Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. Everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.

-=oOo=-

Araiansu - Chapter 20

-=oOo=-

Andy Davis ended up transporting with everyone else to the Nozomi, along with a pile of food. It was the best meal he had in ages and he normally went to some very nice restaurants. Rommie seemed particularly enthusiastic with making sure everyone had what they wanted. She could clearly be solid when she wanted to be, as demonstrated by all the food she carried.

Even while she was serving people food she would sing softly. He didn't recognize the language, but he assumed it was Lantean.

He said, "You should record that. I'd bet people would love to hear it, and it could earn you some income that I'm sure your group could use."

Kasumi brightened.

Rommie said, "I have a full database of Lantean art and music, or at least as full as any ship ever had."

"I wouldn't release it all at once. Keep their interest," he advised.

"I will think on it."

"Do you have any more Earth music you like?"

Rommie said, "I quite like Origa's work. I was saddened to find out that she died so young."

"I think I'm familiar. Is there anything in particular?"

"Rise is a favorite."

"I remember parts of of it. I believe the first line is speaks of being a soldier and standing on both sides of the fire. Are you a soldier?"

She blinked. "Of course. How could I not be? My final mission was to guard the future of those we hoped would follow after. You don't think they trust ships like this to just anyone do you?"

"I would never think that."

She smiled and then went back to softly singing or passing dishes. He was surprised when after eating only a small amount Kasumi said, "I kind of had to force feed myself earlier to restore some energy so I'm not actually that hungry. If people want, I could give Rommie a break from singing and take a turn."

Daniel said, "We would love to hear you." The others quickly agreed.

"This is Fields of Hope, also from the Gundam Seed soundtrack."

Andy Davis could not help but wipe his eyes. The sad song pulled at his emotions, and, he noted, at Rommie's as well judging by the tears running down her all too real looking cheeks. He tried to use his highly limited knowledge of Japanese to form a translation in his head, only to see it form in the air before them. He read part of it.

I sing a song of prayer and hope

As nothing lasts forever, we learn to cope

And start again where we begin the flow again

Together we'll travel the lonely nights

To morning so green, to the purest lights

The place we all seek from darkness too deep

Lights will guides us through always, its path we'll keep

This song in Kasumi's voice was something he didn't think he would ever forget, nor would anyone else, if the expressions he saw were anything to go by. Both were excellent, but this seemed almost more. Kasumi was singing not to them. They were there, an audience for sure, but Rommie was the focus.

Rommie was just too human not to have been so once. He didn't think he would mention his conclusions, but if he could make them, then others could. Rommie was human or Lantean once, and somehow Kasumi Tendo had a permanent bond to the ship; to Rommie. It explained almost everything, except it wasn't a person to person bond, but a person to ship bond, whatever that was. Perhaps she was alive once or volunteered? He didn't know. The bond between a normal person and a person that was once normal but now formed the core of a ship, thus allowing control of the ship on a level unheard of?

The pairing was clearly important, and unless he missed his guess the reason Sam and Ranma went over was because it exhausted Kasumi. There was a frame or two at the end of the first portion of their work where she was clearly exhausted. Something wasn't quite right. Ranma and Sam were now clearly nearly exhausted even if the earlier video didn't show it. Again, he wouldn't say anything, but he wondered if part of the reason they took the much more aggressive route after was to limit the duration Kasumi and Rommie had to merge? Some of it may have been showing off, as she had done before, but if the look Kasumi showed originally at the end was accurate, he honestly couldn't see her recovering so quickly. A connection between Ranma and Sam's poor state and Kasumi and the the ships good state? It made sense. Much of what they did that pushed things to the next level seemed to take a direct toll on the users. It seemed another price for power. Come to think of it, Rommie had said, "You don't think they trust battleships to just anyone do you?" That, if anything, had to prove she was human once. He also couldn't believe anything that wasn't living could shed such tears.

The top question after he was returned to his office that evening was when would the get the new power plants. He of course had no idea and told them so. That satisfied no one, but an inquiry to Atlantis got a better answer. They basically wanted them installed generally in place of the most polluting plants. They wanted sufficient security to insure the reactors were operated according to instructions, and that no one tampered with them. If this did not occur they would be removed. They also wanted a stack of raw materials, though nothing particularly notable.

