“I am your mother.” …

For the first time in my life, I experienced what I can only describe as a system-crash, like a computer, displaying a blue-screen. ‘Input does not compute.’ I started to slowly shake my head, I had to be in some strange dream. Some fever dream, because of the injuries I had sustained, or some sort of hallucination.

“Mother, you are not dreaming.” I was not? In the mental space I shared with Galatea, a bit of clarity remained, while the rest of my mind was consumed by conflicting emotions, as anger, surprise and longing warred with each other.

How often had I wondered just who my mother was, how often had I tried to find information, only to fail. Even with Galatea, I had failed to hunt up anything, giving me a hint that there was a story, a story I had never been told. Neither my father nor my older brother had ever talked about my mother.

“No…” I heard my own voice say.

“No, you are not my mother. You might have given birth to me, but you were never a mother to me.” I started to gather steam.

“I do not even know your name, I do not know anything about you. Where have you been, when I needed you?! Where have you been, when my father” I spat the word out, like a curse, “decided to use me as a bargaining chip, selling me to the highest bidder, even if that meant I would be married to an arrogant, abusive asshole?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” My voice got louder, until I was screaming at the end.

“I have been here, doing my duty.” her voice was soft, while tears were shining in her eyes. “I have been here, making sure that no insane terrorist takes a nuke and turns cities into glass. I have been here, making sure that we do not destroy the world with our technology, I have been here, sacrificing one part after the other to make sure that our world does not go up in flames.”

As she was talking, she pulled off parts of her armour, showing me what she meant. Her armour had a vastly different locking-mechanism compared to mine and she quickly shed the main parts of it, standing in front of me in a sport-bra and shorts. But, even like that there was not that much flesh on display. The left side of her chest, from shortly below the sholder, stretching to the right of her navel was replaced by grey metal. Not covered, I was able to see a seam, where the flesh was replaced with the metal. Similarly, her right leg was replaced at the hip and the left leg at the knee. Her right arm ended shortly below the elbow, again, replaced with metal. I could see metal at her neck, but not the extent of the replacement.

“When you are at the top, things like unspoken rules not to target family don’t mean much. It tore me apart, stepping away from Martin, from your brother and from you. I hated myself. But do you know what I would have hated even worse? Seeing you hurt?”

Hearing her, I felt a need to laugh. I tried to suppress it for a moment, but could not and laughter broke free. For a second, she looked angry that I was laughing, but the anger was almost instantly replaced by hurt.

“Seeing me hurt, you say? Have you seen the video upstairs?” I asked, scorn in my voice. “That was supposed to become my husband one day, you know?” in anger, I pulled the nanites from my left arm, letting it fall from the sleeve.

“Being left with a father, who, when I got twelve, had become unable to look at me when talking at me, would you call that alright?” I sneered, disengaging the mask, so the tube I was breathing through became visible, alongside my still crushed throat and bruised face.

“Do you think I felt as if I had options, other than faking my own death and running?!” I opened the material of my suit, showing the patch that still covered the whole in my chest. My voice still came from my dropped mask, the speakers needed to give me a voice.

“Do I look alright to you?!” I angrily yelled. I was breathing hard and my mind was still whirling, trying to catch up with my emotions. I felt Galatea hold me in our mental space, trying to anchor me against the tempestuous feelings whirling around inside me.

Technica looked stricken, apparently only now computing that what I had put up earlier had been real, or maybe she had believed my bluff that I was fine, thinking I had some sort of healing-power.

She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but I interrupted. “Did you ask me to be your apprentice because you gave birth to me, eighteen years ago, or did you ask me because you think I would be an asset, a good apprentice?” I asked, staring into her eyes, daring her to lie to me.

“I was originally interested when Pathfinder gave the report about Metis, her capability to gather information at a distance and the Power-Armour she was using. I had no idea that you were my daughter back then.” she started to answer. “But after that small scourge incursion, you mostly dropped off the map. I was planning to approach Metis if she did something interesting again, something worth mentioning. When I heard that Metis had been attacked and threatened to blow up a city, I got curious and looked into the proceedings. Now that I look at it again, surviving the damage done to you, apparently using technical means, easily qualifies as something worth mentioning. So, yes, I do believe that you would be an asset to the Guild and to me.”

I deliberated for a moment. Part of me wanted to tell her to go, pound sand. But on the other hand, I was not stupid enough to discard the advantages an apprenticeship could confer. And I felt Galatea point out that there was a nagging sort of curiosity, that no matter how I raged and railed, there was a part of me that wanted to get this woman better, maybe even understand her. I tried to deny that such a part existed, but now that my daughter could literally pick my brain and would not allow me to deny reality.

After a moment, I acknowledged, “Good. I will work with you, Councilor Technica.” she looked as if I had slapped her but nodded.

We looked at each other for a moment, before we almost simultaneously blushed and started to cover ourselves. I closed my jacket and blouse, while she got a white lab-coat and pulled it on. There were a couple of smudges and marks, making it obvious that it was often used. When she turned her back to me, I saw that the metal at her neck went down, and slightly above her shoulders it flared out, covering most of her upper back, before ending in the middle of her back.

“Mother, do you want to let me take over for a moment?” Galatea asked in our shared space.

“What do you mean?” I asked, slightly confused but after a second I understood. She had done so when I had slept previously. Another interesting thing we would have to explore and it would allow me to take a step back and sort out my feelings. I accepted and felt my mind relax into our shared space. I was still able to watch, but Galatea was driving now.

I was curious if Technica would spot the difference.

“I guess I should start at the beginning then. As you have probably guessed, I’m a member of the council of five. I have been since my mentor died, sixteen years ago. The spots on the council area rather special, we hold them for a single reason. Our personal powers. I am on the council because of my rare abilities with technology, which is why I asked you to become my apprentice, A…” she caught herself, “Metis. One of the others is an strong telepath but limited in other ways, another is almost unbeatable in personal combat and so on. I can control complex technology with my mind, if I am in contact with it. And not only operate, the technology is powered by me, allowing me to use this armour to great effect. It is, if you will, an extension of my power. Similar with my prosthetics.” she stopped, as if to give me a chance to speak.

“Intriguing. What is the council’s role?” Galatea asked, emulating my voice quite well.

“We do whatever is needed. If there is a large scourge-incursion, Bidziil moves out. If there is a huge riot, Fyodor moves to calm the tensions so compromise can be reached. If there is a bomb, I move out. But, as you can see, being the world’s bomb-squad is not a secure work-environment.” Technica explained, as she gestured to the various mechanical parts she was made out of.

“Depending on your power, you could become my successor. Technical powers are very rare but it depends on you, we will have to see.” she stopped, apparently waiting for me to fill in my power.

“What is expected of me, as your apprentice?” Galatea asked, feeling my reluctance to explain my power.

Technica frowned for a second, but answered. “You will help me in the lab, I’m not only a Powered, I’m also the one who leads the Guild’s development department. I often work with various scientists from the Academy, trying to further technology and our understanding of Powers and Powered. You would be expected to help with that.”

“You do know that I am an Academy-student with a challenging major, or rather, two of them? And projects that I work on my own, which will not be folded into the guild, at least not without extended deliberation?” Galatea voiced my concerns. She even remembered to frown.

“I have seen the file, yes. After seeing you on the video upstairs, I got curious and researched you better. I’m quite sure we can find some sort of compromise, so you can combine your schooling, your apprenticeship and your life. Now, let me show you my domain down here.” she said with a proud smile.