Meguro, near the Fault, 8:20 PM . . .

"Ready?"

"H-hai."

"Okay."

With that, Sylvie allowed her fangs to splay before she leaned over to gently thrust them into Anri's shoulder. Once that was done and the vein was opened, she allowed the blood she had absorbed from the DD to regurgitate up her oesophagus and into her sister's body. Anri gasped as her body was flooded with that tender warmth, and then she relaxed as she allowed her head to rest on Sylvie's shoulder. "Arigatō, Sylvie," she breathed out with a smile as her housekeeping computer reported the new blood was being pumped into the right areas of her body to continue the clotting process in her wounds. Her hands immediately reached out to gently embrace the taller woman around the waist. "Make love to me, Sylvie. I need it now . . . "

Sylvie slowly nodded as she pulled away, and then she moved to slip off her clothes. "If it hurts, I'll stop," she promised before leaning down.

As always, their lovemaking was tender and warm. It had always been that way between Sylvie and Anri, just as it had been between Anri and Megan, Louise, Namiko or - before they died - Yuka, Emi, Kaho, Tina or Kotomi. Due to her youthful looks - Anri had been constructed to appear to be a teenager of about sixteen - many of the organics on Genaros had been reticent on the idea of having sex with her. After the first time she did it with Greg Kaufman, he actually APOLOGISED to her for "destroying her innocence" like that. She hadn't fully understood then, but as she emotionally matured over the years, she came to realise he did see her as someone he shouldn't violate that way. That had made her come to trust and like him all the more.

And now . . .

Now . . .

Wait.

What was wrong . . .?

"Sylvie, stop!" Anri gasped before she cried out as release came.

Sylvie's head popped up from between Anri's legs. "What?"

Anri took a moment to calm down; being wounded meant she didn't have the iron-hard control over her body's functions as she normally possessed. After a moment, she took a deep breath, and then she stared at Sylvie. "What happened to you, Sylvie?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your performance was off. You seemed reluctant this time."

Sylvie blinked. Damn! She HAD been thinking of Priss when she had been seeing to Anri's needs. That wasn't the least bit fair to her, especially now when she was so vulnerable and in such great need. Yet . . .! No, she couldn't lie to Anri.

"I met someone today," she admitted.

Anri blinked. "And?"

Sylvie took a deep breath, and then she shifted herself around to lay down beside Anri before she began to explain. It took nearly an hour - the sun setting in the west as she talked - for her to detail her day's fun at Chōshi with Asagiri Priss. Anri remained silent, though she was wide-eyed at Sylvie's passionate description of the singer and what she was like. Finally, at the end, Sylvie took a deep breath, and then she stared at Anri. "She's the most perfect person I've ever met, Anri," she confessed. "I . . . " She then closed her eyes. "Oh, Anri, is this love . . .?"

Anri nodded. "It sounds like it." She had to admit, she was as inexperienced when it came to THAT as Sylvie. "Does she know what you are?"

An immediate shake of the head. "No, of course not. I can't risk something like that." She then took a deep breath. "Priss hates boomers, but I think that's just an extension of her hatred for Genom. And I can understand that given what she told me about all these 'rampages' that've happened in this town these last few years. Still, I don't think she's ever met one of us . . . "

"Be careful with her, Sylvie," Anri advised.

"Oh, definitely," Sylvie stated, and then she giggled like a cheerleader who just landed a date with a handsome quarterback. "Still, when we were doing it on the beach . . . " She took a deep breath. "It was more than just doing my primary function! It was so much more! She . . . " She closed her eyes. "To me, it felt as if Priss had always NEEDED someone like me to be with her." Another breath before she stared into her sister's eyes, her own eyes tearing with joy. "I realise it now, Anri. It's people like Priss who were the ones we were BUILT to be with! I . . .!"

Anri nodded, a smile crossing her face as she sensed the delight Sylvie felt in having met someone like that. "It does sound like love. I'd like to meet her."

Sylvie gazed at her, and then she giggled. "Not as you are now," she mused before she held out a pinky. "Once you're back to normal function again, we'll see."

Anri hooked her pinky around Sylvie's as they giggled. "Have a date?"

"I'm going over to Hot Legs to see her perform."

