4.
Andromeda gazed thoughtfully into the mechanical womb. It seemed very inappropriate that it belonged to the Maru, a barely-sentient cargo drone, and not to her. Bathed in gold, Dylan slept on. She could see his chest rising and falling, very slowly. The hollowness of his features would gradually fill out as he absorbed everything he needed, breathing in the blood-soluble solution of oxygen, food, and water. She could almost sense him gaining strength by the moment. Heavy-worlders were a tough breed.
Dylan had recognized that he loved her. Would he remember? Or had it been only the drug?
Andromeda could almost hear the other AI's already snickering behind her back. The great warships, with their haughty personas; the vast intelligences that ran whole cities and even planets; even the drones. None of them would approve-- not even the Maru. As if she cared what went through that old drone's dim mind! In fact, human/AI pairings were the subject of frequent jokes among her species, and the concept was generally frowned upon in society. With good reason, she reflected: chief among dozens of failings, humans were simply too fragile. An AI who fell for a human was considered the lowest form of whore, involved only for the momentary novelty of mortality.
The situation changed somewhat when the human downloaded, becoming a hybrid. These humans were often regarded with great respect by the AI community. It took a huge amount of trust, a leap of faith, for a human to leave the world of flesh behind. Some were not able to retain their sanity after making the crossing, but others thrived. The downside was the human world, which largely disapproved of downloading and often shunned those who did. They were exemplified by the Tarn Vedrans themselves, a planetary community so conservative that they lived by rituals and taboos more than ten thousand years old, and regarded human downloading as losing one's soul.
But there were exceptional humans who never downloaded, humans still worth investing in; and Dylan Hunt was this to her. Gabriel had not taken him seriously in the least. She remembered his disapproval with stinging clarity; his impression that she had only fixated on her captain due to lack of something better to love. She remembered spilling all her memories regarding Dylan-- even the smallest incidents-- and felt the slow burning sensation called a "blush," the result of extreme embarrassment. How those memories must have amused Gabriel, perhaps even charming him with her naievete!
But Andromeda was at heart a fighting creature. She would shake off the disapproval of her peers and continue on her own path, regardless of the cost. She turned away from the window. Dylan would need her more than ever when he woke up, and she would be there.
"Rommie?" It was Trance. "Are you OK?"
"Yes. Thank you." Andromeda paused, then turned back. "Trance...?"
Trance came up beside her. Rommie looked first at Dylan, then the floor. "Is... Should we have done what we did? Is it wrong?"
"Oh, no. It is absolutely not wrong." Trance's voice was firm in its certainty. "There is no way that what you did can be wrong. No act of love is wrong. No kindness is wrong." She put an arm around Rommie.
"Then why is everyone acting like it is?"
"It's because no one believed Dylan would let his love for you shine out like that. No one but me."
"You?"
Trance nodded. "There is a perfect possible future and now I have seen part of it. In that future, you and Dylan have always been together, and you always will be."
----
The Maru headed for the paradise planet of Galena. During the daylong trip, Rommie convinced Beka to allow AI and Hologram loose in her ship. Despite the Maru's obvious limitations and Hologram's inability to manifest there, the two platform-independent personalities were very pleased to be released from the confines of Rommie's single self. Rommie, in return, was greatly relieved to no longer be carrying all of herself around in one vulnerable package, as if she were some kind of organic. She next commandeered a message drone, loaded new copies of all three of her selves onboard, and sent it off in the direction of the Perseids with strict instructions.
Dylan was revived a week after they arrived at the planet, and immediately chafed at his terrible condition. Andromeda took charge of his recovery with a no-nonsense protectiveness that left Beka amazed and Trance charmed. The first subect he brought up were the ghostly miners. Trance had to tell him the story of how she had freed them. He fretted over the safety of Shivaloka; Rommie reassured him that Ryan was on patrol. But when the subject turned to Andromeda's fallen crew, she drew a sharp line, having already done everything she could for the victims and families. She did not want him dwelling on the disaster and said so.
