When Theo woke up the next morning, Emma was nowhere to be seen. He found the bathroom and there was a note on the counter saying that she'd gone running with Rachel. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Theo followed the sound of the voices and found Mirjam and Amanda eating breakfast with Kawehi.

"There's eggs and the rest on the counter," Amanda said. "I'm glad you're up, I was hoping to see you before we left."

Theo said good morning to them and went to find the food. Kawehi laughed when she saw the mound of food he'd gotten.

"It's only funny because you've never seen Emma eat," Amanda said.

"I was thinking that we're going to knock a few walls out for a new pantry," Mirjam said, winking at him.

Theo had been embarrassed at first but none of them were laughing at him. And Amanda just said that Emma did the same thing. Anyway, he had every intention of eating everything he'd taken. Theo put a forkful of eggs in his mouth as his stomach made a loud grumbling noise. That led to more laughter.

"Just in time," Mirjam said.

"These are really good," Theo said. "Who should I thank?"

"I wish I could claim to be the chef, but there is a woman that cooks for us. Jaxson, would you see if Theladuine can give a few moments?"

Theo managed to not look around to see who she was talking to this time. A few seconds later, Jaxson said that she'd be with them in just a minute.

"Is he always listening?" he asked.

"That's a complicated question, Theo," Amanda said. "It's sort of yes and no at the same time. Sorry."

"That's okay," he said. "Interesting things are always like that."

Amanda smiled at him. "You are surely your father's son. Oli'vehndra said things like that many times."

"I'd like to hear more about him and Claire when you have time," he said, smiling back.

"I will make the time," Amanda promised. "Jaxson?"

"I'll adjust your schedule," the voice said. "Theladuine is here."

Theo stood up as a friendly looking woman stepped through one of the doors. She was tall, with the same color hair as Amanda but her eyes were a lighter gray. She had a friendly smile as she came into the room.

"Sure as Mercy wills, that is young Lord Jaanthelme Thonya!" the woman said in a heavy accent.

"There he stands in the flesh," Amanda said, the same accent in her voice now. "Sure and he's fresh arrived yesterday. True and no time I have to be meeting everyone and true I say when I am back. But he wanted to thank you for your wonderful food. True and we all give thanks."

"It was really good," Theo added. "And please just call me Theo."

She smiled widely at him. "And I'm thanking you for your name, my lord, sure and I'll take that honor then. It's a million thanks, true I say, for your path back home."

She gave the others a casual wave and then curtsied at Theo before disappearing back through the door. Theo sat down before anyone could bow at him again.

"Sure and true I say, I can think of a question he has," Mirjam said imitating the accent and then took a sip of coffee. Something about her deadpan delivery made Theo laugh and Mirjam flashed a very quick smile at him.

"I do not sound like that," Amanda said, trying not to smile. "Theo, I've been thinking about all the things that you might be confused by here. Our family was Item Three if you're curious."

"Thank you. Do I want to know what are the first two are?"

Beside Amanda, Mirjam widened her eyes and shook her head quickly. Theo laughed again. Kawehi watched the pair, fascinated. She'd been curious about Lady Amanda's Warden and had asked around. There had been a few stories and all of them mentioned her lack of emotion and ruthless determination to keep her Ward safe. So much so that Kawehi had been concerned about Theo being in the same house with her since he was technically a threat, no matter how unlikely. She had been a little surprised to see Mirjam openly affectionate with him, however brief it might have been. But now they were sitting there, trying to make each other laugh! Meanwhile, Amanda gave her Warden a look that was half exasperation and half fondness.

 "Item one is this place," she said, gesturing to the white stone ceiling above them. "Item two is your new family, as in the three of us. And item three is something called the Great House Tulani. But it's as complicated as everything else, I'm afraid. Don't worry about people bowing, she is something of a tease."

Mirjam nudged her with a shoulder without saying anything. Amanda sighed.

"Now I can't use 'tease' in my vocabulary either?"

"The word used that way implies more of a sexual connotation than you were expressing."

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Are there any words in this English that don't have sexual ties? Theo, I didn't mean the cook was interested in titillating you."

He glanced at Kawehi, but she was controlling her facial muscles which didn't give him much of a clue. Theo hadn't ever heard the word 'titillating' before, but it sounded pretty dirty. His face was so hot he figured it was glowing. "Uhm, okay."

