Peter placed the toy on the bouncer seat’s tray, and they both laughed when Todd’s efforts to get his hands on it resulted in the toy being knocked to the rug.
Todd’s tiny face screwed up and went a very specific shade of red.
“I’ll get the diaper bag,” Tabitha trilled. “It’s my turn to change him.”
Peter held a hand over his nose. “Sure thing, babe. But you’re sort of too happy about changing a smelly butt.”
Tabitha shook her head as she took the mat out of the bag and laid it on the rug, along with everything else she needed.
Todd was beginning to make grunts about the load in his diaper, but Tabitha was already there, lifting him onto the mat. “Who’s my big stinky boy?”
Peter made an exit as she opened the diaper. “It used to be me,” he complained good-naturedly, stifling a gag as he went by. “But as long as you take care of the poop, I’m good with the transition. I feel bad, but a deal’s a deal.”
Tabitha waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll get him cleaned up. You can take over on dinner. Bethany Anne, Michael, and the twins will be here soon.”
“I love that a weekly dinner is becoming a tradition,” Peter called from the hallway, pausing a beat before continuing, “if three consecutive weeks counts as a tradition?”
Tabitha smiled at her son as Peter headed to the kitchen. “I think I got the better end of the deal,” she confided to Todd while she cleaned him up. “Poop’s not the worst thing a child can get everywhere, and you’re going to grow out of needing help with that in no time.”
The baby kicked his legs and gurgled contentedly.
Tabitha smiled as she fastened Todd's romper suit. “I know, right? You're such a clever little guy. Yes, you are. Mommy loves you. Yes, I do…”
By the time Todd was clean and sweet-smelling again, Tabitha heard a commotion at the front door. She carried Todd to the hallway, but Peter had beaten her to the door.
He had barely opened it when Alexis swept past Peter and headed straight for Tabitha and Todd with her arms held out. “Todd! Hi, little one. It’s your cousin Alexis.”
Tabitha made a show of checking whether she was still there. “Nope, I’m definitely present. It must be the baby. Does he make me invisible?”
“Sorry, Aunt Tabbie.” Alexis looked anything but. She still wasn’t looking at Tabitha because she was making faces at Todd, much to the baby’s delight. “Can I sit with him until we eat? Pleeease? I’ll be very careful.”
Tabitha glanced at Peter, who came over and took Todd from her and nodded toward the living area. “We can sit in there. Wait until you see what he can do already.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow at Tabitha. “Anything we should know about?”
Tabitha’s eyes misted over a moment. “He’s advanced; we can tell that much already. He’s been tracking things with his eyes since day one, and he has more control than he should at this age.”
“He’s growing rather quickly, too.” Bethany Anne’s eyes flicked through the door to the twins. “If he continues to grow at that rate, you should get his nanos checked out.”
“Already on it,” Tabitha assured her. “His first checkup with Eve is tomorrow.”
Dinner passed pleasantly, if too quickly, and Tabitha soon found herself at the door saying goodnight while Peter fed Todd before bedtime.
It was only when she shut the door that the tears came.
Peter returned from tucking Todd in for the night as she was scrubbing her cheeks dry. “What’s wrong?”
Tabitha shrugged. “I dunno. Nothing?”
He gathered her into his arms. “Come on, Tabbie. If you’re sad, I’m sad, too. What am I sad about?” He kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know, because you won’t tell me.”
“I’m not sad,” she insisted. “I’m just…not happy about us being split up. You heard Bethany Anne at the meeting and at dinner tonight. She’s planning on an extensive campaign against the Ooken, possibly immediately followed by the war we came out here for. We just had a baby. Tonight was perfect. I don't want a thing to change right now.”
Peter held Tabitha close as she began to cry all over again. “Me either, babe. But you know we'll deal, same as we always do.”
“I know.” Tabitha sniffed, her supply of tears finally exhausted. “Damn hormones. What are we going to do? I don't want to take our son into a war, but the war will come to us if we don't take it to the Ooken first.”