Strangely, Harper was still moping. When Andromeda finally realized that he was immersed in false guilt, thinking that the physical attributes he had given her were responsible for some kind of tragic love affair, she seized the opportunity to give him a piece of her mind. She made certain he knew how little her human body actually mattered to her-- the mind of a warship who had sported dozens of forms, had senses beyond human imagination, and whose faintest dreams were more vivid than human life! Properly chastised, Harper cheered up immediately and Andromeda put her attention back where it belonged.
Dylan was soon out of the mechanical womb, bellyflopping on the deck with the first step he tried to take. Beka and the others complained bitterly when Rommie lowered the Maru's gravity to half of ship normal. Supported by Rommie's tireless strength, back and forth along the corridors he dragged himself, then staggered-- back and forth until he'd remastered the art of walking. Running into the Maru from the planet's surface, Harper found himself plastered into the opposite wall by his own inertia several times. Tempers flared high in the Maru until full gravity was restored.
Dylan began to eat like a pig, trying to get his bulk back; Andromeda wordlessly brought him the spice pills that settled his stomach. He took to jogging in the mornings and she ran with him, matching him step for step. She was there when he began to work out more strenuously, acting as everything from spotter to coach. But during all the long months during which the Maru was on Galena, he never once mentioned what had happened between them on the asteroid, and never once indicated that he desired more.
She began to lose hope for any closure on that incident, but not entirely-- because he was watching her. He was watching her very casually but very closely, and all the time. She felt it keenly, but could not determine precisely what it meant, or whether or not she even liked that kind of attention from him. Ultimately, she decided to ignore it. It did not interfere with her primary mission here, after all-- her mission to simply see him one hundred percent recovered.
----
Dylan was jogging when the animal attacked. It was a large flightless bird, a raptor not native to the planet but said to have been developed from domestic birds the first human settlers had brought there thousands of years ago. They had been used to hunt the worst of the native fauna to extinction, but some had escaped into the wild, replacing their prey in the same ecological niche. Dylan had been running ahead of Andromeda and she had seen a flash of motion to his left. She interposed herself between him and the predator in the nick of time; the impact tore her arm off and knocked Dylan over the edge of a steep bank. Recovering herself, she dispatched the ostrich-sized raptor with two well-placed kicks, then went after Dylan, who was clinging to a root halfway down the bank.
She held onto him firmly, but due to the damage she had sustained she could not pull him back up until help arrived, and they were lifted out of the canyon by air sled. It was only after she was certain that Dylan was all right that she became fully aware of the agonizing pain in her left arm and shoulder-- the shredded skin, the dislocation of the joint, and the broken metal bone. The limb was barely attached to her by a thread of pulled nanowires that sent excruciating pain through her with every movement.
She sought out Harper in the Maru and found him conferring with the captain via comlink. "Woa!" the engineer said, when, wincing, she pulled the arm the rest of the way off in front of him and then wordlessly presented him with it. "Rommie, that's twisted! And you blew that whole rotator cuff assembly too. It's gonna take awhile to fix this, Rom-doll, make yourself comfortable."
She made herself as comfortable as she could be around Harper without her shirt on, acutely aware of his elevated heart rate and the sweat breaking from his pores. It irritated her; this kind of thing, bordering on harrassment, was what the old High Guard protocol was for, she thought. She closed her eyes-- and something changed.
----
She was herself again-- an enormous warship with a gravity well the size of a moon's, blades fully extended and bristling redly, support vessels swarming around her, facing an enemy fleet of overwhelming size. When had this happened--? Data glitch, she decided. She'd figure it out later; right now there was a battle to be fought. This was heady. Reduced in scale to microbial size compared to her planetary bulk, Dylan was pacing back and forth in her armor-plated gut, right where he belonged. Harper was there, too, but the rest of her crew seemed to be nowhere. She called up her droids, booting them into action to replace the missing people, unlocked some free memory to maintain them, and in so doing noted that her avatar was not at her station.
"Dylan, I've had a major malfunction. I'm missing large amounts of linear memory, can you fill me in?"
