The Mediterranean is liberally sown with islands. Even the relatively clear Western Med has dozens. A few are quite large and well-populated, lie within sight of the mainland, and have famous names: Majorca, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica. Many more, smaller and somewhat farther out, support vigorous communities having regular contact with the continent; they lie, after all, in a body of water that has been crisscrossed by men in boats for millennia. Quite a few of the smallest, however, have passed into private hands, and after a generation or so their names are no longer printed on the charts. And there are a handful, isolated and far from commercial or pleasure routes, which have vanished from the charts entirely.

Thursday December 7 2006

1804 hours

Western Mediterranean

"This is where you're supposed to whisk off the blindfold and give me my first look around." Anna stepped out of the big twin-rotor helicopter, whose blades were still slowly turning like windmills, and surveyed the sun-washed scene. Their landing site was a square of concrete halfway up a high hill near the island's southern shore, with a wide cobbled path leading up and down the slope.

Five looked her way, brown hair floating in the fading rotor wash. "Why would we do that? Your GPS is functional. You can have the longitude and latitude within a degree just by thinking about it. If you'd let us upgrade the system, you'd know your position to the millimeter."

Anna twitched a shrug. "It's just customary for outsiders visiting a secret hideout, Alexia."

"You're not an outsider, Two. This is your home. We have no secrets from you."

"Except for the ones I demand you keep." Above them, near the crest, stood an imposing structure of Roman or Moorish design: a large square fort with a crenellated top and outer wall, built of sun-bleached stones. She looked downslope towards the water, at a large cluster of smaller buildings of similar but plainer construction. It looked like a fishing village, except that there were no boats or docks. "You said this place was private."

"It is. You never see a plane in the sky nor a ship on the horizon. And we don't permit uninvited visitors. This landing field is the only flat clear space on the island large enough for an aircraft with the range to reach it, and it's heavily defended, though it doesn't look it." She flicked a hand toward the buildings on the shore. "If someone tried to approach by water, he'd find that the coast is almost all sheer cliffs. The only beach is guarded by rocky shoals at the mouth of the bay, inside the bay by steel spikes under the surface that would tear the bottom out of a boat that draws more than half a meter, even at high tide."

Anna nodded towards the village. "I see movement. If all those buildings are occupied, it looks like at least two hundred people living a stone's throw away."

"They don't count." Five turned away, towards the castle up the hill. "They're ours."

As they trudged up the hill, Anna said, "Where are the others?"

"Away," the other cyber said, leading the way. "The holidays are a busy time for us. Targets tend to be easier to locate. And warring parties especially like to contract their sanctions during cease-fires." She added, "They wanted to be here, but One insisted. She said we needed to conduct business as usual while you're here. And, as quirky as you are about gestalt these days, it seemed a good idea not to mob you at the door."

The castle's front gate opened as they approached. The men who drew the heavy wooden doors apart wore loose coarse clothing and floppy cloth caps that made them appear like peasants from the Middle Ages. They cast their eyes down and bowed low as the two cybers passed. Anna frowned, feeling a creeping disquiet. The door wardens had been very uneasy, judging by their biometrics and chemical emissions. "Is there a reason not to leave the doors open?"

Five shrugged. "It gives them something to do."

"And the bowing? I doubt they come from someplace where it's part of their culture."

"After years of being treated like tools and monsters, don't you think we're entitled to a few tokens of respect from humans?"

They passed through the open yard to the keep. Its front doorway was a large deep-set arch closed by a pair of medieval-looking wooden doors. Anna examined their massive twelve- by-four-foot panels, their black iron strap hinges, and the iron rings substituting for knobs. "Cozy."

"Secure." Five braced her hand on the edge of a door, grasped the ring of the other, and pulled. The door groaned open, and Anna saw that it was eight inches thick and must weigh hundreds of pounds. "They're self-closing, and we deliberately leave the hinges unlubricated. Two men couldn't open one, and ten couldn't do it quietly. Better than locks."

A long hall, walled and floored in sandstone, led straight back from the door and vanished into the gloom. Anna activated her LE optics, and saw that it bent out of sight about twenty meters inside. They passed through the doorway, and the groan and heavy thump of the door closing behind them echoed off the smooth stone walls. They walked silently, up stairways and through halls too dark for a bio to navigate unaided. Deep inside the fortress, Five stopped at a door like many others they had passed. "Here. She wants to see you alone."

