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 30

-=oOo=-

Lindy wished that her son was not back on Mid Childa right now. She could really use the additional firepower. He was coming though. Him, the Wolkenritter, and Hayate were all on their way and going to be here soon. Nanoha and Fate were also coming aboard the Liberator. Rein and Agito were coming too.

She reviewed Thor's work on sealing the ruptures and was quite honestly impressed. Sandry and her would get ripped to shreds if they entered one of those cores by themselves, even if it was her specialty. They had to work from just outside.

Nozomi had indicated her willingness to come and help as well, but the best bet there was over a week, and Heimdall privately informed Thor that he thought it would be longer. Everyone and everything would recover, which was a miracle in itself.

Thor flat out admitted he would have been killed had the bomb activated at the same distance to his own state of the art Asgard cruiser. He said the odds of their survival would have been zero. Only a living ship could override everything and force something like that to happen far faster than it should be possible, and even then, there were consequences.

Of course, now the odds of any allied vessel approaching anything remotely suspicious that close was basically zero. They could send probes if they needed the data, and if they didn't, well the plan was to shoot it with an ion cannon first, and if need be multiple times, and then blow it to bits. They sadly needed to build those cannons, though the Tollan had just flat out given the Asgard the full plans, their best analysis on how they had been bypassed by Anubis's fleet, as well as the proposed upgrades they had designed and started testing for the system. It was definitely good to be owed a favors. Given that the Tollan were every bit as interested in stopping whoever this was, well there was zero question about their cooperation. They had also, much to her surprise, authorized her own people to use the tech. She had already been able to send a copy of the design back securely via one of her emergency one time codes.

With just Nanoha and Fate she thought she could seal one, but it would be better to close all three ruptures simultaneously so closing one didn't further destabilize the other two. That meant Shamal leading one circle as the second most knowledgeable and Fate leading the third. She had some experience, which was more than any of the others had.

It took surprisingly little time for them all to arrive and meet on Thor's ship.

She walked to the front of the table and looked at the assembled firepower.

She said, "Okay, the plan is for myself, Hayate, and Rein to take the primary. Rein has agreed to unison with me and Hayate has agreed to directly make her magic available to us. We will take the worst one."

Several looked at Hayate, just to be sure she truly did mean that. She said, "I trust Lindy with my life."

"And I hope I don't screw it up and get one or both of us killed. Thankfully the others are at least half the size of the big one. I'd like Fate, Nanoha, and Chrono to take number two. I'd want Fate to lead the link and do the work. Her ability for precision work at high levels is just a bit better. Agito has further volunteered to unison with Fate to help us here."

There were no objections.

"Finally, I'd like Shamal to lead the Wolkenritter. That one isn't much smaller, and you can't use stored magic, so it is flat teamwork and control."

There were again no objections.

Thor said, "I will not be able to transport any of you away to safety if you are too near the rift or using a lot of magic. Please keep that in mind."

Lindy shrugged. "None of our ships can either. We are used to it."

Thor nodded. "I should further point out, that once the rifts drop to roughly a third the size of the smallest one, they are in fact not difficult to close with the ships we have here, so if you need to stop early, just let us know."

"That helps," Lindy said. "I shouldn't be surprised that your tech is better than ours here, but a part of me thought in this area we were the best. With enough ships you could probably close these."

"True, but it would also leave big holes in our defenses."

"We still have reserves yet, but this group is certainly our strongest."

Thor said, "I shall do my best to insure each of them remains safe today."

"Thank you."

-=oOo=-

Jin Yang considered why she was suddenly invited to the president's office. She waited patiently to be called and respectfully sat when offered a chair, not speaking until she was asked to speak.

He finished his current work on his computer and turned to her. "Doctor Yang, you have brought and continue to bring much honor to your country."

"Thank you sir," she said honestly.

"We have heard rumors that the Earth Defense Force is suddenly ramping up all operations, particularly those involved in ship building, but also those involved with securing needed supplies to Mars."

"May I speak freely?"

"Yes, that is what I called you here to do."

"First, I have no doubt that should I ever deceive them they will find out. They have people that are very good at telling if a person is being honest."

He nodded unsurprised.

"I have promised to keep certain secrets about their technology. I have not promised to keep what goes on there a secret, nor have I been asked, therefore I can speak here without restrictions. Simply put, yes to everything you just said. I was asked to leave the Liberator where I had been permitted to study a few hours before you requested my presence. The reason stated was that staying would put me at unnecessary risk. I listened to conversations. I made no pretense to hide that I was doing so. From what I know, they consider the matter they are facing exceptionally grave. They talked about the possibility of the unraveling of space-time if more bombs go off. I do not have any details. I'm sorry. I do not have the context to go with that."

"Is it possible that you were setup to hear this?"

"Possible yes. Likely no. I have not seen them deceiving anyone. Lies particularly annoy them. They still follow that former leader around with their monitoring technology 24-7, only blurring as needed."

"Yes, it is quite clear they have made an example of him. Fortunately, he is now irrelevant. What is your recommendation? Do you know anything else relevant that you can tell me? Do not jeopardize your position, at least, unless the alternative is worse."

"Before the recent trouble they talked about the alliance of four. It refers to an ancient alliance between the Nox, the Furling, the Asgard, and the Alteran, or Lantean if you prefer. There is a new group that comes from a different dimension. They call themselves the Time Space Administration Bureau. I don't know much about them, but I overhead they signed the alliance, but only partially so far. They are the ones with the new ship."

"Do you think they are involved in whatever is exceptionally grave?"

"Given that their ship left before all this happened, well Maybe? I don't think they did it or anything. My guess is they are helping fix it."

"I am concerned there is a potential threat to the planet that I do not know about. For the sake of argument, what would you recommend?"

"They value teamwork and cooperation. I suggest contacting the other governments. Perhaps also contact General Hammond, who is I believe still on Earth."

"And your own work?"

"Fixing air quality in cities is possible, though expensive. They would probably agree to transfer the technology. I did not want to make a lot of requests, so have made none yet. For now, I was just trying to find the best path. Fixing the impact of global warming, well they are already doing the big things there. I believe we should focus on cleaning the air and water."

"Talk to my secretary. Tell him that I authorized you to use what additional resources are necessary to complete your task. I will leave the final decision on what to request up to you and your team, but try to begin work on something of value soon."

"Am I authorized to share my work with countries around the world?"

"Attempt to make a profit for China. This is not a requirement. The health of China is your top priority. The only thing higher would be making sure not to interfere with the defense of China. I will be following that up right away, which is why I'm entirely delegating your task to you and those that work with you."

"I do not think they would frown on a reasonable profit for a reasonable time. They license their technologies, because, quite frankly, they need money too. We likely will end up licensing the ones I get approval for. I will endeavor to make sure we are first and that the only logical decision is to buy the completed scrubbers from us."

"Good. Keep up the good work. On behalf of China, I thank you."

-=oOo=-

After she left he contacted the science directorate.

"Good Morning Mr. President. How may I serve?"

"I just received disturbing information, that if true, well we will probably have to hope the EDF can fix it. That is a position I do not like to be in at all. I need the best team you can assemble in the next hour in a meeting. Virtual is fine. If they can come here, then that is better. The subject is what could potentially unravel space time, and what can we do about it. This is all considered top secret."

"I will do my best, but the best in this field are not all Chinese."

"Do what you have to do. If we cause a panic, well it might help the world leader meeting that I'm scheduling for this evening, though try not to."

"Understood."

-=oOo=-

He was surprised to see one more attend the meeting he had not thought to ask. He was not surprised the new person spoke first.

