My mind had taken a leave of absence for some time, so when it checked back in with my body, Galatea showed me what had happened in the meantime. It was a little strange to receive her memories but I was getting better at parsing them.

“Greetings, Technica.” Galatea said with a polite nod.

Technica looked like she had just taken a hit to the head, her eyes wide in disbelief.

“Are you joking?!” she finally blurted out.

“No, mother, that is Alexandria, Metis, Cat or Diana, whatever you want to call her, is not joking.” Galatea answered, while tilting her head to the side.

“You… I mean, she managed to create a real, thinking, artificial general intelligence? You are alive?!” her voice was still filled with disbelief.

“Well, she created me. It took me some time to mature, to become what I am. But am I, as you call it, a real, thinking, artificial general intelligence? That is something I don’t think I can decide. How do you know that you are alive? I’m quite sure that mother sees me as alive, as a daughter and friend.” Galatea asked, her voice curious. It was the first time she was able to directly ask a scientist, well, other than me, about her own existence. Not that Technica seemed to be fully mentally tracking, but maybe she would pull together.

“Would you allow me to try to connect with you?” she asked, disbelief morphing into wonder.

“Not without mother’s consent. We’re currently connected, so I’m not sure if you might gain entry into her own mind. Thus, I’ll have to decline.” Galatea answered, her voice determined and Technica nodded her assent.

“I… I don’t even know what to say. It’s like a dream, my original subject of study was computer technology and programming, you know? Meeting you is like, seeing a dream come true.” now her voice had turned fully into wonder. “But back to the original question. I wanted to know how Alex survived, I guess you did that?”

“Yes, I kept her alive. She is...” Galatea paused for a moment, which was quite remarkable that she needed to think, giving her normal mental operating speed, “my everything.”

Technica frowned for a moment, but focused on other questions, mostly about Galatea and the way she thought, some of which Galatea answered, others she refused to answer. Looking at the questions from my perspective, I was quite sure that Technica tried not only to gain insight into Galatea but also into me. She had to realise that Galatea had been closely linked to me, learning from me and shaped by the contact with me. That meant, if she managed to understand Galatea and what made her tick, would allow her insight into me.

There might also be the question how tightly controlled Galatea was and I was quite curious whether Technica believed that she was a living being and thus worthy of rights or if she believed that Galatea was a program, just a piece of complex software, and should be tightly controlled by an owner. Myself, I knew the answer to that. Galatea was my daughter and she would never be controlled by anyone, there were even limits to what I could do in that regard. I had a hardcoded veto, I could stop her from doing things, but if I, or anyone else for that matter, tried to force her to do something, she had the hardcoded option to self-terminate.

While I watched the rest of their exchange, I also noted that about three hours had passed and Galatea had parked our body in one of the workrooms. Judging by the time and my empty stomach, I should look for something to eat and think about my options going forward.

The easiest was probably that I simply went and openly lived as Diana Hunt, treating the fact that I was also Metis and the apprentice of Technical as an open secret. Trying to blend in would be impossible, thanks to my injuries. Just fashioning an arm that did not stand out would be rather complicated and time consuming, even with my nanites, and I was very hesitant to miss enough school to do so. It was almost comical how embedded my desire to follow the rules about missing school was. Embedded…

“Galatea, could it be that your desire to follow rules leaks over to me?” I asked, curious.

“I have no idea, mother. How would you propose to test that? I think we influence each other, I have written multiple new subroutines to interpret signals I get from you, changing myself. I believe that your personality is less malleable but that some influence is unavoidable.”

She was right about that. Unless we de-linked for an extended period of time, there would always be a memory, an imprint if you will, of the contact we had, influencing my thoughts. And I felt good to have her with me, in my head.

“What do you think, about Technica?” I asked, curious about her impressions on the woman.

“She is interesting. In a lot of ways, you remind me of her.” I was surprised by that assessment and started frowning.

“Remember, mother, you once told me that denying reality was foolish, so I will not help you to start. You both are brilliant and driven, with a strong sense of duty and independence. You feel like you have to carry the world on your shoulders, even as it crushes you. But, you are too proud to admit weakness so you retreat from negative emotions, that is why Technica currently hides, waiting for you to wake back up, but fearing further rejection from you.” I had to swallow hard, as Galatea gave me her opinion without pulling any punches. I had a feeling that she wanted to say more, but felt that my state of mind was not ready for more.

“Wow, Galatea, tell me how you really feel.” I said, with some forced humour.

“No, I think I said enough. And I agree, we will need to seek sustenance. But before that, we should make some plans with Technica.”

I stood and started to look around for Technica, heading towards the safe-office. There had been a coffee-maker.

When I got to the outer door, it opened without any input from me and the inner door was already open. The door made me realise my own folly. I had made my protections against what I knew, I doubted that even Technica could have spied on me in my workshop, not via technology. But, at the same time, my protection against those other things she protected against, magic and psychic intrusion, had been nonexistent. I had not even noticed that Nisha was more than a perceptive young woman. Not that I had an idea how to screen for Powered, maybe Technica could bring me on the right track with that.

I stepped over the line behind the door and was greeted by the smell of freshly brewed coffee, as soon as I did. Interesting.

“Could I have a cup?” I asked, politely for the sake of coffee.

Technica smiled from her seat on the recliner next to the coffee-table and stood, filling a cup while I stole the desk-chair so we could sit together. Judging by the smell, the coffee was one to be savoured, not gulped down while standing, as if on the run.

“We should talk about what happens next. I do not think that Alexandria King should make an appearance again, maybe not ever. She is dead, let her be dead and buried. You said yourself, anyone close to you is a target. That has not changed, so I will be a target as your apprentice. But, if it is known who I have been once, the target would be bigger.” I started, while smelling the coffee, finally stopping to take a sip. It was heavenly. There were no words, it was liquid paradise, it was ambrosia, the nectar of the gods. I might have moaned a little, as I had the first taste.

“I agree. It is sad, what happened. I wish…” she trailed off, clearly unsure just what she was wishing for.

After my taste of heaven, I continued, “I will go back to being Diana Hunt, Guild Academy student extraordinaire. There will be no public announcement that I am Metis or that I am your apprentice. What will happen with Clark?”

The question turned her smile into a deep frown.

“I have talked with Robert Glind. After we left, Ambassador Hoffman apparently had a bit of an apoplexy. There was a lot of yelling and threats were made. There will be a general call to all guild members but I doubt that the national organisations will assist and we cannot really force them. If we find him, it is quite in our rights to do with him what we will, but finding him will be trouble, especially if he has the resources to hide from trackers. It is far harder to find someone than to hide him from psychic or magical tracking. He will not come onto the island unless he brings an army, so you are safe here. In turn, I would ask you not to retaliate against his family.” she explained.

Now, it was my turn to frown. When I had tried to find out more about Powered, long ago, I had seen these rules and thought they were inviolable. Now, it seemed that with strong enough backing, these rules did not apply, if the backing wanted to protect you.

“What about their plans? They are quite literally training an army and brainwashing Powered.” I asked, hoping that the Guild would see it as a problem.

“I don’t like it, but if I start acting with impunity, there might be war. The Guild often walks a fine line between not doing enough and causing the various nation-states to feel threatened. And threatened people often do stupid things. If there is a war, the Guild can only lose. We might win every battle, but at the end of the day, we will still lose. And with us, humanity loses.”