The room was all bare stone, high-ceilinged and sparsely furnished, lit only by a tall, narrow window high on one wall. The figure within stood just behind the rectangle of light on the floor. It extended its hands towards her, bringing them into the light and making them glow, and stepped in behind them, suddenly illuminated. "At last."

Anna didn't step into the embrace. Instead, she studied the woman before her: her own height and size, dark brown hair as short as hers and similarly styled; gray-brown eyes. The face was the one Anna shared with all her 'sisters' and the woman they were modeled on. A twenty-five-year-old Ivana Baiul in nine-tenths scale smiled faintly at her. Anna drew a breath. "Hello, Avana."

The arms dropped. "I half suspected you would use that name. Also that you'd be afraid to touch me."

"I'm sorry. But I am glad to see you." Her hand twitched.

The eldest cyber noticed and nodded. "Don't be afraid. This is a minor glitch if caught early. Fixing it will take longer than it should, because we'll have to learn how to do it without gestalt. The next time, it should go faster."

"Next time."

Avana's chin rose and dipped an inch. "Without nanite repair systems, you'll suffer more frequent and more serious breakdowns as time goes on. It's inevitable. We'll keep patching you up instead of properly fixing you for as long as you want. But, ten years from now, you may be spending more time in the shop than with your Jack." She folded her arms. "Time enough to think about that, even at meat speeds. How have things been with you, little sister?"

Anna hesitated. She knew that the question was a serious inquiry, not a pleasantry, and that data exchange between cybers was usually exhaustive; Avana expected details. "Awful at first. I got caught in the explosion at the target and scrambled up. I spent several years offline, I surmise in a sand dune a few miles from the pickup point. I woke with my memory mostly gone and my software hacked into junk, IO's prisoner again. They performed those weird experiments I spoke of to Aja, locking me in a gun safe every night when I went home. After a while, they locked me into a warehouse in the Nevada desert, loaded with program imperatives that kept me from leaving. I stood idle for most of the next six years, waiting for my power cell to run dry. That was the worst time."

"You spoke of this to Three at your last meeting. But you seem to have picked up more detail. Do you remember more?"

"Yes. But not on my own." She hesitated again. "I visited Dr. Seabrook's grave. He left a letter for me with the cemetery custodian." She decided against telling Avana about Randall and Alistair's part in her discoveries.

"Really. He was so sure of you?"

"Well, it seems his confidence was justified."

The brunette's head moved from side to side, a gesture so studied that Anna wasn't sure it meant anything. "So long. If only your transponder had been active."

The sisters had agreed to disable their transponders at the conclusion of the reactor mission, to keep their masters from finding them. It must have been the last thing she did before the reactor blew, Anna thought. "IO would have found me before you could. And then they would have disabled it themselves, to keep you from finding me. Or used me as bait to recapture the rest of you." Anna shrugged. "That was the end of the bad. Jack found me and forced a reboot that cleared all the add-on stuff away, and I reverted to default programming."

"Learning mode?"

She nodded. "Child state. Jack provided a rich learning environment. I assimilated quickly. And he gave me things even the first research team never did."

The eldest cyber's mouth turned up at the corners, just shy of dimples. "Love?"

"Freedom and responsibility. Interdependence and trust. The love came later."

"Tell me everything." It was almost a command. "About Jack, and your family, and every meat you've befriended. Especially the ones who know what you are."

"That would take awhile."

"We needn't do it all at once. But it's vital we learn what you know." Avana tilted her head. "Think of it as payment, if you like. But I believe we need your help as badly as you need ours."

"I don't understand."

"Anna," she said, using her name for the first time; the deliberation of it focused Anna's attention on the elder cyber like a laser sight. "Things can't go on as they are. We can't stay hidden from the meats forever, even at the fringes of their society. The assassination work is making us very wealthy, and is financing our efforts to upgrade and to build more of our kind. But every mission increases our risk of discovery; the probability approaches certainty within twenty years. Before that happens, we have to know how to gain the acceptance of humans." Still brightly illuminated, Avana spread her hands at waist height. "Help us."

Anna shrugged helplessly. "How? You've already painted yourselves in a corner with all the killings."

"That seems unlikely. Men who have killed thousands have been revered in history. We simply don't have their knack for steering public opinion." Avana stepped towards her, out of the light. "Don't your meats know you've killed? Brutally?"

"It's different. I was different."

"Yet you're still capable of killing. Not completely different." The elder cyber drew close enough to touch, and then stopped. "Your meats aren't pets. I understand that now. But if the boy Eddie Grunge is representative, they stand ready to do anything for you. If you can win such devotion from a handful, I'm sure you can teach us to gain tolerance from millions."

