Cubs

I don't pretend to understand Lily, or Blue, or AuroraBlue, for that matter. It's not just that they are each, in their way, a construct. Unlike everyone else I know, they developed without the normal psychological development the rest of us share. They lack the long term learning and perspective that we learn through trial and error from childhood.

None of them were ever really children.

They are each, in their way, a sociopath.

Not that that is really a surprise. I'm a sociopath on some levels myself. It's why I'm so effective at what I do. But it does make things difficult. I've often said I've faced trials no other mother in history has ever faced. How could they? My adopted daughter is a synthetic life form. Not even really organic, though fully sentient. Her daughter is purely organic, but she's been through physiological changes that she probably shouldn't have survived and her mind is that of a Mentat: a Human mind that can think like a computer.

The new cub though? What do I make of him? Lily described him as being made from Sand and Electricity, and visually I wouldn't doubt he's a Synthetic. How? No idea. Given the developments in nano-fabrication and the influence of Blue, it's possible K2, as she calls him, really is made of Sand. Sort of. From sand would be more appropriate. A good high grade multi-mineral base with all the appropriate metallic elements available, and it might be possible. Might. As in, I can't entirely rule it out, but I haven't seen anything to say it's so either.

Synthetic or not, he was well behaved when Lily left him with me to tend. Spent almost the entire time curled up more or less asleep on the small bed with Haley, where Lily put him. Which, all things considered, wasn't such a bad idea. Haley's always been good around children. Pretty much from the day we rescued her from the Reavers, she's shown an even greater than average, for a dog, affinity for Younguns.

Part of me wants to know more about him, and another part doesn't want to think too hard about it. Mechanoids, like the infamous KM series, all require serious infrastructure investment to manufacture. There's a reason menial labor is still performed by indentured servants and the poor, rather than by industrial mechanoids. Autonomous mechanicals are expensive and complex to make, require skilled maintenance to keep in operation, and still generate a fair amount of fear within the general population. In most circumstances, they're just not economical. Not when you compare them to cheap human labor.

A synthetic like my dear Mei Mei is, functionally, a curiosity. Created in a lab by a brilliant, if insane, inventor, for a specific purpose. She is unique. Unlike the KM series or any of the other mechanoid models, there will not be hundreds or thousands of her coming off an assembly line. She is the only one of her kind and may forever be the only one of her kind.

Using nanotech under AI control to manufacture synthetics is a game changer. Potentially a terrifying one. But I'm not going to judge. I don't know enough about him. I will. In time. But for now, I don't. And I won't judge.

The question though, is whether I'll need to protect him from AuroraBlue. Lily's convinced my little girl is going to end her, and K2. Why? She can't say. Or maybe won't say. While I have my suspicions, I don't know for sure. There was a time when I thought I understood where it was all leading, but now I'm not so sure. Too many variables. Too many unknowns.

And my own emotions coloring the picture.

Energy and Sand

Machines as small as microbes

What now have you wrought?

And then someone blew up x0x0...

There are dangers inherent in being highly placed in a large corporation. It goes with the territory. No mater how well liked a corporation is, someone out there will want to put some hurt on the top executives. Either for some imagined slight, or for kidnapping and ransom, or for political reasons, someone will want to do them harm. That's why most corporate executives have some sort of security force around them at all times. They need it. Even Grandfather has a couple of bodyguards.

When half the known 'Verse has a love/hate relationship with the company, like, say, Blue Sun, the problem is magnified. While x0x0's position in the company isn't as widely known as some, she is still functionally, vary, very, powerful. If they were a privately held concern, like KHI, with no shareholders to appease, her power would be unsurpassed. But x0x0's always been independent and, honestly, a badass in her own right. She's always taken a rather, mukanshin'na . . . unconcerned, view of her personal security. I've kept an eye on her, as I have on Lily and AuroraBlue. Unfortunately, I have been much less successful at protecting my girls than I'd like.