"Excuse me," Jaxson's voice said. "Administrator, your shuttle will be boarding in twenty minutes."

"Can I watch that?" Theo asked as they stood up. "I've never seen a real spaceship before."

"You're more than welcome to watch," Amanda said. "But it's not very impressive, I'm afraid. These ships take off like airplanes. In the dark, all you'd be able to see are the lights. That's why we leave at such horrible times."

"Don't let Emma torture you too much," Mirjam said, touching her head to Theo's.

She stepped back and let Amanda touch her forehead to Theo's. She watched closely but Kawehi didn't see the tension that had been there yesterday.

"I apologize again for the timing," Amanda said. "When we're back together we'll spend some time together."

"Have a safe trip," Theo said as they left. He looked down at his half-finished plate and sat back down.

"Finish your breakfast, there's more than enough time to find a window," Kawehi said, refilling her coffee. "Your brain isn't leaking out of your ears at least."

"None of this feels real."

Kawehi nodded. "That's understandable. You're handling it better than most new arrivals if that helps."

"Are there a lot of those?"

"Not here so much, but the technical sites see some when new specialists are recruited. Military specialists are recruited as well, but they're not assigned to Echo until they've acclimated."

Theo rubbed his eyes. "Okay, now my brain is melting."

Kawehi stood up. "I can help a little bit with that at least, Mr. Theo. We're going somewhere that's slightly less surreal. I'll get transportation lined up and when your sisters are back, we can hit the road."

 

The van bounced and swayed as it headed down what they called a road around here. Theo would have called it a two-track, and not a very good one at that. Like watching his aunt's shuttle taking off, the van they were in was something of a let-down.

He'd been excited when he'd first seen the faded blue and thoroughly dented Econoline, wondering what kind of super technology was hiding under its skin. Sadly, it was exactly what it appeared to be, a beat-up old van with the faint smell of boiled cabbage inside. At least the air conditioner was working, which was a good thing, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and even with the AC, the inside of the windows was hot to the touch.

Their driver was an average looking man who didn't say very much. Kawehi was in the passenger seat, snoring quietly. Rachel was on the last bench seat, sleeping as well. Theo and Emma were on the first bench, holding hands. Theo looked out the windows but Emma had her eyes closed, half dozing. On one side, a barbed wire fence appeared and they drove beside it fence for miles. Finally, in the distance, Theo caught sight of a cluster of buildings.

This all belongs to the place we're going? he tapped into her hand.

She opened her eyes and looked out the window. I guess so. It takes a lot of room to grow cows, I guess.

He grinned at her. Raise cattle?

"The only time that cows are interesting is when they're seared on the outside and a warm pink in the middle," Emma said out loud.

"That is exactly why you make everyone nervous," Rachel said sleepily from the back seat.

That got a chuckle out of the driver. Kawehi had woken up as well and smiled back at them. A few minutes later, the van stopped in front of a large ranch house. They grabbed their bags and walked up the stairs. Even being in the sun a couple of minutes was brutally hot and the shade of the porch was a relief. An older couple got up from their chairs and met them at the steps.

"Welcome to Camp Lazy Ass," the man said. He had long gray hair in a braid and huge walrus moustache.

"Officially, Big Sky Ranch," the woman said, poking her husband in the arm. She had glasses and her own long gray hair. "Our rotating guests named it that and I can't make anyone stop. I'm Nora and this is Henry. Welcome!"

Kawehi traded a hug with Henry before doing the cheek kissing thing with Nora. Theo saw that Emma was oddly tense as Theo introduced himself. When she said hello, there was a strained smile and half-nod, making him even more curious. Henry and Nora looked slightly uncomfortable but determined to be friendly. Theo looked at Emma for a clue to what was going on, but she wouldn't look at him.

"Jim Sheppard showed up a couple of hours ago," Henry said, as he led them into the house. "Or maybe I should say, a truck arrived with a whole bunch of offworld tech with Jim Sheppard stuck in the middle. Marisol and her crew just finished moving furniture around."

"I'd like to say hi when there's a chance," Theo said.

"We've got a pretty informal schedule here," Henry said as they followed him down a flight of stairs. Theo assumed they were going down to the basement, instead it was another construction like Echo, the living areas insulated from the temperature extremes outside.

"He's at the end of this hallway," Henry said, pointing.

"Drop your bags and we'll go say hi," Kawehi said.

