“Ron, Urania, and I went to investigate. Once we were on Hope, we made a bad decision. Through what can best be described as sign language and pictures, we were invited to enter their Other-Life network so that we could meet their passengers and other crew members. Badowine minds are different from others I’ve encountered. I can’t touch their thoughts and I can’t sense if I’m being lied to.”

  She shrugged. “The invitation was a trick and we fell for it. Their actions, while misguided, were not malicious. They believed fresh material for their Other-Life network would help the survival rate of the passengers. They knew they were losing people but didn’t understand how bad it was. Their records indicated they had done this at least once before with a different race. Needless to say, we got ourselves out.”

  She glanced around her audience. “Unless we do something to help, in another thousand years there will be no more Badowine. I had hoped to decant them on a habitable world. Hope’s crew rotate in and out of Other-Life on about a six-month basis. We have all of the crew out now. With very few exceptions, the passengers have been in sim all of their lives. We brought one of those individuals out. She died within minutes, unable to adapt to not being in a sim. We couldn’t move fast enough to save her.”

  She paused, giving her audience a moment to conceptualize the problem. “Our long-term plan remains to get them all out. Short term, I’m moving Other-Life here.” Here was Storm Gate, the massive ship Lexi was building. It was formally Europa, Jupiter’s largest moon.

  “Hope is now orbiting Jupiter with us. We brought it through hyper using the big freighters designed for bringing materials for Storm Gate. We’re in the process of building an Other-Life network for them on Storm Gate with upgraded computer technology, life support pods and neural interfaces. We will continue to work with Senior Brig and his crew to develop medications to help them cope with the uncertainties of life. We also have staff investigating reprogramming the Other-Life software and interfaces in the hope that we can make transitioning out of the pods less traumatic. On Storm Gate, they’ll be safe from further equipment failures until we learn how to get them all out.”

  Chapter 20

  Cute with Muscles

  Lexi stood next to one of the new stasis chambers Uranus had built for her in her private laboratory suite on Storm Gate. This one was as much an incubator as a stasis chamber. She held the hand of the young woman now waking up, giving it a gentle squeeze as the other opened her eyes. It was just the two of them alone in the large room. As the girl’s eyes fluttered open, Lexi smiled at her. “Welcome back, Alexa.”

  Alexa looked up at her, startled. “I don’t understand. I… I… What have you done, Lexi?”

  Still gently smiling, her voice soothing, Lexi said, “If what I’m about to say gets too overwhelming, just stop me.” She waited as Alexa nodded. “It’s been nine months for me since we shared that bottle of wine in our backyard. As you realized, I planned to leave that night. I turned off the simulation while hugging you. Everyone in the sim-world ceased to exist. Everyone but you. I told you I can feel minds. Something happened in that sim that shouldn’t have been possible. You became far more than a simulation, Alexa. You developed a sentient consciousness. Letting you go would have been murder.”

  “I did what? That doesn’t make sense,” Alexa protested.

  “It doesn’t need to, honey. By that night, there were two avatars in the sim. I still don’t understand how that was possible but I’ve had other things on my mind since then. Figuring out why that happened is pretty high on my list of things to do.”

  “So you moved me into another simulation?” she asked, looking around. “This can’t be my sim-world. Do the Badowine still have you?”

  “No, this isn’t a simulation and, frankly, I have the Badowine now,” Lexi smiled. “Although I can’t prove it — and sometimes wonder myself — to the best of my knowledge, this is the real world. I’ll tell you about the Badowine later. What’s the last thing you remember?”

  Alexa frowned. Then she looked guilty. “We smashed Mama’s good wine glasses in the fire pit. You didn’t say goodbye. You said, ‘au revoir.’ You said, ‘until we meet again.’ Can I sit up?”

  Lexi nodded, pleased. “This is that ‘again,’ Alexa. Yes, go ahead and sit up. Just let me know if you have any dizziness or nausea. As I said, that all happened nine months ago. Since then I sheltered your consciousness in a pocket of my mind. I apparently have a lot of empty space in there.”