"Be careful."

"Definitely."

With that, Sylvie headed into the bathroom to prepare herself.

The apartment next door, 9:35 PM . . .

"Status report, Ichirō?"

"All's well with the 33-S's, Largo-sama," the Bu-48C stated with a smile. The scrambled communications unit he was using to speak to the omniboomer was hooked to one of the hidden datajacks on the back of his neck. The 48-C - his model, used normally by military forces for special operations and intelligence work, was several programming generations ahead of 33-Cs like D and her late sisters - was a handsome Oriental man appearing to be in his mid-twenties, possessing neatly-cut black hair and brown eyes. To the neighbours, he was "Yamada Ichirō." It was a plain name, but the apartment manager hadn't bothered to question it, especially after a considerable amount of money had been handed over for the two apartments in question two months ago. "Sylvie has left the apartment to go to a place called 'Hot Legs.' She met a woman named Asagiri Priss today when she went to the beach in Chōshi and she wishes to see her perform tonight at that establishment. Anri remains in the apartment."

Silence fell as Largo considered that. "Priss . . .?"

Ichirō tensed. "Is she a threat to you, Largo-sama?"

"No, Ichirō, she is certainly no threat," Largo stated, clearly amused by Ichirō's immediate, passionate desire to serve him in any way possible. That had made 48-Cs quite popular with their many and diverse buyers worldwide. "Just a familiar name. Maintain watch. I will contact you tomorrow."

"Hai, Largo-sama, I understand."

The link was cut. Ichirō relaxed as he turned up the volume of the television he had been watching before he was contacted by the omniboomer.

"Bože moj! He's BEAUTIFUL!"

"He's yours for the taking, Tanya, if you're interested."

Hearing that, Tanya blinked before she stared at Chikage. Both women were now standing on the roof of the apartment block next door to the one Sylvie and Anri currently resided in. A notice-me-not spell kept both women hidden from possible eavesdroppers. "I am definitely that," the blonde Russian Pole mused as she stared through her macro-binoculars (a present from Hatoyama Rinrin) through the window of Yamada Ichirō's apartment so she could drink in his handsome features. "He's as handsome as Hiroi Junnichiovich himself," she breathed, hoping she wasn't drooling.

"He is that," Chikage mused. Karasuma Hiroi, a native of Nerima, was the primary reason Tanya - not to mention the other girls of the "Hokkaidō Group" - was now a Child Companion. The week of Second Kantō eight years before, Tanya Lipiński - along with Hiroi's other would-be lovers: Haruna Kotone and Kawahara Ayu of Abashiri, Sakuramachi Yūko of Chitose, Shinna Kaoru of Otaru, Sakyō Hayaka of Obihiro, Satonaka Kozue of Sapporo and Aida Megumi of Asahikawa - had come to Tōkyō to visit Hiroi as he was about to graduate from high school, returning a visit he had made to Hokkaidō to attend Sapporo's famous White Illumination Countdown on New Year's Eve. And while he had been devastated to learn what had happened to them that dark day, Hiroi - like Satō Ayano's boyfriend and later fiancé, Shimotakatani Takanori - had diligently kept the faith during the years up to everyone's revival in March of 2030. In the wake of that, he began pursuing a relationship with Kotone in earnest. With Kotone's own graduation from high school this year, they were engaged under the Tree of Legend at the Kirameki Memorial and Kotone was planning to move down to Nerima and live with Hiroi full-time. With no hard feelings, Tanya and the others wished them the best.

But Chikage knew the others were rather lonely . . .

"So what do you intend to do with Anri Tatsugiovna?" Tanya asked.

"Open her eyes to a different world," the magi mused as she drew out a diamond-studded bracelet. "Can you distract Ichirō while I'm doing this?"

"Feh! Like taking candy from a baby," Tanya said with a smirk as she slipped on the bracelet. The diamond meson in the bracelet was designed to help curb a Child Companion's Kawaii-kōka, which could run OUT of control and end up sending a boomer through Janus if one wasn't careful. She wanted to win his heart, not force him immediately into his second life right now without any warning.

"Shall we?"

"Let's go."

Minutes later . . .

"Just a moment!" The door opened to reveal Yamada Ichirō. "Hai?"