He frowned. "You've lost all data regarding the situation?"
"I'm afraid so. I'm running a self-diagnostic."
"OK, we're in the Seefra system. The enemy fleet belongs to Magog. It's the vanguard of the Worldship. According to Tri-Jema, we have backup coming, but they're running a little late. That's all you need to know."
"Acknowledged. Dylan, it looks like I've got a dozen nova bombs prepped in Hangar Bay Nineteen."
"That is correct."
"Hey, Boss!" said Harper suddenly. "I've got news and it ain't good. This glitch Andromeda just had? I think it's the result of some kind of new Magog weapon."
"What kind of weapon is that, Mr. Harper?"
"It looks like some kind of tachyon field that somehow interacts with Andromeda's neural network. And, Boss..." He looked up. "I think they're just warming it up!"
"Rommie, your opinion?" said Dylan.
Andromeda tried reaching out with every sense her ship-self had, and drew a strange blank. "Unable to detect anything resembling what Harper describes. Dylan, my sensors must have been affected. They're malfunctioning. I've only got electromagnetc, visual and low-level radar."
She had finally located her avatar on the obs deck. Flicking a fraction of her cybernetic at the lone figure, she added the equivalent of a kick. "What am I doing down here at a time like this!" A cascade of inappropriate emotions bled from Avatar backwards to the nearest mainframe and the noisy feedback staggered her. "Dylan, my avatar's malfunctioning, too."
"Just do the best you can," he said. "I'm taking manual control of the nova bombs."
"Good idea. Dylan, I have a visual on a slipstream event. It looks like our backup fleet's here. It's led by the Wrath of Achilles."
"Onscreen. Open communications. Ryan! Ryan, can you hear me? This is Dylan Hunt with Rommie."
But the Wrath of Achilles was silent. Andromeda tried running through all of the High Guard communications channels. "My satellite drones confirm the transmission. He heard us."
"But he's not replying." Dylan's face was grim. "Rommie, remove us from between Ryan and the enemy immediately. Full speed."
Andromeda banked and dove belowplane, kicking in her drive as she fled. The Wrath of Achilles swung ponderously around, firing on her.
"Boss!" yelled Harper. "They're using their tachyon-thingie on Ryan! They've taken control of his neural network!"
"Harper, I realize he's firing on us, but how do you know that? I can't see a thing!" said Andromeda. She took a hit, but it didn't hurt. More system problems, she thought.
Dylan sprang to the empty pilot's seat. "We can't win here. We're going to slipstream and regroup."
"Dylan, I've got no readings from my slipcore. It's a blank slate."
"Forget slipping, Boss, the tachyons are in the core!" said Harper. For all his seeming agitation, she noted that his vital signs were barely elevated. There wasn't a moment to analyze this, however. "Dylan," said Rommie, "The enemy fleet is moving. They're in pursuit. They're going to catch up with us in less than one minute."
"We can't let them capture us. We've got no options left," he said grimly, and shook his head. "Defeated without firing a shot."
The words seared through her like a scorching brand of failure and her mind raced, but every solution she sought came to a sudden dead end. Dylan was right. A dozen nova bombs would take out the enemy, as well as preventing their own capture. But there was no time to drop the bombs and run.
"I concur," she replied. "I am now downloading." Then: "Dylan, I can give you a chance. Download yourself to one of the satellite drones with me. I'll scatter the transmission outward. You can escape."
"I am not downloading," he snapped, his jaw tightening with revulsion at the suggestion.
"Dylan, it's your only chance at survival."
"Andromeda!"
She desisted at once. He'd never used that tone of voice with her before, and she did not want her last communication with him to be like this. "Give me control of the bombs," she said tonelessly. At that moment, Avatar reached the bridge. Andromeda gave her a little electronic shake before allowing her in, but her previous issues seemed to have been resolved.
Dylan's face softened a little at Andromeda's reply. "I'm sorry," he said as he punched out of manual weapons control.
