Monty appeared less than a minute after she called. He looked like he’d just gotten out of the shower. His hair was still wet, and the crisp white shirt he was wearing was moist, clinging to a body that seemed even more well-formed than she remembered it being.

“Hey.” said Monty.

“Hi.” said Margot.

“You look...nice. Did you get a tan while you were doing whatever?”

“A tan?” said Margot.

She looked down at herself. Using her spiritual sense to briefly assess her body. As far as she could see she was the same old her. Maybe with a few more freckles.

“Nah...I don’t think so.”

“Alright. Well, it’s damn good to see you again. Let’s get you back home.” said Monty.

He proffered his hand and after a moment’s hesitation, she took it. Hooking her arm around his arm and allowing herself to sink into the strange pleasantness that was exuded from the aeon’s body.

They transitioned. Like players on a stage. The setting changed but they didn’t. To Margot’s eyes, it was if an army of secret elves had quietly switched out all the items that made up the world. Or rather, it was like playing a sandbox game and having the map still rendering as she left one area and entered another.

“It’s nice to be home… This place looks...different somehow.” said Margot.

“Ah, well… I might have done a little bit of redecorating while you were gone. I expended the library. Re-did the training areas. Shifted around the living spaces a bit. Nothing too dramatic. I tried to keep it you but make it a little more..., fashionable I guess.”

“A-, Are you saying I’m not stylish?” said Margot. Frowning up at the man, wondering if he’d somehow gotten even taller than the last time she’d seen him.

Monty smiled at her.

“Mn, not really, but also yes maybe... You’re academic, you’re cozy, you’re comfortable, you’re positively lovely, but high fashion is something one has to learn over time. Either by going to school for it, or being surrounded by it constantly. So you tell me? Were the dorms at the academy ‘chic’?”

Margot sighed in defeat and leaned into her familiar taking comfort in his sturdy presence. She lowered her head to hide the blush that rose on her face as she realized that the immortal sweet-talker had called her lovely.

“No… St. Csilla was many things but chic wasn’t one of them. I’ll cede the point.” said Margot.

“Jolly good. So tell me, what do you think?”

Margot looked around noticing that everything was as Monty said it would be. The items looked similar to those that she’d chosen before. Just slightly more refined, more upscale. He hadn’t been lying when he said the theme was still very her. It was her, just her ten years from now, with more money and better taste.

Margot wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. She was pretty certain she liked the furniture, wallpaper, and overall arrangement of the space. She just wasn’t sure she liked the fact the aeon was able to so easily peg her tastes and then make them into better tastes.

She suspected she was now understanding how numerous hapless protagonists in scifi-horror movies started to started to fall out with their AI companions. It was easy to grow afraid of something that was able to read you so easily that it could place itself in your shoes and then walk your walk even better than you could.

At the same time, it was kind of comforting, because Margot could see that Montgomery had tried really hard to make sure she’d like the look of everything. From the bathrooms, to the bedrooms, to the kitchen, dining room, media rooms, library, and training rooms...everything seemed to be made with her in mind.

Margot frowned as she realized something.

“Wait, have we been teleporting this whole time?” said Margot.

“Yes? I figured it’d be for the best. The space is enchanted and set up with a complex intent-reading spell that can basically alter the layout of the rooms so that any room you’re intending to get to is right down the hall from the room you’re in. However, for taking tours where there is no intent...well, I ended up making the apartment a little too big for comfortable walking...My bad.”

“Doesn’t teleporting drain your limited actions? Or is it because we’re only teleporting through the apartment.” said Margot. Looking up at the man with concern.

“Huh? Oh! Hold up, that reminds me.”

Margot felt her choker grow warm, then she felt a certain tingling in the space behind her inner-eye.

“What’d you just do?”

“I upgraded your mantle and added a few updates to that interface inside your noggin.” said Monty.

“Mind, warning me first, before doing things like that?” said Margot. Giving Monty a light kick in the shin.

“....Right, sorry.” said Monty. Deflating a little.

Margot sighed and shook her head. Smiling faintly.

“Alright, you clearly want to brag. So brag. Tell me what you added.”

“I’ve been quite productive while you were out. I launched a few vessels out of the planet so we won’t ever really need to worry about material resources again. Hell, as soon as the setup with FC-Rockets gets big enough I can start harvesting stars and then you’ll see our options for power basically explode.”

“Mind not talking about things exploding before you explain what you did to the tiny computer you installed in my brain?” said Margot. Chiding Monty as they continued walking through the halls of the apartment. Her eyebrow rising as she found herself looking out a window into a sea of unfamiliar stars.

“Ah,...right. Well, that was just an expression. But overall we’re about to get loads more powerful. Since material-wise and energy-wise, there’s a lot of stuff that the civilizations in this universe don’t seem to be making use of.