  Lexi smiled. “I told you about the time Ron had an alien being take up residence in his mind, so I was hopeful that I could manage it. If that didn’t work, I would have stayed in the sim until you died of old age, despite how awkward that would have been. Once we were out, I found Ron. He contacted our ship, and we’ve been working out things with the Badowine ever since. They’re settled now.”

  She looked grim for the briefest moment. “I had to take care of them before I could turn my attention to resolving your situation. They were dying and you seemed to be safe enough where I had you. It took over four months to grow you a body and set up the equipment to move you from my mind into that body. I couldn’t rush with you, Alexa. I knew I only had the one chance to get it right. I adapted Akai technology to grow a body for you.”

  She paused. Alexa was breathing too fast. She didn’t want her to hyperventilate. “I’ll explain it all to you later, but for now, that’s basically an Akai seedling incubator you’re lying in. I was in the stasis pod next to you. We developed it based on the Badowine model. You’re connected to a modified Badowine neural-interface, which is linked into a sim technology which is basically my own Klaavaanit-based version, modified by the mistakes in the Badowine version that permitted you to become sentient. I am extremely happy that it did happen this once, Alexa. I love you, sister. It’s just not something we can allow become a habit.”

  Alexa’s breathing was steadying and she was looking better, so Lexi continued, “It was those mistakes that let me take you with me when I left their sim. It was also those mistakes that let me move your consciousness into my avatar and then bring us both back out. It’s easier for me to do some things in a sim-world than in the real-world. Did you follow that?”

  “You’re kidding, right? Enough of it, I suppose,” Alexi claimed, “for now.” Lexi reached in and gently stroked the younger woman’s face. Then she helped her to sit the rest of the way up, Alexa’s legs dangling over the edge of the pod.

  “You’re not a clone, Alexa, although nearly eighty-three percent of your genetic material came from me. Eight percent came directly from Dad. I was the only source of Violet’s DNA and I carry Dad’s, too, of course. But I used additional DNA from him specifically so that we wouldn’t be identical.” She paused. “Almost four percent of you came from Jis Boc Seckan to further differentiate you from me. Finally, you’re carrying Ron’s mitochondrial DNA which has some useful mutations in and of itself. Blending those and making sure the result was viable was difficult. That alone took me six weeks. Once your body matured, we met again in sim-space where I moved your mind out of my head and into your body. I didn’t let you wake up for that. I’m sorry; I couldn’t be sure any of this would work. I risked your life, but I had no choice. You couldn’t stay locked away in my mind. Everything tells me it all worked. We’re not twins, honey, although we’re definitely still sisters.”

  I’m having trouble following all of this. “You’re telling me you made me real? Wait, I was in your mind?” After looking zoned out for a moment, she said, “I don’t seem to have any memories other than my own. Well, I remember seeing Ron naked, but you wouldn’t look at the interesting bits.” She blushed. “Sorry, I think I remember I asked you to.”

  Alexa flexed an arm, watching her biceps. “I’m different, Lexi.” Looking at her abdomen, she exclaimed, “I’ll be damned. I’m freakin’ ripped. I was never quite this muscular before. I mean, I wanted to be, but you have to be kind of single-minded about it to get to this point.”

  Lexi realized she was beaming and toned it down a bit. I tried to keep your mind as isolated as possible from my own. If you can’t access my memories, that’s a very good sign. Switching back to speech, she asked, “Did you hear that, honey?”

  Alexa nodded. “You said you kept me isolated and that it’s a good sign that I can’t access your memories. Your lips didn’t move.”

  “I heard your thought that you’re having trouble following all of this. You appear to have my telepathic abilities. A couple of things you said in the sim leads me to suspect you might have the Rose of Light too. Let me warn you now that those abilities can be a burden at times, but for the most part they’re pretty damn cool. I’m not completely sure why or how you have them. They’re not genetic, so you must have picked them up in the sim. I’ll figure it out eventually. It shouldn’t be all that important, but it does save me the trouble of taking you to Ackalon and Grammin to expose you to their artifacts.”