As they walked down the hall, he glanced in the rooms they passed. Most of them looked just like his, a double bed, a few pieces of art along with a dresser and wardrobe. Most of the beds had been slept in and half-made again.

Another open doorway revealed a much larger room with a bar and game tables.

"Is that a foosball table?" Rachel asked Emma as they passed.

She half-shrugged. "Yeah, I think so. I didn't really see this part when I was here."

Theo was getting tired of not knowing what was going on and took his sister's hand.

What's wrong? What happened here?

She grimaced. It's okay, I'll tell you later.

Before he could argue, Deidre stuck her head out of a doorway at the end of the hall.

"Hey, get in here!" she called.

Inside the room was another large room, seen, minus the game tables and bar. In the middle of the room, Shep was propped up in a hospital bed with some kind of machines clustered around him. Deidre and Marisol were checking Shep while the rest of the team was sprawled on couches nearby.

"Look who it is," Jonesy said, trying to get up. "Where are we headed now?"

"Sit down before you fall on your ass," Marisol ordered. "Hi y'all. Someone had way too much to drink last night."

"Wrong!" Jonesy said gleefully as he laid back down. "I had too much to drink this morning thank you very much."

Now that Theo noticed, they all looked like they were recovering from the same thing that had happened to Jonesy.

"C'mere," Deidre said, taking Theo's hand and leading him to the bed.

Shep's eyes were half open and glassy but he noticed Theo and half smiled at him.

"Hey cousin," Theo said quietly. "How are you feeling?"

Shep giggled. "Stoned as a goat."

Deidre sat down beside the bed and rested her hand on top of Shep's. "They had to load him up on pain meds for the trip here. I'm guessing this has something to do with you? We don't usually get advanced medtech."

"Aunt Amanda didn't like that your team was getting taken apart," Theo said. "I'm not totally sure how it works but I think she adopted everyone."

Marisol looked at Kawehi, her eyebrows raised.

"She was shortcutting all the budget and operational issues," Kawehi said. "Lady Tulani wasn't happy about your team losing someone, so she cut the Gordian knot by adding all of you to her personal household."

Deidre raised an eyebrow. "And Ops let her?"

Kawehi smiled. "Welcome to Project politics. Operations isn't going to risk pissing her off, as either the Echo Administrator, or as an offworld VIP. My guess is that there was a polite nod as they made it happen."

"And what's that mean for the future?" Marisol asked.

"Relax," Kawehi said. "I don't think she's interested in having you guard her house or anything like that. It's her way of saying thank you."

"Do we get special hats?" Shep mumbled.

Emma laughed. "I'll make you one myself."

Shep opened his eyes again, staring at her in wonder. "Theo, I didn't know you were a girl!  Sorry, cousin."

"I'm over here," Theo said. "That's Emma."

Shep's half-open eyes considered Theo before he looked back at Deidre. "Why does Theo keep turning into a girl?"

"Young woman," Emma corrected, grinning.

Shep looked at Deidre, confused outrage in his eyes. She chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed. "Close your eyes, goofball. You need to sleep."

"Okay, but he needs to make a decision," Shep grumbled, closing his eyes.

 

A day after Lady Tulani had returned from offworld, Kawehi Moana made her way to the VIP visitor quarters. She found an empty table in the café and ordered a cup of coffee, and an espresso Americano with extra shots. The server actually warned her about the caffeine content when he brought the drinks to the table. Kawehi just smiled and nodded.

A few minutes later, a tall, gaunt figure dressed entirely in black emerged from the lobby. Kawehi lifted a hand in greeting and he took the chair across the table.

"Ms. Adornment of the Deeps," Aeolus said, nodding gravely.

"Mr. Doctor You-Can't-Pronounce-My-Name-Aeolus," she replied, just as seriously. "Have you readied yourself to communicate with all our lesser minds?"

Aeolus' mouth twisted into the odd Yffliad smile. "I made the mistake of considering Lady Tulani a 'lesser mind' once. It was...unpleasant."

"I'd very much like to hear more about that."

He snorted. "I am sure that you would, but you would require something of actual value to trade."

She laughed. "Something considerable?"

"Without a doubt," Aeolus said.

He picked up his cup and sniffed it. He nodded his thanks at Kawehi as he drained the steaming cup. His ears flushed red as he took a deep breath.

"My mind awakens so slowly," he sighed.

"How many of those have you had already?"