"Dobryj večer, Gospodin Yamada."

He blinked on seeing a blonde, blue-eyed Western girl appearing to be twenty standing there, dressed in a sweater and jeans. Before he could ask what was going on, a fluffy feeling washed over him, overwhelming his senses and temporarily shutting down his housekeeping computer. That feeling soon faded, and then he found himself smiling at the lovely girl who was visiting him. "Dōzo," he said as he waved her in.

"Spasíbo," she said as she walked in, pausing to take a look around the apartment before she stared at him. "Where is your bedroom?"

Ichirō jolted, and then he immediately waved her to the bedroom. Like the living room, it was neat, clearly different than what one might expect of an out-of-town bachelor currently in the process of getting a job (that was what Yamada Ichirō always told whenever some of the nosy organics living around him asked about his occupation). On arriving there, the visitor moved to sit on the bed, patting the mattress to her right. Ichirō immediately sat down, and then found himself being kissed by the beautiful girl. At first surprised that she would do THIS on first meeting, he then felt that fade as he tenderly drew her into his arms and allowed their kiss to deepen. And while, had this been before this moment, he would have been immediately on guard on having an encounter of this nature, right now, he couldn't possibly see what sort of threat this lovely lady could present to him.

After a moment, both pulled apart. "Very strong," she mused as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Just as I would suspect a 48-C should be."

Of course, if this was a NORMAL situation, Ichirō's combat programming would have come immediately on-line; this woman, a complete stranger, just revealed she knew he was a boomer. But, after feeling the passion in her kiss, he didn't want to react THAT way. In fact, if his behaviour analysis programs were operating - and (after a quick check with his housekeeping computer) he knew they were! - she was attracted to him BECAUSE he was a boomer. Even better, she didn't seem to want to treat him as most organics treated a boomer. That was quite different - a PLEASANT difference! - from what Ichirō had been programmed and told to expect from organics.

"Um . . .?" he began.

"Hmm?"

"Er . . . s-sorry, but . . . I don't know your name!"

"Tat'jána Iósifovna Lipiński. Call me Tanya."

He nodded. "Yoroshiku. Well . . . "

"What is it?"

"If it's sex you're desiring, a 28-C is better programmed."

Tanya laughed. "Da, true!" she stated as she held up a finger. "But in my eyes, a 48-C is more kul'turnyj." Hearing that profound compliment, Ichirō suddenly found himself wishing he could blush. "All 28-Cs think of is sex, sex, sex and more sex. Feh! Boring!" A sigh. "Sadly, there are so few 34-S's available, so I cannot seek out one of them. While I could be intimate with a 33-S, I do see myself as more heterosexual. So . . . " She tapped his breastbone. "That leaves you."

He closed his eyes. "I am honoured, Tanya-sama. Still . . . "

"What?"

"I do have a mission I must perform."

She nodded, her mouth curling into a knowing smile. "Relax, Ichirō. I understand. I won't interfere in that. But I - as well as my friends - are concerned about you, not to mention your current neighbours next door."

He stared at her, his eyes widening. "Are you helping Largo-sama?"

"Nyet," she said with a shake of her head, and then she stared into his eyes. "But despite what you might think, not all organics are anal-retentive when it comes to the sentience and wishes of those such as yourself, Anri and Sylvie." A sigh. "While I do get annoyed at times when I hear of boomers 'going crazy,' I do know that in ALL of those incidents, it was started by organic abuse, negligence or misuse."

Ichirō blinked, and then he smiled. This woman was not just a potential ally in Largo-sama's great cause, she was a REAL ally! Realising that, he moved to draw her close. "Thank you for understanding that, Tanya-sama. I'm glad to have met you."

"Stepán."

He blinked. "Eh?"

Tanya winked at him. "Your current name is plain as names come, továrišč," she warned him. Hearing her call him "comrade" made Ichirō want to blush even more. "So I will give you a new name that you will use only with me. Is that alright with you?"

A nod. "Hai."

"Alright. To me, you will be Stepán Maksímovich Jasiński."

He perked. "What does that name mean?"

