Silence

I've said it before and I will, inevitably, say it again. No mother in history has gone through the trials I have gone through with my little girls. Humanity has had thousands of generations to get a good handle on what parenting should be like, but neither of my little girls are an accurate reflection of the rest of Humanity. They both just . . . are.

Things have been very unpredictable with them both recently. AuroraBlue, Anna, rather, has gone through another phase of rapid growth. I can't help but worry that that kind of strain, even on an engineered metabolism, can't be good for her long term survivability.

Of course, having her fall from a roof doesn't help that survivability factor much. Or get pushed, if that was the case. I don't really know. I just know they took her to the Infirmary and got her stabilized while I was stuck elsewhere. When I finally got there, Cody had been sitting vigil with her for some hours. I could see the effect it was having on him. Poor kid. I couldn't let him, or anyone else really, see the effect it was having on me. Seeing any youngun hurt like this pulled at your heartstrings. When it was your own kin?

I'm calm. Outwardly, I'm always calm.

From a purely medical position, we need to find a better place to treat her than the Infirmary here on Hale's Moon. We're very well equipped, at least for a small town frontier clinic, but Tiny Dragon's injuries are beyond what we can practically deal with here. She's stable, but she needs a real MedLab with doctors who can deal with the kind of traumatic injury she's suffered.

Our nearest option is the Sun Tzu. It would take calling in a favor and revealing cards I would rather keep hidden, but it's the fast option. Our best option, from a security for our injured standpoint, would be the medical center at the Family shipyard over Ariel. I trust my doctor. But it's a long flight even at full burn.

Then there are the other options.

Lily's behavior is as erratic as I've ever seen it. More so, really. At some moments she's acting like an Expert System that's not quite ready to take on a Turning test. Another moment, and she's a skittish not-cat. Give it a moment, she's an over-protective mother willing to kill to protect her cub. All within the span of a few moments. And poor Cody catching the brunt of her over-protective streak. Was all I could to to keep him from getting shot.

It almost seemed poetic that Blue would chose then to make an appearance. Or at least talk to us. He knows what is happening. He understands, either from analysis or from planning it from the start. But that doesn't make sense. No. Not planned from the start. But I suspect he identified the direction this whole saga was going and was able to predict the outcomes. At each critical point, there was a chance Chaos would interfere with his carefully predicted outcomes. But I was certain he'd calculated each break point. Every possible fork.

But the answers come in riddles. Silence. Heat. Cold. Somehow Anna needs environmental ques to come out of the coma she's in - as well as the basic medical treatment. There's an anechoic chamber in the Blue Sun lab here on Hale's Moon. x0x0 has taken herself off world and left Lily with the key. She knew I would need it. But that leads me to another form of "quiet." Metaphysics and parapsychological effects I'm not comfortable exploring.

There are at least two kinds of quiet in this context and I'm not sure x0x0's lab can provide what we need. I can recreate most of the anechoic chamber effects aboard Wave Equation using the dampers and some extra sound insulation. The other kind of quiet though is an entirely different animal. Without leaving her absolutely alone, it will take someone who can be silent. Someone who can silence their own inner turmoil. Their own thoughts as well as their body. It'll take a Ninja.

Or a Dragon.

I can't help but think I've missed some part of this riddle. Some key piece to the puzzle. But I know how to proceed at least. While Cody's coming to grips with letting be take Anna off the Orbital into the deep Black. I still don't know where the 'Hot and Cold' are physical conditions or emotional ones. Maybe the difference between the Machines she is so in tune with, and her Human family. I don't know. But I can give her the silence, both acoustic and empathic, I suspect she needs, and the thermal range. So that is what I prepare to do. To take my little girl away from the noise here, onto my boat deep in the black, running silent.

But not alone.

Tiny Dragon sleeps
Seeking a peaceful silence
Answer in riddles