She looked up at Peter. “And we have to win.” She held Peter tightly for a moment, looking around their home. “We’ll lose all of this forever if we don’t.”
Chapter Four
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, The Dome
Bethany Anne led Alexis and Gabriel along the corridor into the main chamber.
“This is our classroom!” Alexis exclaimed. “But…the door in the garden…”
“Doesn’t exist,” Bethany Anne reminded her daughter gently. This was why she had insisted on reality as much as possible within the game’s base scenario. “The entrance has been hidden. You can only get here through the Etheric now.”
Gabriel scanned the dome suspiciously. “Why’s that, Mom? Is it not safe to be down here?”
Bethany Anne shook her head. “It’s safe, but the old entrance had to be guarded. Besides, I don’t want anyone who can’t defend themselves against what happens in here to stumble in and get killed.”
“Killed?” Alexis asked, wide-eyed. “What are we doing in here?”
Bethany Anne smiled at her children. “You want to come with your father and me when we leave? You need to learn magic.”
It’s not magic, TOM huffed.
Shhh! I’m creating a narrative here!
TOM sniffed. My apologies. Please continue.
Don’t make me come in there.
Alexis frowned. “But we’re not in the game, Mom. We have technology to use, not magic.”
Bethany Anne waved a hand, and three seats and a table rose out of the floor.
Both children were amazed.
Bethany Anne indicated that they should sit. “A very long time ago, someone wrote something that made me think. He said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Alexis nodded. “That was Arthur C. Clarke, Mom. I read him a year ago. But that’s fiction. It can’t apply here.”
Bethany Anne tilted her head. “Can’t it?”
Gabriel roused himself from thought. “It’s not too far a stretch. I remember thinking the Etheric was made of magic when I was younger.”
“So what you’re saying,” Alexis dragged out her thought to ensure she got the wording right, “is that to someone who had no knowledge of the Etheric and no access to advanced technology, we would appear to be using magic?”
“Sweetie,” Bethany Anne shook her head, her lips pressed together and a brief sadness crossed her face, “to somebody like that, we would appear to be gods.”
Alexis sighed. “That sounds tedious. But you don’t want to be a god, Mom. You’re really clear about that.”
Gabriel snorted. “Mom didn’t want to be an empress, and she’s clear on that, too.”
Bethany Anne's mouth twitched. “True, but duty and responsibility are two things that come above the personal feelings of any leader worth their salt.” She leaned into the chair’s soft back and waved a hand dismissively. “Thankfully, I’m done with all that now.”
Alexis tilted her head toward her mother in confusion. “But you’re building again. Do you even want this war we’re getting into?”
Bethany Anne tapped her fingers on the table while she considered how much of the truth to share with her children.
On the one hand, the truth was something Alexis and Gabriel would learn by themselves as time went on. On the other, she didn’t believe sugar-coating it would do them any good whatsoever in the long run.
“Mom?” Gabriel pressed.
Bethany Anne ceased her tappi
ng and looked her children in the eyes. “Leadership sucks,” she told them. “It’s giving every bit of yourself endlessly with no break, no rest, and no choice but to bear it—or crumble under the weight of responsibility.”
“But.” She raised a finger before Alexis could interrupt, “there is no more honorable calling than protecting others. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing people lived because you acted.” She placed her hands flat on the table.
“Is that why you were a cop before you met Dad?” Gabriel leaned forward with his elbows on the table, completely entranced by his mother's words. “Because it was honorable?”
Bethany Anne laughed, waving a hand at her son. “Oh, honey. I didn’t care one bit about honor. I wasn’t a cop, either, but I cared about the same thing I’ve always cared about—Justice for those who can’t get it for themselves. Each time it meant taking on a greater role and more responsibility, I did it gladly, knowing I served a greater purpose.”
“Like the time Aunt Addix killed those idiots who kidnapped us,” Alexis offered. “She wasn’t happy about it, but she was glad they wouldn’t kidnap anyone else.”
