The drone paused in its work. For a moment it seemed to regard her as she stood there holding Miku. Then it spoke, “This unit has forwarded your request. Standby.”

She blinked. Wait? What does it mean forwarded? To who? The questions rattled in her mind and she hugged little Miku just a little tighter. Feeling the young girl’s warmth against her skin felt rather reassuring in that moment. Little Miku shifted in her grasp a little and found a nipple. In a moment she felt her suckling and it was quite the lovely moment.

When suddenly the drone said, “Your request has been approved. If you would, please connect with the subject’s mind.”

She had no idea why, but Yiria complied. Taking two of her free tentacles she wrapped them around the girl’s head and began reaching for her mind. As she did so, a pair of tendrils from the drone wrapped around her own tentacles. Bringing with them a mechanical presence and something else. Something with a psionic presence so strong she felt like a child again, yet there was something about it. What she could not parse but Yiria felt it was important.

A moment later a powerful feminine voice spoke in her mind. “Greetings Yiria. It is a pleasure to meet you. We have things to discuss, but first introductions. I am Megumi, Primary AI of the Solean Imperial Battleship Constellation.”

Yiria blinked, “AI? How? This is clearly a...”

“Psionic connection? Yes. My creators have long learned how to bridge the gap between psionics and machines. They gifted me with the ability to use magic, and taught me some basic skills. My drone is acting as the bridge between you and I, that and as a focus. None of that is important right now, we do have work to do. First, we will need to undo the conditioning on the young girl’s mind. Then together we can explore what happened to her. What do you say?”

Yiria could only agree. She wanted to know what kind of abuse had been inflicted on the girl. Undoing conditioning was not something she would usually do, but she could already sense it. Like chains in the girl’s mind that would prevent them from finding what they sought. They must be cut, so that they could proceed.

With a thought she reached into her sleeping mind and began to tear through the conditioning. It broke far more easily than she would have thought it would. In moments those chains on her young mind were gone. With her still sleeping, it was beyond easy for her to reach deep into her mind. Like a rushing river, memories flowed through her mind’s eye as she felt the strong presence of the strange Megumi bolstering her. Her body ached in reaction to everything she saw. Even limbs she didn’t have gave her phantom pains as her nonexistent tail flared up with burning and sharp spikes of pain. She was familiar with this and ignored the sensations, attempted to anyway. When deep diving into another person’s mind it was not uncommon to feel their pains as they felt them. She just wasn’t used to them being this intense. Yiria didn’t much like the feeling.

A tear reached her eye, “That poor girl! She didn’t deserve that.”

“Yes well many are dealt hands they never deserved. Unfortunately we can’t help all of them, but we can help this one.”

She nodded, “Yes we can. If I had a memory crystal I could take her pain away but she would still need love.”

Megumi sighed into her mind, “You don’t need those. If you would? I can show you.”

Feeling Megumi press against her, she yielded. Allowing Megumi to guide her. Once again she reached deep into the girl’s mind and then she wrapped the memories. Yiria didn’t really know what they were doing and mostly watched as the memories were manipulated yet left intact at the same time. With each action, she soon realized that they were helping the young girl disassociate with the memories.

“There, that should do. Time will help them fade, she is too young to really hold on to them. In the meantime, her future should be discussed and I guess yours as well. Now that I am in your mind, I see things aren’t as clear-cut with you as I would have hoped.”

Yiria frowned, “What do you mean?”

She sighed, “I don’t exactly approve of what your people are doing with the Neku but unlike others I won’t destroy your people for their mistakes. I plan to nudge your kind and the Neku into a more symbiotic relationship. Given the damage done already, there isn’t much else that can be done anyway.”

Yiria wasn’t quite sure what to make of what she said, “What...”

“I know it’s not really your fault. Not for most of you. Some of you, especially those in the military, on the other hand, have gone too far.”

“So um, what are you... going to do?”

“Try to reunite as many young girls with their families as I can.”

Without thinking she adjusted her grip on Miku. As a strong fear of losing her rippled through her.