The first power plant was delivered to California and installed at a standard thermal power planet in place of a natural gas peaking generator that was planned for the building. It came in via a Goa'uld cargo ship and was designed to generate high voltage direct current, such as used for long range transmission lines. It could generate up to five hundred mega watts. They were limited to about a hundred with the wires they had in place so far. A converter from DC back to AC was ordered, but was six months out.

The plant was happy to have the additional hundred mega watts, with more to come. Replacements for the Naquadah core would need to be done in about two years assuming they went to full rate soon. He had little doubt they would do so as soon as they could, since it would save them a lot of money. Other power plants went in one after another. All had the exact same requirements. Some were rejected of course because it seemed they didn't believe the people wanting them had met the security or other requirements needed. They were invited to submit a new plan with additional focus in the areas they recommended. This of course put them at the end of the line. He had no idea how they were determining who was lying, but he suspected there was some interesting detective work going on, well that or just a lot more monitoring that they were clearly capable of.

The interesting thing was that the Naquadah reactors were a tempest in a teacup compared to the power generation those two ships managed. You didn't need advanced alien math to calculate how much energy was required to halt that asteroid. All that was required was a good estimate of its mass along with its velocity. They had the former due to one their comments and they had the later based on the Hubble images. The power those two ships produced was staggering, and barely even conceivable in human terms.

Of course he also got questions about the apparent lesbian relationship between Rommie and Kasumi as well as the highly inappropriate relationship between an eighty year old and a twenty year old. He responded that if they were so curious they could ask them. He was unsurprised to get an assignment to interview Cally and Nafrayu the next day. He supposed it was better to get the truth out, rather than let people make stuff up. He gratefully accepted being beamed to Atlantis. Apparently only he was invited, but his appearance would be recorded for his use.

Cally came up to him first, then Nafrayu stepped to her side. He was surprised that he looked younger than Cally. The room was filled with doctors in white coats, presumably there to learn. It also had various animals in different cages around the room. Test subjects perhaps?

He said, "It wasn't actually my idea to come here today."

Cally said, "We know. Can we answer any questions?"

"I'd honestly just like to watch you guys work and learn if you don't mind."

One of the doctors said, "We don't start on human patients for a couple hours. You may be asked to leave then. It will be up to them."

"Of course."

Andy Davis watched, and wondered again why he was here. As strange as it all was, the truth spoke for itself. There was nothing evil here. Strange yes, and had she been any younger, but she was not. They all seemed older than their physical age. It was still concerning now, but he understood part of why she did it, as they each took turns teaching. He was a bit surprised an hour and a half later when Nafrayu suddenly seamed to be right beside him.

"You are more open minded than most. We considered hiding my actual age. It would be easy enough, and in a hundred years it will not matter."

"She will.."

"Of course. Any life adept at the level she will attain is functionally immortal, if they want to be."

"I'm still not sure how to present this. This will not be presented fairly by some. It still disturbs me how people twist things, yet I understand part of it at least."

"But it will be by you." It wasn't a question.

Andy nodded. "I think it would be better to spend perhaps weeks covering this, selecting a small piece from each day. I'm not going to defend the age difference. In truth, I'm probably not going to speak at all. I think your work will speak for itself."

"The truth usually points to itself," Nafrayu added.

Andy nodded again.

"If it matters, Cally is quite cross with me. She was curious about physical things, but I said she had to be at least forty before we would consider such things."

Andy laughed. "Seriously?"

He nodded.

The reporter asked, "Was their no other way?"

"Of course there was, but she was adamant to lean as much as fast as she could, and I foolishly allowed it. My parents were most upset with my carelessness, but it was already too late, well for any nice way out. It could be severed, if both wished it. We have that skill, but as we don't wish it, and we certainly don't want to go through that pain, it won't be."

"I may include the part of that from a clean interview. Your not technically trapped then."

"No, my people have the skill to break even normally unbreakable bonds. It is extremely unpleasant, but it can be done."

"Even between a pair like Ranma and Samantha?"

Nafrayu said, "It is possible, but only if both wish it and we help. I can tell that they do not, that if they somehow lost their bond tomorrow they would reestablish it likely minutes later. Sure it may kill the other if one dies. I don't think they care."

"It is that addictive huh?"

"You have no idea. Cally is a beyond remarkable woman in her own right, and that, well I had almost given up finding anyone my age or remotely close."

"But you are still holding off some things? Why is that?" he asked.