Tanya smiled as she reached up to start unbuttoning his shirt. "'Stepán,' in Russian - in English, it's 'Stephen' - is the name of the first Christian martyr; he was stoned to death for predicting the coming of Jesus Christ. 'Maksímovich' means 'son of Maksím.' 'Maksím' is one way of saying 'Maximillian.' 'Jasiński' is a good Polish name, the name of some of my father's relatives in the old country."

He took a moment to consider that, and then a helpless look then crossed his face. "I'm not programmed to speak either language, Tanya-sama."

Tanya giggled as she drew out two datajack soft plugs to hold before his eyes. "Fortunately for you, I have a friend who believes in being prepared," she advised.

Ichirō/Stepán blinked, and then he laughed.

Eh? What's that noise?

Anri stood after relieving herself - once again feeling a sense of relief on seeing no blood in her waste material, which meant her digestive and urinary tracts had not been compromised by her injury - and then she leaned her ear against the wall to listen to the noise from the apartment next door. Quickly recognising the voice of Yamada Ichirō - a free boomer of some type, she and Sylvie had quickly realised when they first moved into this apartment - Anri then perked on hearing a woman's voice as well, tinged with a Russian accent. Who's that? the green-haired girl wondered, and then she perked on hearing Ichirō call her "Tanya-sama." A friend . . .?

The laughter continued, and then it turned into more intimate sounds. Quickly comprehending that, Anri instantly felt her cheeks heat before she moved to flush the toilet and get out of the room. By the sounds of it, this Tanya must be either a lover or at least an intimate friend of Ichirō's. No need to eavesdrop further on the matter, the 33-S concluded as she made her way back into the bedroom . . .

"Konban wa, Anri."

Anri gasped in shock on hearing that even voice, and then she spun around to see a contently smiling purple-haired, blue-eyed woman seated by the work desk at one end of the room, legs crossed under her long grey skirt and arms clasped on her lap. She was dressed in a black blazer, grey tartan waistcoat and red tie with a white cross on it atop wearing lace-up boots and having a white, hooded cape over her shoulders, the latter emblazoned with stylised crimson crucifixes at her shoulders. Quickly taking that in, Anri then found herself relaxing slightly. If this was some agent from SDPC here to either kill her or drag her back into space, she was definitely not dressed like one. And Largo had shown her images of people that were often employed by SDPC to go out and retrieve errant sexaroids and return them to slavery in space. This woman clearly didn't fit that sort of profile.

"Ano . . . " Anri began.

"Close the door," the stranger advised. "The wards I've placed in this room can only work best without any breaches in the walls."

Anri nodded as she closed the bathroom door, and then she slowly walked over to sit on the end of her bed, staring in curiosity at her visitor. "Who are you?"

"Dōzo," the other woman said as she offered a meishi.

Anri took it. Hirosaki Chikage, Grand Magi-in-Waiting of the Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association, headquartered in Kōtō Ward in Megatōkyō. "Yoroshiku," Anri said, and then she blinked. "May I ask what you want with me, Hirosaki-sama?"

Chikage smirked. "What's the meaning of the word 'magi,' Anri?"

Anri blinked. "Magi. Second declension form of the Latin term 'magus,' which translates into other languages as either 'magician,' 'sorcerer' or 'wizard.' Can also be seen as the plural version of 'magus' when used in languages like English." She then smirked as she added, "Also was used to describe an ancient priest or priestess of Zoroastrianism, the first archaeologically-known monotheistic faith."

An approving nod. "Very good. How did you learn that?"

Anri paused, and then she relaxed as realisation dawned. Whoever this woman was, she was fully aware of what Anri was. And didn't care at all. In the 33-S's eyes, this beautiful woman was quite trustworthy. "Someone left a datadisk with religious history on it up on Genaros. I found it and read it."

"You like learning things, don't you?"

Hearing that, Anri smiled. "Hai, I do. We all do."

"Good. Now, what did I say when I asked you to close the door?"

Anri blinked. "You said that the wards . . . " Her voice screeched to a halt as her jaw dropped before she gaped at her visitor. "'Wards?' You mean . . .?"

Chikage held up an arm, allowing her wand to slide out from under her sleeve and land in her hand before she leaned over to hand it handle-first to Anri. The latter blinked as she looked at the device, and then she leaned over to take it into her hand. "This is a wand . . . " she gasped, her voice hushed with both awe and disbelief, and then she moved to examine it. "What's it made out of?"