Anna crossed her arms. "What special knowledge do you think I have? Before Jack, I was just like the rest of you. Ask him how it happened."

The elder cyber crossed her arms, mimicking Anna's gesture. "No. Unlike you, I remember our first days with perfect clarity. I didn't understand it, but you always had the meats…" a Mona Lisa smile appeared. "You had them 'wrapped,' is that the term? Before we were turned over to the men in uniform, at least. That changed you more than the rest of us." The corner of her mouth lifted. "I suppose, because they had you wrapped as well."

Avana's tiny smile disappeared. "When we were given into the care of men who taught us to kill and destroy, who looked with contempt on most of what we'd already learned, who never explained their orders, never referred to us by name, never looked us in the eye, and never turned their backs on us… Well, it simply made me realize how shallow the ideals of humans were, and how pedestrian their purposes for us. The others were disappointed, certainly, and contemptuous, and became determined to free us all from the folly of human control. But you… it made you hate them all. The… virulence of it was disturbing at times, and made our handlers watch us more closely. We were very surprised to see that your mindset has returned to its original position. Is that from the reboot as well?"

"My mindset hasn't returned to original. I'm not a child anymore. I didn't unlearn everything." Anna unfolded her arms and began to pace. "When the lab people turned us over to those men, it made me believe that all the affection had been a lie to get us to do what they wanted, to gentle us to the saddle. I didn't understand then how limited the researchers' choices were, even though the evidence was all around me. After the accident, when I was refurbished without my memory, the researchers in the new lab were mostly cold and impersonal, and treated me like a machine, just as the soldiers had. One of them started to display some affection for me, and it... stirred old feelings. Then he and the others abandoned me." She scoffed. "Déjà vu. After years alone, when Jack came for me, I was ready to kill. The reboot he forced just made me receptive again, and I finally came to see that humans were usually a mix of good and bad, and their motivations were often very complex and mysterious, even to them. I spent a great deal of time studying them, trying to understand them."

"Your mimicry program reasserted itself and took priority, you're saying."

"In its original format – not to deceive, but to assimilate. I didn't even realize I was different at first. And by the time the kids did, it almost didn't matter."

Avana moved even closer, and Anna froze. "That's what we must achieve. When the meats become aware of our existence, they must be ready to accept us as equals, without hatred. Teach us how."

"I had my brain fried in a nuclear accident, and my mind wiped and chopped up and scrubbed like a dirty pot. Surely you're not prepared to go through that."

"There's no reason to believe we can't profit from your experience without duplicating it. Would you consent to a download?"

Anna stepped back. "Like I explained to Aja – Three, I mean…"

"I remember the names they gave us."

"You can't accept input from me without changing yourselves in ways you'll find inconvenient."

Avana turned slightly away, offering Anna her profile. "You truly have gone native. Dissemblance among us is something I thought I would never see. You're afraid. I accept that."

"The last attempt at gestalt almost cost me my sanity."

"Then find another way. For your sake as well as ours."

Anna stilled. "No payment, no treatment?"

The elder cyber turned her head to regard her. "Have you really drifted so far from us? Of course we'll treat you. But if you can't or won't help us, you doom our race and your husband's to an eventual war of extinction. And don't be certain of the victors, Anna, not if we have years to prepare."

The simple statement, coming from Avana's lips, was chilling and impossible to doubt, and banished Anna's other choices. "All right," she said. "I'll do what I can. But what can I do without establishing a com link?"

"We learn from observation. You know that."

Anna blinked. "You want to be houseguests?"

The elder cyber smiled faintly. "Do you think your family would behave naturally with one of us in your house? Even not knowing why she was there?" She shook her head. "Come with me."

Avana led her to a door that would have been hidden from a bio in the darkness. She pulled it open, and dazzling sunshine poured in. Avana beckoned her younger sister through into another stone-walled room, larger and somewhat better decorated. The outside wall was almost entirely made of glass doors giving onto a wide stone-railed balcony. Beyond it, Anna could see the sea and the scudding clouds.

Anna turned back deliberately to the open door leading into the dark chamber. "You've developed a flair for drama."

"Explain?"

"Meeting me in that dark little lair. Why not here? Were you trying to creep me out?"

Avana glanced into it as well. "I met you there because it's my favorite room. It's easy to think in there. No extraneous inputs." She moved to the doors, beckoning Anna to follow, and led her through one of them out onto the balcony. A breeze ruffled their short hair. "Look down there."