Nafrayu smiled. "It is well known that some things cloud judgment."

Cally said firmly as she got near, "My judgment is not impaired."

"Who said it would be your judgment that would be impaired?" Nafrayu replied.

Cally blushed furiously.

"Please, humor me on this. Once we are a bit older."

"Double my current age. You want double. More than double."

"I assure you it will go by quicker than you know."

The scowl Cally gave him made him less than certain that she agreed.

-=oOo=-

The next day he was surprised to also see Ranma, the rest of his children, Kasumi's Father, Kasumi herself, and if he was any judge by the small glow that was not quite hidden, Rommie too. Curious. He wouldn't have thought that was possible so far from her ship, but perhaps it was because they were in Atlantis itself. Was this an extension of the work Avon did? He didn't know.

Another odd thing he didn't expect to see a solid steel plate about an inch thick mounted on a pair of heavy duty saw horses.

Cally spoke, "My family wonders part of why I eventually ended up bonded to Nefrayu, which is something I do not regret, and would do again in a heartbeat. He is an exceptional man, and I am fortunate he thinks well of me as well."

She paused for a moment, as if in thought, then turned to her father. "What was the one thing I tried for months to learn that you were unable to teach me?"

Surprised Ranma answered, "You had a problem learning vacuum blades or any of the variations of them. We honestly didn't consider it that big a deal. You were hardly defenseless without them, and no matter how strong we get by ourselves, we aren't matching an Asgard plasma beam rifle or any of the countless other very powerful weapons."

"I didn't either, but we were both very wrong."

Ranma blinked. "How? I barely use that skill these days."

"I'll explain in a minute. Can you slice through that steel plate?"

"I can. It is a bit tricky to also avoid cutting into the floor, but I'll give it a go."

Ranma moved has hand above the surface faster than his eyes could see, leaving a trail of nothing? He saw nothing.

"I only cut about two thirds the way through. Is that good enough? Its hard to be precise enough and I didn't want to damage anything."

"It is fine," Cally said. "It is better than fine. First, do I have a volunteer to confirm he actually cut through the material?"

Andy said, "Sure, I can do it."

Cally said, "Here is a set of fine feeler gauges used for very precise thickness measurements. You may have to gently slide the one of the finest gauges across the surface to find the edge, then you can just push it in to see how far he cut."

It took some fiddling but he managed to get the half thousands of an inch gauge to slide in, then hold the length with his thumb before measuring it with a set of digital calipers that was handed to him. He checked several times before finally saying, "He cut about 5/8 of an inch through the one inch material, with some places up to about an 1/8th less and some places about an 1/8th more. He did actually cut through in one place. You can see where the gauge slips all the way through."

Ranma shrugged. "As I said they are not a precise instrument. I'd never use them in combat if there was an innocent behind unless every other option was worse, and even then I'd do like I did here and do less than I thought required. I don't particularly like to kill. These are definitely not my first choice in combat. What I don't get is why any of this is relevant?"

Cally held her left hand over the path Ranma took and slowly and carefully moved it over the line Ranma cut. The cut piece banged into the ground.

"How?" Ranma asked. "That was not a ki scalpel. There is no way your cutting through even what I had left with that, let along no light.. It felt like…"

"It was. What I did and what you did are the same. Mine was obviously refined and far better controlled. You exploited a trick that required a fast activation in order to reach the state through which the bonds of matter can be cut, but you never went beyond the trick to true understanding."

Ranma said, "This was part of the sealed arts my father created. I never liked using them, but they were necessary at times. I had to use them quite a bit not long after I first met your mother to build our temporary home for the winter, which is certainly the best use for such a skill. What I don't get is why this is relevant? They are only good for destruction right?"

"Wrong," she said. "Cut another slice the same as before."

Ranma did so. She confirmed it with the feeler gauge and then ran her left hand over it again.

Before she even reached for the feeler gauges her father said, "How did you do that?"

"What did she do?" Andy asked.

"She unmade the cut," he said in surprise.

"That is ridiculous," one of the doctors said.

Cally threw him the feeler gauges. There was no trace the cut had ever been.

"How did you do that?" her father finally asked again?

"I had to beg and plead for Lya and her husband to allow me to learn this. It was, in the end her experience with you, and the help you gave her for Ayiana plus that you already knew what you thought of as vacuum blades that finally got them to relent, and it was only Nafrayu being willing to link with me that enabled me to understand what I was not seeing. I'm willing to bet you can figure it out now that I've demonstrated."