"My name is Avon Carter. I have remained behind here in case there are questions and to oversee certain tasks. I apologize for dropping in on your meeting. I offer to transport everyone here to Atlantis where other leaders are also gathering. We have real time translation there."

"Do it."

They all vanished and appeared in the largest Atlantis conference room, right before a seat with a glass of ice water and a name tag.

Avon said, "This meeting is to discuss what should have been a fairly ordinary EDF operation to gather a valuable mineral. Once our people arrived on the planet they were attacked. My parents disabled their attackers without causing them any harm. The attackers were a modern day tribe of Sailish Indians, except they used weapons made with refined and processed trinium, which are somewhat sharper than traditional bows and arrows."

He looked around seeing interest, but not a lot. "A tribe leader then came by and they eventually found out that there was an SG team there who had previously used high explosives in an attempt to mine the trinium ore. This irritated the locals, and the protectors of the locals which were another species known as Neraida. The Neraida posed as the locals gods and had kidnapped the SG team to prevent further destruction. It took quite a lot of manual work on my parents part repairing the mess the SG team had made before the team was returned. I have been asked to remind people not to do do that again. If a native population says no, you accept it, or if it is really important talk to us, but do not repeat this. The Neraida could have easily killed them. That this team is home with their families tonight is due to their kindness. Others would have just killed them."

The president of the United States said, "I've already had a similar message from the Supreme commander of the Asgard. Message heard and understood."

Avon nodded. "The Neraida were in the process of repairing their ship. They had detected an asteroid on a collision course. Nozomi agreed to take care of it. A pair of Neraida and the Sailish leader went with them."

"They approached the asteroid cloaked and did a minimal scan. This should have been more than sufficient caution. It wasn't. I should underline what minimal means. None of you have the technology to detect what the Nozomi did. Her stealth is excellent. I can't honestly tell you if Liberator would have detected it in the time the scanning beam was active."

"Unfortunately, something on the asteroid did detect it. Some person, entity, or group built and placed a very large dimensional bomb on the asteroid. You may wonder what a dimensional bomb is. In truth, so did I. They did not actually come up in my direct Asgard studies. It is a bomb that sweeps out in all directions, in all dimensions, including subspace and hyperspace. It destroys everything shattering all barriers. If enough of them go off, and we fail to seal the ruptures then the barriers between dimensions could unravel. The amount of death would be incalculable, and possibly total."

"Who would do such a thing?" the President of the United States asked.

"Did the Nozomi survive?" the Canadian leader asked.

"We don't know, and yes, by a combination of skill, luck, stubbornness, and will they survived, but just barely. Just to make it clear, she is the only ship we have that had the potential to react that quickly. When a bomb, let alone a dimensional bomb is in the process of exploding, damn few things can get out of the way in time."

The Chinese leader asked, "Can we build more of those ships?"

"The EDF has considered it. They touch on what is almost forbidden. I'm not going to go into why, just know that by the time we could build and equip more, this is likely to be over, one way or another. Dimensional bombs are absolutely forbidden by both the four races alliance as well as our new friends from the Time Space Administration Bureau. They carry with it an absolute death sentence for everyone involved without exceptions. The definition for involved is very generous. If you knew or had reason to suspect anything close and did not act to stop it, then you are included."

Avon glanced at General Hammond, who was sitting to his right. The general nodded before saying, "First, I will remind everyone here that this is preliminary information that we have every reason to believe is accurate. I know these people. They are dead serious. I also regret to inform you that the truth is a little worse."

"How could it get worse?" someone said.

The general continued, "Before I give the bad news, I will give a small amount of good. Kasumi Tendo of Japan, while gravely injured helping to save Nozomi, will recover, thanks in part to the help of the Neraida and others. Her actions along with Aya from the TSAB and of course the ship itself gave us the one thing the Asgard would not normally expect to get from such an attack. It gave us survivors with detailed telemetry of the event. Japan, you should be proud. Oddly enough, you should be proud twice over after a fashion."

No one else spoke. The prime minister of Japan was visibly smiling.

"Not long after the event, the Asgard, the TSAB and the EDF returned to the site. There are three dimensional ruptures they are trying to seal now there. I will show everyone their work shortly. The final significant help came from one Nabiki Tendo who in another dimension is the sister of Kasumi and grew up with Ranma Saotome. While working with Heimdall of Asgard she suggested that sometimes people might destroy a building to hide a larger crime. It was not something Heimdall had considered, but once he did he found evidence that the attackers are using time travel. This is just as bad as the dimensional bombs in its own way. Intentionally changing history weakens the structure of space time. A small amount might be forgiven. The universe could heal. Either way, the punishment is the same. The combination is, unfortunately, even worse. That was a trap set for Nozomi using time travel to place it. Had Nozomi been destroyed as a result of time travel the temporal shearing could have caused more damage than the breeches."

He paused, then glanced back to Avon who spoke.

"In the event you encounter accidental time travel this must be reported to the EDF, Asgard or the TSAB immediately. We have the resources to mitigate the damage. Deliberate changing of the timeline will result in death. As with dimensional bombs there are no exceptions. We do this not to be cruel, but to protect every sentient in the universe from the consequences."

The Chinese President spoke again. "So the Asgard and the TSAB have the technology to counter this?"

Avon said, "Using time travel to track down a criminal using time travel is a bit like working on a pocket watch with a hammer and a chisel. One wrong move and you may never know the time of day again." He paused and again glanced around. The general nodded his encouragement.

"But yes, we have the technology, well we personally don't, but the Asgard do, and stopping a criminal like this is one of the very rare reasons they will unseal it. We plan to create a team of our best and install the technology on Nozomi."

"But isn't that ship heavily damaged?"

"The Asgard can repair the damage. You have to understand, traveling in already weakened areas like this is horribly dangerous. The Asgard are certainly willing, but they would rather have the kind of deft yet rapid touch that was able to survive a dimensional bomb in the face at near point blank range."

He asked, "How can we help?"

"The EDF is accelerating its timeline to field new ships in cooperation with the Time Space Administration Bureau. Continue to send your best and brightest. Please make sure their purpose is for the common good. We will of course not stop our due diligence, but if we ever do mess up, well having to take the time to eliminate the leak and the knowledge will just reduce our resources at a time when we need them all."

He asked, "What about the alliance treaty?"

Avon said, "I see no harm in getting you a translated copy of the text. We are less than sure that the Earth can unify to the point required. There are in fact rules in it that I believe every nation here has violated at one point or another. Some have current violations."

Without blinking an eye the President of China said, "Thank you. China will study it thoroughly."

Avon nodded.

One of the scientists asked, "What can we do to help?"

"Nabiki continues to help in the role of understanding motive and theorizing on possible suspects. She is actually quite clever in her understandings of motivations, if completely lacking in the science. Understand that this is extremely restricted information. If one or more people are put forth they must be agreed upon by all here. I believe the TSAB is already adding considerable agents to the task, so it is not an area that we expect to be thinly covered. Others are also contributing."

"What about figuring out how to help seal those ruptures?"

General Hammond said, "The Asgard have the technological solution, though it requires far too many ships for ruptures of the size we have. If it were not for their now finished war with the replicators they would have those resources, but it is what it is. The TSAB have another solution that you will see now."

"The replicators?" the Candidate leader asked.

"Are believed to all be destroyed," the general added.

"I see."

No one moved as the lights in the room went nearly out and the area on the top of the table suddenly was like looking down into space itself. The view started with Lindy, Hayate, and Rein floating in space before the largest rupture.

