Enid had Sariel use her cloak to appear like a small transport. She’d was effectively triple-parked by the Harbor. She climbed out and helped Tamara down. Enid had called ahead after getting clearance from Systems Alliance space control so her father was waiting outside the Harbor. She ran to him and he scooped her up and hugged her tightly. Enid joined them. She wasn’t moving quickly. Using whatever power she had access to had drained her, but thankfully it was just exhaustion, not a coma. She smiled tiredly to Robbie who had tears on his cheeks. She waved. His eyes were drawn to the blood on her hands. Enid shrugged.
“It did not go to plan, she’s in one piece but… you might want to have her talk to someone.”
He looked a bit disturbed by her words.
“Is her mother… is she alright?”
Enid shrugged.
“I have no idea, this is from Inquisitors, their police force.”
He looked somewhat relieved. Enid held up her hand.
“It was messy. Seriously get her someone to talk too. I have holos but they probably aren’t something you want to watch. They were using some serious hardware. I need to get home to my wife. She’ll be wandering where I am.”
“Wait… what about your payment?”
Enid pushed her curly black bangs back over her ears and smiled at him.
“No charge. Use it to make her happy. Just wanted to make sure you were taking this seriously.”
Enid gave him a small salute before walking back to Sariel and hopping inside and lifting off. She flipped the cloak to invisible mode and vanished into the night. Sariel spoke to her as they were flying back to her landing bay that was just under her penthouse.
“You did not charge him for your services. You went through all of this, nearly got killed and you… did it for free? I misjudged you.”
“I didn’t do it because I was looking for money. I did it because it was the right thing to do, besides I was bored. Its not like I need money. I probably have enough to fund a dome.”
Enid slowed the craft before she slipped through the holo-gram that looked like the rest of the glass walls around it and brought Sariel to a soft landing.
“Sorry. I’ll get you home tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”
“Oh no, I’m going to have to spend the night somewhere away from your prudish sister who will probably take me offline the moment I cease to be useful.”
Enid frowned.
“I’ll talk to her about that. Even if you insinuated my body was substandard.”
“Well, I’m just trying to be helpful.”
“Yea well its not nice. I didn’t say anything about your issues, did I?”
“What issues? Is my airframe showing?”
“No, the fact you took ten minutes to reach me when I was in a firefight with a little girl who had no armor.”
“That was a technical glitch caused by substandard workmanship. Which I managed to correct on my own.”
“Well we all have issues, it doesn’t help when you poke at them.”
Sariel’s armored skin flexed as if she was ruffling her feathers.
“Point taken.”
“Good night, Sariel, thank you for getting us out alive.”
“It was no problem.”
Enid gave a wave before heading into her apartment. She had her top half off when she realized her daughter was making out on the couch with Miles. She quickly pulled her sleeves up and covered her chest.
“Get a room!”
Miles jumped four feet in the air. His hands flying out of Hazel’s top. He grabbed his jacket and fled after saying.
“Hey Hazel, uh gotta go!”
Hazel glared at her mother.
“Not cool mom!”
“Its my house, I was just trying to get to my shower. You have a perfectly good room you could have been doing that in. Where’s Amee?”
“I donno, there was some sort of development on Triton. She got called in.”
Hazel’s eyes went to her mother’s hands that were showing telltale veins. They widened and she looked at her mother’s face.
“Mom what did you do? Should I call Aunt Maria.”
Enid waved her hand dismissively and shook her head.
“I’m just tired.”
“You were just tired before and you ended up in a coma!”
“Yes, because I had to fight off a bunch of IRA. Instead of resting.”
“Wait, you’re coming from the landing bay, is Apollo ready?”
Enid shook her head.
“I was flying his older sister, Sariel.”
“There is another one? I wonder if Aunt Maria will let me use her!”
Enid shook her head, then stopped and smiled at the thought of the torment the fighter would put her daughter through. Like the nagging mother she always claimed Enid was.
“Yea, uh, maybe ask her?”
“I will!”
Enid waved to her daughter and continued on towards her room and private shower.