She added, "You have told us many times. Don't"

He finished, "trust your eyes. They tell only part of the story." His eyes widened as understanding suddenly dawned on him. "I'm so stupid! I avoided truly studying this part of the art because of my disgust for it. Had I done so you might not be in a nearly unbreakable bond…"

Cally snorted. "Do you really think I'm going to wait for one of my sisters to see what I saw?"

Nafrayu commented, "Still right here."

She smiled before turning to her father. "Do you think you can do it?"

Ranma carefully set his glowing hand just above the table then moved it in a circle.

There was something odd about that. Then he saw it. The plate was turning into a funnel as he, he guessed, cut through a layer, let it fall then fused it back again. "Remarkable," he found himself saying.

Avon said, "I see your time was well spent Cally, but this doesn't really answer why this is relevant for healing. I see some edge cases that we have done other ways, but nothing big."

She smiled, a mysterious smile.

Nafrayu palmed a hand on his face.

Jenna said, "Your not going to tell us today."

"Nope, I'm curious if our dad can figure it out himself. I've given enough hints I think."

Her father asked, "Have you kept up with your training?"

She flinched.

"I see you haven't. Dana, would you supervise some training for our family and Kasumi. Soun Tendo, would you maybe give everyone else who is interested a lesson in the art?"

"Okay."

Andy said, "You know if you wanted time to think."

Villa said, "Come on, besides dad thinks best when things are presented in the terms of the art."

A few minutes later Samantha Carter beamed in and sat in front of Ranma. "What's up? I felt your rather intense concentration and was curious."

Ranma smiled and held his right hand out to her left. They began glowing like angels, even as he tried to get far enough in the back not to get called on for a demonstration from Mr. Tendo.

They all kept sneaking peaks at the softly glowing couple that, as near as he could tell had not moved from their seated positions for over an hour.

Cally moved over to his side. "Hiding?" she asked.

"No, I'm just letting other more deserving people go first."

"And that is why you continue to rearrange your position to stay at the end of the line?"

"Purely a coincidence." He noted how, somehow he was now alone back here with her.

"Do you see it now? Look at them closely, and not just with your eyes. Feel. You have enough potential for that much, and could have more if you trained."

"I'm not sure if you aren't confusing me with someone else."

"Fine, look at Rommie."

His head immediately focused on Kasumi.

She whispered, "I didn't say look at Kasumi."

"She glows like…"

She whispered. "No. She doesn't. They are far too good at synchronization, even if that is just part of Rommie with her now, and using the tricks she must use to even be here. No camera in the world would see a difference. No normal person would. That part of Rommie is passive and observing only, so how did you know. How did you see?"

"The glow," he whispered.

"The glow that no one less talented than Soun Tendo could even see?"

He closed his eyes and focused, trying to use this nebulous sense he wasn't sure he had, but that oddly enough had always told him when he was being lied to. His gaze, even with his eyes closed immediately turned back to Kasumi and Rommie. He smiled without thought. It was a happy if strange thing. They then turned to Ranma and his wife and he saw the same. He averted his gaze. It seemed too precious to intrude on, even if he wasn't really seeing with his eyes. Then he turned, still with eyes closed to the young woman beside him and saw it too, though connected.. Nafrayu of course, and despite their protests their was a lot of love there. He could feel it.

She moved to walk away.

He asked softly, "Didn't you want an answer to your question?"

She said, "I got one. Thank you."

Soun called out in halting English, "You in the back. I don't believe you have had a turn."

He thought of replying that he had just had an advanced lesson, but supposed that was no elses business. He sighed and walked forward. He could feel them all he realized, and not just when he looked at them. He was surprised when Nafrayu came to talk to him after he slipped back to the back, his skill in falling perhaps advanced a tiny amount, but oh he ached for it.

"I think you see it now, or part of it. She is a tricky one; showing light in the dark places."

"Pardon?" he asked.

"The skill to help those with the potential to truly see is a rare one. My family was actually stunned to see it in a human, particularly so strongly. It is what attracted me to her."

"I don't understand," he admitted.

"Don't you? There are hundreds of thousands like you on Earth. Rare yes, but of that group a fraction of a fraction perhaps partially learn to see as you are now, and most would write it off as paranoia."

"Did you teach it to her?"

