A low groan brought me out of my happy place, my curiosity making me investigate. Half my night had been spend looking at reports and summaries send over by Technica, she had asked me to read them, in preparation for eventually succeeding her. It was a mix of interesting, disheartening and plainly boring, to read about the various proposals and machinations, thought up by politicians all around the globe and sent to the Guild, looking for support. I had dug into some of them, chosen at random, investigating the matters as deeply as possible, which was quite thoroughly, thanks to my connection with Galatea and the incredible processing-speed that came with it.

And that was where the disheartening-part came in, almost seventy-five percent of the random sample I had been looking at contained some sort of kickback-scheme, helping the one who had proposed it, or someone close to them. Most of the proposals, almost ninety percent, would also serve their purpose and the public but not as efficiently as possible. The last ten percent were the proverbial bridge without a river, or canyon, to cross, solely designed to funnel resources into someone's pocket. I had written a report on the findings and transferred it back to Technica, just so she knew I had done as she asked.

In addition, I had created a summary for myself, this one completely different and focused on ways I could exploit my personal knowledge and the inventions I had created, including plausible advances I had yet to explore. In some areas of the world, I would be able to buy me political patronage and protection with a simple power-plant, without telling the involved parties just how it worked. If I was willing to actually turn over technical specs and blueprints, I would likely be able to gain covert protection everywhere but that was something else, entirely.

The other half of the night had been spend in my happy place, reading technical research on anything that caught my interest. In this case, quantum mechanics and the potential for a communication-device using quantum-entangled particles. It was heavy and confusing stuff, mostly because it was counterintuitive to my meaty brain. If I fully immersed myself in the simple, computing part that I shared with Galatea, looking at it as dispassionate as possible, seeing only the equations and maths, it was better but if I tried to really comprehend it, it was headache inducing. There was a reason why some people claimed that quantum-mechanics was the leading cause of alcoholism amongst physicist.

Emerging from that happy place to investigate the low groan, I first checked on Sophia, making sure that she was not haunted by a nightmare. She was still carrying mental scars from Clark’s torture, something that might never fully fade and during some nights, they disturbed her rest. But this was not one of those nights, I could see her serene face lying on my shoulder, using my arm as a pillow.

Next, I looked over to check on Tanisha who was starting to come back to her senses. It was quite obvious that she was currently paying for the excess-drinking the night before, a state in which I had seen her all too often. I contemplated getting up and helping her but that would have meant moving Sophia off me, something I was not quite willing to do. Instead, I simply placed an arm around Sophia’s back, pulling her closer to me, causing her to wiggle a little snuggling up closely.

Before my better nature could get me to move, I heard a soft thump from Tanisha’s bed, just loud enough to wake up Sophia.

“Good morning, love.” I whispered, not wanting to speak too loudly with Tanisha in the room.

“Good morning, Lexi.” she whispered back, before starting to stretch herself. Out of a whim, I reached up, petting her head and tickling her behind her ears, causing her to purr a little. She was acting so very much like a cat at times, it made me wonder if it was an deliberate affectation. Whether it was deliberate or instinctive on her part, it was incredibly adorable, making me want to pull her back down, or maybe roll us over.

Another groan stopped my wicked ideas, reminding me that my friend and roommate was currently suffering on the floor, not necessarily producing the most romantic atmosphere. Sophia’s thoughts seemed to go in a similar direction, she gave me a quick kiss before pushing herself up, stepping over to help Tanisha. I followed suit, after a short glance at Sophia’s bare backside.

With Sophia and me working together, getting Tanisha into the bathroom was trivial, as was the task of feeding her a simple painkiller and watering her. Her contribution to the work were moans and groans, combined with slow, shuffling steps. Once she was watered, we left her alone, so she could use the facilities without an audience. We were willing to do a lot but there were limits.

Sophia and I took the moment to get dressed, managing to do so with a minimal amount of touching and caressing each other, before deciding to check up on Tanisha again. What we found in the bathroom was a little amusing, apparently, Tanisha had managed to complete her business before falling back asleep, sitting on the throne. After sharing an eye-roll, Sophia and I grabbed her, carrying her back to bed and tucking her in. Leaving her there, we stepped out into the common-room, where Karen was sitting, a book in her lap.

“Good morning. Want to join us getting some breakfast?” I asked, after a quick glance to the book’s cover. It was a textbook for one of her elective business-classes, making a shudder run down my spine. Those were some of the classes I disliked, an attempt to predict human behaviour on a large scale. Statistical analysis was great but the problem were the humans in the system. Just like it was impossible to observe subatomic particles closely, without changing their state, it was impossible to observe and predict human behaviour, without causing changes to their behaviour. With particles that resulted in complicated maths and uncertainty, with humans, it was worse. With different groups, using different models to analyse the same group, each with their own agenda and biases, things got pointless, fast.

Karen took a short glimpse at the empty tea-cup in front of her, before looking back to us, as if she had only now realised that the cup was empty.

“Yeah, I’ll join you. I can use the break.” she told us, grumbling the last sentence.

“Difficult class?” Sophia asked, looking over to the book.

“I have no problem with the subject but the math is kicking my ass. Why do you need to track eighteen variables, for a simple predictive model?” she grumbled, causing me to open my mouth, before closing it, not wanting to start an argument.

I noticed that Sophia had an amused grin on her face, having noticed my disagreement, while Karen packed up her things and got up from the couch.

“What did you have in mind for breakfast? And is Tanisha joining us?” she asked, looking to the closed door behind us.

“No, I am afraid Tanisha is still in bed. She had a few too many last night.” I told her, before glancing at Sophia if she had a preference for breakfast. There were quite a few places nearby, or a nigh infinite number if we took the tram.

“Again?” Karen asked, sounding dismayed. She, too, had noticed that Tanisha was drinking too much but none of us had a way to actually help her. Collectively, we thought we knew what the problem was but how to fix it, that was beyond us.

“Why don’t we go to the pancake-house?” Sophia suggested, getting nods from the two of us in return. “Do you think Ru Shi wants to join us?” she asked, glancing at the closed door to their room.

“She’s out, I think with her boyfriend.” Karen said, with a shake of her head.

“The two of them are too cute together. I need to get a new partner.” she added, a grin on her face. “Maybe I’ll hop over to your team for once.” she added, her grin widening.

In turn, Sophia got an unhappy frown on her face.

“Don’t start something if you are merely experimenting. And if you are, be open and honest from the start, I would hate to have to hurt you.” she told Karen, with a serious look on her face. It reminded me that Sophia had become quite active in the local Rainbow-Alliance. She felt it was important work, and I agreed, especially with the culturally diverse students at the many institutions on Accord Island, there were many who came from cultures a lot less tolerant than ours, and even they had their homosexuals. People who, for the first time, could admit who they were, without fear of persecution or punishment. And the Rainbow-Alliance was dedicated to helping them find their place.

Karen’s grin vanished at Sophia’s words, replaced with a serious look, something quite rare for her.

“Yes, I know. I won’t mislead anyone, I promise.” she acknowledged, before her grin returned and she called for an invasion of the Pancake-House, making me shake my head in amusement, before taking Sophia’s hand and following our happy-go-lucky roommate. She had come a long way from the obsessive activist-persona she had affected, back when she had come to Accord Island.