Eri insisted that Miorine sit beside her. Beforelong, the girls also came and snuggled up beside their respectivedonor-mothers. Conversation drifted between a variety of matters bothnewsworthy and trivial.

“So do you miss being atGUND-ARM yet?” Elnora asked.

“There are some things Imiss,” Eri said. Miorine had quickly become accustomed to hernew face and voice, they had both already become just naturallyassociated with Eri. “But it’s not as exciting as theearly days. Which is a good thing. It’s pretty much embedded inthe fabric of the planet, almost running itself. I just felt like Iwasn’t needed like I was before and it was time to move on.”

“Even if your book wasthe only thing that came out of it, that was worth it,” Athenasaid.

“I’ve got to admita lot of it went over my head,” Elnora said.

Eri’s excuse for leavingthe company was that she wanted to write a book. Either she had beenworking on it already or she had written with superhuman speed,because the hefty tome had come out just a couple of months after herresignation and going-away parties. It was an autobiography of sorts,though it only touched on most aspects of her life. It was more of anextended freewheeling meditation on history, evolution, humanity,mind and the nature of consciousness. Miorine had read it thoroughlyand carefully. Very much of it had spoken to her in a variety ofprofound ways, but she also had to concede that some parts had lefther suspecting that she was not quite getting the point. It hadreceived rave reviews, though no two people seemed to take away quitethe same things. It was like the uber Rorschach test in that way.

“I don’t think youever explained the title,” Suletta said.

“Sanctuary?”Eri pondered that for a moment. “I think it’s the onething every living thing understands. We all want it but we also wantto step outside it. In one way or another those two things drive justabout everything we do.”

“The tempest sends uslooking for a quiet port,” Miorine said. “But when we arein port, the sea beckons us all over again. Something like that?”

“Yes,” Eri agreed.Her cat-eyes fixed on Miorine’s for a moment, then her gazeshifted to encompass them all. “Now, I can feel the seabeckoning me.”

“Are you going to gotravelling?” Suletta asked. “Walk the Earth, like Elandoes?”

She shook her head. “No,nothing like that.”

“Space travel?”Athena asked. “You wouldn’t even need any life-support.Just imagine where you could go.”

“Eri?” Miorine goteverybody’s attention with her emphatic but gentle tone. “It’snot that either, is it?”

Eri slowly shook her head.“No, not that either.” She closed her eyes for a moment,then opened them again. Her face was less animated now, and she didnot look at anyone in particular. “I have to try and explainthe inexplicable. Over time I have been growing in a way that Icannot even describe in words. Less and less of me has been bound bythis world, more and more of me has been spreading out beyond.”

She paused, and then continuedin what Miorine would almost describe as an apologetic way. “Ihave been trying to fit this part of myself into the world I camefrom, but that is becoming more difficult. If I keep trying, I cansee that eventually I must fail. I don’t know what happensthen. I fear that I might gain the power to change this world beyondall recognition, and I fear even more that I could do it without evenrealizing it.”

Her mouth curled into a littlesmile and her head swayed one way and the next so that her gaze couldonce again encompass them all. “I have decided it is time tomove on. I came here today to say goodbye.”

What Miorine said next was toEri, but was more her attempt to soften the blow for her family.“Eri, if you need to go someplace else to spread your wingsfully, then that is exactly what you should do.”

Eri smiled and reached out tostroke the fur on Miorine’s suit just as tenderly as if it waspart of her. “Thank you my dear sister, for explaining in a waythat I could not. Yes, that is exactly right. If I try to spread mywings here, I will likely break things in a way that none of us couldpredict or understand. That’s why I have to leave.”

“Where exactly are yougoing?” Athena asked.

Eri directed an impossiblywarm gaze at her. “You are always the one who wants tounderstand everything. I wish I had an explanation for you that wouldmake sense. I really have been searching for the words. My book waspart of that, but ultimately it fell short. I’m sorry Tina, butwords are inadequate.” She smiled a little. “if I triedto show you the math, it would make even less sense.”

“Aunt Eri.” Elnoraalso looked like she was struggling to understand, though somehow ina more visceral way. “Wherever you go... won’t you bealone?”

Again, that warm smile. “Youdon’t need to worry about that, Nora. I’m not even reallya single person any more, not in any meaningful sense. The Eri youare talking to here is just one small part of a larger whole that isacting more and more on its own. That is the real reason I need toleave now.”

Miorine was reluctant to askher own question, but trusted that Eri would at least not give anyanswer that would make her departing more difficult. “Willthere be new challenges for you? Things to explore?”

“Yes. An infinity ofthings.”