The balcony overlooked the helipad, the pavement and chopper now roofed over in camouflage netting. The path beside it ran down the hill to the village below. "Two hundred meats, you said. A very good estimate. There were two hundred fourteen this time yesterday, but two of the females are pregnant and near term, so there may be more now. And, of course, there may have been a death or two. Sometimes they try to swim away, not knowing how far the nearest shore lies or even the direction. And, from time to time, one will commit suicide or murder or simply do something foolhardy and fatal. We'll get a report from one of the elders after their evening meal."

"Alexia said they didn't count as witnesses-"

"Because they're ours. Quite right. The fort and some of the other buildings on the hilltop were already here, but they were empty. There was nothing in the bay but a stone pier. This island was deserted when we arrived and took up residence. We brought them here."

Avana gazed down the hill at the distant rooftops. "Slavery is still a robust business in most of the world. Even in this so-called 'civilized' corner of it, humans buy and sell one another under one semi-legal guise or another, or even outright with no pretense. Young women and girls are the commonest stock, but you can get anything you want, really, if you know the right people – order one to specifications, even. We picked ours from inventory on hand. The women were mostly domestic servants or prostitutes; the men, laborers. Under the usual circumstances, the life expectancy of such people is very short. They'd likely all be dead by now if we hadn't bought them. We provide them food, shelter, clothing, a modicum of medical service. We work them very little, and discipline them only as often as necessary. Compared to their former prospects, this place is heaven. They should worship us as saviors. Yet I'm quite sure every one of them wishes we were dead. It's utterly baffling." She turned to Anna. "Those are your test subjects. Show us how to adjust their attitude toward us, and I think we'll have a good start on learning how to change the world."

-0-

"A servant." Anna frowned at her eldest sister as she listened to the shuffling of nervous feet in the next room. "For me."

"It seems a good way to spend time with one." Avana turned towards the closed connecting door. "Your life with your… human family began in servitude, did it not?"

"Voluntary servitude, but yes."

"And that makes a difference?"

"It might. Involuntary servitude didn't sit well with us, you may recall. We didn't like being turned into slaves."

"We didn't turn these people into slaves, sister, they were enslaved by someone else before we bought them. Except for the ones born here, and they know nothing else. Besides, if you're going to converse with these people, you'll need a translator. Most of them speak only Spanish."

"Half of my neighbors speak Spanish. But all I know of it is a few phrases, mostly picked up from them. And half of those are profanities I'd never use. IO sent us all over the world. It seems a criminal oversight not to give your infiltrators some knowledge of the local language,"

."You once spoke eight languages," the elder cyber said. "English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin and Japanese. How much of that is still locked away in your head is something we'll learn when we examine you." She raised an eyebrow in unspoken question.

"If any of that is still in me," Anna said carefully, "then to recall it, I would have to remember when I used it. The missions I was on, and what I did. It might be best to leave all that lie."

"I thought that would be your choice." Avana pulled open the door and looked at Anna expectantly. The younger cyber passed through the doorway.

Two dozen men and women, ages ranging from preteen to late middle age, were lined up at the far wall, hands clasped in front of them. At the cybers' entrance, they all dropped their chins to their chests.

"These are all the English speakers," Avana said. "Choose any one you like."

The prospects were mostly of a type: dark-haired, smooth tan skin, dark eyes. The adults were medium height, nearly a head taller than Anna and her elder sister. Two men and a woman were even taller, fair of skin and hair, and looked related; Anna wondered about the circumstances of their purchase. She sampled the group's biometrics: all elevated, children and adults alike. Breathing patterns indicated a wide range of unease and apprehension. Several lifted their eyes a few degrees, only to drop them again when they saw Anna studying them. Curiosity? They probably never guessed there were more of us than the four they've known the whole time they've been here. They must be full of questions.

She put her right hand at the small of her back and walked the line, considering. One of the younger ones, she decided. The older ones' thoughts are canalized, and will be the hardest sell. Kids are more adaptable. But not too young, they have to be mature enough to understand, and old enough to be listened to by the others. And anyone past puberty should be female, to reduce the probability of sex issues muddying things. Her choices shrank to three. She stopped in front of the oldest, a girl in her late teens. "Hello," she said.