"It's all right. Beginning countdown." Avatar stepped up to stand beside him. "Dylan, it was a great honor to serve with you."
"The honor was all mine, Andromeda Ascendant." For a moment, as the clock ticked down, he gazed down at her beautiful, proud face, taking in her upright stance, carefully absorbing her conviction that his imminent death was somehow justified. Then he almost looked as though he were hesitating. She wondered at it until he spoke. "I love you, Andromeda," he said finally, quietly. "And I regret this sacrifice."
There was not enough time for her to let herself be astonished. Peripherally she noticed Harper, frozen and slackjawed, staring at them with tears running down his face. Avatar turned back to her captain. "Don't say that. I love you, too, Dylan. But we have to stay this course. It is better that you die than become the Abyss's most powerful tool. You have never failed me. Don't fail me now, dear friend."
She didn't understand the quiet joy in his sudden smile.
3-- 2-- 1--
She wasn't detecting the reaction that would render her, Dylan, the Abyss fleet and everything else within many astronomical units into their constituent subatomic particles. There was only blackness, pitch blackness all around her, a vacuum much deeper than space. Then, just as she was trying to determine if she was indeed dead, she heard something, faintly, as if a distant door were opening. It was Harper blowing his nose.
"Good job, Harper. Now let us be alone, we have some things to discuss."
"Sure thing, Boss." Harper's footsteps receded as he sniffed and muttered something about tearjerkers, simulations and almost botching it.
"Andromeda?" Dylan's voice, coming closer. "Andromeda!"
She opened her eyes. Dylan was bending over her. She was still in human form, still sitting on the Maru, minus her left arm. The situation was instantly clear. "Dylan Hunt!" she snapped, springing up so furiously that he had to step back. "That was very cruel!"
"But not uncalled for," he replied calmly. "And worth it. I'm well satisfied with the result."
She turned her back on him, fuming. He came close behind her, laying a hand on her good shoulder. "Rommie. As long as we can both keep our priorities straight, as you did very well in that simulation, this new relationship of ours will work."
That got her, as he'd known it would. She looked back at him.
"Human-AI handfastings and even intermarriages are not unknown," he continued.
"I am well aware of that," Andromeda said, but it didn't come out as icily as she had meant it to. She gestured with her remaining arm to a nearby worktable with two chairs, and they sat down facing each other over its cluttered surface. "So you didn't forget," she said, softening a little.
"How could I? How could I possibly ignore this devotion you've shown me? Rommie... You've been magnificent. But I had to make certain that you weren't going the way of the Pax Magellanic."
Andromeda spoke slowly. "I was under the distinct impression Maggie had been exploited."
"I had that impression too. I was also familiar with her captain and to be frank about it, he was corrupt to begin with. Nevertheless, Maggie didn't have to be a victim, and her insanity later on demonstrated some weakness or frailty in her. It may still be possible that you possess the same flaw."
She looked uncomfortable. "I hope very much that I don't. Or that her flaw, as you put it, was perhaps programmed into her by humans. Even by her captain."
"That's possible, too. But-- assuming you want what happened on the asteroid to continue--"
"I do, Dylan. Of course, I don't actually need that kind of physical interaction, but I do want it very, very much. I want to be with you. I always have." She smiled a little nervously, but his eyes were kind and knowing, and perhaps just a little amused. "And I think it's appropriate for us. Also, whether or not it continues, our relationship has changed permanently anyway."
"I think it's appropriate, too, and I also want it very, very much. And it can continue as long as we keep the Commonwealth front and center. But if either of us sees any sign of it interfering with our service, Tri-Jema will give me any other post I request and we will be separated. Agreed?"
"Agreed wholeheartedly." She leaned slightly forward. "To think that you, the most conservative leader in the Fleet, would discard that old Commonwealth protocol is amazing, Dylan."
"Yeah, well, I hope it's not a mistake. I think it's not." Gentler now, he lay his hand over hers.
"Dylan? What you said in the simulation--"
"I meant it, Rommie. Even though it was part of the test."
For long moments they said nothing.