"Six! This place does not make it nearly strong enough and she would not give me the beans to chew. Against the rules. Absurd! I am Yffliadi!" Aeolus waved a hand irritably and sighed. "Never mind that. I have a proposition; I will exchange the account of my humiliation for the particulars of your accidental love affair. The salacious details of course."

"There are no salacious details," Kawehi said. "I've been showing him how to damp down the Talent and nothing more."

"Bah. You used to be much more entertaining."

Kawehi laughed. "When did you get so judgmental?"

"They will not allow me to smoke! There is no 'chew' here. It is a travesty!"

Kawehi hid a smile. "Surely a Yffliad doesn't need tobacco to think?"

He sighed and stood up. "The mockery never ends. Come, it is time."  

After the short walk to the administration offices, Aeolus opened the door for her.

Kawehi raised her eyebrows. "Why, thank you, Doctor. Are you studying Terran courtesies?"

"Again, bah."

Lily was in her usual spot and a very pale man was perched on a stool next to her. He stood up as they approached, his height and complexion marked him as one of the allied prefcorian races. Lily glanced at them and smiled.

"Doctor Aeolus, and Lieutenant Moana, you're right on time," she said.

"Of course we are," Aeolus said. "I am Yffliadi."

Lily grinned. "One of the many things I appreciate about your people, sir. They're running slightly behind inside."

"Ulan, this is an unexpected pleasure," Kawehi said to the bluish skinned man beside Lily.

"Lieutenant," he said bowing slightly.

"You are a Agreh?" Aeolus asked, looking him over.

"That is correct," the man said gravely. "And you are a Yffliadi mind-master."

"We are in accord," Aeolus said, still looking at him curiously.

Amusement ghosted across Lily's face.

"Are you enjoying Earth?" Kawehi asked.

Ulan nodded his head gravely. "This is a very strange world, but I am told that I am adapting well. Lillian al-Salem is an excellent instructor. She has shown me the method for the shaking of the hand."

Ulan carefully stuck out his hand. Kawehi clasped hands and Ulan carefully shook her hand three times and let go.

"You're practically a Terran," Kawehi said.

Ulan's bluish skin paled. "But I do not wish this to become the truth. I would sooner return home. This is not an offense to Terrans, we are very different people.

"No offense was taken," Kawehi said. "And I know there are a lot of people working very hard to get you back home."

He inclined his head. "My skills are not useful, but I am ready when needed."

"We are grateful for that," Kawehi said, her nod almost a small bow.

Lily looked at her screen as it chimed. "Doctor, Lieutenant, you're cleared to enter."

Kawehi thanked her and the pair walked past the foot-thick steel door that guarded the portal. Ahead of them, Mirjam opened the inner office door. Kawehi stopped and turned in place, lifting her arms. Grumbling, Aeolus did the same.

"Thank you both. Please come in," the blonde woman said in her low voice.

Kawehi went into the office and saw that Henry and Nora were already there. Around the table, people Kawehi didn't recognize were putting away tablets as they got up. She nodded at them without introducing herself. They nodded back but no one spoke as they left. After the attack that had destroyed her research facility, compartmentalization had become Lady Amanda's new religion.

Once they were gone, Mirjam closed the heavy door and sat down in one of the chairs along the wall behind Amanda.

Henry cleared his throat. "Amanda, I think your Warden's input might be helpful for our discussion. Unless it interferes with her responsibilities, of course."

Mirjam and Amanda looked at each other briefly and Mirjam pulled her chair up to the table, looking a little uncomfortable.

In the table was a small console with a microphone. Amanda reached over and entered several numbers and there was a small ping.

"Good morning everyone," Jaxson said, the smooth androgynous voice seeming to come from Kawehi's left side. "We are here to discuss the possible ramifications of the novel situation presented by Tulani Chevarista et Elouan, Ynnyth Jaanthelme Thonya, known Terra as Theophile Gautier Cosineau."

Mirjam glared at the console. "He's a person, not a situation, tin-man."

"I understand your feelings," Jaxson said. "This is the format I received, no slight was intended."

"I didn't get any urgent messages while I was away, so I'm assuming he didn't burn down the farm at least," Amanda said.

"Like we'd notice something that trivial with those IRT lunatics on R&R," Henry said.

There were a few chuckles around the table.

"My last meeting was an attempt by Operations to return that IRT to their control," Amanda said. "I refused, since they were so ready to tear Sergeant James Sheppard away from his comrades for simple convenience. I find this absolutely shameful and I will be taking a much closer look at their protocols."