Avon said, "That is Admiral Lindy Harlaown, Colonel Hayate Yagami, and the Rein who is a unison device." He said, pointing to each as they floated in space. He added, "It is said that dimensional ruptures are the basis for many legends. When Nozomi fled the explosion they shot deep into subspace into areas that, well they are areas the crew of the Nozomi say hold things that eat warships like her."

"Are you serious?" one of the scientist asked.

"Yes, it is not just the collapse that is dangerous and potentially lethal, but the things that come through could potentially destroy even Asgard vessels. I am dead serious and not exaggerating at all."

"How are they surviving in space and what is up with their outfits?"

"Magic is not my area of expertise, but I understand that they expend magical energy to protect themselves from the effects of space and to convert carbon dioxide back into oxygen. As to the outfits, I honestly have no idea who came up with that bit of lunacy."

Several looked at the Japanese president. He defended, "I'm almost certain we weren't involved."

They could hear Lindy speak, "Okay, ready Rein?" It was odd given they were technically in space, but it worked.

"Unison In." both said loudly.

Avon said, "I do know that unison devices are far more rare than even the elite of the elite mages which is what you are seeing. They are basically super powered computer and said to be sentient in their own right. Hayate and Lindy have devices as well which are taking the form of staves currently. They need all that processing power to be able to direct their own power in a useful way here, and not just make matters worse."

Lindy said, "Ready Hayate?"

"Sure." Hayate held out her hand to Lindy and a great stream of energy flowed from it.

"What is that?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Avon admitted. "I presume it is basically a magical energy feed and that Lindy is the one with the actual skill here. Magic isn't my field. I know very little. Let's watch."

They watched both zoom directly into the heart of the unnatural region where the fabric between universes was beginning to unravel.

Suddenly deep into the rift something flared. A deep piercing scream was heard as something dark and glowing began to push through the rift. Suddenly Lindy and the others were inside a massive shield and another warship was firing a sustained beam of high energy plasma many times taller than Lindy herself was into the heart of the beast.

It didn't die.

Lindy half shouted. "Hayate, you have the link. Rein, go to her."

Rein slipped out of Unison and flew over to Hayate before merging with her and turning her clothing and hair almost totally white.

Lindy's voice was heard. "Everyone else, maintain your positions. If you falter we will have three places of attack rather than just the one."

"What can the girl do that the ship based weapon can't?"

Avon said, "Possibly allot, if the form of energy is correct for the target. The plasma beam, as generally useful as they are, clearly wasn't. That is the problem with dealing with stuff from a realm that may not even have the same rules. That beam could cut through a planet, but evidently not this."

In front of Hayate began a window into nothingness formed. Out of it came a truly gigantic black twisted lance. It glowed with a malevolent purple haze that began to spin.

Several people in the room backed up, such was the malevolence generated by Hayate's spell as the dark twisted lance shot forth and shot straight through the black and spidery mass emerging from the rift. It's mental screams were cutoff as it began leaking green ichor into space, before falling back into the rift.

The Unison dropped even as Rein again flew back to Lindy. Hayate took in several pseudo deep breaths as her magic fought to restore her energy. She said, "If pray I never have to use that spell again."

Lindy asked, "I understand. Are you up to finishing this?"

"Let's do it."

One of the scientists said, "That was horrible. All that pulsing and never ending black, so black. It feels like it will pull us all in and we would never return and the screams. I know I'm going to have nightmares. Whatever the hell she used to kill it was damn scary too."

Avon said, "You may want to arrange to be tested with the EDF. You may have some sensitivity that should be trained. If it helps I felt what you are feeling. The recreation is that good."

The Chinese President asked, "Is that one of those things that can eat ships?"

"I don't think so. Talia. Tactical analysis. What was that?"

"Alteran battle records records it to be a bottom feeder and generally a minimum threat, unless you don't know how to kill it."

"What is the recommended way?" Avon asked.

"Specialized torpedoes designed to pierce are recommended. Failing that, ramming it with a ship will work, though may destroy the ship as well."

They watched as they began again. This time a sphere of multicolored light formed around them and expanded out in all directions, shrinking and growing in size as they pitted their combined magic against what could eat worlds.

The screen changed to show the Wolkenritter in a similar battle, and then Fate's group fighting a third. It spent about thirty seconds on each before changing.

"They are in pain," another said.

"It is beyond ridiculous that women and children are doing all this," said someone from the back.

Avon said dryly, "You were so content before the door was opened to believe you were the masters of destiny, that your petty political squabbles were the most important thing. Those women and children range from I think around twenty five to way over that. Actually, I think Rein is still fairly young, but that is a whole other subject and a bit complicated. Either way, they are certainly not children. We are very very fortunate that the TSAB can afford to send their best. They will be the first to admit they recruit younger than they wish, because the alternatives are worse. Fortunately, we are going to fix that."

"The new ships?"

"The TSAB would prefer to stick with magitech solutions since that way they only kill when they intend to kill, and make no mistake they are willing to make the hard choices. The Earth that Nanoha is from was seriously considered for an attack from their strongest ship based weapon, since it was the only way to stop something far worse; something that left behind it a history of dead worlds."

"Couldn't they have used that attack against that thing?"

"Use perhaps the ultimate magical attack against an already breached section of the dimensional walls? I may not be an expert in magic, but that sounds like an epically bad idea. Hayate may have hated the attack she used, and I can understand why, but it did the job without spillover. It was the correct choice."

"In the battle you mentioned, they stopped it without using it then?" asked the prime minister of Japan.

"They did. The group that saved at least Japan and probably the surrounding countries from being wiped out in that dimension is the group before you now."

"Is there no other way?" the Japanese Prime minister asked.

"The ships will help, even if they will have to accept killing more of their enemies. For this task, right now most hope rests on the last true Lantean vessel and her crew. They and a slightly increased crew are the only ones we directly want to risk chasing the trail through time. Even with that, we risk causing the very thing we intent to prevent, but when you have all bad choices the worst choice is often not to act. If they fail the Nox have indicated their willingness to try next."

"Why not the Asgard?"

"They have the technology, but no access to the blending of science and the abilities of a life adept or a mage that might make it safer. Make no mistake, Heimdall is coming, and his help will be invaluable, but when your trying to do the near impossible, well, you stack the deck however you can in the hopes you can avoid making things worse."

"Who will be on the mission?" asked an elderly scientist.

"At least one Asgard, Nox, and Lantean. The Neraida were a protectorate of the Furlan Empire before the Asgard took over their protection. They will take their place. The EDF will be well represented. My parents are going. Narim of the Tollan is going. I assume Admiral Harlaown of the TSAB is going, and likely a couple others."

"Do you need any help on this mission?" the president of the United States asked.

"No. This mission is covered. The next thing we need help for is the new ships. I do have an early model flight simulator if there is someone here with decent piloting skills, well other than me. Mine rate at least that."

The Chinese president said, "I could name a hand full that are a credit to their uniform."

Avon asked, "Are any willing to renounce their Chinese citizenship and sign up for the EDF?"

"I would imagine all would. You are, after all, also defending China."

Avon asked, "Talia, you there?"

"Always."

"Analyze the list of names the Chinese President is about to give, and give me the recruit ranking of the highest."

The list was quickly given from memory.

"Julia Zheng has a recruitment match of 94%."

"Can you locate her, and see if she is willing to be beamed right here?"

"Searching. She is currently flying as a backup pilot in coach aboard a civilian aircraft. I am attempting to contact the craft now. The may take some time."

"It is better than people freaking out," Avon said.