Bethany Anne got to her feet, gesturing for the twins do the same. “I don't think we will be executing anybody anytime soon.” She rolled her eyes at the disappointment she saw in the twins’ eyes, along with their massive relief. “This isn’t a game. I know you know that already, but I also hope you both understand what your father and I are training you for.”
“We do,” Alexis assured her mother. “You want to keep us safe.”
Gabriel nodded. “And when we’re ready, we will keep others safe.”
“When you’re ready,” Bethany Anne repeated. A wave of her hand and the furniture vanished, replaced by a wide circle of vaguely humanoid shapes. “Time for your lesson, my loves.”
“What is the lesson today?” Alexis skipped over to inspect the misty creations. “You made these? From Etheric energy?” She turned back to Bethany Anne with hope written all over her face. “Are we making them too? Is that our lesson?”
Bethany Anne shook her head and indicated the empty mat. “Those are to test you after the lesson. Take your meditation positions. We’re going right back to basics.”
Alexis groaned as she followed her brother to the mat. “Basics? Why?”
Bethany Anne arched an eyebrow. “Make an energy ball.”
Alexis frowned but did as her mother asked. She opened her hand palm-up and willed the Etheric energy to manifest. The energy sparked briefly before winking out. “What gives?” Alexis demanded. “Where’s my…oh. It’s like we have to build up the connection to our bodies again.”
Gabriel tried his own connection to the Etheric and got the same result. “It’s there. It’s just weak, like we haven’t trained it. But we have!”
Bethany Anne sat cross-legged and rested her hands palm-up on her knees. “Then let’s remind your bodies of that. Are you both comfortable? ” She looked from Alexis to Gabriel across from her on the mat.
Both children nodded to indicate they were. They already had that faraway look, but Bethany Anne was there to guide her children.
Bethany Anne let out a measured breath and dropped her voice to a soothing tone. “Then let’s begin. Breathe in, and out. You have done this a thousand, thousand times before. Feel the love surrounding you, and allow it to anchor you to this reality. Now find your connection to the Etheric.”
Bethany Anne paused to give them a minute to feel the emotion she was sending. Just as they had been her anchor to this plane when she began working with the Etheric in this way, she was theirs. She was immune to the temptation, and nobody else would be visiting the Etheric by accident today.
She felt the energy in the room rising slowly but steadily.
Alexis opened her eyes, and Gabriel did the same a bare second after.
Bethany Anne kept her attention focused on the children, ready to cut them off if it looked like they were losing control for even an instant. “Good. Now, let’s move through creating some of the different forms of energy.”
“I think I can make an energy ball now, Mom,” Alexis offered.
Bethany Anne got to her feet. “We’re going to start with defensive uses. Sit five feet away from each other in the center of the mat and face each other.”
The twins moved into position.
“What now?” Gabriel inquired.
Bethany Anne took a couple of steps back and waved her finger in a circle, and a barrier appeared around the children. “You get to play shield wars. Best of five.”
Alexis and Gabriel whooped happily.
Bethany Anne grinned and held up three fingers. “You go on my count. Bonus point for whoever gets a full shield up first.” The twins nodded. “All right. Three, two, one!”
Alexis and Gabriel glared at each other as siblings do, and the energy level in the dome spiked as wisps of Etheric energy formed.
The energy solidified around the twins, who stood in the centers of their translucent bubbles ready to play.
“You know I’ve got this,” Alexis boasted. “You always get mad and drop your shield first.” She waved her hands, and her shield rolled toward Gabriel’s.
Gabriel stuck his tongue out at his sister and made the motion to set his bubble rolling. “That’s what you think. I just won the point for the shield. There’s no stopping me now.”
Bethany Anne winced when Alexis slammed her shield into Gabriel’s. Her children did not hold back when it came to competition. They went back and forth until the score was four-four and their shields were beginning to flicker.
