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  “Because she is resting, and the node is nearing completion. She wants to be here when Jeanell Aka rises, but that means that others need to know what is going on with her. I can’t get her to safety or medical attention, you can.”

  Corbyn paused. “Right. You are right.”

  She looked around and saw that the Herans were speaking softly to their ancestors, and the ancestors appeared to be enjoying learning about the modern world.

  “Should I just go back to Myx?”

  “Find Pilot Nyvett or Pilot Kiida if you need to speak, but leave Duel to her recovery until you need her or she needs you.”

  “Yes, Kab. I will keep on alert in case you call. Where is she, by the way?”

  “I will point that out in a moment. Nyvett is over three rows and up two canisters; Kiida is over two from that.”

  Corbyn blinked when that was the end of communication. It was time to go looking for a conversational companion.

  Chapter Six

  Nyvett looked at the gathering around them, and she sighed. This was a mess. It was a great, amazing, and wonderful event but a mess.

  “Iff, can you contact Ai and send a message to Xaia?”

  “Of course.”

  “Great. Xaia, I know you are stuck, but can you get working on some kind of home for the couples once they are reunited? I don’t think that either set of them are used to living underground.”

  There was a pause, and Nyvett paced back and forth, waiting.

  The message came back, “Sure, but where do you want to put them? There are going to be issues if we don’t have a site ready.”

  Nyvett sighed. “Right. Surface scans.”

  Corbyn walked up to her, and she inclined her head. “Sorry, but Myxiorden is fixated on watching his mate thaw out, so I came over to chat.”

  Kiida appeared out of the shadows. “I had the same thought. So, what happens next?”

  Nyvett had to ask Iff, “What do the Nine need in a community?”

  Iff paused. “They require homes, food, water supplies.”

  “Yeah, yeah. What else. What is specifically Nine?”

  “Oh, the bonding gardens. They need those. So, a large knife, a rock to catch the blood and a quiet place to make their vows.”

  Nyvett nodded. “Right, we are going to find a nice spot. Wait, do they all need a garden?”

  “No, they don’t. One bonding site or sacred grove per community. I am sure that when your ancestors are thinking clearly, they will be able to tell you what is needed.”

  “Right. Of course. I will ask him when he is done staring into the tank and waiting for his wife to move.” Nyvett rolled her eyes.

  “I saw that.”

  She grinned. “I will call you if I need you.”

  Kiida and Corbyn were looking at her with polite inquiry.

  Nyvett stretched, and she said, “Once we have reunited the happy couples, we are going to need to find them lodging. I can’t imagine that they would be comfortable living this far underground.”

  Corbyn cocked her head. “What do you think they would need?”

  Nyvett smiled. “Right, you have spent a lot of time in the wild. We are looking for a water source, shelter, and it has to have some kind of a grove or nook or something to do the mating rituals in.”

  Kiida blinked. “They want a sex grove?”

  Nyvett shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think they want a spot to mix their blood, and then, they can go home from there.”

  Corbyn stared. “Mix their blood? That seems a little involved.”

  There was an exhalation from above, and Iffendro was looking down at them. “She makes a cut on me, I make a cut or bite on her, and then, the blood is registered so that all of our children are identifiable by the laws of the Nine.”

  “Bite?” Kiida looked up at him.

  He bared his teeth, and there were much deadlier looking ivory implements in his mouth than there were hours earlier.

  “Ah. Right. Bite.”

  He glared at them. “It is a wonderful and moving ceremony.”

  Nyvett looked at her ancestor, and she cocked her head. “I think we know why they didn’t go for that ritual.”

  He sighed and leaned back, looking at Ladra’s hair floating lightly around her.

  Nyvett watched the obvious love in his expression, and she inclined her head. “It will be a beautiful ritual, indeed.”

  Corbyn was standing and rocking back and forth from heel to toe. “I have four sites in mind, but we will have to head out there to do scans for water and arable land.”

  Nyvett asked, “How far have you gotten from the valley?”

  Corbyn grinned. “On the books? I have stayed within the twenty-kilometre limit. Off the books? I have been a few hundred kilometres on survival training a few times.”

  Kiida chuckled. “How often?”

  “No more than six times a year since I was fifteen.” Corbyn grinned.

  Nyvett looked around, and she wrinkled her nose. “I really want a terminal right now.”

  Kiida asked, “Can’t you ask Duel to project one?”

  Nyvett paused, “Duel is busy recovering from the time in the bots. She shouldn’t even be here, but her research told her what was required to wake the sleeping elders, so she gathered the members of the clans for us.”

  Corbyn frowned. “Is she sick?”

  Nyvett shook her head. “The nanites are building a communications node in her brain. It comes under the heading of necessary alterations, and so, the nanites are making her the best com officer they can manage.”

  Kiida rubbed her arms. “That means that we can also be shaped by what the nanites think we need to be.”

  Nyvett nodded. “That’s correct. We are currently out of action, but if we are recalled, so are they.”

  Corbyn nodded. “Right. Makes sense. So based on Ai’s occupation, I would get more muscular.”