"You may not adopt all of the IRT groups," Mirjam said.

"You may believe whatever you like," Amanda replied, smiling to take the sting from the words. "But for now, I'm anxious to hear about Theo."

"Then let's take care of that first," Nora said, looking at the interface on the table. "Jaxson, I want to record a statement for the record."

"Please proceed," the voice said.

"I am Doctor Nora Stohl, co-director of Evaluation and Counter-Intelligence. After a week-long observation of Theo Cosineau, I have found no indications that this individual offers any abnormal risk to either Lady Tulani, or to the Terran Exodus Project. Despite the poor conditions of his captivity, the subject is intelligent, alert, and adapts easily and quickly to environmental changes, especially in the presence of family or trusted friends. There are chronic issues related to long term memory recall, but they are not debilitating, and are consistent with a previous neurological examination performed by Dr. I. Aeolus. Statement ends."

"Recorded and accepted."

"Jaxson, attach my statement as well," Henry said. "Doctor Sisakos speaking, co-director of Evaluation and Counter-Intelligence. Extensive study and testing do not show any unusual mental conditioning or post-hypnotic triggers. I am confident that Theophile Cosineau poses no threat to the Terran Exodus Project or to Administrator Amanda Tulani."

"Recorded and accepted. Do you wish to add a statement, Dr. Aeolus?"

"You may use my earlier report as a summation," he said.

"Your...summation is in excess of six-hundred standard pages, Doctor," Jaxson warned.

Aeolus glared at the interface. "That is because it is accurate, horrid machine."

"I understand. Your summation has been attached and accepted."

"You would not have requested a meeting if this was all you found," Amanda said. "What is the bad news here?"

"There's nothing negative, just very unusual," Henry said. "I'd like you both to take a look. Jaxson, I flagged a series of video clips. Play the first in the series please."

An large image appeared on the wall and the recording began in the middle of what looked like a water fight. The wide angle switched to a focus on the twins as they threw water-balloons at the IRT team who were responding with buckets and hoses. The clip ran for fifteen seconds and froze as the twins retreated by jumping into the pool. Henry noticed that Mirjam had straightened up and was staring at the screens.

"You already see it?" Henry asked her. Mirjam glanced at him and Henry gestured at Jaxson's interface. "Be my guest."

"Jaxson, isolate Theo and Emma's interaction only, loop from fourteen seconds to twenty-eight seconds," Mirjam said.

"What am I looking for?" Amanda asked her.

Mirjam got up and walked to the screen where the abbreviated clip slowly looped. "Jaxson, playback from eighteen to twenty seconds, slow it to ten percent."

The image of the twins, standing nearly back to back, began to slowly move.

"Annotations," Mirjam said.

She tapped the screen and an arrow appeared. Mirjam highlighted Emma's left leg and hip. Then she did the same with Theo's. The highlighted areas became a little brighter than the surrounding frame.

"Advance two seconds, then loop. Amanda, watch their leg movements carefully. It's subtle."

"I see Emma moving first, and then Theo follows her."

"Exactly. Jaxson, zoom out and reframe the two of them. Add three seconds to either end of the loop."

They watched several iterations of Theo and Emma twisting away from a jet of water before Amanda saw it.

"She dodged something she couldn't see," Amanda said. "It isn't simple happenstance?"

"Possible but unlikely," her Warden said. "There were more examples of this, Doctors?"

Nora was beaming as though Mirjam was an especially bright student. "Jaxson, take the parameters from Mirjam's annotation and apply them to the video captures I had you save."

The large screen split into windows and they all watched as the twins reacted simultaneously to stimulus that only one of them could have seen. Occasionally Emma followed Theo's movements but more often, he followed hers.

"But how can they communicate that quickly?" Amanda asked.

Mirjam sat back down and raised an eyebrow at Kawehi who nodded slightly. Amanda didn't miss the look.

"What's going on here?"

"Nora forwarded the videos so I could take a look," Kawehi said. "I see something here that shouldn't be possible. Let me put it into context.  Jaxson run the loop I highlighted in my training record, please."

The twins disappeared and the scene changed. Now it was a room full of obstacles. In the center of the room, Kawehi and Nate stood back-to-back, wearing Project issue gray combat fatigues. The clip was slowed down, enough that blurred trails snapped across the scene as the training AI fired non-lethal, but still painful, training rounds.

