They had to soak Meaghan's dress off her, and by the time the process was finished, she was semi-conscious again.

"Oh my god," murmured Trance. "It looks like it was done by.., claws. Even nanobots are going to take some time to do the repairs necessary."

"No," Meaghan mumbled. "Just anchor me, Trance, and keep me from.., going anywhere."

Bekka had finished navigating the first leg of their journey and came in to see how Meaghan was.

"What do I need to do?" Trance asked softly.

"Just hold my hand and join with the me on the surface," Meaghan explained woozily. "Don't go too deep, or you'll feel it too. Just keep me from drifting away, and kind of keep an eye on my energy levels, I think this may take quite a bit."

"What about the nanobots?" Rommie asked, holding the injector.

"They're not going to be necessary," Trance answered, her eyes glazing over a bit. "She's going to do it herself."

They watched as in tiny increments, the wounds began to heal. While it was painfully slow to the observer, it still was considerably quicker than even the nano's could have repaired the damage.

&&&&&&&&

Selene summoned Eros and Psyche to Charlemagne's room. "Tend to him," she ordered, and left.

Eros struggled to keep his features impassive, but he was aghast at the damage the Nietzschean had taken. He began to help his wife cleanse the raw gashes carefully, when he thought he saw healing starting to take place. His first thought was to dismiss it, mortals simply did not heal that fast. But soon he was convinced that Charlemagne somehow really was healing himself, or being healed.

Charlemagne's eyes flicked open once. He smiled and said, "Meg," and lapsed back into unconsciousness.

Well, that explained that, thought Eros, but how his mother could be doing this when she didn't even know exactly where they were was beyond him. He tried to reach out to touch her mind, but found it fogged over and unreachable. He did wonder how Mother knew that her husband needed the healing, though.

&&&&&&&

About an hour into the process, Rommie checked the vitals readouts and said, "Her energy levels are dropping dangerously low, Trance. Can you pull her out of it so she can rest?"

Trance nodded, and sent her thoughts along to Meaghan. A few minutes later, Meaghan sluggishly opened her eyes.

"How are we doing?" she asked weakly.

"There's still quite a lot to do," Trance informed her. "But you're wearing down, you need to rest a while."

"Not rest," Meaghan declared. "Food. Lots of it. I can recharge a lot quicker that way."

"Are you sure?" Rommie asked. "I know that food can, to some extent make up for improper rest, but in extreme conditions such as this.., it would probably kill a human being."

"But I'm not a human being," Meaghan pointed out. "Even if I am wearing a human body. It still doesn't react quite the same."

So they brought her food, enough for three people under normal circumstances, and watched in awe as Meaghan neatly but ravenously put every bite away.

"Much better," the goddess said, stretching back out on the table. "Back to work now, Trance."

&&&&&&

Eros wondered a bit when he saw the healing abruptly halt, and considered whether he dared do anything himself. He had reluctantly concluded that he had better not, when Charlemagne's wounds started to mend again.

Charlemagne was beginning to show signs of coming around. Really awake, not the half-stupor he had been in when he had uttered his beloved's name.

Eros had been more than half afraid to move him before, but now that his step-father had begun to rouse on his own, he helped him to his feet where, with Eros' help he managed a half-staggering walk to fall face first on the bed. Psyche impassively began to clean the blood off the floor where Charlemagne had lain.

Eros scanned with his mind for any sign of Eos or Selene. Nothing. He decided to take a risk.

"Charlemagne, can you hear me?" he barely whispered in the Nietzschean's ear.

"Yes," came the murmured answer in the same nearly inaudible tones.

"I daren't say much," Eros warned, "I just wanted to let you know that Mother and.., and someone else broke the compulsion on me. And to ask if you know how you're managing to heal at such a supernatural rate."

"Am I?" Charlemagne muttered. "Yes, I suppose I must, the agony is almost bearable, now. But I have no idea how."

"Earlier, you came half awake for a moment and said, well, your name for Mother," the love god hurried on. "Do you think it's possible?"