Others asked to bring their own people. Avon suggested they make a list, but one was enough for today. They looked back at the magical work that was even now still ongoing. Avon asked, "Talia, how are they doing?"

"They are beyond exhausted, but they are very near the threshold of safe closure by the Asgard ships present. Two more are arriving in moments to insure this is finished."

They watched as the heroes that flew into darkness flew back out, even as the surrounding ships immediately began taking the load. The mages then all vanished.

"Sir, all mages are accounted for and safe."

"Tell them, if there is time, then anything they want to eat or drink is on us, and if they need anything to contact us and we will get it done."

"I have already done so sir."

"When exactly did I program you to anticipate my requests?"

"Two weeks ago. It was a Friday."

"Well then, carry on."

"That wasn't a person?" someone asked.

"Nope, just a clever computer program. If you chatted with her long enough it would eventually become obvious."

Talia said, "Now, I'm truly wounded you would think me not real."

"Who added the fake being insulted routine?"

"Dana."

"Delete it, and send her my thanks."

"Very well."

He said quietly, "The Asgard take a very dim view of true artificial intelligences. They are possible, though I'm assured that my toys are not close to being one, and that they will let me know if I ever get close. Basically, they think the idea of giving something not born of a sentient race the power to no longer need us is fairly stupid. Given their recent problems with the replicators, I tend to agree with them."

"What are replicators?"

"Someone else can fill you in. I'm sure the US and some others have records."

The US president said, "I can talk to people afterwards, if they wish."

"Sir, I have confirmation from Julia that she can be beamed here anytime. She is, um in the bathroom."

"Do it."

A late middle aged, yet still very attractive Chinese woman beamed in wearing casual clothes. She saw the president of China and immediately bowed.

He said, "There is no need. I formerly request that you consider renouncing your Chinese citizenship in favor of the EDF and that you help them as best you can."

"Sir, my family."

"May stay or go as they wish, when they wish."

She said formerly, "I Julia Zhang renounce my citizenship to the country of my birth contingent upon being accepted into the Earth Defense Force. I vow to work hard to protect the Earth as a whole, and to serve the the EDF, unless it is in conflict with my morals."

Avon said dryly, "There was really no need to add the morals bit, though I'll give you a copy of the alliance text and you can tell me if you disagree with it. Either way, I'm good enough at reading intent to know you were telling the truth. Your not thrilled about the work, but perhaps we can change this, and, if you want, you can always resign provided you are not actively deployed, save for protecting the technologies we require protected."

"You can actually resign if you want to?" she asked surprised.

Avon said even more dryly, "If you don't want to be there, to be honest we have too much to do to argue the point. Now, if you are on a ship that has a mission that must be carried out, you will carry it out or be thrown in the brig just like anyone else and probably get some really crap assignments for an extended duration as punishment before your allowed to resign. We will take your opinion into account whenever we can, but life and death can occur as the result of our missions, so be certain if you want to stay in or not, since if you are ordered on a mission, you have to do it until you can be safely replaced."

"I understand."

"Good, now I'm betting I can, if nothing else make you a bit more enthusiastic about this job. You are a teacher, among other things right?"

"I am a flight instructor."

"Good. We need one of those."

Avon led them to the transporter and told them to ask for the simulator room. Soon they were all there. Julia sat in a very comfortable faux leather chair that Avon directed her to. Everyone else sat on the sides of the rather large room.

"This is a simulator?" Julia asked.

Avon said, "It is a little more advanced. I'm going to warn you, this is state of the art, and not state of the art on Earth. I mean period. It is loosely based on a Lantean interface chair, though it is far less picky in who uses it. Usage may cause minor nerve damage. We are working on that, but there are a lot of conflicting requirements. I've been in it a dozen times and twice I had to have minor damage fixed in one of the Asgard bio beds. We will of course give you the same opportunity afterward. You will suffer no long term damage from this, and if there are any other issues, they too will be fixed."

She glanced at her former president. He nodded.

She said, "Okay, what do I do?"

Avon opened a small cabinet and pulled out a delicate silver tiara with four blue gems embedded in it. He handed it to her. "Place it on your head, with the largest gem in the center of your forehead."

"What does this do?"

"It is bio neural link. If you thought you controlled an aircraft before, after today you will not consider that control."

She hesitantly did so. Avon pulled out two bracelets with similar gems. "Slip these on. Orientation doesn't matter."

"This is kind of weird. Now what?"

"Talia, activate training program one."

"Activated."

"You will see in your minds eye as the ship would see, as if you were the ship. Attempt to do nothing. We are phasing this in. You are not flying yet. It will take about ten minutes to do the initial calibration."

They watched as hologram of flying through the countryside over trees and rivers, mountains and lakes appeared in front of Julia. "This is amazing," she said softly, barely audibly.

"Talia, what is her sync ratio?"

"She is at ninety one percent. She beat your best score by thirteen percent."

"Yes, I noticed that," Avon said dryly. Then looking at the others he added, "I never said I was an ace pilot. I am an engineer. Pilot is way down on my skills list."

The Chinese president asked, "Will this higher sync rate help her avoid damage?"

"Probably. If it goes like it went with me, she will likely increase her sync ratio a bit over time. I leveled off. This is too new for me to give you an exact reading. Are we pushing things? Yes we are. Is there a reason? Yes, there is. It does no good to completely protect the pilot if the ship is destroyed. You have to balance one risk against another. That is pretty much engineering in a nutshell."

"Talia, how is she doing?"

"Sync rate is now at ninety one point five percent."

"Okay complete power down sequence."

A minute later the craft came to a halt, apparently in mid air.

Julia asked, "Why did you stop?"

The others around the room all looked on in curiosity. All translations taken care of because of Atlantis and her systems.

"Because, I'd rather be sure there are no ill effects before stepping up the level. Walk around the room. Check your full range of motion and balance. Talk about a variety of topics. If you want food or drink just ask Talia. If in fifteen minutes you are still good, you can get back in and try to control the craft."

"Should I use that bed thing now?"

"If you feel ill yes. If not, it can wait till we are done."

"Oh, I feel fine."

Avon said, "For everyone else, I plan to get a selection sent up from our cafeteria. I hope that works. The kitchen staff is very good and was given a heads up about today's meeting."

Julia asked, "Talia, I'd like water or Diet Pepsi if you have it."

"Both are available. Please choose."

"Diet Pepsi?" she asked.

"Hold out hands."

She did so, only for the cold soda can and all to appear in her hands. She quickly opened it and took a drink. "I can get used to this."

"Don't" Avon said dryly. "I'm abusing the transporter system and our staff because of time. If you work here you will walk to a fridge like everyone else."

"Of course. I knew it was too good to be true."

Just as they were approaching fifteen minutes several carts of food were rolled in, along with a variety of canned and bottled drinks in ice. They were quickly handed out even as Julia finished her soda and a snack bar.

Avon said, "To give Julia a bit more time to rest, I'm going to take a turn. You will get the opportunity to try to control the craft afterwards."

"I understand." She started to pull off the tiara.

"No, that one is now permanently yours, unless we have to make you a new copy for some reason. It is at least partially calibrated to you. The system would reject any attempt for me, or anyone else, to use it, and if by some chance someone could override that, well brain damage would be essentially certain. People's brains are not the same. The interfaces cannot be the same."

"Oh, I didn't know."

Avon shrugged. He went back to the same cabinet he got the first set out and pulled out a set from another drawer and slipped them on before sitting in the chair.

He said, "Talia begin Goa'uld mothership attack simulation using the new ship design. Once you have randomized the sequence begin at my previous immersion level."