“Eri?” Sulettaspoke calmly, but Miorine was certain that she was not the only onewho could sense what she was holding back. “If you go, youcan’t come back again. Can you?”

Eri shook her head. “No.No my sister, I can’t. Once I sever my link with this world, Ican never come back. I’m sorry I have to do this, more sorrythan I can say. I’ve tried my best to tell you why I have to dothis. But I don’t want to leave you with nothing. I have onemore gift for you. For all of you.”

She lifted her hand andpointed it at her face. “My gift is this. Once I leave, thisbody will go to sleep mode. But it can come awake again. I haveembedded it with an AI.” She smiled. “I call hermini-Eri. But you can just call her Eri. If I switched control of thebody with her right now, you would likely be hard pressed to tell thedifference.” She looked at Miorine and winked. “That is,until my sister-in-law subjects her to the same tests that thedoctors gave me when I first awakened.”

She addressed herself to allof them again. “That Eri is not sentient, not conscious. Shecan learn and remember, but she cannot grow. She will always remainas she is. I leave it up to you whether or when to awaken her. I havedone everything I can to make her into something that will bring youcomfort.” She smiled. “If you wish for her to ever be apart of your sanctuary, I hope that she can do that. She cannot loveyou the way that I do. But if it something you need, then I hopethat she can remind you of my love.”

“Eri...” Sulettatook hold of her arm. It was gentle, but she was shaking just alittle. “You’re leaving today, right?”

“Yes. I am.”

“I have a selfishrequest.” Her lip quivered. Her voice nearly broke. “CanI cry first?”

Eri spread her arms wide. “Ofcourse.”

She had to wait for all ofthem.

#-#-#-#-#

Miorine and Suletta walkedarm-in-arm along the boardwalk, dressed in their matching sky-bluebathrobes with thin white stripes, dark-blue sash and sandals. Totheir left was a thick grove of trees, to their right the great longbeach and beyond the lake that stretched out to the northern horizon.The sun had just gone down in front of them, stars would soon beappearing.

Most of the tall bonfires thatlined the beach were already lit. The families in swimwear weremostly gone, to be replaced by people in bathrobes like theirs, herefor the after-dark party. Or, like the two of them, people who hadbeen swimming during the day had returned dressed for the festivalthat was to start after the preternaturally late sunset.

“I wonder how thistradition started?” Suletta wondered.

“It could be ten yearsold or ten thousand. It could be something that started here or fromacross the ocean.”

“In other words youdon’t know.”

“Does it matter?”

Suletta giggled. “Iguess not.”

In their travels, sometimesthey would look up the origins of some cultural artifact theyencountered. The lesson Miorine soon took was that if you dug deepenough the answer was that it is all appropriation, all the time, allthe way down. Eventually they just stopped thinking much about it.

Once the girls were inboarding school the two of them had toyed with the idea of them bothtaking a long sabbatical from everything and travelling together. Thething that had finally crystallized their plan was Eri moving on.Everybody had been sad. But somehow it had just felt right, like thiswas meant to be and this was the right time, the only time. Miorinewas convinced that somehow, Eri had arranged things so that everyonewould just feel that way. Whatever she had gone to, be it nirvana orhigher dimensions, she had left behind the legacy of a legion, and alife closed with an almost painless parting. And after she was gone,the substitute she had left behind was a comfort for them all.

When the two of them weremulling their travel options, they had gone to a dealership forrecreational vehicles. They had come across a long-range off-road vanwhich unfolded into a self-contained camper that was cozy for two.Right there in the dealership room, sitting in the cabin of thiscamper with Suletta’s hands on the wheel, the decision had beenmade by her smiling at Miorine and saying “Let’s justdrive.”

There was in fact some methodbehind their random-walk style wanderings. The halfway point of theiryear-long sabbatical found them in the northern hemisphere on timefor its summer. The twilight of high summer had found them as farnorth as they had gone, a place that was billed as the longestwhite-sand fresh-water beach in the North New World. They had arrivedjust on time for this annual festival on the shore of a lake thatseemed to be an ocean unto itself.

“Aren’t you glad Iconvinced you to go back and change?” Suletta asked.

“Bathrobes do seem to beDe Rigueur for this festival. It’s a shame though, I was reallyenjoying everyone ogling you in your swimsuit.”

“What makes you think itwas just me they were ogling?”

“Yes yes, I’vestill got the whole Cool Beauty look down pat, you keep telling me.But that’s different. When we pass people by I can practicallyfeel the gazes all vectoring in on your pert-”

Suletta nudged her. “Cutit out. You know I don’t like that.”

“And for you it’snot just from the back either. Ow!”

“Stop it.” Thistime it sounded like she meant it. Miorine shut up.

