JOEL LEFT THE EXO frame in the echoing, empty games room. He felt drained and empty himself as he shoved through the double doors back into the dining area. Even the empty space behind the serving hatch seemed lonely. At the table, there was only a single chair. He pulled off the headset and left it on the table and took food from the serving shelf.

He sat to face the door. Not like he expected anyone to come in. With the headset by him on the table he ate mechanically, not tasting the food.

He wondered if there could be a way for him to contact his Mom. He had the connection over the SuperNet, back in his room. That probably wouldn’t work as a way to reach her. She almost never used anything but DirectMessage or onelines. He thought she might if she was looking for news about him.

There was no way for him to DirectMessage her. Not without his own com. That made him wonder about where it was. Probably less than a hundred feet away, but he doubted he’d ever be able to get it back.

Mom wouldn’t be looking for him. When the Gabriel had him lifted, USSecur and the local law surrogates were involved, as well as the drones and bots from outside the village. Somebody or something would have been to see her. They would have given her an official version.

He felt bad now for not having tried to contact her before. Worse maybe that this was the first time he’d thought of it. Their relationship was difficult at the best of times.

He felt that bringing him up had been a weight and a burden for her. Like she was always on the edge of saying so. It was like a ledge where she would step to the verge. Like if she went one more step, if she gave a hint of what she was thinking, there would be no going back.

He never knew why she had taken him on. Or why his birth parents took the early grade. Why would anybody do that?

The door opened. Aisha was different. The careful way she closed the door behind her, the spark in her eye as she looked up at Joel, she looked more like Honey than ever. He was sure that her face was even a little wider. Her eyes flashed and then her smile followed. Almost exactly the way that Honey would do that.

It wasn’t her. It couldn’t be. But the look in her eye, the way that one corner of her mouth pulled. Confused, he stood.

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The body was Aisha’s for sure, or it was that one he’d seen her in. But slightly reshaped. She was definitely softer. Even more it showed in the way that she moved. When she leaned back against the door with that half-smile, he almost choked.

His head jerked forward and he he sprang across the room. She leaned against the door behind her and looked at him.

She said his name and he welled up. “Joel?”

“Honey?”

She was already nodding. He wanted to hug her. She held up a hand. Palm down. Stop. It meant, not now.

He stepped back as he swallowed. “What happened?” He looked in her eyes, not quite believing it, but sure, all the same.

“Joel, they took me. Not long after they took you. Those drones and bots that were there when you came to me? Then. They took me that evening.”

He followed her over to the table. She blinked in that way she had. She pointed her finger at the tabletop as she looked up and away. She did this in the school lunchroom. It was their code when they didn’t want to be overheard.

She moved her hand, careful not to touch the table. Marking only in the air. Her finger traced out the letters, ‘I WANT TO TALK’ and Joel nodded. He wanted to out his arms around her so badly. Her mouth tightened and eyes pleaded.

He was about to speak but she held up her hand to stop him. Then over the tabletop she wrote, ‘NOT HERE.’

He blinked and then he nodded. He frowned. He wrote in the air next to where she had, ‘Where?’

She looked back at him. If he had any doubts left that this was really her, that Honey was here, inhabiting the body that he was certain had been Aisha’s, they all melted away now.

She looked at him, half smiling and she waited. Her cheek even got that dimple as waited for him to get it. She was Honey. Definitely.

He nodded. Ready to laugh and almost even to choke on a tear, he nodded. Yes, he knew where she meant. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d sat next to each other and still been speaking via the supernet or even her conspiracy village on the infranet. Where they would be headed now.

Much more important to Joel, though, he knew that she was really here. Again, he had an urge to hold her. But he fought it.

His throat was thick as he told her, "I didn't want them to bring you. I wanted to keep you out of this."

She nodded. “I know," her eyes sparkled. "He told me. It was sweet of you. It was always going to be me, though.” she blinked. “Just like it was always going to be you."

"Then why would they even ask? It makes no sense." he balled his fist. “They were asking me about a companion. Telling me I had to choose. But they’d already taken you. What was the point of that?”

"Probably he wanted to know what you would say.” She was saying ‘he’ while Joel said ‘they.’ He was thinking about how USSecur had been involved but maybe Honey was right, that they were all just doing what the Gabriel set them up to do.

“He wanted to know everything about you, Joel. I mean everything. The last two days I've done nothing but answer questions about you. Often the same questions, over and over. And he didn't care if I gave him different answers. He just wanted to know what I was going to say."

She frowned, “Why, Joel?”