“Noble-non-majority...”Hack shook his head. “It’sstrange. We have clearly delineated rules for all of this but havinga new… home-world with its own set of rules…
“Integratingwith Irth is going to be complicated. I mean, I’m supposed to be anadult but I’m less than half your age, so even an adult from Irthwould have to think twice about…” He looked at Adelina.
“Pardon, LadyAdelina. It sounds like I’m accusing your sister…”
She waved it off.“You guys are a special case. You’re… born, I suppose, withmore knowledge and perspective than a Human infant. You’vegotsix years of practice with all of that, soit lets you function as an adult.”
She gestured to herdaughter. “It took her two years before she could say more than oneword at a time.”
“Yeah, I wasborn with a few instincts and nothing else,” Gabriella said. “Justthe basic firmware. I couldbreathe, wave my little arms around and scream for a boob.” Shegiggled, having just made Hack glance at Adelina’s chest.
“We don’t havethose pods you guys use,” she added. “We learn by existing, atleast until we’re five. Then we start going to school.”
“And that’skind of the same as what you’re doing with us, right?” heasked. “Teaching us with examples?”
“Pretty much,”Adelina confirmed. “Sometimes the examples are uncomfortable but,yes.”
Gabriella handed hermother a mug of tea and curled up next to her on the couch in thelounge between their bedrooms. They looked out the large window atthe swirling colors.
Adelina arched herback. “I don’t know about you, kiddo, but I feel wrung out afterthe day we had. Being on display is a lot more tiring than Iexpected.” She put an arm around her daughter.
“I think it’s timefor me to get out of the boundary business,” she said meditatively.She looked at Gabriella’s questioning face. “I’m serious. Youknow what you’re doing. I’m just gonna be a consultant now –your own personal consultant.”
“You could helpme figure out the right diet to keep these darn zits under control,”she grumbled.
“Your aunt alwaysswore that citrus was the key. She was a late bloomer too. Suddenlyshot up at your age.”
“Really?” Gabriellasat up and stared at her mom.
“Really. Not on herskin, though, she just took in lots of vitamin C.”
Gabriella rolled hereyes. Making her mom laugh.
“Yes, really. She hada longer awkward phase, though boys still noticed her. Her skin was amess up till the year she left for officer candidate school.”
“Is that whyyou give her a hard time about her taste in clothing?” Gabriellaasked. “Because I take after her a bit and you worry I’ll bedoing all the same things?”
“No…”
Gabriella was leaningagainst her mother and she could feel the sudden tension in her. Shesat up and looked at her. “What land-mine did I suddenly step on?”
“It’s notimportant.”
Gabriella consideredeverything she knew or, at least, thought she knew about heraunt. “Did she steal some boy from you?”
“You’ve got toomuch of your abuelo in you,” Adelina grumbled.
And that complaint wouldn’t put him off thetrail, she thought. “Was thisbefore I came along?”
“Long before.”
“Long?” She tiltedher head quizzically. “You’re only thirty-four and I’m almosteighteen…”
Adelina sighed. “Okay,it seemed longer at that age.”
“So…maybethe reason things didn’t work out between you and Dadis because you were still messed up over whatever happened betweenyou and Aunt Luna?”
“Or because I wasjust seventeen and didn’t know what I was doing?” Adelina saidbut she seemed to regret it almost instantly. “Hey, I don’tmean…”
“Mom,” Gabriellacut her off. “It’s okay. You can regret the mistakes of youryouth without labeling me as one of them. I’ve seen enoughafter-school dramas to understand that.
“Besides,”she continued, “The people on this ship were made to order by acorporation. Compared to that, I’m practically the product of afairy-tale romance. The offspring of two star-crossed lovers,” shedeclared in a movie announcer voice, “who met by arare twistof fate in the bushesbehind Edgemont High…”
“Mph!” Adelina sether mug down and rubbed at her nose, laughing and choking at the sametime. “You made me get tea up into my sinuses!”
Ragnarok
The Kuphar, High Orbit
“Stupid name,”Frank grumbled, but not so loudly that Terry would hear.
“Shh!” Trishaleaned her head against his shoulder but kept her eyes focused outthe starboard loading bay door. “He’s thrilled they picked hisentry, don’t ruin it for him.”
He moved his butt,settling more comfortably on their favorite pallet of seed and put anarm around his fianceé.“It just feels like bad luck,” he said quietly. “Naming theplace after the apocalyptic battle at the end of time is asking fortrouble. I can’t believe they got nervous about your luckbut they’ll happily live on a planet named Ragnarok.”
“It’s farenough removed that they don’t care about it,” she explained.It’s not like you seetemples to Odin in India – or anywhere, for that matter – sopagan European mythologyis no more frightening to us than an artifact in a museum. They justlike the sound of the name.”
“No sensecomplaining, I suppose,” he admitted. “Bestif we just…” He sucked in a breath as the swirling colors ofpath-travel aligned, stretched and then shrunk into the normal,star-studded black of space.
A chimesounded from somewhere deep inside the ship and a series ofmechanical sounds followed.
“That’s our star!”Vikram exclaimed from the neighboring pallet where he was sittingwith Terry.
“And thatshould be our planet,” Frank added, “justto the left.”
Asif the ship had heard him, a holo projected outside the shield showedthe planet’s name.
“Ragnarok,” Terrysaid in wonder.
“It’s a cool name,”Trisha’s son said.
“Right?” Terryhopped off the pallet and joined the others who were edging closer tothe atmo-shielding at the loading door.
Heducked, involuntarily, as ablack shape streaked past the opening, angling to hurtle planetward.Another passed in the other direction. Holoicons tried to match their movement but failed. The computer settledfor a simpler declaration, projected onto the shield, that indicatedthe combat air patrol was deployed.
“Our lady’scontribution to the new republic,” Trisha said with a pride thatFrank shared.
“And our captain mustbe itching to be out there with them.” Frank chuckled.
You never know whatyou’ll find after a long path, especially when it’s a pathleading away from all known civilization. The Kuphar, a giftfrom Lady
