Author's Note:

The problems of being a few centuries older than your uh, young, rather impressionable boss who's rather impressed by you.

And yes, there's a very good reason for all the odd conversation in this chapter. Well, there's reason for all the weird things 'Lee says, as you'll eventually find out. (Excuse me while I wipe away a sniffle.) If you want to guess what's up with 'Lee, by all means, do so.

–Misti

XIV

Henry hesitated outside, then walked determinedly into the office and dropped the jar of loose leaf tea on the desk. Realizing 'Lee wasn't here, he felt a combination of disappointment and relief. He quietly backed up—

into 'Lee.

She watched him with an amused expression, not at all furious as she was with her fellow AIs who dared enter. 'Lee went to her desk—she helped with paperwork as a side job—and leaned over the jar. She sniffed. "Ginger." Her little smile twitched, and she looked at him in what he could only consider mild surprise. "You remembered."

"Well, you did pin Alin to the wall with knives when he brought you some tea without it…" His nephew still avoided 'Lee as much as possible.

'Lee shrugged as she put some water in her teapot to heat and sat uncomfortably in her chair. "I'd told him directly what to get and what the consequences of not getting it would be. He doesn't give you any more trouble, though, does he?"

Henry smiled. "Very little. When he does, I just threaten to send him to assist you for a week."

She smiled back. "Feel free to send him. Maybe I'll threaten to flay him alive, this time." He paled, privately grateful that out of respect for his position as boss she always ran her disciplinary ideas past him. She gave him an irked look. "You really think he'd test that?"

"He might."

"Fine. I'll…" Seated at her desk, she looked around for a threat that could suitably punish and keep in line an unruly twelve-year-old boy. Her eyes found the ceiling. "Tie him by his ankles to the chandelier?"

"For no more than two minutes, and gently."

'Lee nodded distractedly, but he knew she would obey his intentions as well as his words, and he relaxed. She was good at her work, good at understanding, good at following orders: the model of a "good" AI, a model citizen and worker.

She pulled a mug out of a desk drawer and gestured towards him. "Tea?"

"No, thank you." Henry knew he was staring, knew she must know how he admired her, but did she have to ignore it? Did she have to pretend she didn't see it? He just wished to know her better, to know this strange AI who was some times his age yet deferred to him as her boss. It wasn't infatuation—it was respect… right?

'Lee popped her neck and sipped the steeping tea. She closed her eyes. "Mm. Ginger." She took another sip. "I guess you want to know why I'm asking for leave to go off-planet, right now."

That was why he bought her the tea—a request for an explanation, though the family tradition held that she needn't give one. "Yes."

Her blue eyes looked at him as soon as they opened, and she put down her mug. "Still needs to steep a few minutes." 'Lee leaned back, smiling ruefully. "You know how I always laugh whenever I'm called a legend?"

She didn't laugh, but he knew what she meant. 'Lee rarely laughed—or meant her laughs as any more than an expression of her mild amusement, an expression others found more comfortable than her common half-smile. "Yes."

She pried something from her desk and tossed a model starship to him. "Pretty, isn't she? Ulysses' Pride: High Guard stealth ship. She was in the testing stages, only a few years old, when the High Guard collapsed."

"You knew her?" Henry wasn't all that surprised; not really. 'Lee had worked for the family for over a century; why couldn't she be a few centuries old?

"Yes." Her gaze glazed over, and she shivered before taking some more tea. She nodded at the model. "That's the legend. One little lonely stealth ship, without a crew, using donated organic brains and hodgepodged experimental software to travel through slipstream…" She shook her head, jaw taut. "Just a child, really…"

"A High Guard ship named Ulysses really did save the drift from the Nietzscheans?"

Her expression answered yes. "She noticed a flaw in a slipstream maneuver advantageous for attacking. Augmented the flaw without any of them realizing it was an unmanned ship, and they were forced into a retreat. I liked research…"

"So you met?"

'Lee looked at him blankly.

"You said she took advantage of a piloting flaw, and you liked research. Did you meet her that way?"

She blinked. "I need a maintenance check. I shouldn't be saying things like that."

Henry stared at her, trying to figure out what she said that would give her such consternation. 'Lee dodged conversations galore, but she didn't just forget them. "'Lee?"

Her head raised slightly in a military acknowledgment. "Sir?"

Suddenly, Henry wasn't so sure he wanted to know the answer.