Chapter 8

The Sato children, unaware that Sam was an Artificial Intelligence, had a great time in the spa.

They are ‘children of odd parentage.’ Mom is ... no matter what she looks like ... Cassandran. Daddy is Japanese.

Because Sam.

Now there is a a term to chew ... Sam is ... well ... intelligent ... and ... parts ... built of parts ... of unknown origin. And when you get down to basics ... Sam is as much ‘daddy’ as Mahiro Sato ... Mioko wouldn’t have had the eggs without Sam ... Sam is ‘mom’ too ... and the resultant four in the spa are his FIRST great experiment. There are thirty some ‘used to be caretakers’ living on earth with ‘heros.’ Mioko is the prototype ... the 30 are are the production-line.

Sam’s kids ... the children in the hot water ... playing like kids. Earth kids with parential guidance absent ... they are into everything ... life ... it’s ALL new ... like a road trip ... adults have ‘been there, done that, bought the shirt.’ These kids ... life is a road trip ... first time.

And Sam ... Momadad ... is extremely indulgent ... like grandparent ... spoil the spawn.

Eva ... Eva Crossroads Hero Caretaker Coordinator ... doesn’t know the children are in the spa.

Right now ... this very moment she is taking Mioko to task ... berating her for going in the first place ... and coming back in the second.

Ah ... bosses ... never happy, never satisfied ... and used to growling “Now, Missy ... do it now!” and expecting now to mean assholes and elbows NOW. She wasn’t used to serene ... and smiling.

And that was Mioko ... smiling and serene.

“What?!?” Eva exploded.

“We’ll be out of your hair soon,” Mrs. Sato said.

“What? You’re going as a companion?”

“No ... we’re taking the express.”

Every Casandran knows about the portal ... it’s the local car, airplane, bus. The local has stops in every neighborhood. The Express is ‘continental.’ It’s how one gets to the mountain resorts or the beach. One takes the “Con” on ones vacation. Unless you happen to work on Crossroads as armorer or smith ... or serving a court ordered sentence on Chaos. Bank manager. That means the Express.

“You and Mahiro are going on vacation?”

“Nope ... Sato-sama is going on a rescue ... the children and I are visiting my parents.”

The silence lasted well past the guidelines laid down by the Columbia School of Broadcasting ... fifteen seconds of ‘dead air’ is a good way to lose an advertiser. This was longer.

If you thought the first Evaplosion was extreme ... well.

“WHAT?”