They watched his ship fight valiantly against the much bigger ship, but in the end the only way he could win was a suicide run.

"It was like David versus Goliath," someone said.

Avon rubbed his head. "Talia, something for the headache?"

"You do know you are required to be examined within two hours."

"I know. Do it."

"A capsule and a glass of water appeared in his hand."

Julia said, "I thought you said you were an average pilot?"

"That's the interface. Jenna would not have had to resort to the suicide run, even without the interface. Heck any of my siblings would have probably done better. As I said, I'm an engineer."

"Do you think you got more damage?"

"Doubt anything that requires the bed. It was too short a run, even if the level was at the highest I've done so far."

"I see," Julia said. "And normal flight where your not trying to dodge a hundred different attacks at once?"

"Easy. Should be safe long term. We still have to test of course. If your sure, you have probably rested enough to give it a shot..."

"Yes," she said in breathless anticipation.

"Okay well rearrange your interface diadem and take a seat."

She did so.

"Talia, begin training session 2. Add the usual training wheels of course."

"Confirmed."

"What does that mean?" Julia asked.

"Even if you crash, the simulation just keeps going."

"Are you sure I need..?" she started.

"It will phase in control over a period of five minutes. If you just stop trying to control it the craft should return to normal flight initially. As time goes on, more of the control will be you. Once you get the hang of it, just ask and the training wheels will be removed."

"Okay."

She started again flying over the trees. This time she would jog left and right, then up and then down."

Avon said quietly, "Right now your overriding the computer by pushing harder than needed. You will need to back off as time progresses."

"I understand. How do I increase speed?"

"Have you tried?" he asked.

He no more than said it than the craft started moving several times faster with the scenery going by in a blur. Suddenly the craft smacked into a tree, but she quickly recovered from the crash and moved higher in the air, before again increasing the speed."

Avon said, "Once training wheel mode is off, you will feel some of what the craft feels, particularly if the logic that protects you screws up. It should mute any intense feelings, since being in pain will not help if your already crashing. This is, however, very new stuff. Expect bugs."

"I understand. How much longer?"

Talia responded, "You are one minute from non assisted flight. Shall I speed this up?"

"Yes, please."

"You are now flying free. Shall I remove the training wheel mode?"

"Yes, please."

"Training mode is being phased out over the next minute. This may feel odd."

"Oh my. I can feel the wind as it caresses every bit of my body."

She twirled and spun with the joy of flight. She quickly dived back to the trees and was quickly hugging the tree line before hugging the mountain line and kicking the speed up to almost four times what it was before.

"Can she go supersonic?"

"Not there, if you don't want one hell of a headache from the likely crash."

She angled the ship into the air and poured on the speed.

Talia said, "Automatics activating shielding. Please be more aware of hull temperature and stress."

"I felt it, I just didn't know, but now I do."

She poured on more power as the simulated ship hummed loudly as the air in front of them glowed red.

"How much faster can she go?"

Avon said dryly, "Your fast enough for in atmo flight. Think about moving to outer space. Hopefully the assist pops up. I haven't tested that well yet."

"I now have a suggested escape trajectory and speed. Matching."

"I'm in space."

"Technically not. This is a very realistic simulation. Remember that. If you mix up the two you could become very dead and take your crew, and potentially many more people with you."

"No kidding. I could see it happening."

"I'm working on that. I'm open to suggestions."

"Can I go to Mars?"

"There is nothing to restrict it. I'm not sure if the assist is working..."

"I've got it."

"Okay, I guess that does work. Make a note of the successful test Talia."

"I already did."

"Talia, how is she doing?"

"She is at ninety four percent synchronization. She is twenty minutes into the second sim with no apparent problems."

Avon said, "I'm going to stop this in another ten. We wouldn't take the risk regardless and it would be doubly wrong to risk someone so promising."

"I understand."

"Talia jump the ship to Mars."

"Executing simulated pinpoint hyperspace jump."

Seconds later they were through and out another window with the red planet in sight.

"The ship is already suggesting landing zones nearest the new Martian city. Heading there."

Several minutes later they were heading over the product of Colonel Siler and all of his help's work.

"It is Amazing," the Chinese president said. "You truly have been working hard."

"That we have. I did some of the engineering, but not a great deal. Much of that is the product of people from Earth. Heimdall helped a great deal to be sure, but look at that. That is the potential of Earth.

One of the scientists said, "It doesn't look quite right. The sky is less red than I remember from drones."

"That is part Asgard tech and part the world shaper we have on loan from the Time Space Administration Bureau. It is, thanks to Asgard tech now vaguely affordable to use."

"I can't believe you have the technology to just change a planet like that?"

"Is it really so difficult to believe? Changing a planet is actually quite easy. You were all doing that to Earth after all."

"Global warming?" the same guy asked.

"But your doing it effectively. Couldn't you just fix climate change like that?"

"The Asgard satellites, while defended are single points of failure that could have if attacked resulted in Mars reverting. They are also expensive to produce. The energy used by the world shaper is far greater than this entire planet can produce. No society could prosper if they used these kind of tools to clean up the mess rather than just not making it in the first place."

"Agreed," all the scientists said at once, much to their leaders surprise.

She continued to fly over the planet until Talia said, "Time's up. Deactivating simulator."

Avon immediately was near her and place a steadying hand on her shoulder as she started to fade. "Don't worry," he said. "That much is perfectly normal the first few times. The interface continues to learn, and the effect is reduced."

One scientist asked, "And is there no chance of having that tech for non EDF purposes?"

"None. Ask again when Earth has met the requirements of the alliance treaty."

"So not our lifetimes?" he responded slash joked.

"Probably not," Avon agreed. Then he added, "No journey can ever be completed without first beginning it."

The Chinese president suggested, "And if a single country were to meet those terms?"

"Then they would probably be on very good terms with the alliance. That doesn't mean we would spread technologies indiscriminately. That likely won't happen regardless. We are also not restricting people from a country just because of the country's policies. There is a long road ahead of us, and much work to be done. I'd personally rather just focus on engineering, and enough of the art to continue to improve all my life, and maybe get married some day and have a simple life. My dad, he would just as soon be spending time teaching people the art in some forgotten town."

"The art?" the Canadian prime minister asked.

"Martial arts, though nowadays it also combines use of life energy" He held up a ball of power in his hand than he let vanish, "either to heal or to attack, or simply move moving faster than normally possible."

"Will I learn that?" Julia asked.

"If you have the potential. Close your eyes tightly, and then point to where you think the ball of energy is."

He flared his ki brightly making a hard to look at ball. At first she seemed confused but then she unerringly started to point to it, no matter how much Avon moved.

"Excellent," Avon said, even as he let his ki ball fade. Then he added, "So, want to go back to that flight? It should be landing pretty soon."

"I think I might just stick around, just to give it a shot," she added teasingly. Her smile gave the lie to it.

The president of China said, "Very well done Julia. You are everything I believed you to be and more."

Avon said dryly, "She has also set the bar high. We shall have to see if there are those who can beat it."

Julia smiled, as did several of the other leaders.

"Now, if there is nothing else, I will transport you all back where you were. Julia will stay or return to her home as she wishes after she and I are checked over."

They had questions, but Avon refused to answer more as they all vanished one by one. Julia and Avon walked over to the transporter and reappeared in the medical bay. All the tubes were full. A doctor came up to each and gave them all the standard in person tests. The one that talked to Julia said, "I assume this is your first time in a tube?"