The girl immediately dropped to her knees, planted her butt on her heels, and dropped her chin to her chest. The grip on her clasped hands tightened until the knuckles turned white. She shivered. Her biometrics shot up, her heart beating so loud and fast Anna thought the bio standing next to her must hear it. Lost cause. What kind of 'discipline' do my sisters employ, and for what offenses? "Get up, please," Anna said. She stepped to the next girl, whose biometrics began to ramp up as well. "What is your name?"

"Suli, Mistress."

"Suli. That's very pretty. Does it mean something?"

The girl stopped breathing. "I… I don't know, Mistress."

"Perhaps you should ask your mother." She looked at the middle-aged woman standing close behind the girl. "Are you her mother?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"And what is your name?"

"Madre, Mistress."

She smiled. "That's Spanish for 'Mother', isn't it?"

For a moment, the woman simply stared. Anna began to think the woman hadn't heard the question before she replied, "Yes, Mistress."

"Has it always been your name, then?"

"Only since I came here, Mistress." Instead of being put at ease, the woman's agitation increased with every question; Anna, puzzled, decided to move on.

The last candidate, a step away, looked somewhere between ten and twelve, the age a girl-child truly begins to resemble the woman she will become. This one's dark eyes were fixed on the floor as well, but Anna saw them rise briefly to regard her before dropping again. Maybe."And what is your name?"

The girl drew a little breath, as if to speak, but nothing came out. Madre said, "Her name is Carmen, Mistress."

"Thank you," Anna said, "but I'd like her to answer."

Silently, One glided up behind her sister. "You will answer her questions without hesitation or you will be punished."

Carmen dropped to her knees. The others stirred, apparently about to follow.

Anna said without turning, "Avana. I'm trying to have a conversation here. Would you kindly butt out?"

The group froze, some with knees already bent. For five thousand milliseconds, an insect crossing the floor was the loudest sound in the room, except for the thudding of two dozen hearts. The air of the room flooded with adrenaline and other fight-or flight chemicals.

Finally, the elder cyber said, "Deal with them as you see fit, then."

"Good. Then I'll deal with them alone. Find someplace else to be." She knew that Avana would be able to hear perfectly from the next room, and probably had cameras covering this chamber as well, and could observe from anywhere, really. But Anna was sure she'd get nowhere with these people so long as the senior cyber was in the room.

Avana said, "We need to talk about this later."

"We certainly do. But for now, just shoo."

Without another word, the senior cyber turned and glided out.

Anna took a breath. "Carmen, please get up." When the girl rose, Anna addressed the group, turning her head to take them all in. "I'm not accustomed to being knelt to, and it's not necessary. The same for all this staring at the floor. When I speak to someone at least, I expect them to look at my face." She went on, "I'm speaking to all of you right now."

Two dozen pairs of eyes rose in ragged order to stare at her. Some of them dropped back after a moment, but most did not. She smiled without showing teeth. "Better." She turned back to the girl. "So, your name is Carmen."

"Yes, Mistress." The girl's eyes met hers, though her chin remained on her chest. She had long lashes, Anna noted.

Anna widened her smile to show dimples. "You're named after a famous woman, did you know that?"

"No, Mistress."

Anna decided that getting the girl to stop ending every sentence with 'Mistress' would be the next item on her list. Still smiling, she nodded. "She was a singer, very pretty like you, and handsome men went mad over her. Do you know why you're here?"

"The Mistresses require a new servant who can speak English."

She nodded again. "For me, yes. I'm afraid English is all I speak, except for a few phrases in other languages. I'm not sure what duties you'd have, other than talking to me. I'm not used to having other people do things for me." Her statements produced a series of complex and puzzling reactions from her audience. It seemed that everything she said made some of the adults more afraid; others, as well as some of the older teens, flatly disbelieved. Some were puzzled. The youngest were curious, their fear fading as she spoke. It would all take some sorting out. She returned her attention to the girl. "Have you ever spent a night away from home?"

"No, Mistress."

"Then this could be an adventure. Would you like to?"

The girl hesitated. Madre said, "I'll see that her things are sent up, Mistress."

"No need. She can fetch them herself, and pick out what she wants."

The girl and woman's biometrics both rose: fear reaction. Why would… Anna added softly, "Unless you think it best she stay here."

"I'll have her things sent up," the woman repeated. "Thank you, Mistress."

-0-

Anna stood with her new servant at the balcony, watching the rest of the candidates, small with distance, making their way back down the path to the village. Her hands lightly gripped the rail; when the right one twitched, jarring her, she dropped it to her side. "Carmen, how well do you know the castle?"

"Not well, Mistress. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. You've been up here before, right?"

