A funeral plaque was an unusual order, but not unheard of, and the steps were familiar enough. Her specifications were unusual and would actually require nanites for the finishes, but it would be a fitting example for a curious apprentice.

Luckily, Miss Pen was good sport and answered SG’s less professional questions, such as “Why don’t you do it yourself?” pointing to the many pictures on the walls. Most were class pictures from all along her career, each face and details clear and clean. An impressive display of precision metal craving, if it had been made by a person.

Their double answer of “I didn’t make those either. The firsts were a gift, then it became a tradition. Same for the moving ones in my bedroom.” from her and “A printer can do that from a picture, nobody does it by hand anymore.” Made her only more curious.

Miss Pen wanted her plaque to include a slideshow of all those pictures, so it would also be an exercise in animated builds, even if it was only a loop of bas-reliefs. He lacked experience in those. Motorised builds, with moving but unchanging parts, were usually better for his tasks.

A great opportunity on many points, but how much of it was planned by the Core?

Zax chased the deleterious thought off his head. It would only lead to paranoia.

Once they were back at his shop, the lessons continued. He demonstrated how and where to pull the common blueprints for that kind of item and the legal text involved. The last was always a good point to have for any new type of project; he already had unpleasant surprises. Later came the final quote to replace the tentative one he had left to Miss Pen, followed by the actual designing phase and ordering the materials he lacked. Zax must have enjoyed himself more than he thought, explaining everything and answering SG’s questions, for the day ended before he realised.

Discounting the strange recruitment attempt, he was satisfied with the day’s results. SG had had her first steps outside, clear flaws to address for self-improvement, a plan for the immediate future and a tentative plan for the further future that was already being implemented. His shop had a pool of orders to pull from that shouldn’t empty before his special orders came back in the race.

Everything was fine.

“Good day uh? What do you want to do for the evening?” Zax queried as they were closing the shop.

“Uh?”

“Well, we still have a few hours before curfew. If you’re tired or if you want some time alone, we can go straight home. Or we can go out and do something. Show you what the dot has to offer… we were talking about making you used to the light road sledges this morning. I think I heard you talk about going to an arcade with Aran too?”

Caught short, SG stammered until Zax interrupted her with a laugh.

“Haha, yes, I know. Take your time, we’re not quite done yet.”

When they were, the winged girl was spared the weight of the decision by Aran calling and inviting them to the entertainment centre. She was looking forward to bringing her for a while now, and she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

SG’s body attracted attention and barred her from a few games, but they all had a great time. Aran kept most bystanders away by explaining her friend was just coming out of her shell and wasn’t ready to talk with strangers yet. The few who wanted to bootlick were spotted and handled swiftly and decisively. Her social skills were as sharp as ever.

The handless girl had gotten used to home console controllers, but the arcade’s proved to be another challenge. Some didn’t allow buttons at ground level, so she had to climb the button desk. Others required large body movements, made too large by her wingspan and unbalancing her. Those games never lost track of her limbs however; it made things easier than expected. She still had bad scores at every game she tried, but she had fun doing it. Except for the step-dancing one, where she blew the high-scores and was bored at how trivial it had been.

She’s good, but she might need a better challenge.

Zax filled the thought for later.

They arrived home a smidge before curfew, aching but fulfilled. Quick ablutions for everyone and they were ready to sleep.

[ Reminder: Meditation ]

Drat, forgot again.

He’d known the benefits a such practice for a long time, but his recent research about acupuncture had given it a new twist – the two were related, somehow. He had remembered about it when thinking of ways to help SG manage her stress when dealing with customers, but it had only come back in the afternoon so he hadn’t mentioned it.

He had still set an alarm to ring in case he forgot again though. Fortunate, as he had.

Other methods than the basic breathing exercise he knew from Quinn had come to his attention, so he was curious to try and he so happened to already be relaxed of body and mind.

Might as well try.

The basic position was true to its name; sitting cross-legged, straight back and neck. He set a countdown to the end of the exercise, set his breathing to the usual one-two-three pattern and focused on maintaining it and relaxing his muscles one after the other. It wasn’t tedious, but his mind simply refused to stay still. It had always been his main problem with meditation.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He had no expectation of facileness; he wasn’t bothered and merely steered his mind back every time he realised it was going astray. Counting only helped so much. He thought he was getting the hang of it when his countdown rang and his bracelet signalled a message.

The timing annoyed him, but it was merely his first time. It was supposed to be a regular exercise. He’d do better next time, he assured himself as he stood and checked his message.

[ Find your own rival.

The first time we met, I tried using your B-box to keep an eye on the happenings outside. The Enforcers had it quarantined before I could. None present had the training to see that precaution, and I know you didn’t tell them.

An unknown third party interfered, with at least the same knowledge of nanites you have and the ear of someone high among the people involved. Possibly related to Cat and Dog’s presence and the why of yours. No trace in the reports.

