It had been a little more than two months since I had presented the original plans of the Valkyrie, as Technica had dubbed my Command&Control-Gunship, and in that time, I had invested a lot of time into building it. Technica herself had decided that it would be a good asset to have for the Guild, even if I had made stipulations that it would be under my sole and personal control. Given that the operating system for the craft was only operable with Galatea to direct the different modules, I was quite certain that it would remain in my control. However Technica had, successfully, argued that, if the craft was registered to the Guild, it would raise less eyebrows than if I simply flew around with it as a unidentified flying object.

When she had explained that, I had instantly started to make plans for a second craft, only instead of making it roughly shaped like an aircraft, it would be round, completely relying on vectored thrust to keep it airborne. The main reason for that was, that there were some interesting people on the internet claiming that the Guild was controlled by aliens, the type of alien varying depending on the month. So, flying around Accord Island in a literal flying saucer allowed me to poke fun at them.

With the registration, Technica had used some Guild Contacts to speed the construction up, mainly by allowing me to simply buy some of the larger hull-parts, instead of making me come up with a way to make them myself. While it would be possible, it would take time and effort that I would loathe to spend.

But that was not the biggest reason for the, frankly, insane, time in which the Valkyrie had turned from a design cobbled together in the middle of the night into reality. That achievement rested squarely on the nanites and their ability to assemble essentially anything. During the first two weeks after the decision to go big with the Valkyrie, I had made multiple nano-fabricators that did nothing but turn raw materials into nanites. It had turned out, I had underestimated the sheer usefulness of the nanites when I had managed to make them, they gave me incredible imaging and manipulation-capabilities and both, Galatea and I, had used those qualities to great effect.

They had only one hard limitation, they needed to be supplied with power and direction. That could be either done by keeping the nanties in continuous chains or by using microwave-transmitters nearby. Keeping them in chains had some advantages, but if the chain was broken, the nanites quickly turned inert. That limited their capabilities but on the other hand, the chains allowed to connect into new spaces without the need to instal transmitters before hand.

With that simple limitation, Galatea had gone onto a bit of a rampage to improve my body, causing me to ultimately put on a bit over twenty kilograms of mass. Not that my form changed a great deal but between the capsule that I finally had installed in my lower abdomen, filled with intricate circutery and a few additional energy crystals and shielded against high doses of electromagnetic radiation, the metallic threads wrapped around my bones, some mechanical improvement to my muscles and tendons, microwave-transmitters installed all over my skeleton and the sheer number of nanites swarming in my bloodstream, I was a lot heavier than I looked. I had yet to try swimming, but I had the feeling it would be rather annoying.

But what would have been almost impossible to survive surgeries in a normal context were for me, mostly putting up with some minor discomfort. For example, installing the capsule meant that Galatea filled the area with nanites, blocking the necessary blood vessels, deadening the nerves and essentially shoving aside whatever was in the way. I had made a video but even I got a little queasy watching my abdomen ripple before suddenly just parting, showing nothing but a mass of silvery liquid, looking almost like mercury. The liquid were of course nanites that made sure that nothing got into my body that could cause infections and when a similarly silver object, the capsule surrounded by even more nanites to disinfect it, came into view and was simply drawn into the body, it looked like something out of a movie.

But despite the fact that it was equivalent to surgery that would normally require some time in the hospital, the procedure took only about fifteen minutes and all I had to endure was some itching and phantom-sensations. Once that was over, the capsule was anchored solidly to my hip-bone and gave me some certainty that Galatea had a safe harbour.

The other procedures went in a similar fashion, Galatea opened a part of my body and I simply shoved whatever she needed inside and endured the strange itching sensations caused by her actions. It was one thing if the itching was somewhere on my skin and I could scratch, a perfectly normal response, but if it was somewhere on my bones? That, I could not scratch and had to endure.

Other than those two projects, the Valkyrie and Galatea’s self-improvement, I had spent whatever free-time I had either with Andrea, getting to know my… mother or with Sophia and my expanded social circle. Introducing Sophia to my sturdy-friends, those I had gotten to know because of my major, had been fun and Sophia had shown me once again that, while she was not deeply conversant on a lot of scientific topics, it was not a lack of intelligence that stopped her, it was simply a lack of inclination and interest. While I enjoyed reading about the newest discoveries in particle physics or a breakthrough regarding the propagation of gravity, she simply accepted that reality was as it was, without a need to understand it on such a level.

No, what interested her was how humans interacted with that reality and each other and as such, she struck up a quick friendship with Nisha, who was similarly a student of human nature, aided by her empathic powers.

Sometimes, Sophia joined me when I was with Technica and it took me a meeting to realise that we were not just visiting and discussing hypothetical scenarios but that Technica was doing her best to teach Sophia and me about the realities of Powered politics, essentially grooming both of us to understand her role and responsibilities. It drove home that Technica had not just named me her Apprentice because she felt guilty for leaving the family but that she truly felt I would be suitable to replace her one day. It was during that sessions that I developed a strong respect for her mind and her personality.

Finally, I had kept my promise to Sophia and we went on multiple dates a week, mostly dancing in one of Accord Island’s many clubs and taking walks in the forest during, simply talking and enjoying that we were together. It was during those talks that Sophia made a fun, little rule, during each walk, we both had to share something that the other did not know about us. It did not have to be anything big, it could be something small, a memory from childhood, something funny that happened during the day, a dream we had during the night, anything, really, it just had to be new.

It was not so much about the information shared but about the act of sharing more parts of our lives with the other.

Some of the things we shared were trivial, like a memory of the delicious chocolate cake I had eaten with Technica once, but others were heavier, for example on one evening, I admitted to Sophia that I had not told her about her mother’s death and the circumstances surrounding it. She had known of the death, apparently the authorities had notified Felix at some point and he told her, but she had been surprised that I had known and not told her. I think she wanted to be angry at first but conceded that I had done the right thing, that she had not been in the right mindset to understand that it had not been her fault.

“You know, you have a party to go to.” Galatea broke me out of my thoughts, bringing my mind back into the present and to the Christmas Party I was attending. It was a first for me, a Christmas Party that I wanted to attend, but that was mostly because it was a party of friends, all those who did not make the trip home over the holidays for whatever reason. For some it was distance, for others it was lack of funds and for others again, it was lack of anything calling them to their place of origin.

“True. Let me grab the present-box and I will be on my way.” I answered, closing the diagnostic I had run on the Valkyries engines and started to leave Technica’s lair, but only after I left a present where she would find it.

Part of me had wanted to make her something to symbolise that I had forgiven her for leaving the family when I had been a child, but I was unable to say it out loud, not without thoughts of anger, resentment and sadness clouding my mind. I wanted to be able to say it, to her face, not simply write it down. It was something I was regularly talking to my therapist about.

Ultimately, I had crafted her a necklace from titanium, anodizing some of the links to add colour, so that it would fit her complexion. That and a pack of excellent coffee were my presents for her.

After a last look around the workshop, I stood and headed out, towards Sophia.