"You certainly didn't make this decision alone," said Andromeda. "You discussed it with Trance."
"You know me too well. Trance says she has been "aware" of us for some time. She approached me last week with this information. She seemed extremely confident-- more confident than I've ever seen her-- and that did affect my decision. Evidently our being together has some kind of bearing on the "perfect possible future." She says, in that future, you and I have always been together and always will be."
"That's good to hear, Dylan. She told that to me, too. I feel it must be true." What Andromeda didn't utter were her sudden suspicions that much of this entire incident had been engineered by Trance. The thought caused more than a little anger to well up, but she suppressed it. They could discuss that aspect of the situation at another time.
'We'll talk about her later," Dylan said, smiling at Rommie knowingly.
"Great minds think alike," she quipped.
There was a knock on the door. "Hey Boss! If you don't let me back in here, it's gonna take me all night to replace Rommie's arm. And I don't want to take all night, because I'm scheduled to emcee the biggest party Galena's ever seen."
"Yes, come in, Mr. Harper," Dylan said. The little engineer scooted through the door. It was only at this juncture that Andromeda remembered her toplessness. Dylan grabbed her shirt from where Harper had hung it on a rack and tossed it to her. She got to her feet, the cloth held to her bosom. Harper affected being stricken blind. "Don't sweat it, Rommie, I'm your creator, remember!"
"You're the one who's about to sweat it, Harper," she snapped. Dylan chuckled and left them there, saluting Rommie on his way out the door.
----
That night, Dylan and Rommie went to the party, where Trance and Beka conducted a small handfasting-ritual for them. It was not a marriage; neither of them wanted that formality, or the legal battle that would go with it. Afterwards, they attempted to check into one of Galena's luxury hotels, only to be told that AI consorts were not accepted. The impression Dylan got was that he was suddenly being regarded as some kind of overgrown, failed adolescent out for a night on the town with the only kind of sex partner he could get. His identity didn't matter; none of his arguments or overrides were accepted, and Rommie wasn't acknowledged at all. In the end, defeated by the desk clerk, they spent the night on the Maru.
Dylan stared sightlessly up at the ceiling. Rommie leaned over him. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were still just a little naieve, Dylan Hunt."
He stirred, smiling a little at her upside-down features. "I just got a particularly painful, firsthand lesson in prejudice. That's all."
"It's a protective mechanism gone awry," she said briskly. "We AI's sometimes suffer from it as well."
He rolled up on his elbow immediately. "Rommie. I didn't realize that. What's going on?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, just the warships gossiping over the Cortex. It's annoying, but nothing to be concerned about."
"Are you certain?"
"Dylan!" she snapped. "Am I going to start lying to you just because now I'm your consort?"
"No, of course not. Sorry."
She softened at once, reaching to play with his hair. She'd always wanted to do that. "Ryan's standing up for us, though."
He smiled. "Our faithful Ryan. He's a good friend."
"Yes. But it's really none of their business. I'm not a High Guard ship now."
"You, Andromeda, will always be High Guard."
Silence.
"You were magnificent at the party, Dylan."
"The Commonwealth speech? Yeah, I thought that was pretty good." His big hands reached up to grasp her slender wrists and she let him pull her down into an inverted kiss. It was interesting. When they finished, he continued, "That's why this is going to work, and work well. Restoring the Commonwealth is the goal we share."
"Yes. It's our dream... But when Harper realized you were going to talk about the Commonwealth at a party, he nearly cried." She moved around him to lay down beside him. "Dylan? Are you too tired for an experiment? I'd really like your help."
He chuckled. "What kind of experiment?"
"Well... When Harper built me, he installed several fine sensor arrays in some very out-of-the-way places..."
"And...?" Dylan was kissing her cheeks, her nose, her brow. She noted all the signs in him of strong sexual desire and felt a very irrational sense of extreme satisfaction.
"They are very, very sensitive."
"Oh really?"
"I would like to examine how they work. Step-by-step. In detail."
"Okay..."
"And this requires your participation."
"Right."