  Kiida nodded. “I would get better vision in multiple spectrums.”

  “I would get wings.”

  Iffendro looked over the edge of the tank again. “The wings are hereditary. Mine will be regrowing in a few days.”

  Nyvett stared at him. “What?”

  “Our people have wings. You get used to it.” He nodded and leaned back to watch his wife and the exciting moment of another tube being withdrawn and the hole it had been in sealed.

  Nyvett watched him and tried to imagine what kind of wings were going to sprout. She shifted her shoulders and wondered.

  Kiida sighed. “Only two more hours to go.”

  * * * *

  Lido tried to hold still, but her body began a series of seizures that went on for what seemed like hours.

  Her body was fighting the infection, but the nanites were becoming aggressive in their treatment. It was like being infected along all her tissue and every nerve. She was reliving the moment that they fired Cio up and took her along for the ride.

  The medics were on either side, and they were trying to sooth her, but it was Hima’s coming up next to her and holding her hand that helped. The cool touch of metal was a little startling, but it felt like Hima.

  Lido looked over, and Hima was smiling with encouragement. Half her face was covered with softly glowing silver, and her hand was the same.

  Lido laughed lightly and croaked, “You look like I feel.”

  Hima smiled. “I can see that.”

  “Is that permanent?”

  Hima shrugged. “They say it isn’t, but I could be dead. I will take silver. If I had known that getting into that bot would have cost me my career, I still would have done it.”

  Lido was surprised. “They removed you from duty?”

  “Yes. They say it is temporary, but I doubt it. This isn’t what the new mothers want to see.”

  Lido flailed around and got her bed to angle upward. “I know my clan isn’t one of them, but I think that your services would still be
in demand for the Aka, the Norm, the Turo, and the Leving. They respect survivors, and that is what I see when I look at you. If you could just warm your hand up, I don’t think that there would be many complaints.”

  Hima chuckled. “I will go and see my most recent patients. I will ask them what they think and how confident they would feel with my helping them through delivery.”

  “Do that. I am getting better right now, so if you are out of quarantine, get out there and go and find those new mothers. Oh, and warm the hand up. That is important.”

  Hima snorted. “I am going to stay with you.”

  “You can’t do anything for me, and the last of the bacteria is on the run. Go. Come back if you want to gossip.”

  Hima looked around. “Where is Duel?”

  “Ah, she broke out, recruited a bunch of different clan representatives and headed for the catacombs. They are waking up the first mothers.”

  Hima swayed. “What?”

  “She told me about it when she was making sure that I couldn’t represent the Padu family. She knew I was stuck, and you had too many techs and medics around you. Xaia, well, Xaia is just sitting there making rude gestures at those who come by her quarantine chamber. She is such a lovely patient.”

  Hima waved that away with her free hand. “What about the first mothers?”

  “There is an independent system adjacent to the catacombs. In that system is the same arrangement as the one under the city. Our first mothers never died, they were just stored until they could be reunited with their mates once again.”

  Hima blinked. “That is... is she sure?”

  “Of course, she is sure. Her brain is pulling in data from every source right now. The first crew went, and when they found the door where Duel said it was, she was out of here.” Lido wrinkled her nose. “I think she left a little note on a com unit that said she would make sure to record what the new node looked like.”

  “Node?”

  “The nanites are building a little com station in Duel’s brain. She is working through the pain.”

  Hima looked at her hand. “They are doing what is necessary to insure maximum efficiency of their host.”

  Lido smiled. “That would explain why they are building an alternative nervous system in my body. They are making me shock proof and reproducing to replace my actual immune system. The transition is particularly unpleasant.”

  She held her breath as she felt another waking of new nerves come alive.

  She clutched at Hima’s hand. “Go and find your patients. Be prepared for rejection but embrace acceptance if it comes. Don’t question it, just hold the little ones again and talk to their mothers about mundane stuff. We are in desperate need of normal stuff. The moment I can get back to my gardens, I am going to take my first deep breath.”

  Hima nodded. “Thanks. That helps.”

  “Good. Now shoo. I hear that babies grow quickly, and you don’t want to miss anything.” Lido kept the smile on her face until Hima was out of the room. She let her back bow with pain, and she lowered the support that had been helping her sit up. Her body had work to do, and having witnesses was just going to slow the process. Lido was coming out of this, and she was going back to her garden. With that focus, she just had to ride it out.

  * * * *

  Hima walked the halls, smiling and nodding at a few women who saluted or bowed their heads as she passed. She ignored those who saw the silvering of her skin and turned away.

  The birthing centre was back in action, and the patients were wandering around with their babies. Several of the mothers paused when they saw her, but it was the happy welcome in the eyes of Keddeela that helped her relax.

  “Hima! What are you doing here? Are the bots still active?” Keddeela came toward her with the little one in her arms.

  “We are done. The invasion has been repelled, and the bots are standing down. I can resume my work again if my clan will allow me to.” Hima looked down at the baby. “She has grown.”

  Keddeela extended the baby. “Here you go. You can hold her while I go to the bathroom.”