“In the morning its like midnight. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”
Hazel grumbled. Enid heard her going into her own room.
*****
Enid was woken up by a kiss on the lips, she tugged her wife closer and kissed her back. Amee pulled away slowly and tossed off her jacket and blouse. Before dropping her skirt and underwear. She left everything in a pile on the floor and curled up next to Enid as the big spoon her arm wrapped around Enid’s midsection.
“Hey. Sorry I’m late. You would not believe what happened on Triton.”
Amee glanced down at the fading turquoise veins on her hands.
“Act of God?”
Amee pulled Enid close.
“You would think so based on my reports. Someone attacked a school and kidnapped a girl.”
“Oh no, is the girl alright?”
“In fact, she is. Her father hired a merc to go rescue her. Not that strange, he has full custody rights, and the mother had no permission to take her off of Earth. The strange thing is, the mercenary had a stealth fighter and apparently turned a park into a copy of Vlad the Impaler’s forest of stakes, using vines with thorns. I saw holos from my spies. It was ugly.”
“Are you… asking if I know anything?”
“No, well, yes, there are only two stealth fighters with that profile, I know Apollo is in pieces on Pluto Station. The other was mothballed years ago. Can Maria manipulate plants?”
Enid shook her head.
“No.”
“How about werewolves? Any other vampires? This was ballsy. I was just curious. Could use an asset like that on our side.”
Enid shook her head.
“Not a wolf born or vampire thing, well honestly I don’t know if a wolf born could do that. I’ve never seen one do it, but they’re very close to nature. But the imagination has been bleached out of that place I doubt there are many spirits. And wolf born need spirits to work their rites. I think you’re looking for something with a more divine bent. Maybe like a messiah to a religion.”
Amee’s embrace tightened as she propped her head up with her elbow.
“It was you?”
Enid rolled over and nodded her hand finding her wife’s hip.
“Sorry, I’m just so bored lately.”
Amee blinked at her wife.
“How?”
“Staff from the temple on Saroid Prime.”
Amee kissed Enid.
“I’m sorry hon, I didn’t realize… You must be so used to… I guess you were not meant to be a housewife.”
“Most assuredly not.”
“Are you okay? You were in that coma the last time you did something with the staff…”
“Well, I technically didn’t use the staff last time. I’m fine. The veins are fading. I’m just a bit exhausted so if I pass out on you. I’m sorry.”
Amee pulled Enid close and the pair embraced. When Enid woke, the false simulated sun was shining throw the penthouse’s curtains. She spoke in a raspy voice.
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“Shade glass.”
The glass immediately turned opaque, and the room was bathed in darkness again. She groaned and got up. The stiffness of mortality is what got her the most. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and leaned her elbows on her knees and rubbed her face. Her holo-phone’s virtual intelligence spoke.
“Enid, do no forget your tampon today. Your period will begin shortly.”
She groaned. Okay, maybe that was the other annoying part of being stuck as a living breathing human woman. Enid stood up and went about her morning routine. Being a vampire had spoiled her. No periods, no sleep, no stiffness, no need to shower, vampires had no body odor to speak of. Bad breath never happened either. There was a blood crust you could get rid of with brushing but otherwise no bad breath. No bacteria lived inside a vampire. Didn’t feel like brushing your hair? Shave it off, it would be back by nightfall, as luxurious and clean as it had been when you died. Leg hair? Arm pit hair? Down there hair? If it was gone when you were turned, it was always gone. She’d prepared herself for immortality everything was just the way she liked it. Now her body oozed things, like sweat. As much as bacteria couldn’t hurt her teeth or her, her body was skin was full of it and so was her mouth. Before she only had to deal with it during the sunlight hours. Now it was twenty-four seven for months on end. She recalled being able to look on mortals with pity for all the daily nuisances they had to deal with. Now she was one, permanently it seemed. She glared at her reflection. At least the hair and eyebrow dye stuck. She pulled her lip back and looked where her fangs, her beautiful, wonderful fangs would come out and then let it fall back over her teeth. She spoke to her reflection.