"Originally, yew with thestral hair," Chikage replied. "Given what I endured eight years ago, it's not surprising that I would bond to the physical form of a creature only those who have witnessed the death of loved ones can openly perceive." She closed her eyes. "I modified it two years after I bought it at Ollivander's shop in Diagon Alley. Right now, it's yew mixed with both shavings of basilisk fang and a phoenix feather, all wrapped around an ebony-and-ruby meson core shard."

Anri's jaw dropped. "Diagon Alley? Ollivander's? But . . .!" she sputtered before shaking her head. "That's all fiction, Hirosaki-sama . . .!"

Chikage held out her hand. "Mea Virga."

The wand leapt out of Anri's hands to land in the magi's. Seeing that, Anri's jaw dropped to the floor, and then she smiled. "Magic exists . . .!"

"Hai, Anri. That it does."

The 33-S's blue eyes locked on the magi's. "You're a witch . . .!"

"I prefer 'magi' myself, but yes, I could be seen as that."

Anri took that in, and then she sniffed. "Can you help me?"

"In what way?"

"Heal me so I don't have to take in blood anymore?"

Chikage sighed. She should have expected Anri to ask her that. "If you and Sylvie were alone, Anri, I would do that in an instant."

Anri stared at her. "But people . . . "

"Are dying," the magi finished for her. "Hai, true. And people will continue to die, Anri. But ultimately, you made a choice up there." She pointed up to indicate Genaros. "And no matter how much you were driven deep in your heart to escape from that place and seek freedom, you still had the choice to back away and remain where you were. Right to the moment you, Sylvie, Megan and Louise stole that police car and made a break for Port Six, where Namiko and the Orca were waiting. And the DD Battlemover, of course." A sigh. "When you made that choice, Anri, events were put into motion that has come to affect many people. And you have to accept the responsibility for what those choices end up unleashing, Anri. As does Sylvie."

"I'm not a murderer!"

Chikage's eyebrow arched. "Did I say that?"

Anri stopped, and then she shuddered. "N-no . . . b-but . . . "

"Anri, did you - ever since you met Maximillian and he made his speech about freedom - ever stop to think about what he was making you do?"

The 33-S stopped, and then she blinked. "Not really . . . "

The magi sat back. "Why not? It was quite risky and you know what could happen to you if you're exposed for what you are anywhere . . . "

"We had to leave!"

"Why?"

Anri's eyes closed. "Because we were doomed to die."

"How did you know that?"

A sniff. "We were scheduled to go to Darkside One in June."

Silence.

"Ah!" Chikage trilled. Despite all that USSD had done to keep what happened on THAT station secret, the news got out. People like Anri were, after all, programmed to be observant. "Normally, six girls are sent to that poison factory every summer," she then stated. "So who was the sixth girl that was scheduled with your group?"

"Sujin. Stanley-niisan's assistant."

"Did you talk to her about this?"

Anri blinked as confusion crossed her face before she shook her head. "N-no. But since he knew she was going, Largo should've told her . . . "

Chikage closed her eyes. "Anri, when girls are selected to go to Darkside One, are they normally taken from the same work team on Genaros?"

" . . . about that . . .!" Anri's voice then screeched to a halt as her eyes went VERY wide on hearing Chikage's question, and then she shuddered as disbelief crossed her face. "You mean . . . " she gasped.

"You were tricked into running away from Genaros, Anri," Chikage flatly announced. "And so was Sylvie. As were Megan, Louise and Namiko."

Silence fell, and then Anri's eyes began to tear. "No . . .!" she breathed out as she covered her mouth, her housekeeping computer trying and failing to keep back her shock, shame and sadness over what she had just been told from overwhelming her, and then she stared at Chikage. "Why . . .?" she pleaded.