She pressed her lips together for a moment, then clapped her hands. “Final round, winner takes all. Then we break for lunch before we move on to the next exercise.”
Gabriel lost his focus for the briefest of moments at the mention of food and Alexis bounced his shield into the barrier.
Gabriel tried to recover, but his concentration was completely gone. He fell to the mat when his bubble vanished. “Mom! Why’d you have to mention lunch?”
Alexis lost her footing and dropped her shield also. “Fine, we’ll call it a draw.” She stuck her tongue out at Gabriel and then helped him up before heading over to Bethany Anne. “What’s for lunch?”
Devon, First City, The Hexagon, Living Quarters
Sabine was relaxing on the couch looking over the accounts when Ricole came crashing through the window that overlooked the events arena. “What the fuck?”
She dropped her datapad and was at Ricole’s side in an instant. Ricole groaned as Sabine gently turned her over. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Ricole raised a shaky hand and pointed at the window. “Yollin. Just a kid.”
Sabine stood and stormed into the office and out onto the balcony. A Yollin of the four-legged variety was pacing up and down, her mandibles moving rapidly.
Sabine guessed that nothing the Yollin was muttering to herself was pleasant. “You, Yollin,” she called down. “What’s your name, and why the hell did you think tossing my friend through a window was a good idea?”
When the Yollin looked up, Sabine saw that the female wasn’t quite an adult. She also lacked translation software according to their EI, Winstanley. But you can translate my speech for her, right?
I can, but it won’t be pretty.
Just do what you can, Sabine told the EI. She repeated herself and tried not to forget how to talk when all that came out of her mouth was a series of oddly rhythmic clicks.
“The name’s K’aia,” the Yollin replied testily. “I heard you treat fighters well here. Who do I have to speak to around here about getting some fights?”
Sabine smirked and jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “You just threw her through the window.”
“Well, shit.” K’aia closed her eyes and sighed. “Give me strength.” She shook her head and shrugged before looking back up at Sabine. “I don’t suppose my sincerest apology will make up for it?”
“I don�
�t know,” Sabine replied. “That would depend on why you tossed Ricole through the window. She can admit when she’s wrong.”
K’aia tilted her chin. “She thought she could take me in a fight. She was wrong. So, can I start earning already? I’ve got a ticket to buy.”
Sabine held up a finger, hearing a groan from the living area. “Wait there.” She went back to the living area to check on Ricole.
Ricole was holding her arm over a wad of paper towels in the sink, wincing each time she plucked a tiny piece of glass out of her elbow and dropped it onto the paper below.
Sabine leaned over Ricole’s shoulder to look at the mess in the sink. “Need me to do anything?” she asked, making a face at the bloody shards.
“I’m good,” Ricole grumped. “But I’m going to slap that kid upside her head just as soon as I’m done here.” She grunted, and a slightly larger piece of glass landed in the sink.
Sabine frowned, leaning back against the island. “Go easy on her for now, will you? I think she’s a runaway. She mentioned buying a ticket.”
Ricole looked at Sabine and sighed. “Fiiine, I’ll save it. We don’t want her to run.”
“What should we do with her?” Sabine asked. “I’m not comfortable putting her in the ring. What if she gets hurt?”
Ricole rolled her eyes and waved her injuries at Sabine. “Go spar for a minute with her. She’s not likely to get hurt.”
Sabine shook her head. “No. I’m going to go talk to her some more and see what I can find out. She should be with her family, if she has one.” She left Ricole at the sink and headed for the door to the stairwell.
“Find out if she’s any good at the acting thing,” Ricole called after her. “Shasta quit yesterday.”
Sabine went downstairs and through the door that separated the business from their living quarters. K’aia wasn’t in the arena when she got there.
She tapped her wrist holo to pull up the security feeds, then remembered they had the EI. “Winstanley, where is the female Yollin who was here?”
The EI responded almost immediately. “She is currently in the indoor training area. I advise caution, Sabine. She is armed.”
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