"This was recorded when Nate and I were going through bonding," she said. "Jaxson, put the two clips side by side, centered on as much of the rectus fomoris as you can."

The magnified clips ran slowly, side by side, focused on the front of each pair's thigh and hip.

"The same muscle twitches in all of you," Amanda said. "What am I looking at?"

"It has to do with how bodies communicate in combat dyads," Kawehi said. "There's no real precognition to it, part of the deep training was teaching our bodies, on an unconscious level, how to recognize each other's movements in a high stress situation. It's one of the most intense modules in the bonding process. If the twins are using a similar technique, how? Do the Garragh have a biological affinity for the bonding process?"

"Not that I've ever heard of. Mirjam?"

The Warden shook her head. "If anything, the close relationship between Oliver and Amanda interfered slightly with the bonding."

Henry cleared his throat. "Another possibility is the...unusual parentage of the twins."

Amanda shrugged. "It's possible, but very unlikely. Kawehi, my brother and Claire wanted to have children, enough that my brother imported a genetic engineering team from the Commonwealth to make it happen. It was a long process, but they finally managed a hybridization. Two viable zygotes, one male, one female, were implanted and Claire carried them to term."

"So, they're not twins," Kawehi said.

"Not in the usual sense, they're technically clones," Amanda said. "Combining genes from two different prefcorian races was nearly too much, even for the Xero'pah specialists Ollie hired. When they finally managed the first viable material, it was immediately cloned. My brother worried about the two of them developing codependent personalities but even as children, I remember them having distinct personalities."

Mirjam smiled, surprising almost everyone at the table. "Perfect partners in whatever mayhem they could invent."

"Perfect partners," Nora repeated. "This brings us to another question. Putting this aside for a moment, what's the first response for a combat dyad when they're forcibly separated?"

Kawehi shrugged. "Reuniting, obviously."

"What if that's not possible?"

Kawehi's smiled faded and she looked uncomfortable. "There's been instances where half a dyad is killed in action. In training, they describe how the survivor is sedated and evacuated for intensive medical intervention. That hasn't ever happened to my knowledge, the surviving half has immediately suicided in each instance."

"But what would happen if the partner isn't killed, just taken away?" Nora asked quietly.

"Back to the single thing we must have, reunification," Kawehi said. "Whatever it takes. You are not complete until you're together again."

"Does anyone know what would happen to a child in that situation?"

Everyone at the table looked at Dr. Aeolus. His eyes widened and he glared back at them.

"I protest these...insinuations! Yffliad ethics would never allow that kind of experimentation, let alone the problems presented in child research and experimental design..."

Nora cleared her throat. "Doctor, I was hoping that you could extrapolate the effects on a developing personality. You're the neurological expert in this field."

Aeolus relaxed. "Ah. Please pardon my outburst. In adults, there is a risk of a type of catatonia in cases involving extreme dysfunction. We have high functioning individuals in the third stage of personality generation, symptoms modified by powerlessness..."

His voice lowered into a mumble as he talked to himself. After a minute he looked up. "My prediction is that there would be a wide range of behavioral issues involving rage and sorrow. Likely a preference for skills seen as helpful, with a correlating disinterest in unrelated skills or activities. Very probably there are defensive outbursts toward anything that casts doubt on the possibility of reunification. I could not be more specific without additional data."

Amanda got up, clutching her chair, face pale. She held up a finger to wait and stumbled to her private office. Mirjam, not looking much better, followed her.

"I am certain that I did not say anything inappropriate," Aeolus muttered to Kawehi.

"Emmaline, Theo's sister, has a range of maladaptation that closely resemble your projection," Nora said quietly. "We've done our best to help, but it's been intensely difficult on all three of them."

Both women reappeared a minute later, and Mirjam poured a glass of water for Amanda who looked like she was ready to cry.

Kawehi cleared her throat. "Lady Amanda, I realize that your time is invaluable. However, I think it would be more productive to speak about this another time."

"I'm fine," Amanda said, sitting up straight.

"I don't care to argue, but you are not fine," Kawehi said firmly. "It is obvious to me that you both need time in privacy to work through this."

"The lieutenant is high trained emotive," Mirjam said. "And I am insisting that you follow her advice. You can walk, or I can paddle you and then put you over my shoulder."

"If you're that sure, who am I to argue? I'll have Lily contact all of you to reschedule a meeting?"