"No. Oh, we helped her refine it. I helped her quite a bit, but it is her ability, and not one I share."

"Is that what will become of humanity? Will we all be like well their children or you or?"

"That is always your choice. We are but one of the old guides. The future may be to the children of the Tauri, if you survive long enough."

"I'm surprised if this trick could be learned via bonding that Ranma and Sam didn't learn of it when they were linked to your mother."

"Mother has a remarkably disciplined mind, but that wasn't it. All that could be done was done. They held nothing back of value."

"Then it is not of value, but it must be. Wait, you said they held nothing back. That is the key. How to heal to some fraction of as well but hold back what must be held back, otherwise healers would not last long."

"Do not tell him."

"Why? This is critical."

"It is a very rare skill to be able to teach. You are close in words, yet words will not teach this. Yes bonded may teach, well anything. It took me close to thirty years to learn it on my own. To unite, yet hold back, to guide, but not quite join. She was right that the skill to break and join the bonds of matter is important. It is something we usually teach after the skill they are missing. She thought it might be the key to making the jump back to what I taught."

"Then she doesn't really know how to teach it." he said in wonder.

"She knows as much as I know or my mother knew or any of the other Nox. We went over it in great detail."

"I bet you worked hard to learn that for those thirty years."

He nodded.

"What do you think their chances are?"

He smiled. "Better than you think. Look again."

He again closed his eyes, letting himself see in more detail what was around him. He first saw Cally in his minds eye and he couldn't fit a better word to her other than smug. That was curious. He saw Kasumi and Rommie next. They were so proud. They were looking at Ranma and Sam, who were exuberant? They had not moved, but they were exuberant. He knew this to be true.

"They have puzzled something out. Maybe not the whole thing, but some part of it."

"Probably," he agreed. "Now pay attention to what you missed. You have looked at only what is in this room. Look further."

He closed his eyes again and tried to see the energy patterns that existed outside this room. Atlantis was surprisingly lively with so many people focused to their own purposes. It was no wonder that spies could not infiltrate it if so many could see as he did, or anything close to it. He looked again as he moved out. Wait. Something was different. He moved his focus back in, mentally tagging Cally, Nafrayu, Kasumi and Rommie who he could distinguish now, then Ranma and Sam, then farther out and all the others, then farther out, then farther out. That was it."

He said, "I think I understand now. She is an island and around her things are clearer, but further away there is this haze."

He smiled. "You learn remarkably quickly yourself. That is why she is very precious to both me and my people. We have not known one such as her for a very long time. It is also why we do not often live on worlds such as this that are like they are. She is an island in the storm."

He was surprised when the glow he sensed from Ranma and Sam didn't stop, but they both got up and moved around, still just as lively, connected without touching. He watched as Sam, as if she was bored slipped her hand across the piece of flat steel causing it to be sliced in half. He saw Ranma's amused smile as everyone noticed the thud of it hitting the floor.

They then seemingly casually walked up to Kasumi who was smiling widely now.

Ranma accused, "You knew!"

"In a way. Rommie remembers being healed a few times when she was young. It was different. She never quite found the words to tell you what it was that was wrong. She was not a healer, though she remembers being healed and then the failures being healed before her change. We loved to see your efforts at learning to heal, but had no words to tell you what you were doing wrong. We weren't even sure it was wrong. Perhaps it was just different? Our time with the Nox taught us quite a bit. We can heal now, but still don't know this. They weren't able to teach us this, though I'm hoping Cally can eventually."

Sam asked, "So you could tell if we were doing it right?"

"Sure. Cally does it right."

Ranma asked, "May we?"

"Sure. What do I need to do?"

Ranma and Sam held out their hands to her, quickly forming a triangle of hands. Light lined their arms and bodies for several minutes when suddenly Kasumi said, "That tickles."

Then a minute later she said, "You are closer we think."

After another minute they stopped.

Kasumi asked, "Did that help?"

"It did," Sam said. "We know what we need to work on."

He was disappointed not to see success today, but he supposed it was not surprising. This was, apparently, a very hard thing to learn.

He was surprised a moment later to hear Heimdall's voice. "Attention. School Shooting in progress. Transporting target and child now!"

Suddenly a flash of light occurred and a middle aged man with yet another AR15 and a small girl held in his other arm, and then suddenly before he knew what happened Ranma and Sam were just there. Ranma had pressed his hands against the man, instantly dropping him, pulling the weapon at the same time while Sam freed the small girl.