You have to find out who they are and their objectives. I’m sure you can see what damage they could do if left unchecked. Even more so if they succeed. ]

The message alone would be confusing and easy to dismiss as nonsense, but the doodle in lieu of sender name removed any remnant of sleepiness and levity in Zax.

Making custom characters, as in not a full font but a brand-new symbol, was an ordeal even he didn’t want to delve in. Too much effort for low results. More importantly, this specific character depicted something he had seen recently: a drawn humanoid in a minimalistic style. A scaled down replica of the avatar the Core had used to introduce Miss Pen.

There was no mistake. This message came directly from the Core.

The Core had sent him a mission.

He still didn’t plan on playing along, but wasn’t he supposed to live his life normally, with occasional simple tasks? It hadn’t been a day, far from enough to assimilate what he had been told, and he had clearly expressed his refusal. What’s more, it seemed far from a simple task.

Step up his game, uh?

Zax thought back to what the older dotter had said. If the Core felt that threatened, it would explain the haste in his recruitment and in this mission. If it thought a rival was responsible, it would explain why him. If it thought said rival was related to the attackers, it would explain the need for action beyond its normal means. But why didn’t it conclude it was him who told the Enforcers? He was there, it was his Box, his nanites, Occam’s razor should have made him the first suspect. Unless it was a trap? Manipulation to make him lower his guard? A test of his reaction?

That road still led to paranoia, so he stopped. It was more difficult this time. Even if it too was a trap, there was no harm in testing it. At most it would be him acknowledging the Core’s… influence? His spies? His network? Without becoming part of it. In any case, nothing changed for him.

There was also an obvious side path to open with.

I can play games too.

Even if he couldn’t possibly win.

“I was serious. Please leave me alone.”

It should be answer enough. If he actually thought the Shelter was in danger, he would have agreed or at least asked for an elaboration.

Even as he replied, Zax couldn’t help questioning his own reaction. If he truly wanted to be left alone, it would have been better to not answer. Overlook the text and ghost the Core like a clingy ex-lover. The mere fact he reacted made an unpleasant possibility into an undeniable fact: he was interested.

He was disappointed in himself but he wouldn’t refute it. The benefits were too enticing to fully ignore.

His brooding was interrupted by a new message, from his professional mailbox this time.

The Core again, with the same mission, but as an actual custom commission. He hadn’t expected an answer, let alone such a quick one. Attached was his price list for consulting and support services, with annotations. None were for the kind of work required, but some were close enough for comparison.

This time, Zax actually thought about it. Refusing could theoretically give him a malus since he had the time and ability, but the task was unusual and outrageous enough to justify it. On the other hand, he could treat it like any other commission, albeit with a special customer. A special customer he would treat like any other customer.

He could work with that. It still left the question of payment however.

A quote in 3G units was obvious, but it felt like a waste. What else would benefit him? The swarm’s precise specs? Instructions on how to make them? More nanites? Some were better for him than others, but he had no idea how valuable they were to the other party. Same for the commission, for that matter.

In the end, he settled for a quote with different payment options, and he would wait for an official payment promise before doing anything. It was standard procedure for complex remuneration options.

He could only hope he wouldn’t regret it.

This time the answer only arrived the following morning, when the household was preparing for the day. His payment will vary according to the results, depending on the number of “who-how-why” questions of the attached list he answered and how completely.

Fair, but I feel like a cheater somehow.

Zax agreed and mentally compiled… a report about himself. Only then did the strangeness of the situation dawned on him. Still, he didn’t hold back. He even added his theory about why the Core hadn’t noticed from his backup memories; it had doubtlessly perused them already. Being thorough without being repetitive ended up taking more time and effort than expected, but he was done when he and SG arrived at the shop. Mental interfaces were the best.

He was relieved to have any dealings with the dangerous entity finally over.

For now.

He ignored the irking intrusive thought and focused on the present. His apprentice was making great progress. Later, they would probably play games or try new experiences for another kind of progress. Possibly a park, there were other kinds of people and she would have all the space she needs.

“Zax, someone is asking for you!” SG called from the front desk, interrupting his musings.

Zax frowned, but it wasn’t because of the call. The current emulsion had to stabilise before he could move to the next step, so he could put the nanite production on hold without issue.

His frown was because of her choice of words. The normal formula was “A customer for you.” This time, it was “someone”, so not a customer, “is asking”, so they had talked to her directly, and “for you”, not for help, not for a discount or anything that could be expected from someone at the counter.

It took less than a second for the experienced shopkeeper to process the anomaly. Maybe it was a vestige of paranoia, but something in SG’s voice told him this encounter would spell trouble.

He could tell he was right before anyone said a word. Though, he had to admit even if he still didn’t care for fashion, the Circle’s clothes fit her better.