Henry closed his folder. "We will keep our schedules open, we can meet whenever you're available, Administrator."

"Dr. Aeolus, can I ask you to stay at Echo for an extra day or so?" Amanda asked.

He bowed his head. "I am at your disposal, Lady Tulani."

A minute later, the vault door had shut. Mirjam led Amanda into her private office and put her on the leather couch.

"Jaxson, have Lily extend my apologies to the rest of today's meetings. We'll be heading to the Residence within the hour, I'll have full privacy until then."

"Confirmed," Jaxson replied.

"Please sit with me, Mirjam?"

"Of course. How are you?"

"The horror of this...it's been going on for years!"

"If nothing else, we finally understand Emma's predicament."

"I have been so angry at her sometimes, you would slap me if you knew some of the hateful things that I've thought about her. And every punishment I've ever given her, all the extra work, everything I thought might help, it was my failure, not hers."

"You don't get to carry all of the fault here," Mirjam said. "I am just as guilty, if not more so. I may have a problem ever looking her in the eye again."

"If we had only known."

"Stop there," Mirjam said. "We gave Theo up for dead years ago. Even with the two of them together again, it took several different geniuses to figure out what happened. We didn't torture Emma out of spite, and I hope she realizes that someday."

"You are always too kind to me."

"No, you are always too hard on yourself. Stop it."

Amanda sighed. "I don't even know what we're supposed to do next. You know that I'm hopeless at being part of an actual family."

"Like it or not, you are part of a family and you will have to learn. Do you remember telling me about what you swore to your brother the day he died?"

Amanda looked down, face red. "I had hoped you'd forgotten.   

"We go home, apologize, and hope that she's more merciful with us than we were with her."

"Then what? What if she never speaks to me again?"

"Then I'll kill her," Mirjam said calmly.

Amanda leaned back to look at her. "My body is sensing that you're about to start laughing."

Mirjam finally smiled. "We are a protective dyad, not a combat team."

"And we've been partners for years, white-hair. Don't sass me."

"Do you think she's going to put us on restriction for a long time? There is a skeet tournament this weekend. I made plans to attend."

Amanda's laugh was cut short by Jaxson's voice; "Administrator, you have an archived message marked as critical-immediate. Message originates from Commonwealth Senator Teydora Xilthana Esta-Yllacan."

Communications were still limited to lightspeed, even for the uncanny science of the Xero'pah, as well as the rest of the Commonwealth. Routine messages were moved by semi-autonomous courier ships that side-stepped the enormous distances by the use of Slingshot gates. Once within a few light-seconds, traffic was exchanged, along with the latest gossip between the resident Synths and their ship handling counterparts.

One of the roles for every Synthetic was a complex situational archive, enabling local areas to react quickly and autonomously, rather than waiting for messages that could take weeks to get from one end of the Commonwealth to the other. Amanda had been designated the leader of the lost research facility with the same method. So, Mirjam simply let go of Amanda as she stood up and went back to work.

"You have a demented sense of timing, Jaxson. Go ahead."

"I apologize, Administrator. There have been multiple protocol modifications attached."

"Please relay the message."

A female Xero'pah appeared on the wall screen. "Mistress Tulani, I have just received word that Oli'vehndra and Claire's son has been recovered. Allow me to extend my best wishes and accolades to your reunited family. As a small token of my unending regard for the House of Tulani, I am extending full Commonwealth citizenship to both Theophile and Emmaline. The synthetic intelligence carrying this message will provide the specific details as required. I will watch the twin's future progress with much interest. Until we meet again."

The screen blanked and disappeared back into the wall. Amanda sighed deeply and sat back down.

"Full citizenship," Mirjam said. "That's a bit more than some token honor."

"Indeed. I had assumed we could have some small amount of peace and quiet, now that Theo has finally come home."

Mirjam chuckled. "Did you really? With that pair of gremlins reunited?"

Amanda smiled at her. "You're the one that said I needed to dream more."

 

Theo stepped outside and took a deep breath of the chilly air. It would be hot later, but the predawn sky was dark for now and it was still the best part of his day. He found the Big Dipper first, far closer to the horizon that he'd ever seen it before. The door behind him shut as Emma came out and put an arm around his waist. The Milky Way stretched overhead, the trail of light leading who-knew-where. This would always be his favorite part of the day; just the quiet magic between the two of them, out here in the quiet and dark.