Author's Note: This story is a sequel to "Continuity," beginning where that story left off. If you would like to begin reading this story, I suggest reading Continuity first, or at least reading the 1600 word "Continuity Recap". Both are posted here and can be found by looking at the story list on my profile page.
"Did you ever want a little sister, Talyn?" Ceredin's voice carries through Moya's docking bay, cutting through the noise the DRDs make as they help Talyn with his new project-- salvaging a Scarran stryker he snurched from the research station wreckage.
He cranes his neck back, curious which instance of her-- hologram or bioloid-- has come to see him. As it turns out, she's here in the biomechanoid flesh, twirling a lock of yellow hair around one finger and then chewing on the end of it. Even without their transponder link or his ability to read heat signatures, he could tell she's nervous about something.
"Not particularly." He fumbles at his side until he finds the wrench he needs and then makes a renewed assault on a stubborn nut. "Why?"
"Why do you think? Because Moya's pregnant, that's why."
Talyn drops the wrench, sits up, and scrapes his forehead on the protruding nut. The jolt of pain and its accompanying perceived flash of light serve as a testament the quality of his sensory processing algorithms. He drags himself from under the stryker and claps a hand to his forehead. When he lowers the hand, it's covered in synthetic blood and sterile electrolytic fluid.
"Frell, Cer! You couldn't wait till I was out in the open to tell me?"
"Hm. I assumed you'd want to know this cycle." She glares from the stryker to the wound on his head and shakes her head in disgust. "You've been living under there. If I'd waited for you to come out on your own, your little sister might have been full grown."
He leans back against the stryker, not trusting his awkward limbs to hold him. For the most part, he's adjusted to his new existence, but between the pain and the news, his head is reeling. "How come she told you first?" he wonders out loud.
"First? Hardly!" Ceredin puts her back to the stryker as well and leans back on her elbows. "Gemmi first, since she's been altering the specs and monitoring the development, then Bialar, because he followed her into Moya's reproductive chamber. Then-- oh, you'll love this!-- the instance of me on Moya, because they needed her help regulating energy flow to the baby. Next, Crichton found out from Pilot, and he told Aeryn--"
"Wait!" Talyn holds up a hand to slow her down. "Didn't you synch with your instance on Moya?"
"Yes! The frelling drannit of a program found a way to hide it from me! Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be lied to by yourself?"
"Can't say I do." He chuckles in spite of himself, but his amusement is soon swallowed by the anxiety Ceredin radiates through her aura and via the link. "What are you not telling me?"
She finds one of his hands and laces her fingers through his. "Talyn, she's a hybrid."
"Bialar." He says the name like a curse. For a microt, he sees only a red haze. His hand contracts around Ceredin's and her yelp of pain brings him back to reality. "He didn't. He couldn't..."
"You're right! It wasn't his idea! There's nothing for you to be angry about. It was Moya's idea. She thought Gemmi could optimize Bialar and Velorek's previous work--"
"You mean me. She thought Gemmi could optimize me and then maybe she'd get it right this time." He brings a fist down on the stryker hard enough to leave a dent.
"I wish you didn't look at it that way." Ceredin turns to face him and clasps her hands behind his neck, her eyes locked with his.
"How else would I look at it?"
"I-- I don't know." She shakes her head.
"No, really? How else would I think about it? I was Bialar's big project, Moya's only offspring, and the biggest frell-up in history, but that's ok, because they get a do-over. I was just the-- what's Crichton's frelling word?-- the breeder version?"
"Beta version," she supplies.
He pulls her close to him and closes his eyes, reading her heat signature with his whole body and taking comfort in what he finds there. "Thanks for not telling me I should be happy for her."
"Hm. Clearly, I don't need to." She stands on her tip-toes to rub her cheek against his and whispers in his ear. "The baby's name is 'Mina'. Does that help?"
He shrugs. "Why would it?"
"Never mind. I give up! I'll leave you to your infinite frelling loop of self-pity." She starts to pull away, but he locks his arms around her.
"Mina," he repeats. He kisses the top of Ceredin's head and smiles. "I guess having something to call her... It does help."
With her cheek pressed against his chest, Ceredin nods, running a hand up and down his arm as she does. "I thought it would."
Ignoring the subtle heat changes in her aura, he takes her by the shoulders and pushes her out to arms' length. "Can I go see her?"
"I'd think so." Ceredin shrugs and sighs, not bothering to hide her disappointment, which reverberates through the link like a scream. "Gemmi and Bialar have been mucking around in there for weekens now, so I assume it's safe. Do you want me to come with you?"
"Of course!" He loops his arm through one of hers and walks toward the docking bay doors.
"Oh, don't be surprised I asked. With how you push me away every chance you get, I have to wonder..."
He looks straight ahead, not wanting to explain how he's afraid of what he'll do if he lets her get too close. Ever since Gemmi fixed his sensory processing, things have been different. Touching Ceredin fills him with thoughts that border on impulses. Her kisses are like fingers hovering over a switch that will turn off his rational mind. If he lets her put him in that kind of mental state, he'll take what he wants without caring whether or not he hurts her in the process. Gemmi calls it "suboptimal impulse control". Crichton would probably call it an insect. Talyn doesn't care what it's called, only about protecting Ceredin from himself.
He disengages his arm from hers, catches one of her hands, and brings it briefly to his lips. "I do love you, Cer."
"Hm. Try it without the extra word next time."