AN: Sorry about the long hiatus. My time's been pretty limited lately, but I really want to develop this story the way I imagined. I hope there's still some old readers left, and welcome to the new readers! Let me know how I'm doing in a review - I'll listen, I promise!

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Trance steps into the passageway, effectively disengaging the privacy mode in the compartment she had just left. She makes it a few feet in the direction of the command deck before the hologram form of Andromeda blinks on directly in front of her.

"Andromeda." Trance says calmly, with a nod. She tries to sidestep the hologram and continue on, but it just re-materializes again in front of her.

"Trance - " The hologram looks steadily at the golden woman as she speaks. Holo-Andromeda's arms are folded and a slight disapproving frown turns down the corner of her lips. "The internal temperature of that girl in there has more than tripled from its' original number. And she had a fever to begin with. What happened?"

"It's not 'that girl', her name is Callie." Trance replies, and tries again to sidestep the hologram and carry on. Again, the hologram re-projects in front of her.

"Trance, by all reason, she shouldn't be alive." Holo-Andromeda says, and the disapproving expression is replicated in her voice.

"Maybe she's not alive." Trance replies, nonchalantly, but then she gives the hologram a searching look. "Look, Andromeda - I'll explain everything, to everyone... but I have to talk to Dylan first."

The hologram purses her lips. "I'll let him know you're coming. He'll meet you in the briefing room off of the bridge."

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Trance quickly explains how Calliope had come to be critically ill and all alone in a tiny ship. Dylan seems to take it in stride, and he leans forward, his fingers templed. A slight smile comes to his face as he watches Trance explain. She seems a little worried to him, but he thinks he can put that to rest. "Something tells me that a new little runaway is about to join our merry band of adventurers."

"At least until she finds a place that she can call home." Trance answers, but the worried frown doesn't disappear. Dylan wonders what else it could be. For a moment, he contemplates letting her work it out on her own, and come to him if she really wants his help, but something makes him ask, this time.

"She's welcome on the ship for as long as she needs, Trance. What's bothering you?"

The golden woman keeps her gaze on the table seperating them, and her cheeks darken with a blush. "There's something else about the girl." She says, looking very uncomfortable. "I don't know how to explain it, I don't even understand it, really... it should have been impossible. I made a really big mistake." Dylan remains silent as he waits for her to explain further, and Trance's eyes finally rise from the table to his face.

"I think she's like me, Dylan. I mean, not like me, but kind of. She isn't supposed to be like me, but now I think she might be, a little." Trance says, and her words come out in a rush.

This is a bigger surprise than he expected, and Dylan is more than a little unsettled by how disturbed the usually complacent golden woman seems to be. He raises his hands. "Whoa. Slow down a minute. Can you explain that a little clearer?"

Trance seems to make an effort to slow herself down and choose her words carefully. After a brief, collecting moment, she tries again. "I tried to save her life, she was dying. In doing so, I think part of what I am took hold inside of her. It should never have happened, it's impossible... but she was different, to begin with. An impossibility of her own."

"You know, Trance - sometimes I've thought that having more than one of you around might be a good thing." Dylan tries for a light tone at first, but when this doesn't seem to diminish the golden woman's apprehension, he becomes serious again. "What will this mean for her? She's still just a young woman, isn't she?"

"I'm not sure, Dylan." Trance replies, softly. "I don't know what's going to happen - but it doesn't feel right."

Dylan reaches across the table to put one of his hands over hers. "We'll take it a day at a time, Trance. It's all we can do." He says, before standing and moving around to her side of the table. "Do you think she's well enough to meet the crew, yet?"

"She's unused to meeting new people, but she seems to take it in stride." Trance answers, a slight note of discomfort still accompanying her voice, but she moves with Dylan to the door. "She needs to rest, now, but I believe she might be up to it tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow it is, then." He says, evenly, as they move through the doorway.