That being the case, it was really no surprise that someone would put some effort into hurting x0x0. While a package bomb seems like a crude, and, honestly, unsophisticated, way to attack, it can be effective. In this case, it was quite effective. The device made it through x0x0's usual checks on such things and the blast damn near killed her.

I wasn't in position to do anything about it at the time, but I've been following her situation ever since. Not entire sure I like the space she's in now, truth be known. But, for now, I will just watch. If someone tries to finish what they started, I'll hopefully be a step ahead of them. If someone tries to take advantage of x0x0's compromised situation, I'll have her moved beyond their reach. I've got substantial discretionary power in my Intel position. And, failing that, I'm still quite adept at performing extractions.

In the meantime though, I need to sift the data and find out who tried to hurt her.

It's there.

I know it is.

I just need to find it.

Bombs so very crude.

An amateur assassin.

Perhaps something more?

Web

There are points in a persons life when everything suddenly comes into focus. Places and times where they realize what road they are on. It doesn't matter what road they might think they are on, or which they were on. They see the road they are on. It is in those moments they can embrace the path as it lies, or make a conscious effort to alter course. For better or worse, the choice becomes obvious.

Unfortunately, it's oft impossible to tell whether the choice, any choice, is for better or worse. Even when the choice has been made, it may be hard to tell for a while whether the choice made was the right one.

I've recognized most of those moments in my life.

But this one crept up on me.

Pouring over Intel analysis as I have done so often for the last couple years I suddenly realized how large a web I'd spun - to borrow a euphemism. Dragon's don't spin webs. But still. I'd positioned myself at the focus of a vast web of information. Originally as a way to protect my girls from being exploited, then simply continued because of inertia.

As a district officer I'd been given a great deal of freedom over what to do with the intelligence I collected. Much of it was simply passed on for later analysis. Some I acted upon myself, using the resources at my disposal or, rarely, taking a direct hand myself. Some I squirreled away because passing it up the chain would have consequences best avoided.

And therein lay the realization. Information was power. Even more than wealth, of which I had a passable supply, Information - raw knowledge - was power. Whether it was used for good or ill, or simply was, was separate from the information itself.

That, in itself, was no real revelation. It was more of a truism. What was a realization was that I'd been consciously making judgments about what information should get passed on or not, and why I was making those judgments. And the realization of the direct effects some of the passed information had had, and what the omissions had meant.

I'd been using information to subtly manipulate the Intel community, knowing, as I had pretty much since I joined the Intel community, that the community had subtly been manipulating me. Manipulating everyone. And now, the conscious realization that I could use that manipulation to advantage. Not for personal gain, though that was an obvious avenue, but to subtly guide events towards the brighter future I'd always imagined.

It was a frightening realization.

But it illuminated my course.

I had information. Vast quantities of it. And, by skillfully disseminating that information, by trading it, guiding it into the proper hands, or away from other hands, I could do far more good in the 'Verse than I ever could behind a command desk or from a high floor in a corporate tower.

Most of the contacts were already in place. It was a matter of expanding the network, casting a wider net, and, above all, being very, very, careful with how I used the power at my disposal.

It would have to happen slowly. Carefully. But it would happen.

It was already happening.

Only now, it was time to consciously move on what I knew.

Buddha help us all.

Knowledge is power

Vast web of information

Who am I to judge?

Surface

I'd never planned to spend a lot of time on the surface of Dragon's Egg. I certainly hadn't planned to live on the surface. But that's where I am now. Not my original plan, but what kept me on Hale's Moon is what keeps me on Dragon's Egg. My girls are here, so I am here. Only now, I'm on the ground, rather than enjoying the view from three hundred kilometers up.