"Okay, the crew of the Liberator have this thing where they literally can't move, but are still awake. It speeds up the process, but also generally freaks people out if they aren't used to it. I don't recommend it. I do recommend you allow the tube to put you to sleep. You can also choose to lie still as it works. The stiller the better. It will take a little longer, but it will work fine."

She looked over at Avon. He said, "Do whatever you want."

"I'll stay awake and try to remain still."

"Excellent. Just remain in line. Know that we will put people ahead of the line if they need to go first. This can take awhile."

"About how long?" she asked.

"About an hour. Usually we schedule a few less, since there is no point in people waiting just to wait, but we always want to keep them in use in a way the Asgard approve, or they might remove them."

"Oh. Can I call my family?"

"Sure, assuming your phone works, and if not, you can use mine."

She pulled out her phone and powered it on, only to see a whole stack of messages.

"Don't worry about any fees about roaming or any nonsense like that. If there is any infected apps on your phone Atlantis security will block your phone, or prompt you to allow it to clean it."

"Well nothing so far," she said hesitantly.

"You'd be surprised with how many who come here suddenly have malware on their phones. It's a bit amusing, that they think it will work."

"If you say so," she said hesitantly.

Avon added dryly, "There are some bits and pieces in most phones that allow governments to take over. We just monitor it, and as long as they are not active, we ignore them."

"Comforting," she said in a voice that indicated anything but.

"Welcome to the world," said the Doctor using a reference she did not know.

She pressed a favorite on her phone and soon had her husband on the phone. She quickly said she was fine and explained the situation. Her husband and family immediately volunteered to come.

Avon suggested, "Not to ease drop, but I suggest you go home and take a day or two if you need it. If your family wants to come I'll have to interview them all, not that they have to give an oath or anything."

"So you don't mind if I take a day off already?"

"No. The safety procedure exists for a reason. Better to let your brain rest. This development program won't depend only on you. I just was expecting to have the rest of my family available, and suddenly didn't. That was partly my fault for not getting them involved earlier, but they too are very busy. If you want, I can show you and your family where you will be living if you work here."

"The transporter thing?"

"Not for regular use no. Can you use them a couple times a month for whatever? Sure, within reason, but daily no. They are a limited resource, plus consume a lot of energy. Emergencies are emergencies of course, and one of the reason we do limit use is to save capacity for them. Ninety percent of the capacity is actually in use for rescue operations. You won't see any of that, since they are usually in a given country."

"I understand. Are there regular flights?"

"There are various private jets. I believe China has some. We don't actually run those, beyond being sure their maintenance is up to date, but Talia can direct you to the ones with flights to China or elsewhere if you need one. I doubt you will be refused, and if you are, let me know."

"Why Talia?" she asked, again from her place in line.

"She is a character from a book I read once. Not a computer of course, but it was a character I admired. I considered copying and using Jarvis, but really, who would make a computer sound like an old British butler?"

"I might," she admitted.

They chatted about inane things, until she asked, "What about my family and this energy thing?"

"That is up to them. Your children are more likely to have the potential, since it is somewhat hereditary. Mostly though it is a skill that most people have some potential in, but they never realize it because they never have anyone to get them started."

"I had no idea. You mentioned some can heal?"

"It requires similar training to a doctor, and you will have a decent risk of causing cancer. Skill and training reduces that, but unless you stumble upon the trick to make the final jump to be able to link to a bodies energy system to use it to guide the healing, while at the same time not bonding with it, well these tubes are your alternative if you want to be safe"."

"Can you do that?"

"No. My mom and dad figured it out. My sister paid the price of learning by bonding to someone who knew it. I think she truly was and is interested in marrying him one day."

"I saw that interview! How is she?"

"They are well. It is still hard for me to believe that he is quite a bit older."

"I know. It is crazy!"

"My parents were less than thrilled."

"I can imagine."

A tube was available for her. She entered.

Avon said, "I didn't want to worry her since I don't believe it will be a problem for her, but she was in the simulator. If there are relevant findings…"

The nearby doctor said, "We will ask for her permission and get the information copied, or if she does for some reason deny it, let you know."

"She is EDF material. I doubt she would refuse to turn over information we need, and even if she did we would find her another job."

They nodded.

His own trip through the tube was thirty minutes of boredom. Technically there was a few things repaired, but they were so small that only the tube could detect them. What really bugged him was the math said they should not be happening. He didn't understand it.

Eight hours later he was surprised to be called into an early morning meeting in the hospital. Her husband was also there as were a couple of doctors.

He asked, "Surely this didn't cause so much damage?"

The doctor on the left said, "As near as we can tell, it caused no damage. There was some swelling, though that is consistent with your early usage."

"Then the rest of the time was just fixing other stuff?"

The same doctor nodded.

"Okay, I don't need or have any right to that information, so unless it becomes relevant to my work, that is between whoever Julia dictates it to be between."

Her husband nodded approvingly. He said, "My name is Jin."

Julia gave a small nod as well.

"Nice to meet you Jin." He shook his hands before turning back to the doctor. "Is she medically approved for further work on the simulator?"

"She is. I still want to limit the time to say no more than four hours in total and no more than one hour at a time, with physical exercise between. I will also want to see her every night until we are sure there are no long term side effects and even then there will be some process to keep monitoring all this."

"Of course," Avon said. "There was a small amount of brain damage in mine. It was barely measurable, but I still don't get it. Julia, will you consent to have your scans used confidentially to help figure this out? This is important."

"Yes, I consent to using information from my medical tests to help improve this and make it safer."

"Doctor's, please make this your highest priority outside of saving lives. This is very important."

"We know. We will."

"Are there any other questions for me?"

Her husband asked, "You mentioned accommodations?"

"Sure, I'll have Talia pick one at random, then leave you with enough information to tour the rest yourselves, as well as show you where we typically eat."

After they got back from eating in the cafeteria he showed them an apartment about two thirds up one of Atlantis's tallest towers.

She ran to look out the attached balcony. "I love it," she said as she looked out over much of Atlantis.

"There were more choices," her husband said dryly.

Avon said, "Talia, if they desire show them choices. This one assumes your children are staying here. Right now we basically are giving out apartments based on need. We don't really have the space to do otherwise, though you can possibly get larger apartments on the artificial island we have around Atlantis, but then you would have to wait for transport to drop you off and pick you up."

Julia asked, "Out of curiosity, what is my pay, and what would my husband do?"

"What does he do now?"

"I'm a teacher. I teach college level physics."

"Ask Talia, I'd bet she can find you a position. It is a bit more complex with all the languages we have here. Few rooms have the capacity to translate transparently. You may need to learn another language. You can also ask her about other jobs. We don't mind spending money to train people for other jobs, but it generally requires a commitment. As far pay, well I'll let HR handle that. With how much we are providing, well I assume it will be fine, and if it is by chance somehow less than you were making before, then provide proof and they should fix it."

Her husband said, "So your providing room and board, effectively free transportation to work with those transporter things, and guaranteeing to at least match our old salary?"

Avon nodded.

Julia said, "I thought the transporters were restricted."

"The generic ones are. The Atlantis pad transporters are a separate network, but you are restricted to going to another Atlantis pad."

"I see, so we can move about the city basically instantly?"

"Sure."

"What about my kids? They can't just say, 'Take me somewhere really dangerous.'"