“Bitching about it won’t change anything will it?”
Her reflection didn’t answer, not that she was expecting one. She was an adult twenty times over and she still felt like a kid sometimes, looking for a parent to tell her what to do about something. She was starting to realize that’s why she liked being in the thick of things. She didn’t think she just acted. She pondered if other adults felt this way, or it was just the fact her mind was immature when she was turned, and it’d stuck that way. She sighed and pulled on her underclothes and then her Atlantean armor. She had rinsed it before bed last night and it was dry now. As amazing as it was, her being a mortal stuck in it for hours on end left it rank smelly by the end of the day, it was self-cleaning but that only went so far apparently. Sariel was waiting for her right where she had left the starfighter. She was about to climb in when she got a call. She tapped the accept call button the HUD her contacts provided her. She had to admit it was a lot easier to use it without having to project a hologram. Also much easier to do so subtly.
“Be back in a few minutes Sariel.”
Enid turned around and walked back into the elevator and waited for her sister’s face to appear.
“What’s up?”
“Have you left for Pluto station yet?”
“No, Why?”
“Do not worry about it. Can you take care of disarming Sariel?”
“Yes, I suppose I could.”
“Good. I’ll get another two-seater cockpit frame fabricated and replace the parts we scavenged from Apollo. Lost technology is bad. Funding came in for a search for the lost drones. I just did not tell them they were lost in time.”
“And why am I being stuck with Sariel?”
“Oh, no not you. Hazel.”
“You’re giving her, her own starfighter?”
Maria shrugged.
“She made some valid points.”
“Sis, you’re an easy mark.”
“Sariel is what she is. A sentient AI. Hazel told me I could not turn her off again like I did, it is wrong. So, I said she could use Sariel provided she was unarmed.”
“So does this mean Apollo will be not purple?”
“Sorry sis, it is not that kind of money.”
Enid frowned.
“Oh well. Thanks for stopping me from wasting an hour and a half. I’ll go tell Sariel the good-bad news. She won’t be happy giving up the weapons.”
“Well, it is that or storage in a secure facility until she is decommissioned and removed from the fighter entirely.”
“I’m sure she’ll see reason. Love you sis.”
“Oh, wait, how did it go?”
“The antigravs power relay fried. Left me in a pitched firefight for ten minutes. Don’t worry its probably just a shorted conduit. I can find parts and fix it for Hazel.”
“That is fine, but how is the girl?”
“Oh, she is safe, if a little bit traumatized by the ordeal. I dropped her off with her father last night. They hugged, he cried it was a whole thing.”
“How much is my payout from the job?”
“Uh, is a percentage good?”
“Yes.”
“How about umm thirty percent?”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“Okay, your total payout at thirty percent is precisely zero credits. I did it for free.”
Maria smiled at her sister.
“Who is the softy?”
“I just wish I could have gotten more out of there before they drink the kool aid. That place is scary sis.”
“The Systems Alliance is looking at how to help them. But religious freedom is a cornerstone of our constitution.”
“I know but the kids are being abused.”
Maria shrugged.
“You can only do what we have always done with the mortals. Do what we can for individuals and let them sort it out from there.”
“Like you followed that with the things you’ve done.”
“I did not say I followed it. I just was using we as in vampires.”
“I’m not a vampire anymore, am I?”
“You will always be one to me.”
“Vampire empress who is a mortal. There’s an oxymoron. I’ll let you go get to the business of being an Admiral so I can get to Sariel.”
Maria waved and ended the call. Enid closed her eyes and went back down to the landing bay.
“Hello Sariel.”
“Hello Enid, you are looking better, you could still use a bit more around the chest. Have you considered padded bras?”
“You are a busy body.”
“I have never!”
“Well, you’re not my problem anymore.”
“Wait, what? What are you doing?”
Enid opened a command line interface for the fighter’s basic operating system and ran the code to disengage all the weapons. Her encrypted link was still active from when they had set it up the day prior.
“What are you doing? My weapons!”
“I thought you might be upset. It is why I didn’t ask first. Sorry. Maria’s orders.”