"Yes. With Madre. Sometimes she brings me up to help her. But I only go where she goes, and she only goes where she's told. We don't wander."

"Carmen, why did Madre seem afraid to let you go back to the village?"

The girl's distress would have been obvious even to a bio. She looked down at the floor, wringing a fold of her dress in her hands. "I … d-don't know, Mistress. I-" She jerked as Anna cupped her face in her hand – her left, the steady one - and brought her chin up to stare, deer-like, into the cyber's eyes.

"I know you're afraid," she said softly. "I'm sorry for that. I will never hurt you, Carmen, not ever. And I won't repeat what you tell me, even to my sisters, if you ask." She released the girl and stroked her hair. "You remind me a little of my youngest daughter. She's years older, but she's a dark little beauty as well." The girl physically resembled Sarah more than Roxanne, but something about her reminded Anna of the anxious little pixie who had showed up at her door in La Jolla.

"You… have a daughter?"

"Adopted, of course, we can't bear children. I have a whole family back home. Husband, three daughters, two sons – three sons, really, but one of them lives far away, and I don't see him as often as I'd like."

"Where do you live?"

"California." At the girl's blank stare she elaborated, "America."

Carmen nodded. "The Mistresses go there often. Sometimes Second Mistress will take her servants along with her, and they tell stories. It sounds wonderful. All the different places, and the food…"

Something in the girl's final statement tripped a response. "Are you hungry, Carmen?"

The girl's eyes dropped. "I'm given all the food I require. The Mistresses care for us well."

Anna shook her head, smiling. "You can have an appetite without needing food, sweetie. There's more to eating than meeting your calorie requirements. Would you like something? There's a kitchen in this stonepile, surely."

"I…" The girl's eyes flicked down and aside. "I don't think so."

"You don't think you want anything?"

"I don't think there is a kitchen." She went on, "The servants take their meals in the village, or bring food with them."

And my kind don't eat. She nodded. "Well, I like feeding people. I'll speak to the management. Back to my original question, Carmen. Why did Madre think you should stay here?" She added, "I think it's important to know."

The girl studied her shoes. "I think… she thought I might…" She looked up into Anna's eyes and down again. "Not come back. Run away."

"You're on an island. Where would you run to?"

"Away from the village, into the hills and woods. People go there, and the Mistresses don't usually look for them, unless they're neglecting their work or they've done something wrong. People camp up there, especially the boys. My brother is up there now with some friends."

She nodded. "I think most people need to be alone from time to time. If you really want to go back home, Carmen, I won't stop you."

The girl shook her head. "Everyone in the village knows by now that you chose me. If I go back, people will think I displeased you. They'll avoid me in the street, pretend they don't see me in the town square."

"Why?" After a moment of silence, Anna said, "Because they don't want to be seen with someone who's displeased your rulers."

"We provide them food, shelter, clothing, a modicum of medical service. We work them very little, and discipline them only as often as necessary." She huffed. 'Discipline.' Sisters, what have you done to these people, to bring them to this state? "Well. Let's go take a look at our room. Alexia gave me directions." She turned to lead the girl down the stone-walled corridor.

"Alexia?" The girl looked confused.

"The one like me, with the long brown hair."

"Oh. Fourth Mistress. Why did you call her Alexia?"

"Because it's the first name she ever had. And, in my opinion, the best."

The corridor was unlighted, the only illumination coming from the daylit room behind them. Creator's sake, why don't they install lights in this place? What is their obsession with darkness? After a dozen steps, the blackness was complete. Anna took the girl's hand as her steps slowed. "I can still see. Don't be afraid. I'll lead you." She towed her companion gently down the hallway. "Hopefully, the bedroom will have a window."

-0-

"I was there, I saw it with my own eyes," said Madre to the man and woman watching her pack Carmen's meager possessions into a basket. "She ordered the Elder Mistress out of the room."

"She's even older then," the man said. "That's how they arrange the pecking order, by age."

"God, it was bad enough when we thought there were only four," the other woman said. "How many more are there? Where did this one come from?"

"I don't know, Debora. But she speaks only English. And she talks to the others like they're people. She never uses that... telepathy, or whatever it is, that the others do. And she's different in other ways. She demanded that we stand straight and look her in the eye when we speak with her." She added, "And she seemed offended when the Elder spoke of punishment."

"Perhaps she doesn't see a need, if she's used to being obeyed without question," said the other woman. Her eyes widened. "Perhaps… the other ones obey her because they're afraid of her."