  Hima took the child in surprise and cradled it in her newly silvered arm. She rocked in place and stroked the chubby cheeks. Women with their older infants came toward her, and a few asked her if they were truly safe.

  Hima smiled softly. “You were always safe. The pilots and the security officers would not have let anything happen to you. Our lives for yours would have been a fair trade, but frankly, I am glad it didn’t come to that. The technology of our grandmothers kicked their asses.”

  The women laughed, and when Hima looked down at the fussing baby, she shushed them. The laughter continued, only quieter.

  Finally, the question came that Hima was wondering how to answer. “What happened? Were you injured in the fight?”

  Hima twisted her lips a little before answering. “I was crushed in an explosion of the fuelling station and some of the projectile debris on Burning Day. I crawled to Len, and he used nanites to patch me up. Once I was in place, it took a few hours before I was not in danger of dying. The colouration is likely permanent.”

  The woman who asked looked nervous. “Did that actually happen?”

  “You can check the debris around Len’s fuelling area. There is enough of my blood out there to paint his foot.” Hima shifted the baby and pressed her over her heart.

  “What about the men? There are reports of men in the halls.”

  Hima nodded. “The Nine. They were placed into stasis in the time around the first invasion. They are allies and have contributed much of the technology that we use every day. Most of our medical stuff is based on Nine technology. That is why Keddeela here can be healed after two days instead of seven.”

  Keddeela chuckled. “I am grateful to them then. Will they be here long?”

  Hima shrugged. “The elders are working it out, but the Nine are not used to being underground, so it is unlikely that they will stay in the city.”

  Keddeela smiled as Hima handed the baby back. “I think it will be good for the little ones to be exposed to new species. Do they have children?”

  Hima blinked. “That is a very complicated question. I think it would be best answered by the elders. They have access to more information than I do. Now, for important matters, what are you going to name her?”

  Keddeela dragged her over to a settee and then went through all the names she had thought of during her pregnancy. “In the end, it could only be one thing.”

  Hima waited. “Well, what is it, Kedala?”

  “No, that would have been good too, but I am going with Hilen. It is a pretty good way to mark the risks that one woman is willing to engage in for another. On Burning Day, you took that position and dragged yourself into that bot for her, and I will make sure that she knows it.”

  Hima didn’t know what to say, so she let the tear make its way down her silver cheek. Her little namesake smacked rosebud lips and yawned. It said it all.

  Chapter Seven

  Xaia was sitting up and typing code to design houses using dirt, wood, and nanites. It was a first for her, but it gave her something to do while she awaited the last trip to the restroom that would see her free of the nanite-encapsulated radioactive particles.

  When nature finally called, Xaia washed her hands, got back on the med bed and ran the scans.

  There was a chime, the quarantine shield retracted, and Xaia was greeted by her medic.

  “So, Xaia, do you feel better?”

  Xaia wrinkled her nose. “I feel relieved. So, all is clear?”

  “Yes. You are ready to leave. There is an escort waiting to take you topside.”

  Xaia blinked. “You are kicking me out?”

  The medic leaned in. “We are preparing to rise, so we are getting ready for emergencies.”

  Xaia was shocked, but it went along with Lameera’s speech. The valley had always been built to rise, but circumstances had never been
correct for it.

  Apparently, purging your enemies meant it was time to stand up and embrace the light offered by the sun.

  Xaia got up and kept her small tablet with her as she headed for the exit. The two guards smiled, nodded, and one took a spot slightly in front of her, the other was just behind her. They entered one of the vendor areas, and the first guard used her codes to open the huge and ornate doors.

  Xaia was surprised that they were taking her up the main lift. She had just gotten used to slinking around in the shadows.

  When she got to the surface and she was led out, she covered her mouth to keep from crying out. Aikoro was standing, his eyes red, with his arm around a woman who definitely looked familiar.

  She looked around, and all of the Nine were with their mates, beaming and looking weepy at random.

  The pilots were standing there, looking serious. Xaia walked up to them and asked, “What did I miss?”

  Duel smiled and they lunged at her. “Hugs!”

  Xaia was spun from one pilot to the next until she was dizzy and standing in front of Elder Lameera.

  “Repair Specialist Xaia, we have one more request of you; we need housing for the ancestors.”

  Xaia smiled. “I have the programming codes here. You just have to authorize nanites for it, and we can have them up by the end of tomorrow, possibly today. Things blurred a little in the med bay.”

  Lameera laughed. “Tomorrow is fine. Today, we rise.”

  Xaia was instantly serious. “What do you need us to do?”

  The elder sighed. “Just keep the city balanced while it rises. Xaia, you know what is involved. Can you coach the others?”

  “I can.” Xaia turned toward the pilots. “Can you all manage your bots?”

  Lido flexed her hands. “Yeah.”

  Duel inclined her headset-free head. “Definitely and at a distance.”

  Hima inclined her head. “Happily.”

  The others all gave a thumbs-up. Xaia turned to Lameera. “Sound the alert and get them into the shelters. We can do this within the hour. Pilots, shall we?”