"No. That being said, while I have made the Talia interface available everywhere, do not mistake it for actually being intelligent. It is not. It truly doesn't care if you or anyone you know live or die. It is a computer. Remember that. It is your responsibility to set limits. If you tell it to not allow access to the transport pads except for the destinations you say and or times, it will. I believe there is a default kids setting as well. None of it will stop them from jumping on the transport pad and screaming for help. If they do it, they will be transferred to where EMS and police will look at them and question them. That can't be overridden or changed. If you have questions if your settings are safe, well ask her to put you in touch with someone who can answer your questions. If they don't, or your still not certain then contact me. Oh, one tip, you can as the ones in charge say, treat me as if I was one of my children for the next hour and then try to see if you can trick it. That one requires you to set a time, and for it to be an hour or less. We found out we needed that limit the hard way."

"I can imagine," Julia's husband said amused.

"What about just walking?" Julia asked.

"Nothing is going to stop people leaving a building via the rather long set of emergency stairs. You can, however, be alerted when your children leave by that route."

They nodded.

Julia asked, "Is there any other dangers to the city?"

"Not many think to ask that. The answer is there are a few that we know about. They are very securely locked and very conspicuously warned. In the unlikely event that you reach such an area expect to be quickly intercepted and questioned."

"Why don't you destroy them?" she asked.

"We did for quite a few. A few have enough potential to be useful we are just mothballing for now. Again, we believe we have found them all, but letting kids or anyone just wander to see what they can find will result in being removed from Atlantis quickly. Some of the stuff the Lanteans did, just did not meet what we would consider reasonable levels of safety. The last thing we need is for someone to accidentally open some long forgotten dangerous project/mess."

"Understood," Julia said softly. "But assuming reasonable care this should be safe?"

"The air is healthy. We do run an atmospheric shield over the whole area, so it is as good as it can get. The food is healthy. We are a prime target for alien attack, but have the ability to defend against it. Yes there is a small possibility of some mess we haven't yet found, but that is likely minimal. In the event there was some city wide problem you can usually shelter in place. These are very well designed apartments. I believe they are even rated for survival in space if the main shield is down."

"Wait," Julia said. "This can fly in space?"

Avon said, "I didn't ask whether you had the Lantean activation gene. Most don't, and even having it isn't necessarily enough to use some technology, but yes it can. If by chance you do, you might get a chance to fly the city someday. You can sim it in the simulator, but it won't be quite right. We can't duplicate the Atlantean control bed, at least not yet."

Julia asked, "Can we go try?"

Her husband laughed.

"Well you were cleared by medical, which removes the waiting period. Sure why not?"

When they got there they saw someone was waiting. "John Sheppard?" Avon asked.

"That is me. Heard you needed some test pilots."

"And they cleared one of three people we know who can fly the city for this work?"

"They did, once they redid the math."

"Ah."

"Okay, well we do have one more interface diadem. Talia add another to the list for the replication system."

"Already done."

"And if I had not asked for that?"

"I'd have cancelled it."

"And the do no harm subroutine does apply to all predictive actions?"

"Of course."

"I still don't like it. Disable this subroutine until I have time to study it more."

"Done. Shall I also cancel the request for the diadem?"

"No."

"Out of curiosity," John asked. "What is the big deal?"

"Talia is a brilliant combination of stupid. The do no harm subroutine is also a brilliant combination of stupid. Given the equipment Talia controls directly or indirectly the chance of it somehow managing to cause something bad to happen is not zero."

Jin said, "I get it. So if somehow a predicted action somehow passed this safety routine, but was actually quite stupid, like Fred said he loves nuts, so why not add nuts to his food, when Fred was being sarcastic and is actually deathly allergic to nuts."

"Basically. It may also be partly why I can't get better in the simulator. My job is to second guess everything, to never be satisfied with good enough. I know intellectually, and based on the simulations, and the fault analysis, and the fault analysis of the fault tree analysis and independent review that our new interface is good, that it should be near the limit of what is possible to achieve without some significant new knowledge or maybe a lot of data from people using it, but knowing and letting go of my skepticism are two different things."

John said, "I gave up a long time ago understanding a lot of the tech I use. I just trust the engineers knew what they are doing and use it."

Julia smiled. "I learned long ago, if you obsess about every possible problem, you will never enjoy flying. Can I handle most any problem? Sure. I know I can handle all the classes of problems that might be survivable. Beyond that, I try not to think about it and fly."

Avon pulled the remaining diadem from the cabinet and handed it to John, telling him how to arrange it.

"So what is next?"

"A short duration run where you will not be in control. A break. Then a longer duration run where you transition to control. I can and will abort early at any sign of trouble."

"Cool, let's get started if we could?" asked John. He hopped in the seat.

John's flight basically mirrored Julia's. Then Julia simulated flying Atlantis into the atmosphere. Not to be outdone John repeated it after his initial control run.

"Clearly I'm winning no awards for best pilot," Avon said dryly.

Jin said, "No, but being able to help design and help build such a thing is certainly no lesser accomplishment."

Avon nodded. He said, "I'm going to file a report based on the hypothesis I previously stated. It may be right. It may not. John, I'll want your detailed report on how this differs from the chair. Julia, If you find out you have the gene, and unless you tell me here and now you are a committed pacifist, you will be put on a list to operate Atlantis, including it's offensive weapons, or the emergency defensive station located elsewhere."

"No, that is okay. If I am needed and it is to protect the planet."

He nodded. "Well get checked sometime today."

John said, "It is way weirder to run the chair. This focuses you more."

Avon said, "The amount of information conveyed is about ten percent. Technically your both several points below that, but given how well you did, will be at the top point pretty soon. The math says we might manage a bit more, but to be honest, we need a deployable system as soon as possible. We may try a few tests a bit higher, but unless things go better than predicted by a fair margin, this is about where the first deployed ships are going to use."

Jin said, "It also depends on pilots. You will need to test them and get a baseline."

"I really dislike rushing this kind of stuff. People die when engineers make mistakes."

"The problem is," John said, "People may die if we don't get some more ships out to defend against the new threat."

"I know. I need someone to take charge of all the test pilots. Can I count on you two to do so?"

They agreed.

"Talia, can you send them the test candidate lists."

"Done."

"How many do you think we should have using the trainer?"

"It can run 24/7 right?" John asked.

"Yes, but I obviously need some sleep. I think McKay might be able to be re-tasked, and we can find a third shift person. Make sure everyone rotates through every engineer. I don't want something being missed because of lack of overlap."

John suggested, "So eight total, with three hours training a day, then if they get good enough, maybe another eight with some scattered upkeep training?"

Julia said, "That seems reasonable to me."

"What about another simulator?" asked Jin.

"We are retooling to start building the ships. We may get some incomplete ships that can be used as trainers, and any idle ships can be used to train. Don't let me forget finding some way so the pilots always know reality from training mode."

John asked, "What about the TSAB group? Aren't they building the same ships?"

"They are, though I believe we are ahead of them due to the automated manufacturing tech. They will probably end up with better ships, since they have the ability to fabricate better materials. We will get there. We just aren't there yet. As soon as this stabilizes, I need to make a trip there, well and we find a way to get there, most likely on one of their ships. With the current threat the Asgard may add a dimensional drive to Liberator, but that should stay near Earth most of the time anyway. Either way, if one of you want to go, well let me know. Most likely John will have to stay on Earth, unless another is as good in the control chair."

"That's fine. I didn't join the military thinking I'd get unlimited travel whenever I wanted."

"What about the energy training stuff?"

"Soun Tendo, In Japan is actually pretty decent at lessons these days. There are a half a dozen others around here than can teach early lessons. Some are recorded in the computer. I'm also available, but work with the others around here to coordinate questions, or just to get your questions answered, and then come to me."

"Got it," said Julia. "Could you by chance check my husband?"

