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“Well Admin, did I pass my exam or not?!” you say.

Her lavender eyes look up at you. “It may be my last act as an educator, but given the circumstances, how could I fail you? Your task was to return to consciousness, and here you stand on the surface. You will proceed to your second year, though I may not be there to see it.”

“Doubtful that you will ever board this colony again,” Admin Crypta says. “What were you thinking? All technopaths have our ambitions, but you flew too close to the Sun this time, my...colleague. Using the minds of our students in your scheme, this is unforgivable to the company, and if word of it broke containment we would have every sponsor company breathing down our necks within an hour. But to use your own daughter, this is unforgivable to me.”

The gaze of Vanitas turns back to the tile patterns on the floor.

“Have you nothing to say for yourself?!” Crypta says.

“What do you want me to say?” Vanitas says. “When I pulled 7 from that shipwreck, I was a different person than I am now. You aren’t who you were when I met you either, the æther changes all of us. The only meaningful difference between you and I is that you won, and I’m sitting in the cage.”

Crypta slams her fist against the hard screen wall. “I will testify against you in the company hearing, until then I have nothing more to say to you!” She turns her back on her colleague. “Have you more to say, Aydan?”

“What’s going to happen to 7 now?” you say.

“As a technopath candidate, she no longer needs a guardian. Cybernautics Inc. will take formal custody and provide for her needs, but as she was already contracted to them, that changes nothing.” She opens the door into the hallway. “Let’s go, Aydan.”

You follow her, taking one last look back at Vanitas before the door closes. The æther around Admin Crypta is thick with fury.

“I need nothing more from you, Aydan. I’ll see you next semester, and I await your decision on my offer. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, Admin.” You leave her alone, and make to exit the Administration building as quickly as you can.

Stepping out into the night, you breathe deep of the vast atmosphere of the little colony, and as you exhale, the Sun rises once more.

2254-12-10 18:43:25 Aydan > you get all of that?

2254-12-10 18:43:28 明子 > yeah, every word

2254-12-10 18:43:29 Zeta > I half expected Admin Crypta to block your sensory link, but no I heard

2254-12-10 18:43:32 Aydan > good, saves me explaining

2254-12-10 18:43:35 Aydan > I’m tired. want to meet in the garden and do anything but technopathy?

2254-12-10 18:43:37 明子 > yes!

2254-12-10 18:43:39 Zeta > absolutely

2254-12-10 18:43:42 Aydan > great, closing the sensory link now

Your fatigued brain is grateful to let go of the extra communication port.

You turn spinward and make for the garden path. With each step you take away from that building, your focus turns back to the lingering euphoria from your ketamine afterglow. The beauty of the vibrant green leaves of the trees and the beams of Sunlight and Moonlight passing through their branches further takes you away from it all. The big decisions can wait for another day.

You hear the flapping of wings and the rustling of leaves, and see the shadows of birds pass over you as they descend--the four of them, always together, Alpha A, Alpha B, Proxima, and Sagittarius A. You take your recently refilled bag of plant seeds and give them what they want.

As you watch the creatures absentmindedly, you feel two signals approaching you in the near-æther. You look up on the surface and see Luka and Deianira.

“You...” you say, raising your shield. “ÆON is back in my possession. I didn’t let an Admin take Ær from me and no way in space or Earth will I let you.”

“Relax,” Deianira says.

“No, you’re up to something, you’re always up to something,” you say.

“As long as you walk with the One, I won’t try to take Ær from you, on my master’s orders,” Luka says. “While Æ was out of your hands, Æ was free for the taking. It was nothing personal.”

“Whatever. I don’t really want to talk to you two right now,” you say.

“Fine, we’ll keep it short,” Luka says.

“You met with Admin Crypta,” Deianira says.

“How do you know?”

“Rumors travel faster than light,” Luka says.

“So what? I’m called to an Admin’s office, I go there, I can’t refuse,” you say.

“She made you an offer, did she not?” Deianira says.

“It is easy to predict this. Her apprentice will be certified soon, and you surely impressed her in that battle of ours,” Luka says. “I don’t care what your answer is, I’m just here to deliver a message from the Sage of Time.”

“And the Sage of Stars,” Deianira says.

“Okay, I’m listening,” you say.

“‘Learning from two masters is fine, when they are sisters,’” Deianira says.

“‘But when they are enemies, impossible,’” Luka says.

The girls continue, walking past you on either side.