"I no longer make flat statements about what is or isn't possible." Charlemagne started to roll over, then was painfully reminded why he was laying on his stomach and flopped back. "Not since I've been married to your mother. It must be her though," he added with a vague smile. "I can almost feel her presence with me."

Eros caught a stray thought from one of the Nietzschean's captors. "They're coming," he cautioned, and went back to his robot act.

"I told you, Selene, that if you damage him too badly he'll be of no use to us," Eos scolded. "We'll have to heal him."

"His insolence is beyond tolerating," the moon goddess ranted. "Maybe we should just give him up as a bad job."

"Nonsense," the goddess of dawn retorted. "You're just way too impatient. What's this?"

The two goddesses had reached the bed and saw that Charlemagne's mangled back was now half-healed. As one, they turned to Eros, who stood beside the bed with a vacant look on his face.

"This is impossible!" Selene's face was twisted in rage. She grabbed Charlemagne's shoulder roughly and shook him. "Tell us how you're doing this, Nietzschean."

"I'm not," he answered drowsily.

"You must be," Eos snapped. "This mindless dummy is certainly in no shape to help you, and Aphrodite doesn't know where you are."

"Can't help you," Charlemagne murmured, appearing to be nearly asleep, though in reality, he was feeling amazingly energized.

Selene stood for long moment's staring into Eros' eyes. "The compulsion is still in place," she told her sister. "He couldn't have done it."

A wave of warmth and love washed over Charlemagne, and before he could stop himself he uttered his wife's name again.

"Aphrodite!" Eos squeaked in a panic. "But how could she find us? And how can she heal him when she isn't even here?"

Selene looked thoughtful. "I've never heard the like, myself, but.., Tell me, pretty, is there anything, unusual about your relationship with your wife?"

Charlemagne chuckled softly. "All of it, none of it, take your pick."

Eos was puzzled. "What are you getting at, Selene?"

"Oh a little while back I heard some idle chatter about the two of them showing the light of love," Selene answered. "I've never seen it myself, but I have heard that it has some.., unusual effects."

"We did." The Nietzschean sounded rather smug. "When we said good-bye on the Andromeda. We shone with the light of love, my Meg and I."

"Maybe that is the connection," Selene mused. "We may have to think about removing to another location, sister."

"You said this place was secure," Eos whined. "You said that Aphrodite or whatever she wants to call herself now, could never find us here, even if she took the entire universe apart atom by atom. If she can find this place, where else is there for us to go?"

"I didn't say it would be easy," Selene snapped. "And we may have to keep moving, periodically. I don't think we're in any immediate danger yet, but if we do have to leave, I suggest leaving Eros and Psyche behind. Aphrodite is probably at least as attuned to her son as to her husband, if not more so."

"I don't fancy spending eternity running from Aphrodite," Eos muttered. "And if they did show the light of love, she will not rest until she finds him if it takes till the end of days."

"You worry too much." "You don't worry enough."

And still arguing, the goddesses vanished from sight.

&&&&&&&

A couple of hours later, Meaghan sighed, stretched and fell into a deep, but relatively, normal sleep. The flesh of her back was as smooth and unmarred as a baby's.

Trance was seated in a chair beside her, her hand still clasped in Meaghan's but half-asleep herself. The ship's avatar carefully unwound their fingers, and picked up Trance and put her to bed.

Bekka peeked in again. "How's it going, Rommie?"

"They're both worn out," Rommie said quietly. "But Meaghan is completely healed."

Bekka entered the rest of the way. She went over to where Meaghan lay, arms flung over the edge of the examining table, and gently brushed the hair out of her face. "Just what is it about her, Rommie, that makes you want to take care of her and see her happy?"

"Maybe because she reminds us just how important love really is," the android suggested.

&&&&&&&&

Charlemagne rolled over onto his now healed back and muttered, "Meg," once more with a happy smile on his face. And as he slept, he dreamt not of Eos and Selene, but of Meaghan.