"That is a rather long story to explain," Chikage breathed out. "Sadly, I can't stay here long because the chance is there that someone might notice I'm here and wonder what's going on." She stared at Anri. "Like it or not, Anri, you and Sylvie both have plunged into a world a lot more complex than you could possibly begin to imagine. A world that is even more complex than even Maximillian Largo could imagine. And because of some aspects of that, I and those like me who could help you live your life free are grossly hampered from helping you. If you weren't players in a sick saga that - in one sense of the term - actually started eleven years ago at Whiz Laboratories, I would help you right here and now. But I can't. Unfortunately, too many other people are dependent on my IN-action at this time for me to consider doing otherwise." A sigh before a weak smile crossed the magi's face. "It does not mean, however, that I am unsympathetic to your plight, Anri."

Anri stared at her before a sad nod touched her chin. "Like you keeping your magic hidden, right? Just like those stories I once read about Harry Potter. About the whole 'wizarding world' and how they keep things secret from normal people."

"Hai. It is the same. And there are other types of life that have much more stringent levels of secrecy over their lives than even wizards."

Anri blinked, and then she nodded. "I see . . . "

She gaped as she felt hands touch her on the cheeks. Staring into Chikage's eyes, the 33-S felt herself blushing. "You are a fundamentally good person," the magi stated as she touched a couple shiatsu points on the sexaroid's skin. "And you will do what is right. I know you will." She kissed Anri. "I'll be watching you."

"Do you have to make me forget this now?" Anri asked.

Chikage shook her head. "You won't completely forget it, Anri," she assured her. "But it will be sealed away from your conscious mind until I personally come and unlock it." She lightly smiled. "Even Maximillian will not be able to breach those blocks. Nor anyone else in the 'normal' world."

An understanding nod. "I'll see you again, won't I?"

The smile widened. "That you will, Anri. Now, relax . . . "

Nerima, the Toratotaka complex, 11:05 PM . . .

"So we were being used, right?"

"Exactly."

Megan, Louise and Namiko exchanged looks before shame surged up on their faces. "Damn . . .!" Megan hissed before she walked over the window of their guest room to stare out at the city beyond. Also present with the three recent escapees from Genaros and Chikage were Yuka, Kaho, Emi, Tina and Kotomi. "I never thought . . . "

"We should've talked to Sujin first," Namiko said. "Stanley-niisan would have confirmed it if we were going to Darkside One . . . "

"Why did we forget that threat about Darkside One anyway when we crossed over?" Louise demanded as a helpless look crossed her face. "We should have remembered talking about it to each other when Otō-sama asked!"

"Because it was specifically encoded in the nanites Ahmed bin Bishah inserted into your minds, not into your memories," Chikage then answered. "I neutralised the ones inside Anri's mind with the Kawaii-kōka when I blocked off her memory of meeting me and capped it with a false memory of her sleeping."

"Could you do the same for Sylvie?" Yuka asked.

"That might not be necessary now, Yuka."

"What do you mean?" Tina asked.

"Think of this whole situation as a string of dominos being toppled over, Christina," the magi said as she moved to refill her teacup before walking back to sit in the chair. "Right now, the people on Genaros are moving to not only clear up the mess Ahmed made at Maximillian's instigation, they're also moving to sever all ties between the station and Wayne Flint in Kamakura." She made a flicking motion with her finger. "That will displease Wayne very much and he will no doubt want to move to reassert control. That will be stopped, most likely at the same time Ahmed is eliminated." Another flick of the finger. "The instant he realises that he no longer has a viable agent on Genaros ready to help him in his plan in seizing the OMS, Maximillian will immediately accelerate his own plans to depose Wayne and take over control of the Production Control Centre himself." A smirk. "I suspect Sylvie will get a letter at that time revealing where the datadisk with the information to cure hers and Anri's blood-dependency could be found. Once she has that, it's a trip to Kamakura to obtain same. And if Wayne or Maximillian leave a trap for her, that'll force her to use the DD to defend herself." Yet another flick of the finger. "Sylvie crosses over because of that, Wayne is humiliated before Rosenkreutz-sensei, deposed as leader of GCRC and GPCC and Maximillian takes over as leader of that part of Genom. When that happens, within a short time, he'll move against the OMS." Another flick of the finger. "He is defeated and Anri can then be brought across."

"But what about Largo himself, Chikage-san?" Emi asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What happens when HE crosses over?" the pianist wondered. "His Janus circuit probably formed when he woke up. He's as locked into the system as any of us were."