  She hesitated. “I have every intention of giving you, or at least offering to you, the same abilities that Ron and I have acquired from exposure to those artifacts. For that matter, the DNA serums I’ve developed. I wanted it to be your choice whether or not to accept them. I’m sorry, honey, the way this worked out, I’ve taken the choice from you. We can talk about it more later. There’s a lot we’ll want to talk about more. Maybe we’ll sit around a fireplace with wine.”

  Lexi paused. “You woke up a couple of times while I was carrying you, but each time you cooperated with going back to sleep. You still have a muscular, athletic body, ginger-brown hair and violet eyes. I halted the maturation of your body at the point where you’re still physically fourteen. You’ll grow up normally, or at least as normally as possible in my world.”

  Alexa seemed to be handling this well so far. Lexi smiled. “You might want to take the word ‘normally’ with a grain of salt. I couldn’t get your face exactly the same as it was in the sim so you’ll have to adjust to that. It’s close, though. For what it’s worth, you’re still as cute as ever and, as you’ve already noticed, with muscles.”

  Chapter 21

  Allie Stevens

  Alexa smiled at that. This was all unbelievable. In fact, it was more unbelievable than believing she had been a non-player character in a what was basically a role-playing game. Lexi continued, “You’re also going to have to adapt to your body. All four of your DNA donors are genetically enhanced. As are you. I’m sorry, I know you liked working out at the gym, and you still can, but those muscles won’t need to visit the gym, ever. They’re programmed into you, me, Ron and a few of the others. I don’t mean programmed like you were in the sim, honey. I know enough genetics to modify human DNA. You’re inhumanly fast and strong.”

  She paused, realizing her sister was looking slightly dazed. “I mean that, Alexa. Remember how much weight I lifted at your gym. You’ll need to be careful until you get used to it. Please don’t go around ripping doorknobs off of my doors. Hug everyone as though they’re fragile. Many of them will be. But, yes, to answer your important question, you’re as real as any of us.”

  As Alexa climbed out of the pod and stood next to Lexi, gentle tears were running down her face. “Lexi, I didn’t expect this. I thought, I mean I was sure, you know, that it was curtains for me. Was there an accident? Am I in a coma like you were?”

  Lexi held her in a hug that reminded her of the last night they spent talking in the backyard. “No. Not a coma. I brought you with me when I left the sim. I didn’t want to get your hopes up that this could be made to happen and then not be able to deliver. You wouldn’t have known, but I’m not sure I could have lived with myself. I’ve never tried to do anything like this before. I know that physically you’ll be fine. I wish I could guarantee you will be mentally. I need you to talk to me about any odd feelings, or even odd dreams you have. Also, and I hate to do this, both Jis and I are going to be telepathically eavesdropping on you for the next few weeks. I think we have to.”

  Alexa nodded. “I guess I can live with that. At least you’re upfront about it. But if I have problems… You can’t put me back in the sim-world. You said you turned it off.” Then she laughed. “Damn, I really am alive! Listen, Lexi, do what you have to do. I understand. I don’t want to run amok any more than you want me to.” Then something struck her. “Why are you dressed up?”

  Lexi smiled. “Honey, we’re having a welcome home party for you.” She paused. “I guess it’s also a bit of a birthday party. I recreated your Halloween party dress for you, because, well, I felt bad when it got ruined the first time you wore it. When you’re up to it, put it on and I’ll take you out to meet my friends. They all know the full story. They’re all anxious to meet you. Dad and his new family are waiting too.”

  The smile Lexi had been wearing since Alexa first opened her eyes grew larger. “I have a son, Alexa. The sim took him away from me. I didn’t remember him until that last day. His name is Crane. He’s a year old and a handful. He was born enhanced. Don’t let him pull your hair. By the same token, my half-sister, also named Alexa, is more or less normal, genetically. Be gentle with her.”

