And then they had a party . . .

Life on Hale's Moon seems to have several distinct states. There is "calm," in which life is life, people go about their business, and the only explosions are intentional and originate in the mines or with younguns blowing off steam. There is "bad," in which the explosions are either unintentional, or are intentional and accompanied by swarms of flying high velocity projectiles. And then there's "weird," in which case something is happening that just leaves you scratching your head. Like, say, robot revolutions and the like.

It was rarely entirely in one mode or another, and Weird for some might just be normal for someone else. But that's the nature of life in general. For me, it could easily swing through all three main modes in a single day. It was something I'd grown accustomed to. Hale's Moon was some kind of vortex that drew improbable events into it's shallow gravity well with abandon, so you got used to it or your lived somewhere else.

Which said a lot about the folk who moved here voluntarily.

Firefly's Bar had been a going concern on Blackburne for years before they had to abandon the Downport and former citizens had scattered across the Rim. Nack and his kinfolk had chosen Hale's Moon to relocate, along with quite a few of the others who'd called Blackburne home. Which meant bringing Firefly's with them in spirit, if not form, and with the long running bar, the traditions and parties and many of the folk who'd made it what it was.

Firefly's would always have a special place in my heart. I'd met 'Brina there and it had been where we went to dance together for most of our relationship. I'd made other friends there too, some of whom I'd grown quite close to. Good memories. And a few sad ones. Plus getting shot at, or shot, more than once, but that was another matter.

I had to admit though, I felt a little under-dressed at the anniversary party. Everyone else had shown up in formal wear, or at least their Sunday Best. Me? I'd hadn't much time to change between dealing with my duties and arriving at the party, so I showed up wearing my usual leather pants, jacket, silk top, and gunbelt. I was comfortable mind you. Just felt under-dressed for the occasion.

I didn't stay as long as I might have liked. Got a chance to talk to Nack a spell, see x0x0 and her newly adopted Catherine, and even a few minutes to give AuroraBlue a bit of motherly affection before Cody called her away to home, being a tad late for a youngun. Couldn't say I was thrilled to see her go, but I didn't let my annoyance with Cody show. He was trying to help Lily raise her and I couldn't fault him for the effort. Hell, it seemed he was having better luck than my own folks had trying to raise her on Ariel.

Still, didn't have anyone to dance with, 'cept Imrhien, who already had a full card, so called it early.

On the weird side, a couple days after the party, Catherine and Kasuko were talking in my office while they thought I was distracted with something else. Hadn't quite gotten a handle on Kasuko yet. Nice girl. Pretty. Intelligent. Working as some sort of hacker for one of the small time Pirate operations that sometimes stopped by for fuel and food. Obvious she fancied me, though she knew I was hitched.

Thing was, she was trying to teach Catherine to hack on a small wearable computer she had. Little thing. Not unlike my own Deck, but an uprated Civilian unit, not a milspec black box. I heard her saying something about breaking into the portable I kept on my desk. At first blush, it'd look as easy as it was. It was supposed to be as easy as it looked. Nothing more than the usual commercial grade ICE you'd find on any world in the 'Verse.

Except it wasn't. Not really. Be interesting to see what she tried, if she tried, and how long it took her to figure out that there were several layers between that front end and anything interesting. My systems had been built by professionals, to stop professionals. More than professionals. My systems had been hardened to make it difficult for even an AI to get in, though just how effective that was remained to be seen. It wasn't like Blue and I were playing war games in the back room.

At least not any more.

Would have to see how x0x0 reacted to Catherine learning the art of exploitation. Assuming, of course, she did learn about it. I'd keep my eye on them for a spell. Nothing obvious, but it wouldn't do to let x0x0's little girl get in trouble, or to get careless around someone who worked for a small time pirate. Wouldn't do at all.