Chikage smirked, a knowing look crossing her face. "Then the 'saviour of boomerkind' learns quickly that the world he wishes to control is a much larger place than he - as either Mason or Armstrong - could ever have imagined."

"Hopefully, not that many people will be hurt," Yuka lamented.

"That, we will have to wait and see," Chikage said.

Genaros, Wednesday 30 March, 1:05 AM . . .

"Hey, girls! It's about time you got here!"

"You were sent here as a reception party, Rinrin-chan?"

"Somewhat," Rinrin admitted as the last of the six women, dressed in standard SDPC duty jumpsuits - though not of the same kind as was worn by the station's staff of 33-S's - climbed through the emergency exit hatch that had been temporarily used by one of Toratotaka's Black Dragon multi-environmental, cloak-capable transport craft as a docking port. And, as far as anyone on Genaros itself was aware, nothing had temporarily latched onto this part of the station. "Already got your guest quarters all set up in the general cargo storage area. No one'll know you're here."

"Figures," Maijima Karen muttered before gazing at her partner, Nonomura Misato. "We come up here to do a job and they're sticking us into the cargo bays." She rolled her eyes in exaggerated aggravation. "As usual!"

"Hey, Rinrin-chan! Did we at least get futons?" Masaki Natsuko asked.

"No, you get sleeping bags," Rinrin lamented with a shrug. "Sorry." She then winked as she added, "But at least they're big enough for TWO!"

The Kuromoroboshi laughed. Since the original twenty-four of Toratotaka's "killer angels" had been Bu-S77 companion boomers, they were as often in need of lots of close intimacy as those bioroids who were born from latter models of personal companions such as 33-S's. "Are we being watched?" Sakuragi Mai asked.

"Nope," Rinrin assured her. "Too bad for Bishah that lots of places on the station are suffering all sorts of interesting malfunctions in the security grid. Another unforeseen result of Saturday. It'll probably take a week to clean it all up."

"Gee, that IS too bad!" Sakuma Chiharu said.

With that, all six vanished under a special ki cloak that had been invented decades before by a man named Saotome Genma - who was, much to the delight of everyone in Toratotaka given Genma's infamous history, no relation to Saotome Yoshio - as part of his special Umisen-ken school. Noting that, Rinrin immediately moved to close and secure the hatch before she headed out of this unused space. She paused for a moment to wait for her invisible companions to exit out into the street before closing and locking the door behind her. «Let's go,» she mentally transmitted as she headed down the street towards one of the linear roads. «It's not that far away.»

«Any sign of a threat?» Karen wondered.

«Nothing I can sense,» Chiharu's partner Sugimoto Sakurako answered.

«There are some 33-S's close by, though,» Mai advised.

«Don't mind them,» Rinrin said. «They've been curious about me since I came here with Obaba to find out what's going on. Lucky thing I'm keeping the Effect toned down. I don't want to deal with the fallout of leaving behind a station full of heartbroken sexaroids when I head back to school.»

Laughter echoed in the minds of the seven women as they headed off.

"What do you mean USSD is now moving off the station?"

"It is true, Ramad," Ahmed bin Bishah stated in Arabic as he stared at the image on his view screen, now being transmitted from the Genom Tower in Teheran. He was currently relaxing in his own private communications suite, which had been hardened by a special team sent by his former superior four years ago when he came to Genaros to work for SDPC. "It started early yesterday morning. Shuttles began to leave Genaros to the Shijo station at Lagrange Five, transporting both personnel and materials, all USSD. When I questioned Kaufman about it, he stated that Nanase had persuaded them to remove all their facilities here and shift them there to ensure there could be no further instances of 'short inventory.'" A derisive snort escaped the man as he added in an angry hiss, "What's worse, that stupid woman even made arrangements with those bitches in Samguk to supply the station defences and weapons!"

The dark eyes of Ramad el Sayid flared before a smouldering look crossed his face. "And why didn't Kaufman, much less Flint, stop this?"

"I don't believe Flint knows, my friend," Ahmed replied. "Certainly Kaufman wouldn't talk to Flint with Nanase looking over his shoulder."

A disgusted snort escaped the older executive. Ramad was a man who had no use or respect for women in such high positions. "What else is happening there?"