  Alexa felt the older woman’s compassion as Lexi said, “Meeting Dad is probably going to be hard for you, love. Dad isn’t the same man you knew. He knows your story, but he’s not the Dad we had in the sim. The last twenty-five years of his life have been very different from your father’s. It’s going to be a shock for him to suddenly have a teenaged daughter again, but he’ll rise to the occasion.”

  Lexi’s expression turned sad for the first time since Alexa woke up in the Badowine pod. “I couldn’t save Mama. I wanted to, but she didn’t develop self-awareness. I suppose that’s a good thing. I don’t think I could have carried more than one of you out. If it’s any comfort, I’m exactly as you remember. I’ll introduce you to my friend Jis in a few minutes. If you have any problems coping, she’s a great person to talk with. She helps me a lot.”

  Alexa was nodding. “She’s the Ackalonian woman, right? The one with the beautiful blonde hair? The one who is going to be monitoring my thoughts?”

  Lexi laughed. “I’ve never met an Ackalonian who didn’t have beautiful blonde hair, but yes, she’s the one I told you about in the sim.”

  As Alexa was dressing, her eyes caught Lexi’s. “I think I’ll be OK, Big Sister. Mostly, at least. I… I think I’m not sure I’m going to be able to call your Charlie Stevens ‘Dad.’ I’m almost going to have to think of him as my father’s twin. Do you think he’ll be hurt if I go with that and call him ‘Charlie?’ So, Geena and Charlie, what do they call their daughter?”

  “I imagine he’ll be fine with ‘Charlie.’ His youngest daughter goes by her given name — Alexa.”

  “And she already knows about me?”

  “She’s six years old now. She knows you’re my sister and that we rescued you from the Badowine ship. That’s all she knows about it. She’s very excited that she has a new half-sister. We’ll tell her the real story when she’s older. Probably not too much older, she’s a smart cookie.”

  Alexa smiled. “Got it. I kind of have another sister and she’s a smart cookie. And we have the same name. Unless I misread what you said in the sim, you think my dream that last night might have been Ackalonian-style real and we might have yet another sister named Elista. Much better than a third Alexa. And I have a nephew. This is so cool. I’m happy for you, Lexi.”

  She was dressed now, twirling slowly, watching her party dress swirl out around her. She hoped Lexi had a hairbrush handy. And maybe a bit of makeup. “One more thing before we go out there. Where are we?”

  Lexi laughed. “Storm Gate. My home. Yours, too, I think, for the next few years at least. You’re too young to live by yourself on Earth. My guess is you’d all find it a little weird if you moved in with Dad and Geena, although they’re happy to give it a try if that’s what you want, but keep in mind that, like you said, my Dad isn’t the man you grew up with. Besides, I can give you a better education than anything you can get on Earth.

  “Storm Gate has a population of twenty-thousand, both human and alien. That’s not including the fifteen thousand Badowine I have stashed in their own section. I’m still not sure what do with them long term. They’re trapped in their sims and die when brought out. But for now, at least, they’re safe and won’t be causing any more trouble. You’ll be able to make a lot of friends close to your age. But we can discuss all of this at length once you settle in.”

  “Lexi,” Alexa asked slowly, “all of this — it’s just amazing. You never said you are but you’re really the Empress of the Accord, aren’t you?”

  After a small laugh, Lexi said, “No, although I understand how it could seem that way. I could be, if I wanted to be.” She smiled. Ron would have recognized it as her patented grim-smile. “That wouldn’t be good for any of us. The Accord still thinks it needs me, and maybe it does, but it most definitely doesn’t need an Empress. I’ve come to think of myself and my associates more as the Accord’s Emergency Response Protocol. Honey, we can discuss me until you’re sick of it, but today is for friends and family. Oh, and please don’t mention Elista. You and I need to discuss her further. Sometimes I have to keep secrets from those I love.”

 

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