----
The next morning, Dylan was woken up by AI's announcement that a shipment had been delivered to him during the night. She hovered over him-- literally, onscreen-- seeming to follow him from room to room while he went through a quick morning routine. At last he found himself in the Maru's cargo bay, staring at a huge stasis crate. Everyone was standing near it, pondering what it could be. Rommie smiled 'good morning' at him.
Dylan walked around the crate. "O-kay..."
"Could be terrorists," said Beka, frowning.
"It's not," said Rommie.
"How would you know?" said Harper.
"I know. Dylan, it's perfectly safe for you to open the crate."
"I know what it is too," Trance announced with a smile, crossing her arms. "And you'll never guess!" Rommie gave her a surprised look.
"Got a spanner?" Dylan asked. Harper pulled one from his tool belt and slapped it into the captain's hand. As Dylan set to work opening the box, the little engineer walked slowly around it. "Hmm. Piano? Couch? Love doll? Oh-- you already have a love doll. Silly me!"
"Stow it, Harper," snapped Rommie, irritated.
Dylan Hunt pulled open the door of the container an inch or two and peered in. His eyes widened. He dropped the spanner, got his fingers more firmly under the edge of the opening and pulled with all his might. The door popped open and he staggered back. "Max!"
A large black horse, wearing a saddle and bridle with the High Guard emblem, was packed in blowfoam in the stasis crate. Only the occaisional blink of an eye reflected the robot's condition. Harper leaned forward. "Ah-hah... a hippodroid! Dylan, that is an extremely cool toy!... Even if I didn't know you went for fake horses," he added.
"More than a toy," Dylan Hunt breathed, grinning broadly. It was an expression his face was not used to. Trance began to applaud, slowly; but she was not applauding Dylan. She was applauding Rommie, who stood with her arms crossed, looking very pleased with herself.
The crate was set upright on the surface of Galena, and the rest of the fastenings released. The blowfoam dissolved into nothingness and Max stood there, as glorious as Dylan remembered. He walked around the hippodroid once, admiring it. Crafted by a master DNA sculptor, the biological robot was lifesize, but still looked smaller than he remembered it being when he was a 10-year-old. "Max!" he called sharply, and the horse came to life, stepping out of the container. Max came to him, sniffed his outstretched hands to identify his scent, then nickered, lowering his head to rub it on Dylan's chest. Dylan stroked the full mane and the glossy black brow, biting his own lip firmly. "It's been a very long time, my friend. A very long time, and a lot has changed. Let's hope the story ends better this time." And taking the reins, he climbed up on the broad back. He rode up next to Rommie and caught her outstretched hand to swing her aboard. She sat in front of him on the saddle-bow and he wrapped one arm around her snugly as they started out over the fields. Max's canter was incredibly smooth. The wind blew in their faces.
"His files were on the Cortex," she called back to him. "Archived in an obscure driver database. It took me days to find them."
"But you had more of a motive than just being good to me. 'Always have a backup.' I see your point and I must admit, Rommie, this really brings it home."
"Doesn't it?"
He noticed that she kept glancing up at the sky. "What is it?"
"Dylan, please tell me you will discard that old Tarn Vedran nonsense about losing your soul by downloading it."
Silence. Max cantered on. Rommie turned sidesaddle to lean against her consort, watching his face intently as he rode. Dylan slowed Max and steered for a little swale by a stream, where the grass looked particularly green. Pulling the horse to a stop, he dismounted and caught Rommie in his arms on her way down, looking deeply into her luminous eyes. They stood like that for a long moment while Max grazed in the background. "Rommie," he said, very quietly. "My mother bought Max in a toy store a long time ago. I'm glad you found a backup of him. It heals my heart of a terrible wound. But what happened to Max doesn't really have much bearing on me-- or you."
She grimaced. "Oh, Dylan. What am I going to do with you?"
He smiled a little. "You tell me. But you have achieved something. You've got me thinking about the subject of downloading, what it means, what it really is, and whether or not I should ever consider doing it."