She quickly handed the girl to the nearest doctor and said, "Take care of her." Ranma tossed the killer in the direction of Soun Tendo who carried him out of the room. Not more than five seconds after that occurred additional children, all bleeding out began appearing in the room.

Nafrayu immediately ran to the first, if less fast than Cally moved, to one that seemed a little less injured. Both immediately started healing then.

Cally called out, "Seal wounds only. We will take care of the rest."

Ranma and Sam still linked moved to the next. Their other children also moved in, as did Kasumi. Each did as directed and stopped bleeding only and stabilized them. Doctors rushed in with additional beds. The doctor's quickly put them in them as space was cleared for them and then started on their own tests, careful not to move the children. Fifteen minutes later Cally and Nafrayu finished the first two children and moved to the next. It was six hours later before every children had been fully seen to by them.

Sam and Ranma instantly pulled both Cally and Nafrayu into a hug. "Thank you," they said to both of them.

"We just did our jobs," Nafrayu protested.

Ranma said, "It is more than we could do. We risk complications with our best efforts. You, I don't think did."

Nafrayu said, "You two are nearly there. There is no shame in your skills."

Both Sam and Ranma nodded.

The eldest doctor there came over to them. He said, "I've attended at one of these before. We have never been able to save them all. Thank you. Thank you all."

Cally and Nafrayu had taken advantage of the short break to lean against a wall and fall asleep. Parents began to beam in. Ranma and Sam picked up Cally and Nafrayu and carried them to where they could sleep.

Kasumi said, "Please remain calm. The children are well. The doctors here are still seeing to them. Once they are satisfied you can take them home." Her and Rommie repeated this many times over the next hour as they sought to keep order. The doctors did their part, dividing the patients between them.

"What about the killer?" one father shouted.

Kasumi said calmly. "He has been detained."

General Hammond appeared in a flash of light. "Actually, he has already been handed back over to the police that responded to the shooting. We will of course help with prosecution as much as possible. All here can attest to his crimes. Should he appear again in EDF custody, he will be judged by our own laws, and probably executed."

"Oh," the man who shouted demanded. "Couldn't you do that now?"

General Hammond said, "I'm sorry. We are largely trying to use the old Lantean laws. If the crime was committed here we could have handled it here, but all we could convict him of here was hostage taking, which would not normally carry a death sentence, though would have a minimum of twenty years. The exact details would be determined by a jury. Should he be convicted of less than twenty years for hostage taking, or not be convicted for a crime that includes hostage taking, we will press to add our own sentence to his punishment, though I am not completely sure we can convict because we pulled him here so as to save the child. Either way, I assure you Ranma and Sam gave him absolutely no chance to commit further crimes. The recording showed they had him down within a quarter of a second."

"Really?" the man and a few others asked surprised.

George nodded.

"Why the hell aren't our own cops this efficient?"

George said, "If we detect major crimes like this, or we are told about them, but we only have so many people and resources. We are teaching more."

Another asked, "What would it take for your people to be able to respond?" The other parents were swiftly tending to their children.

"To be able to enter a state or town and stop a crime would require a treaty of some kind. Even what we did today could be technically viewed as kidnapping, not that we intend to ignore the need to help. We can deal with the consequences if people choose to act irrationally. A treaty, would, however, be of help to clarify things."

Andy Davis got a phone call. He answered it then listened for a few seconds before responding, "Yes, they saved everyone. I will see if I can air some of this live," before hanging up. He met General Hammond's eyes who clearly heard his words.

George asked, "Would anyone here mind talking to the press? I assume this will not be a lengthy process."

"I'd like to interview those parents who wished to be interviewed, likely in another room. The children should be kept out of it. I'd also like to interview all those who helped save people, including those with special skills, and the regular doctors who are trying to learn them."

Sam came in as he finished speaking. She said, "Cally and Nafrayu are spent, and I will not wake them. I'm willing to release the video of the event unmodified with the children blurred, assuming no one has any objections. I'm uncertain about the shooter."

"Blur him," Andy Davis said. "Don't give the creep any credit."

She nodded.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: If your a US citizen that is registered to vote, then please do go vote on November 8th, which is a day after I posted this. I doubt I honestly changed anyone's vote, but if one person voted who might not have then this story will have exceeded my hopes.