If you find mistakes, pls tell, thx. I don't like mistakes.

Also feel free to ask for more background information on the world. I am somehow running out of interesting points regarding the small comments at the beginning of the chapters.

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“

The first internet was based on slow electronic computer systems and lasted for a little less than one thousand and five-hundred years. Remnants of that network can be watched in Aether's historic museum where an old archaeological site shows how the telecommunication cables ran under streets and from house to house.

With the advent of quantum computing all that ended overnight. The wireless possibility of transferring data directly by interlocking a set of quantum particles with each other made all that unnecessary. Nowadays communication speed isn't limited by your connection, but by the size of the communicating devices.

”

-Galactic History

***Sol, Aether***

***Cyla***

“Welcome home.” Exo greets me upon entering the living room. “Isn't Gideon with you? I thought everything went well at the hospital?”

“No and yes. As soon as we returned home Gideon ran off for some obscure reason. He didn't even deem it necessary to tell me what he is up to.” I grumble.

One might think that being partners in crime and in bed counts for something. I am spreading my legs for him, so he could at least try to keep me up to date.

But Gideon still has those moments when he suddenly gets a weird idea and starts setting things in motion without telling people about it. Or he gets on a trip and starts creating all those weird conspiracy theories. He is very much like Ed in that regard. Maybe not with the conspiracy theories, but certainly with the hidden plans. Hmm... probably that shouldn't surprise me. Ed is also a schemer and some of his genetic code is now in Gideon. Like father like son.

“I've the honour to inform you that Aurelia is making great progress in regards to language since she can't zap me any more. I am trying to hold my lessons in a playful manner, combining them with basic programming exercises to assist her talents.” Exo announces and floats to the cradle. “Sometimes it surprises me how fast some organic beings change their opinion of someone. In one moment they regard you as plaything and in the next you are a counsellor.”

“Mom!” Aurelia calls out with her tiny voice. Her vocal cords don't allow for much more at the moment, but I can guess what she wants.

“Yes, Honey.” I walk over and pick her up. Cradling her in my arms I head for the sofa to sit down. Closing my eyes I activate my VR and connect to Aurelia's mind. A moment later I find myself inside an empty, white room. A seven year old child with shoulder length, black hair is clinging to my knees.

“Not that! I was hungry.” She mumbles. “But the VR fixes that too.” She reaches out and an ice-cream cone appears in her hands. Then she starts licking.

I sigh. “What did I tell you about eating inside a VR? I'll feed you once we are outside.”

She looks at the ground. “That it is bad to satiate bodily needs inside the VR.” Nonetheless she continues nibbling on the ice cream.

This representation of Aurelia fits her mental age much better than her real body. I smile and kneel down to hug her. “How are you doing with your studies and physical training?”

She pouts. “I still can't crawl. And talking with my real body is a pain! The throat hurts! I would like to spend much more time inside the VR with you and dad. Can't we stay here forever?”

I ruffle up her hair. “That's not possible. You have to train your body. That's what most techno-mages neglect. I hope you always follow Exo's orders?”

She huffs and sits down on the ground. “Yes, but it's still boring! All I can do is listen and wriggle with my arms and legs.”

I smile. “You might not understand it right now, but wriggling with your arms and legs is the whole point of the exercise. And we can't allow you to use accelerated VR while you are alone. Would you even want to be alone in here?” I make a gesture which encloses the empty room. “I am sure that you will survive it. And in the evening we can play until you get tired.”

She sighs and answers.“No, I don't want to be alone. And if Exo continues to give me so many tasks I'll be too tired to play.”

She pouts, but I can see that the prospect of playing games with Gideon and me is exciting her, so I try to sweeten her work out time a little more. “If you don't fall behind with your studies I might lose Gideon's password for the file-server with all his movies.” At least the section which is suitable for children.

Her eyes light up immediately. “Really?”

I nod. “It might be somewhere in the master-server's trash depositories. But you have to find it yourself.”

Her expression drops. “He always uses those nasty firewalls to shield the master-server! They really burn when you touch them.” Aurelia rubs her chubby hands together with a pained expression on her face.

I raise an inquisitive eyebrow and look down on her.

Then her eyes widen. “Of course, not that I have first hand experience. I was just watching from afar and imagined that it must hurt.”

Blatant lie. The security only activates when someone actually tries to access the server. Otherwise the entire infrastructure looks like it is completely unprotected. “I thought they don't activate as long as nobody trespasses?”

Something starts working inside her head and she evades my eyes. “I used Exo as a probe?”

“Why are you asking me for a way out of your own web of lies?” I snort and take the ice-cream. “That's punishment for lying to your mother.”

Aurelia draws a sharp breath upon losing the candy and I grin. “Have you ever tried to delete a file on your slave-server and then riding it the entire way to the master-server's trash folder?”

“Dad's security doesn't check those files?” Aurelia asks astounded.

“No. Why bother? The trash folder is a quarantine zone, nothing gets out and you can't execute programs from within it because they just display and read as binary data. But I guess finding something as simple as a text-file won't be a challenge. All you have to do is search for the header and copy what comes afterwards.” I shrug my shoulders and smile. Giving Aurelia a little motivational homework while neither Gideon nor I have time is the best way to occupy her.

Her eyes narrow. “I have to code something to hold the port open and read the trash-folder. Otherwise I'll be stuck inside the trash folder.”

I pat her head. “Such a smart child.”

***Sol, Aether***

***Gideon***

I lean back in my office chair and put my feet on the desk. Finally five minutes of rest with nothing on my mind. Aether isn't under lock-down any longer and Zibil will see to it that my complaint is taken seriously. In addition I've dealt with all my office work for today and secured my mental peace.

Grasping the tablet computer tighter in my hands I press it to my chest. Hacking the faceless network without ringing any bells was a hideous task. If I hadn't already done my research because of Ed it would have been impossible.

The only reason I managed it was because I logged into their internal network over Ed's mobile phone. I hacked the phone a while ago and exchanged the operating system with my own.

The faceless's internal network is completely disconnected from the quantum net. There is no way to get something in or out without having someone on the inside. And pulling a complete image of T-Sadina's personality was a hell of a hacking job.

I had to hold the connection open and stay unnoticed while playing cat and mouse with the security A.I. of the faceless network. They hired a paranoid monster who was even checking the communication between the network and registered user devices.

Before I could even attempt to download T-Sadina I had to isolate the network devices which transmitted the data to Ed's mobile phone. Then I edited their communication protocols to hide any trace towards Ed's phone.

Loading several yottabytes of information took a little time, even with quantum computer at hand. And the mobile phone was a serious bottle neck! I wish Ed had invested in one of the new devices.

Nonetheless I managed to copy T-Sadina's personality safely to my tablet. Though what to do with it I don't know yet...

It's a personality image like those found inside a human brain. It won't run on a quantum computer, I need an actual human brain. Maybe I should have thought about the hardware problem before taking the risk of breaking into a high security government network to steal a useless file.

On the other hand, now I have a copy of her. Whatever the faceless do with their version shouldn't trouble me any more.

Maybe I should try to code a virtual brain to emulate T-Sadina on a computer? If that's possible I could edit her nasty streaks out of her as I wish. Or would that corrupt my relationship with her?

I could register her as my personal A.I. and claim that I programmed it. It would be the perfect explanation.

I gnaw on my lower lip, then I open the drawer next to my office table and place the tablet inside. Whatever I decide to do, it has time for later. Right now I have to concentrate on getting rid of Sanguin and dealing with that Drazi fleet.

Hopefully the new weapons will be ready in time.

.