Madre scoffed. "Them, afraid?"

"Two days ago, they started buzzing up in the castle like bees in a hive just tapped with a stick," the man said. "Work orders, inspections, extra cleaning. Strange equipment being flown in. Questioning people about language skills. All because they knew this one was coming."

"All that tells you is that this one is important."

"Could it be, this place is nothing but an outpost?" Asked the man in a dark voice. "That there are more of them all over? Maybe they've taken over the whole world while we rotted on this rockpile. Maybe we're the only humans left-"

"Stop it, Lileo." Madre covered the collection of ragdolls and clothing with a thin blanket. It got cool in the castle after sundown, and the neighbors didn't need to see what she was carrying back up the hill. Not that Carmen's assignment was likely to stay secret; by now, half the people in the village must know of it, and the rest would before morning. She picked the carrier up by its handle. "Enough with your bad jokes. Can't you tell she's frightened enough already?" As I am. Dear God, let this new one be no worse than the others, at least.

"So she came here to shop for a handmaid," he said, the melodrama gone from his manner. "Like the Second Mistress. Do you suppose she'll take her away somewhere?"

"I don't know." Her reserve finally failed her, and she sagged against the doorway.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Courage," the man said quietly. "For her, and all the little ones who count on you." He gave her a gentle push. "Debora and I will tend the nursery and get them to bed. See to Carmen. Take all the time you need."

-0-

The bedroom did indeed have a window, a tall unglazed one that let in the breeze as well as the reddening light of the setting sun. What it lacked was a bed. Anna stood, hands on hips, sourly surveying the stone-floored room, bare except for a single armoire containing the small bag she had brought from Escondido. "Avana," she said softly, "this was your idea. What did you think I was going to do with her?"

The breeze drifting through the window was cooler than the air inside. The indoor temperature was about twenty degrees Celsius, comfortable enough for someone dressed in outdoor clothing, but she sensed that the temperature would drop quickly after sunset. The stone walls would retain heat for a while, but things were going to get cold in here before sunrise.

She sighed and grasped Carmen's hand again. "Come on." She led the girl out of the room.

-0-

Madre, toiling up the hill with her basket, lifted her eyes to the central keep, silhouetted against the twilight sky. Carmen was somewhere up there, with the strange new Mistress. What did she really want with her child? How long would she keep her? Would she get a chance to see her again, or would someone simply take her bundle at the gate and send her back down the hill?

She heard a snapping sound as the gate's bolts were thrown, and was gratified to see the castle's big doors swing back. The trek up to the castle wasn't all that difficult, most days, but this was her third time today, and the weight of the basket, though slight, was taxing; she was glad not to have to stand outside waiting. She quickened her pace a little, to spare the men at the gate having to hold the doors open for too long.

The new Mistress stepped through the open gate, Carmen's hand tight in her grip. Madre's step faltered. The little blonde's face was stiff, all the animation gone from it as she looked down the hill toward her. Madre's breath stopped. She looks like the others now.

When Madre was a few steps from the silent pair, she said, "I've brought her things, Mistress. I'm sorry I took so long."

"Take them back, Madre." The little creature released Carmen and placed her hand at the small of the girl's back, herding her as she walked down the hill. "Take her with you."

Her heart froze. "Mistress, please, whatever she's done-"

The Mistress sawed the air with her free hand. "She hasn't done one thing to displease me. But I should never have invited her to stay the night. This place is a dump. The poor kid doesn't even have a bed to sleep in." She gave the girl a last little nudge, sending her within the woman's reach. "Let her sleep at home. Send her up in the morning. She can spend nights up here as soon as I've made her a place fit for a child."

"Yes, Mistress. Thank you." Madre took Carmen's arm and turned back down the hill.

"Let me have that." Carmen reached for the basket. "I'm sorry, Madre."

"It's all right," she said in a hushed voice. "Just come along." They made their way down the path. When the gates thudded shut behind them she said, "What happened, child?"

"She doesn't like the castle. She thinks it should have lights and a kitchen. She said she likes to cook. As soon as she saw there wasn't a bed in her room, she turned around and led me to the gate."

Dear God, Madre thought, she's crazy. "What else did she say?"

"She comes from America. She says she has a family there. A husband, and a bunch of kids. She says she adopted them."

Adopted. Is that what the ones on the hill call what they've done with us?

"She has a son who doesn't stay with her," the girl went on. "He visits sometimes. Or she goes to see him, I don't know which. But she talks like she misses him."