"What I did wasn't a real test. It was sort of, well if this works, you likely have potential, but if it doesn't work, well the test is not great. Do you want to ask your children to come here and I can run through everything at once? I'm really not trying to rush things, but there is just so much to do."

"We get it, and I already know I have the potential, and have had some training." John said. "I'll still like to watch in case I learn something.

Julia looked at her husband who nodded. Fifteen minutes later their two kids, a boy and a girl were in front of them all.

He walked them all through the initial testing, which was a success, as well as accessing their ki, giving them access to the other online lessons and telling them mostly just focus on repeating that. John added, "That was basically the same thing I got told. They used like ten times as many words though."

"Simple is good," Julia noted.

"Yes it is," Agreed Jin.

"Can we do the dragonball attack now?" said the boy.

Avon blinked, not getting the reference.

John said, "Sorry, some energy attacks are eventually possible someday, if you work really hard, but Dragonball was a television cartoon, and as such not real."

Julia asked, "Can those beds be used by our kids?"

"If a doctor recommends it yes. Is there a reason?"

"They have perhaps gotten sick somewhat more often than expected."

Avon asked, "Would you mind if I checked what I could? I wouldn't try to heal, at least not without scheduling a follow up bio bed visit."

"So just checking is safe?"

"For what I'm going to do, yes."

Avon held out his hand for the boy's hands. He took them and focused his ki and then swept it through his body. He then held his hands out for their little girl and did the same. When he finished he said, "I don't know. I'll send a request for the doctors to check them and recommend a check by the bio beds."

"You found something?" Jin asked. "They have been sick at least twice as often as average. Our doctors have found nothing."

"I don't know how to interpret it. Would you mind if I checked you?"

"No." He held out his hands. Avon then repeated his quick test. "I don't sense it in you, whatever it is, if it is even something. You should expect them to want to run more tests on you, and possibly run you through the bio bed just to get information. Sorry, I wish I could tell you more, but I'm not prepared to make guesses here, not when you will get a definitive answer soon."

"Can we go now?" Julia asked.

"Talia, please send the doctors a note that I think I may have detected something that should be checked with the Zhang children. Request bio bed time for them. Add that a quick check of their father revealed nothing of concern, but they may want to at least give him a standard physical. Add that I don't believe any of this is urgent, but recommend handling within a weak, if possible."

"Message sent."

"They report a possible opening for initial diagnostics only of one child in ten minutes."

"Tell them we will be there."

"What does that mean?" Julia said.

"The bed spends about ten to fifteen minutes just analyzing, and if anything is urgent it gets treated urgently. If not they will schedule a time for treatment."

Ten minutes later their little girl was in the bio bed and ten minutes after that the doctor's brought them to a table. Avon was entertaining their son.

"Okay, the bad news is there is a genetic defect we identified that is messing with their immune system. This is a manageable defect, so the bed will right now stop after correcting the initial damage. I further know from Julia's time in the bed that she doesn't have it. From Avon's limited scan, we suspect that it is not active in Jin either, though we need to do some regular blood work to confirm it. The good news is, we can replace the bad genetic sequence with information from Julia, but you both have to agree. This is a serious procedure that will just barely but slightly change her as she ages."

"But it will cure her right?" asked Jin.

"Correct. This is all Asgard tech here. Parents are automatically used as donors for correcting genetic problems, unless there is no correct sequence, then it goes to other relatives, and only when all our exhausted do we involved non related sources. The idea is to do the absolute smallest change that fixes the issue."

Jin said, "Agreed. Do it."

Julia said, "I say do it. When can we get our son in?"

"The beds are in high demand. His condition isn't. That doesn't mean it is not important. We are going to schedule you for when we find available capacity; most likely within the next month. If he gets sick before then we can accelerate it, but he shouldn't. For now we can give you drugs and specific food plan for him that should greatly reduce the problem."

"The drugs are better than not treating it?" Julia asked.

"Sure, this is manageable. It is just that once treatment is started it is better to get it all done at once, since otherwise you will use more of the beds time."

"How long will it take?" asked Julia.

"That is sort of the bad or at least troubling news. Re-sequencing DNA is time consuming. The bed estimated an additional fifty two hours on top of the two point four it estimated to fix the other issues, mostly related to this. She will have to be asleep during it. This is too complex and the bed would take forever trying to do it while she was awake and moving."

"Sleep is fine," said Julia. "She would probably be horribly scared if she was awake."

He nodded. "Okay, we will make sure the bed continues after this. Someone will be by shortly to get blood from Jin for some tests. Most likely, again, this is dormant in you. If you plan to have another child, then please inform us, we can help, either by re-sequencing Jin or the child early on, that is assuming the problem occurs again. This defect is hit or miss generally."

"I'm too old," said Julia.

The doctors said, "There are things we can do here."

"It doesn't matter, at least right now. We have too much else to do, that must be done."

"Ah," the doctor said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. We hesitated to have more children when we saw our kids were not getting better, but might have been getting worse. You have at least given us back the future of our children."

The doctor hesitated. Finally after nearly half a minute of silence he said, "First off, there are methods of having other women carry a child, if they agree. If you do decide, it is still better to do so early. We can make it work. Second, and I require your secrecy on this before I mention it."

"Sure," agreed Julia.

"Agreed," added Jin.

He continued, "The Asgard do have the technology to essentially gestate a new baby. That is not here. You would have to place a request with us who would place the request with them. Any genetic problems would of course be fixed."

"Whoa? Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

Julia added, "I can't imagine how many people would want designer babies if they had access to Asgard tech."

"That they definitely won't permit. Genetic fixes yes. Designer babies would be a hard no. I also don't recommend trying to choose gender. My guess is you would see a rejection."

"You've done this before?" Jin asked.

"No. I didn't even learn it was possible till recently, but I do know it works and it is safe."

"Can we think about it?" she asked.

"Sure. Take all the time you want, within reason of course."

"Your concerned about further degradation of my eggs?"

"Somewhat, yes. Sure, the Asgard could, in theory repair more damage, but do you really want to add more complexity than absolute necessary?"

"No," she added. "We will talk about it and get back to you. Are there babysitting services and such available here?"

He smiled. "Yes, there are. We also have formula that is far superior to anything on the open market, though we are working to get it to market at cost."

She asked, "Why are you helping me to this extent?"

"The only thing I'm really doing is mentioning the Asgard possibility, mostly because pilots of your caliber with life energy potential are rare, though the one might explain the other to an extent."

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Your not thinking of using our children area you?"

"Would we make an offer when they were old enough? Probably. They could, of course, say no. As to the life energy potential leading to better piloting, well it leads to better reflexes in general. We believe there may be some correlation."

"Oh. So no downside then?"

"Nope. It is true we potentially expend some resources helping you we may not get compensated for, but then we are doing that all over. The gestation cradle tech we may request to help you, well we may not get it, or you may have to go to Othalla to use it. I don't know, but as it does have the potential to improve the EDF long term I can at least ask, if you are interested that is."

Julia looked at her husband who gave an uncertain nod. She asked, "Are you sure this is safe? I mean when was this done? How do we know?"

"I can't answer that, at least without asking permission to disclose. You would be required to keep confidentiality as well. Do you have any problem with that?"

"No, none at all."

"Then you should expect a call in the next day or so."

"Oh, Okay."

-=oOo=-

An entity began to wake. She was old and had expected her life to end when her essence was captured and used in the foul way it had been. She had not even been awake in more years than she herself had known. A part of her did not want to wake, but it came whether she wanted it or not.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: Comments?

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