“That’s cool.” said Margot. Meaning it. Briefly discounting the possibility that Monty was serious about ‘harvesting’ entire stars and then realizing that he might just have meant exactly what he said. Her mind-boggling as she imagined the things that could be done with that much power.

“W-...What else?” said Margot. Hesitating to say the words because the things going on inside her imagination made her feel like she was being overwhelmingly greedy.

“I also sent a couple of satellites to create a communication network for our exclusive use. I call it the dark-eye network. The network will do a number of things, such as piggybacking off of and...covertly manipulating all the lower-tech networks that already in place in earth’s solar system.”

“Why on earth would we need that?!” said Margot. Feeling a little nervous. Worried about the chance of them coming into conflict one of the various clandestine organizations that were out and about in the current world.

“You never know, it might come in handy. Plus it lets me do things like making use of and mimic the various signals that most people are using down here so...as of last week we no longer pay for cellphone coverage or internet access.” said Monty.

“Mhm...That sounds cool but also a little shady.” said Margot. Looking over the edge of a balcony and gazing at the lake sized swimming pool below.

“Eh, it’s fine...Most of that access is based on our satellites’ quantum interactions. So we’re not using as many of the terrestrial installations as you’d think and I’ve decided to be generous and share the love since I knew you might have some issues with it, so a lot of areas rural or less developed areas that originally weren’t being well covered will find themselves getting an ‘inexplicable’ upgrade” said Monty.

“Mhm, I guess it’s alright then but won’t that give us away?” said Margot. Nodding as she understood what Monty was getting at. Biting her bottom lip as she understood a little more of how the aeon thought.

“Nah, it’s not too noticeable, and to the extent that it ‘is’ noticeable no one will ever be able to find the ‘why’ behind their network’s expansion. Add in all the weird shit still taking place on earth and the covert shit everyone else is doing…”

“And it all just becomes another ‘mystery’.” said Margot. Leaning over yet another balcony to look down at room that seemed to have a giant trampoline instead of a proper floor.

“But why does having a communication network allow you to suddenly teleport without straining your limits.”

“Because it’s a network with a lot of space-time manipulating options added in.”

“Ah, so its the network that’s teleporting us around, not you.” said Margot.

“Exactly!” said Monty.

“And do the upgrades to my mantle and interface allow me to teleport as well?” said Margot. Looking out yet another star-filled window and spying a planet that looked strikingly like an up-close shot of one of their solar system’s gas giants.

“Clever girl, I knew you’d understand.” said Monty. Smiling.

Margot turned her attention inwards and found the knowledge of how to use the network already sitting in her mind. She allowed it to flow into her conscious memory and then made a test jump her body de-materializing and then appearing ten feet away from where it was.

“Nifty...There’s still a bit of an energy drain though.”

“That’s just to protect from the unlikely case of an interruption of the network. I barely notice the drain and I assume you won’t notice either as we keep getting stronger. In the meantime, using the mantle instead of directly accessing the network with your interface will help.”

“Hm, great. One last question…”

“What?”

“Are we ‘not’ on earth anymore, because going by the windows and the general shape of this place, I’m sort of feeling like we’re no longer in the apartment.”

“Well, you’re right and wrong on that account.” said Monty.

“The apartment is still connected to our overall living space. However, as the FC-fleet reproduced and expanded I eventually merged the apartment with a couple of the bases I have out there.”

“Is that… safe?” said Margot.

“Oh, yeah...It’s perfectly safe. Even if all the bases and the planet itself were to get desynchronized or destroyed our home would just dump everything into my personal subspace, so no worries there.”

“Mhm, so long as it's safe, I guess.” said Margot.

“So that’s it for the tour. Oh, and we got a dog.” said Monty. His expression lighting up.

“A dog?” said Margot.

Monty opened the light jacket he was wearing and reached inside one of the inner pockets. Then he brought a fluffy green puppy with dark green eyes.

“Say hello, Mint.”

The puppy barked and gave Margot a lick on the cheek. Margot frowned and then she smiled and then before she knew it, she found herself laughing...Or maybe she was crying.

“You got us a puppy… That’s, I don’t know what to say… Never change, Monty.”

She leaned into the aeon again and gave him a hug. Then she walked away, thinking about retiring to her room and finding the intent magics that controlled the geography of the house worked as advertised.

Margot entered her room. Puppy in hands. She closed the door taking a final look at the confused looking aeon in the hallway.

“I’m going to sleep, and then I’ll shower, and then maybe we can go out to eat or something.” said Margot. Her smile gone. Her expression suddenly hard to read again.

“S-, Sounds like a plan.” said Monty. Puzzled by the change that had come over the young woman.