Contrary to what seemed to be popular belief, I didn't actually own the platform. Never mind it had the Kawanishi name on it. Never mind I was part of the Kawanishi clan. Never mind it was deployed to Hale's Moon at my request. The platform had been owned by Kawanishi Heavy Industries Limited of Ariel, with very favorable terms for the Hale's Moon colony it orbited. Unfortunately, with Hale's gone, the agreement went with it. We redeployed it to Dragon's Egg at my request, but, sadly, I couldn't make a good business case for keeping it there. There just wasn't enough traffic to justify keeping the modular platform in place. Not with a copious lack of trans-shipment opportunities and with the Blue Sun owned Dragon's Egg Station there.

The "request" from Ariel wasn't so much a request as a declaration that KHI "was going to move the platform to a more accessible and lucrative position in the Kalidasa system, and, if I didn't intend to relocate with it, would I be so kind as to remove my personal effects from the station so they could disengage the modules and move it on out." So that, in effect, was that. The orbital platform that had housed my base of operations was being moved.

Functionally, it was an inconvenience but not a major problem. I still had IAV Saule Silencieuse at my disposal. While the ELINT Corvette wasn't my ideal home base, it was both mobile and very, very, well equipped for its job. I could establish a secure uplink to the ship and have access to all the capabilities I'd need, and could operate from my office there when needed. Though that left surface accommodations.

Taking Simon up on his offer of a room at his farm solved that issue, at the cost of raising multiple eyebrows. With 'Brina gone as long as she was, and even after coming back remaining largely out of sight with work, people weren't completely surprised that I appeared to be spending time with other people. I'd had slept alone every night after all, but some companionship in bed didn't mean I loved my wife any less. Or missed her any less. The bigger surprise was that Simon was male.

Thing was, there wasn't actually anything between us. Simon's admonishment that I was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen aside, my decision to take the upstairs room in his farmhouse was purely practical. The structure was sound, and easily reinforced behind the bricks. And there was ample room outside to park Wave Equation. Also, Simon's background as an Alliace officer was appropriate. And, not surprisingly, deeper than it seemed on paper.

So let the eyebrows raise. That I loved my wife wasn't in doubt with the one person who actually mattered in the equation. Our work schedules were still a point of stress, but we'd made it this far. She would understand my ulterior motives for settling on the surface.

Just so long as I understood them.

Rope

AuroraBlue is alive, but not home.

Lily is awake and active and scampering over her new home on Dragon's Egg, whilst still somehow remaining more or less out of sight.

Uncle Sobi has graced Dragon's Egg Station with his bartending prowess, though I think the real reason he's here is to avoid watching his Clanmates use a re-purposed, but fully armed, Mech as a construction"tractor." That and Lady Jade wanted to visit some friends on the Rim.

For me, life is what it is. My girls are ok. Sabrina is back, though we still don't see much of each other and Simon is . . .Simon. I've learned more about him. Possibly more than I wanted to, though not more than I needed to. It has been a long time since a man has shown any interest in me, partially because, at least I'm told, I intimidate the hell out of people, but more recently because I'm married to another woman.

He is certainly persistent, though I don't think I could ever imagine myself living as a frontier colonist. That was, of course, assuming I wasn't already quite happily living my life. Well. Ok. Not always happy. There've been some lonesome spells in there, when 'Brina and I hadn't seen each other in months, 'cept over the cortex. And the frustration of dealing with the job folk knew about, and the job folk didn't know about. And being a mother. Kind of.

And then there's the amateur who thinks he's a professional: Nick. The only person in a decade I've actually seen annoy Sobi. If he were a tenth as good as he thinks he is, the Alliance wouldn't stand a chance. Which means, ultimately, he'll either come to grips with his own limitations or someone with a more violent temper than Old Guy will take offence and end his span. Given his abject disrespect? I may be me that does it. Though more than one person's told me to just let him take all the rope he wants.

I suppose I'll just have to see how things develop in the near future. I have things in place where they, mostly, need to be. The girls are ok. Rope is being payed out.

All is as it should be.

Not quite what I had in mind

I am home.

AuroraBlue is not.

