There it goes . . .

I'd been waiting for the other shoe. I knew it was coming. I always know that it's coming. It's just the way things are. Especially out here, where we seem to live in an Enhanced Improbability Field. Assuming there actually is such a thing, which there probably isn't. But it makes for a better excuse than a shrug of the shoulders and a "nannari."

So far, the other shoe's come in two thumps. The first a Reaver boat coming in hot and making the Militia earn their keep. Figures that none of the Alliance patrols would be on the ground when it happened. A couple of visitors apparently really stood out during the attack, or so I'm told. Seems the Reavers like to attack when the Alliance isn't around and I'm on the Orbital. Probably a survival advantage in that, seeing as how a platoon of well armed soldiers is bound to be more effective than even our Militia.

A single Reaver boat is more of a nuisance than a real threat. At least to us. Now, if they sent a whole tribe after the colony? Might be ugly. Blackburne was hit by several, at once, and they had to abandon their homes. But every year that gets less and less likely as Entropy works its magic on their numbers. Mindo's experiments aside, the Reavers were a dieing threat. Self regulated into extinction.

The rock strike on the Companion platform was more surprising, and unfortunate. We have the best Navtrac array of any 'small colony' on the Rim, with better navigation and approach sensors than most of the mid-sized colonies, or even Alliance bases, in the region. It's overkill for Hale's Moon, really. Most colonies our size don't even have traffic control, let alone a Navtrac array. But even with all that, there's still blind spots. Not many, but they're there. And, sometimes, rocks small enough to slip through the cracks in our coverage find their way to the surface.

Usually, when one of those rocks, rarely bigger than a Rugby ball by the time it burns up, sneaks through, it impacts somewhere harmless. That would be, roughly, ninety nine and a half percent of Hale's Moon's surface. This time though, we had the bad luck to miss it on the radar and for it to be on a trajectory that hit something fragile. With all the work that had gone into rebuilding the Companion House on that big industrial lifter, it was sad to see it settled half over on its side in a ravine. But one unlucky hit was all it took.

Maybe the 'Verse telling us we weren't supposed to have something nice.

Sad really. With 'Brina gone as long as she's been gone, I was actually considering spending an afternoon there. Maybe an evening. Haley was a wonderful girl, but there's some kind of contact that a Beagle just can't provide - no matter how affectionate she was. Now it looked like the opportunity had passed.

At least Aroha Hannu's volunteering to look into our Terraforming was a potential bright spot. I'd done a lot with the old Westinghouse unit when we'd found it a couple years ago now. Between it and impacting a couple cometary bodies, we'd managed to raise the humidity to the point scrub would grow and some life could survive on the surface. But she'd actually had some specific education in it. Hale's would never be a Green world. That just wasn't in the cards. But maybe, just maybe, we'd be less of a windfall for Blue Sun's 'skin moisturizing products' division.

What was bothering me most, I think, was the situation with x0x0.

I understand more of her arrangement with Major Siamendes than she knows, since I'm privy to more internal Alliance communications than I let on. But that's only part of the issue with her recently. Her nearly coming to blows with the soldier Siamendes sent to collect her not withstanding, her recent behavior has me a bit worried.

It's been obvious for a while that x0x0's not entirely stable. Her brother's death was an obvious blow, but there've been other things that don't make a lot of sense. What is her real relationship with Krenshar? How does Blue fit into her puzzle? Lily? AuroraBlue? Somehow, all those threads tie back to x0x0, but none of the links are clear. Yes, Blue was one of x0x0's projects much like Nora was one of mine. But Nora had never had an agenda.

It seemed that on some level x0x0 was a Reader. There were a few, I knew. I'd dealt with a couple of them before I'd 'retired' the first time. They were all mad to one degree or another, and x0x0 sometimes showed the same traits. I could still remember what the subject at the training center had said to me - "The others. So much noise. Always loud. So loud. But you, no. Quiet. You whisper." Does x0x0 listen to my whispers?

Does Blue?

She's an enigma. Sometimes I think I understand her. Other times I think she's trying to play me. Which, honestly, probably means she is. But there are still things I'd protect her from, or at least try to. I'd called Silvermane before Siamende's soldier left with x0x0. Just a heads up, and request to keep me in the loop. Cory would put things through the proper channels as she always did and I would be read into the link.

The question though was not whether I was protecting x0x0 from the Alliance. But whether I was protecting the Alliance from her.