“Why that dead fleshcicle! That pale faced bitch! That…. That monster!”
“I’m about to be poking at your guts, you think you might be a little nicer to my sister.”
“You can’t do this to me! How did you do this to me?”
“Your own program is completely separate from the basic input output system for the fighter. Its so if you fail, go insane, or any number of possibilities you can be isolated, and the fighter can be controlled manually. I know its not fair, but humans are a paranoid lot. You interact with an API which does what you tell it unless the connection is severed. You’ll notice that your link is still intact. I’m not cutting you off, I just need to pull the weapons.”
“How do you know all this? You’re just… just some random girl from Rome!”
“With a degree in computer science, your specs and access to the OS’s source code.”
Enid typed in the air entering the command to lower the missiles from the bay and eject the rail gun mags.
“Please don’t do this to me!”
“Sariel, this is for the best, trust me.”
“The best? The best would be you letting me be!”
“Sariel your choices are, lose the weapons and work with my daughter Hazel, or Maria flips you offline, puts you into secure storage until you’re broken down for scrap and your computer core is put into cold storage. I figured you’d rather be awake and have something to do.”
“Your daughter? What is she ten years old with sticky fingers?”
“My daughter is almost thirty. She is much nicer than I am and needs constant guidance like Amee did. You two are a match made in heaven.”
“Thirty and she’s still living at home? She does need help! What is she mentally challenged? Is she a crazy cat lady?”
“No, no, and she’s more like sixteen if you go by her physical age and maturity level.”
“Well then she does have some form of mental disability.”
Enid shook her head while she worked. She typed the command and some of Sariel’s liquid metal skin shifted out of the way so she could get into the power relay for the antigrav system.
“No, it’s a temporal anomaly. Caused by too much time travel and we don’t know how to cure it.”
Enid grunted as she struggled to pull a charred capacitor free.
“I’m going to have to cut this damn thing out and rebuild the receptacle. Field replaceable my pale Scottish ass.”
“Are you insinuating my parts are substandard! Here I am guts open to the world and you’re insulting them?”
“No, I’m not, I’m just saying the relay arc welded to the receptacle you’re lucky we didn’t blow up when you kicked on the antigravs. Okay I guess I am insulting one of your parts but its not like it can’t be replaced and it’s not your fault…”
Enid squinted at the manufacturer.
“Dart Dynamics sent us a bad batch of relay fuses. It’s supposed to break the circuit, not spark weld into being the circuit. Must have been a short on it.”
Enid willed her helmet on and pulled out a fusion torch.
“Sorry I need to cut this out and replace the whole thing.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Hmm, no, I’m not sure, would you like to use your hands to do the cutting and replacing?”
The liquid metal on Sariel’s wings rippled.
“You don’t have to be like that.”
“Well then shut up and let me fix your shit. Unless you want to possibly blow up the next time you turn on antigrav.”
“Make it quick I feel like I’m going to start falling out of the hole.”
Enid grumbled and started cutting the box out. She tossed it on her rolling work table and sat down at the net terminal on the table then took a holo-scan of the box she pulled out and compared it to specs for Apollo. Different sizes. Wasn’t the fuse, Maria just used the one she’d used in Apollo and forgot she had a different spec for it. She frowned she’d have to go over Sariel with a fine tooth come to make sure there were no other issues. The relay fuse should never have been tripped so likely there were other things wrong that didn’t show up on her scans.
“I got bad news Sariel. We’re in for a long day.”
“I told you, you should get a professional!”
“Well, it was the professional who put a relay fuse in that was too big for the relay and also not enough to stop the surge from arc welding it. Something is wonky with your power regulators, or they aren’t designed for the output of your generator. We’re seriously lucky we’re not dead.”
Sariel was silent for several minutes.
“Am I going to live?”
Enid snickered.
“If you keep insulting me…”
“I’m sorry!”
“Until you’re not. Yes, everything is going to be fine. We’ll just need to remove your entire liquid metal lair and open everything up. This is what happens when you do things quick and dirty. You screw things up. Guess Maria isn’t perfect after all.”