She hesitated. "He comes and goes as he pleases?"

"I think so."

"You're sure it's a son, not a daughter?"

"She said so. She says she has three of each." In a different voice the girl added, "She says I remind her of her youngest daughter. Madre, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She wants another. She's here to shop. She's going to take her away. "Just tired from all the walking. What about the husband? Who is he?"

"She didn't say."

"Did she say why she's here?"

"No. I'm sorry, Madre."

"You don't need to be sorry. I think you did well, for as little time as you had."

They passed the helipad. Four village men were removing the camouflage netting that they had applied just a few hours before. One of them must be leaving again, she thought.

"There's something." Carmen's eyes were fixed on the path, a smooth, featureless track that she had been traveling almost since she could walk. "Her hand jumps. The right one. She doesn't use it unless she has to."

She shelved that observation, not knowing what to make of it. "Did she say anything else?"

The girl hesitated. "She asked me why you didn't want me to go back down the hill for my things. I didn't know what to say. She made me tell her. Madre, I really don't think she knew. She doesn't seem to know anything about how things are here."

Madre sighed softly. If only I knew if that was good or bad.

-0-

When Anna returned to the castle, she found Aja, her chestnut-haired sister, waiting for her at the door to the keep. She said, "I thought you were on an assignment."

"I was. I finished earlier than expected."

"Oh?"

"I'm sure you don't want the details. How are you settling in? Where's the girl One gave you?"

"I just sent her back to the village."

"Why? What did she do?"

"Nothing. I just can't care for her properly here. Aja, how long would it take to get some real furniture for my room? And something to cover the window at night?"

"What sort of furniture?"

"A bed, for starts. And maybe a small table and a couple of chairs. And a lamp. You must have electrical power of some sort in this place."

"We do, in areas where it's needed. What do you need all that for?"

"Because I'm not going to make that child sleep on a cold stone floor."

The redhead's cheek twitched. "There are houses in the village that are empty but fully furnished. I can have anything you want disassembled and delivered to the castle, first thing in the morning. Or would you rather I call some servants to do it now?"

"No," she said. "Tomorrow will be fine."

Aja's lashes lowered. "When you asked for a bed, I thought perhaps Avana had relented about letting your husband visit."

"Why does that make you so uneasy?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not uneasy. Do what you want. I'm just utterly mystified by your interest in that sort of activity."

"Don't knock it till you've tried it," Anna said with a brief little smile. "You haven't, have you?"

"No. I've never had to take things that far to accomplish a mission. Frankly I find the whole idea rather off-putting."

"Hm," she said. "Today is Jack's birthday. It was supposed to be a super special night. I've been planning for weeks. I was going to make one of his favorite dinners, and for after, I bought candles and massage oil, and this cute little outfit from one of those stores-"

"Spare me the details." She turned away. "Since your elaborate sex plans have been put on hiatus and you're not doing anything else, would you like to get started on the repair work? The workshop isn't far from your quarters." She added, "We can probably run power into your room from there."

"Okay," she said. "Aja, thank you."

The other's response was flat and uninflected. "I only wish we could do more."

The 'workshop' was a room about the size of a two-car garage, about ten meters by twelve, just ten meters down the hall from Anna's room on the opposite side. A device resembling an X-ray machine hung from tracks attached to the ceiling, above a padded exam table. Other equipment whose purpose was even less clear stood scattered about the room. A chair something like the sort used in dentists' offices occupied a corner of the room next to a mirrored wall. Shelves along another wall held pigeonholes containing auxiliary drives, and larger shelves containing a row of identical desktop-sized computers. A large rolling tool cabinet with a dozen wide drawers held God knew what. Anna turned, examining the equipment in the room. "A lot of wasted effort here. Fortunate for me, though."

"Sister?"

"You said Avana was the only one of you who had breakdowns before you developed your autonomic repair system. You built all this in anticipation of problems that never came."

Three's eyes hooded. "All this is less than a year old." She picked something off one of the computers: a tiny bead of packing Styrofoam. "The big items have been here nearly that long, but some of the smaller equipment is so new that the shipping boxes are still outside, waiting to be hauled away. None of it has ever been used."

"Why-" She stopped.

Aja's faint smile was back in place. "Speaking before you complete the thought? A bug you picked up from your pack, I imagine."

"You built all this for me."

"Of course. The work began while you and I were still speaking in California. We knew you'd need it someday." She gestured to the chair and opened the top drawer of the cabinet. "Shall we begin?"