A distant drum had been heard,and soon all the drummers placed in between the bonfires had joinedin. A steady beat echoed up and down the beach. People gatheredaround the bonfires had formed into circles and started dancing intime to the beat.

“Want to join in?”Suletta asked.

“I’d like to watchfor a bit first.”

“Probably a good idea.”She seemed to understand, Miorine wanted to study the dance stepsfirst. Suletta pointed. “There’s a seat.” It was alog that had been carved into a bench. They sat down.

The confluence of the fires,the drumming and dancing was hypnotic. It was an oasis of light andsound and motion that defied the growing darkness and seemed tostretch off to infinity to both sides.

By the time Suletta spoke, itwas an almost startling interruption. “The dance steps lookpretty simple.” She pointed to their left. “There’sa fire they’re just getting started, maybe we should go there.”

“Okay.”

She seemed to sense thatMiorine was distracted. Suletta gently took her hand. “You knowthat no news is good news, right?” she asked gently.

“Of course.”

In the city just an hour’sdrive south of here, they had found a clinic that could give Sulettaher regular Permet test. The results would have been sent to Sulettayesterday. It was all routine, and there was no reason to expect anyissue at this stage. There was every reason to believe that Sulettahad many more good years left. But it was becoming harder for Miorinenot to worry. She understood down to her bones how fragile they allwere, how easily they could be snuffed out.

Suletta folded her hands infront of her and gazed down pensively at them. Her expression wasdifficult to read. When she spoke next it was with a voice so softthat Miorine almost had to strain to hear it over the din. “Ifthe day comes when I do have bad news, I have a picture of what itwill look like. Some time when we are alone and very close together,I will shyly pull my hair back from the part of my face that showsthe first signs from the Data Storm.”

She looked intently intoMiorine’s eyes. “Then I would take your face in my handsand apologize for being the one who has to walk off the dance floorfirst.”

Before Miorine could evenbegin to process that, Suletta got up, turned around and flashed adazzling smile that made every cell in Miorine’s body tell herwith the certainty of revelation that they were both still sixteenyears old with nothing but blue skies over green fields in front ofthem.

Suletta reached out her handto Miorine. “But not yet.”

THE END

Author’s Postscript

(Strictly optional, if youwant to just chill right now that’s fine)

This story pretty much wroteitself. It was downloaded to me from goodness knows where, usuallywhen I was busy trying to get other things done. But I was notentirely truthful about just being its stenographer. All the dodgy,twisted parts are entirely my fault.

The story is something of adeparture for me in that it is essentially a biography. Rather thanshowing characters’ lives being caught up in a story, it ismore the story of a character’s life, or at least a portion ofthat life. It is Miorine’s story, but because Suletta is such acentral part of her life it really becomes their story. This isexactly the sort of story I aimed to do, but it presented somechallenges. It has less of a logical beginning, middle and end thanwhat I would normally aim for. This was simply because I wanted tocover different parts of their lives, where they were focused ondifferent things. The series, and especially its epilogue, just leftso many openings for exploration. I hope that I managed to pull ittogether into something coherent and satisfying.

There are many things I couldtalk about but I wanted to make clear that the moral ambiguity insome of the actions Miorine takes in the story are not lost on me. Ina different context, for what she did at the mercenary training campsMiorine would be facing a war-crimes tribunal. As it turned out, sheended up facing something far worse. She certainly did not deservewhat happened to her, but that is the nature of war. Peopleconfronting the brutal unfairness of their world is something thatmost variations of the Gundam universe have in common. My take onMiorine is that she accepts the rules by which her world works andtakes decisive action to exploit those rules. She tries to prevent awar. But she also escalates a cycle of vengeance. She helps theEarthians defend themselves. But she also orchestrates the buildup ofa global military-industrial complex and then joins the military sidewhile all the while benefiting from the industrial side, buildingherself a sort of two-way revolving door between the two. Some mightsee her as a saviour, others as a self-serving war profiteer. Perhapsneither are wrong.

Miorine and Suletta share oneof the most compelling relationships in any Gundam series. Early onit is clear that Suletta is smitten with her new bride. Miorine’sfeelings are a lot more ambiguous, but they do show through. She isvery much driven by anger, so we see those feelings in her singularfury over how Suletta has been manipulated by Prospera. What startedas a transactional arranged betrothal became something more, almostwithout her noticing. Watching that happen was one of the mostrewarding parts of the series. Throughout its course the two leadsshare remarkably little quality time, but the moments they do haveare solid gold. That is what for me elevated this series above justbeing a very good Gundam alternate world.

Finally I want to thank MarkEngels for being beta-reader of this story. His insights wereinvaluable, this is a much better story thanks to his contribution.