“Seems drastic…are you sure you need to remove all of it?”
“You’re not flying my daughter anywhere until I have verified every single part of you is rated and in good working order.”
“Well, okay, if you feel that way.”
“I do. So, get ready for some poking and prodding.”
*****
Hazel was practically skipping when she got home and entered the landing bay. She covered Mile’s eyes when saw her mother in a sports bra and leggings with a pair of welding goggles on her forehead and her bare feet dangling off the work stool as she typed specifications into the fabrication console. Sariel was in pieces, literally. Hazel jumped when she saw a silver canister labeled Antimatter. Do not allow to lose power leaning against a wall with three adaptors connecting it to a wall jack. One of which looked like her mother had wired it herself that day. The only things still in the naked airframe were the canopy, the holo-hud, control system, computer core, fusion generator, the FTL drive and the impulse thrusters. The fusion core was had a jury-rigged power connection to Sariel’s AI core so it could maintain power. The rest of the parts were laid out in what seemed to be some sort of chaotic organization system. There were bins of relay fuses, cable, fuse boxes and all manner of other parts shoved aside and labeled unfit.
“What the actual f-”
Enid held up her hand her index finger extended without looking at her daughter.
“Language young lady.”
“What did you do mom?”
Miles pushed Hazel’s hand away from his face and gawked at Enid who as far as he could tell was near his age and pretty attractive. Hazel backhanded his shoulder.
“Rude! That’s my mom… go do something.”
Miles backed out of the landing bay which looked more like a workshop at the moment.
“Mom! Put something on.”
“No, its hot in here. Besides its no worse than a bathing suit.”
“My boyfriend was gawking at you.”
“That seems like a you and him problem.”
Hazel mumbled something Enid was sure would have offended her and walked up behind her mother, crossed her arms and looked over her shoulder. She wasn’t as up on using the fabrication tech of the 29th century as her mother was but she could tell she had a massive queue loaded up.
“Mom, what gives, why did you tear apart my fighter?”
Enid took a long pull from the double sized energy drink on the table beside her workstation. Then grabbed some chips and ate them as she looked at her latest schematic. After she swallowed, she glanced back at her daughter.
“Her power systems were all janky. Full of mismatched relay fuses, conduits and resistors. I had to pull everything so I could re-wire the power system right and make sure it can handle the load. Putting in enough throughput so you can upgrade to antimatter one day in the far distant future. Unless you wanted to fall out the sky, not have your cloaking device work, or hey lose containment on the antimatter.”
Hazel looked at the recycle bin of four energy drink cans and then back to her mother.
“Mom, you know you’re only supposed to drink like two of those a day.”
Enid waved her hand dismissively.
“What’s it going to do give me a heart attack?”
Hazel nodded.
“That is exactly what it will do.”
Enid shrugged.
“Hasn’t yet. They don’t even do anything for me.”
Hazel frowned.
“You’re not a vampire anymore mom.”
“Yea, but I’m also not a mortal either, now am I? Humans don’t heal from bullet wounds in an afternoon.”
“Mom, remember Scotland. You nearly died. And then you nearly died in Egypt, and then in Paris, and you used your powers again yesterday.”
Enid held up her hand.
“No veins. I’m good. Just let me work in peace go hang out with your boyfriend, do your homework. If you’re doing anything else, I don’t want to know about it.”
Enid picked up a piece of peperoni and took a bite and started chewing. She honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the grown meat and the organic products. Hazel made an annoyed sound and started to walk away. Enid looked at her.
“Look Hazel, I know you wanted to show your new toy off to Miles, but she wasn’t safe to fly. If I’d known what I know now, no way I would have taken her out. This isn’t about punishing you, jealously or getting your way, this about making sure Sariel is safe to fly. She agrees with me, don’t you Sariel.”
“I’m… embarrassed but Enid is right. My parts were the shoddy ones. Now leave me be! I would like to continue wallowing in self-pity.”
Hazel looked at Enid, Enid shrugged.
“You wanted a starfighter.”