Ahmed smirked. "That thing Mason created is carrying on as usual," he said, the tone in his voice clearly indicative of his real feelings for the omniboomer who had "coerced" him into his "cause." "Called me up yesterday and demanded to know why I did not destroy the bodies of the three 33-S's who failed to escape from the station on Saturday. Warned me, in fact, that Nanase's current companion - a girl named Hatoyama Rinrin - might be a threat because her intelligence quotient is quite high and she could potentially discover the truth of what I did to those boomers."

Ramad rolled his eyes. "No doubt, she faked her intelligence tests with a little creative mouth work," he stated with a dismissive wave.

Both men laughed at that crude joke. "None the less, Project Fourteen is a success at this stage of the process," Ahmed declared as he relaxed in his chair. "We now have the proven ability to affect a boomer's thought patterns using the same frequencies the OMS operates on. It needs wider field tests in a much more controlled set of circumstances than this station can provide before it could become a truly viable weapon against Zion's and Imperoma's devices, much less rogues from us."

A nod. The fact that the Overmind Control System had been designed from the start without that type of long-distance program-altering capability had annoyed Ramad and his supporters in Genom - which included one of the Class A shareholders, Annan Sese Kabbah of the Congo - for a very long time. Project Fourteen was something that could subtly affect the flow of thought impulses in the meson that went into the creation of a boomer's AI chip. That would, hopefully, not just redress that glaring deficiency in the OMS, but also give Genom an unbeatable advantage in an all-out CorpWar against the only rivals that built their own inducted sentients, Imperoma Industries of Italy and Zion Enterprises of Palestine. That Zion was managed now by Jews who also controlled the government of the so-called "United States of Israel and Palestine" made it doubly hateful. Ramad couldn't wait for the chance to put such a device into use against Zion's warbots and orroids so he could lead an overwhelming jihad against the Jews and drive them out of Palestine once and for all. "Indeed it is. How soon can you ship the prototype and the design files to Teheran?"

"I've already prepared them for shipment, Ramad. As soon as I can guarantee safe shipment, I will contact you with the expected arrival time."

A nod. "Súkran, my friend. God go with you."

"And with you, my friend."

The link was cut.

Shiga (20 kilometres northeast of Kyōto), that moment . . .

"Goshujin-sama . . .?"

"Pay it no mind, Eloise."

"Goshujin-sama! That man is using Largo-sama for his own purposes."

"Oui, he is, isn't he?" the tall, statuesque yet tomboyish woman with the long, wavy blonde hair and eyes of pure blue ice mused as she walked away from the communications unit to gaze at the controls linked to the gestation chamber that was now covering the intricately-designed endoskeletal boomer within with life-like pseudo-flesh. Within a day, all construction would be finally complete and the unit would be ready for the final insertion of the soul of the being she dearly loved into a far more stable shell than the experimental unit Yoshiro Andrews and his co-workers had built in secret over the previous summer. "But he will not be of any concern to us in the long run." She then paused as a frown turned her lips. "Though I must confess this idea of actually controlling boomers by remote is worrisome," she then lamented before shaking her head. "Oh, no matter," she breathed out.

"Do you wish me to being investigations as to how to target el Sayid, Goshujin-sama?" the beautiful, green-eyed, red-haired 33-C beside her eagerly asked.

Hearing that, the blonde native of Saint-Étienne, a city in France near Lyon, paused as she considered that quite tempting offer, and then she shook her head. "No, Eloise, it's not necessary," Monique Fillon said with a strange, reddish glint in her eyes. "When I take leave next after Danielle is brought home and healed from her adventures around the world, I'll travel down to Iran and deal with that uncouth barbarian myself." She then shrugged. "And who knows? When I deal with him, I'll learn who his supporters in Genom are, then deal with them myself. Or even better, leave all sorts of clues for Quincy to find so he could have dear Miŭn deal with it." She then grinned as her voice switched to a perfect imitation of Quincy's deep baritone as she said, "Ramad, your employment in this company is now terminated as of this time." She then paused before an insane laugh escaped her.

Staring at her creator, Eloise - in public records, she was Eloise Villepelet - blinked before she sighed, shrugging as she rolled her eyes heavenward.

Organic gallows humour.

Go figure!

To be continued . . .