“Don’t be so afraid. I can already tell how you have bonded to her. Remarkable really, given the short time you two have been together. I’m not going to take her from you. What I will do is try and create an opportunity for her own mother to know her.”

“I...”

“You are her mother too. I can see that, but she will be happier if she at least had a chance to know her birth mother. To choose. At least try and give that to her, okay?”

“I’ll try, but mind telling me why?”

“With the power to bend minds comes the need to use it responsibly. I know you don’t understand yet, but I will help you understand. Open your mind and I will share with you something.”

Tentatively she complied and a vision rushed through her. For a moment she was filled with understanding. She saw countless worlds, some more alien than the next. Lives beyond count and so many cultures she lost count. Joy and sorrow went hand and hand. With it she saw people with power like her own and how they used it. Some used to uplift while others used it for gain. The visions flowed from her like water and what she saw vanished from her mind. It was too much to keep but what she took from it was a bit of understanding. She had gone too far with Riku, too far, but she didn’t want to give up Miku either. She didn’t know what to do.

Comfortingly Megumi’s voice told her, “It’s alright. We all make mistakes and I will help you make amends.” Then she gestured mentally. “In the meantime, let's help this young one.”

Yiria’s attention drifted back to the young girl. With it she was once again reminded of what she had seen and what she now knew about the young girl’s past. It wasn’t the most pleasant background. The poor girl didn’t really know all the details but she used to live in a small town. Middle of nowhere really, but she had been happy then. With loving parents who spoiled her with love and affection. Her memories of that time were faded but what remained were precious to her. Such happy times had come to a rather sudden end, the memory was incredibly sharp in her mind even as other details of the day were lost in time.

She had been with her babysitter, a friend of the family or something. The exact details were lost to time. At least in the girl’s mind. She just recalled that she was playing with her favorite doll, when there was a knock at the door. The babysitter answered and a pair in uniforms stepped in. Police uniforms. They spoke, in hushed tones. She caught a few words but like any child she quickly caught on that something was wrong.  When they left, her babysitter was unusually sweet to her and whenever the subject of her parents came up, she would dance around it. Only making it far more apparent that something was wrong. It wasn’t until the next day that she would learn what. Her parents were dead, the news was devastating to her. What followed was a bit of haze.

Her life was dark without them but it only grew more hellish when she was placed into the custody of her aunt. Her aunt was a nightmare and from that point on she experienced numerous beatings and every month her aunt would break her tail. Almost never in the same place and when it did heal it was rebroken. Her uncle was rarely around and while he never touched her, he never helped either. Naturally the young girl never understood why this was happening to her, but Yiria could see it plain as day in her memories. The poor girl was both resented and detested by her own blood. Why she didn’t know, but she could see the resentment. The girl had no love there.

Yiria had also seen how such a nightmare came to an end. It started with her hiding in the closet watching as an Iniri woman came in. Auntie had stuffed her in there, when the knock had come. Her uncle was on the sofa at the time and didn’t pay any attention. He was home for once and not on one of his usual trips. 

Making it the perfect time for an inspection and since her uncle was being drafted the military was doing an inspection of the house. To see if there was anyone else in the household they wanted. As it would turn out they would discover the poor little girl in the closet and take her away from that nightmare. After that she was quickly enrolled in the False Daughters Program.

From what Yiria understood, the poor girl was planted in this family after their real daughter was taken. She was to stay here for a few months and then be taken away and a different girl put in her place. The girl didn’t know much about why, but had apparently been told that once someone was interested in her for their project she would be collected and taken to that project.

To Yiria this whole thing was just wrong. This girl needed a mother, a real mother who would be there for her. A loving family, she glanced at Miku. Perhaps even a little sister that would brighten her day. She focused on Megumi, “I’d like to put my foot forward as someone interested in adopting her.”

Megumi responded, “I will consider your request but first I would like to offer her current adopted family that option.”

“I understand,” replied Yiria. That seemed only natural. She thought back to Riku. Yiria sighed, she really needed to apologize to her. That was not a conversation she was looking forward to, but at the time it seemed to be her right. Now she was seeing just how wrong that was.