"I suppose that's the best I can hope for on such short notice."
A shadow fell across the sun and they both looked up. "Something's there," Dylan said, shading his eyes. Suddenly he snapped to attention, almost dropping her, and his voice raised to a shout over the span of his next words. "Let me guess... the Andromeda Ascendant!"
Rommie smiled mischeviously, showing her teeth.
The great ship was hovering just outside the ionsphere, her shields reacting with the plasma gases to cast a huge aurora. Spectacular cascading veils of color rippled through the sky, and Dylan laughed out loud. "That got my attention. Andromeda, you've come back! You've made good on your promise!"
"I always do," she said, just before he lifted her and spun them both around in a crazy dance.
"I knew you escaped in your slipfighters as well as with your avatar!"
"Of course I did. I always make sure there's plenty of redundancy."
He set her back on her feet. "What I never did figure out was what else you were doing with those fighters. You didn't need them all to make your escape."
"No. Dylan, those little slipfighters were embryos."
He looked at her in amazement. "Of course! How the hell did I miss that?"
"You have been just a little busy. But I copied an abbreviated version of myself to them and sent them off to the Perseid asteroids. They've spent the last two and half years using the raw materials there to rebuild me, with their core nanos and body materials to finish the job. I only knew yesterday that it was finally done."
"Rommie--" Dylan found himself at a total loss for words. Instead he kissed her passionately-- so passionately that they found themselves rolling on the soft green grass as Max looked on benignly.
Joy and life radiated in him like the sun and flowed from him into her, spreading from those wonderful sweet places throughout her body and mind. All her doubt of Harper's ultimate intentions were washed away in those moments. She tapped the ship's AI so that she and Dylan cast their own planetwide aurora as they coupled. And this time, Rommie was impressed.
----
Beka, Trance and Harper stood at the Eureka Maru's cargo bay door, watching the spectacular lights.
"There is a perfect possible future," Trance said. "And it's almost here. This was a very important step on Rommie's and Dylan's journey. It will affect all of us."
"I won't pretend to understand what you're talking about," Beka said. "Because I don't see how this changes things that much. I mean, Dylan and Rommie have always been close. What does the universe care if they're suddenly, uh, expressing it like this? I mean, it's not like they're going to breed."
"Wow," said Harper as a particularly beautiful wave of color rolled across the sky. "I'm not sure what they're doing now, guys, but I wish I could find out!"
"There is a bond between the universe and human beings, Beka," Trance said. "It goes beyond structure and physical form and into the Deep Music of life itself. Rommie and Dylan are strengthening that bond, and when the time comes, that will help to protect the very essence of all that there is."
"Wait a minute. Are you saying that Rommie is more than just a ship? Or an avatar?"
Trance smiled her mysterious smile. "Just like Dylan is more than just a human being." She hesitated, then offered more. "You know the higher planes that I sent the ghosts to? Rommie and Dylan don't remember it, but they came from a place like that. They are the real High Guard. They came here together, to protect this world from the Abyss. And they are strongest together. But, as is often the case, they lost most of those memories when they took physical form here. The Abyss is strong and one of its most successful tactics is to attack when a being is at its most helpless. Rommie is especially vulnerable as she chose, for reasons of efficiency, to inhabit a machine intelligence which is fundamentally neutral in nature. But they both remembered that they are here to protect, and now they are finally remembering that they belong together. There is more to come."
"Woa. Metaphysics." Harper frowned, scratching his head. "So this is a practical thing. Battle tactics and all that."
"Yes, Harper. Battle tactics." Trance bowed her head, then looked up again at the aurora. "But please, promise me you won't tell them any of this."
"Promise," smiled Beka.
"Of course, there's no way I'd tell them something that weird!" Harper grinned, too.
"But Trance," said Beka. "If Rommie and Dylan are... angels...?"
"Something like that," affirmed Trance.
"Then what does that make you and Harper and... me?"
Trance gave them her most mysterious look. "That's for you to find out. Don't you think?" And then she smiled. "There is still a very long journey ahead."