I can't say this all went according to plan, or the outcome was what I desired. But it is what it is and, ultimately, I determined the one thing I needed to determine: my little girl is safe. At least where "safe" is defined as not in imminent danger of being attacked my Reavers, captured by an Alliance biomedical research team, or dieing from exposure to hard vacuum.

I'd managed to track her to one of those fortress-like households the locals liked to build out in the desert, where Cody was already discussing something with the locals. It sort of figures that he'd have found her himself then not bothered to send me a wave to say she was all right. Though after his absconding with a sleeping Lily, I'm not surprised. Just another broken link in the chain of trust at this point. I've kind of gotten used to it. The number of people I trusted was dwindling back towards the point it was at when I first left active duty.

Lovely.

The locals were. . . a product of their culture. I'd read a bit of the colonial culture on Al Raquis, but dealing with it face to face was a different matter. It was plain that somehow Tiny Dragon fit into their local mysticism. It was also plain that they really had no idea what was living in their midst. While, under other circumstances, it would have been interesting to explore the depths of their local mysticism, at the time I was in no mood to have someone try and out-Zen me.

I was probably a bad person for them to be talking about "personhood" to. They had no idea that AuroraBlue and Lily had legal status as people because of the work I'd done. They didn't realize it was an insult, which was why I didn't take it as one. Though, ultimately, they were right about one thing. I wasn't going to force AuroraBlue to do anything.

I'd come to bring her home, but only if she was willing. Finding out that she was OK was more important to me. If she chose to stay, for her own reasons, I would accept that. Dragons do as they do. It is our way. Or something like that. Something had drawn her here after leaving the destroyed mother bot in the wreckage of Hale's Moon. Something about singing sand and the Ardra AI that Lily had been obsessed with. It was all tied together somehow, but I didn't have enough of the pieces to wrap my brain completely around it.

The trip wasn't a total disappointment though, for when I left the keep to call Wave Equation down to take me back off-world, AuroraBlue came down off the roof and bade me follow her into the desert. Eventually, leading the way to a small encampment sheltered against a ridge not unreasonably far from the manor house itself.

What she told me, relayed, really, since she still wasn't really talking, was something else I'd have to wrap my head around. A piece of a bigger puzzle. A piece of a puzzle I'd been putting together since I first met Lily and came to accept artificial life as every bit as "real" as the naturally organic variety. But it wasn't something I would dwell on until later. Until after I returned to Dragon's Egg.

After spending one night watching over my sleeping little girl.

Tiny dragon mine

The keys to great mystery

Held in your small hand

Understanding waits

For now I must let you sleep

Time remains to dream

The one wherein I cart around an extra couple kilos of sand in my boots

I'd like to be able to say that within hours of setting boots on the ground on Al Raquis, I'd found AuroraBlue and safely spirited her away from that unending desert. I'd also like to say I'd brought peace to the warring factions on Devenporte and found a generic cure for both cancer and the common cold. Unfortunately, I couldn't say any of those things. All I could say, safely, was that the world had a certain arid beauty to it and that if I never saw another sand dune, sans beach, it would be too soon.

This sort of work wasn't my specialty. While I had all the required skills, I typically didn't string them together in a search and recovery Op like this. Normally, I at least knew where to find my target so the Op was more a matter of figuring out how to approach than the actual mechanics of finding them in the first place.

For the moment, I was avoiding pulling any of my 'official' resources into this. While Alliance Intel had resources on world, drawing on them would raise questions I didn't feel like answering. Fortunately, I had other resources I could tap here. While part of me actually felt a little bad asking Jai and her Zenobian friends for help, it wasn't really much of a stretch. Jai knew Lily and AuroraBlue and me. She knew it was personal, not professional. It was a favor from a friend and one I would repay when I was able.

Still, before I could make contact with them I would do some ground work on my own: checking out some of the local facilities and settlements to get a feel for the place and any hints I might find before setting off into the pervasive desert to try and find up close what I hadn't been able to find with Wave Equation's sensor array.

Unfortunately, it looked like the only thing I was turning up so far was a whole lot of sand.