Chapter 6: Broadband Jolt

"Now, that's a jolt! Time for a family meeting, right now," Tonto said with urgency.

"What's up?" Rob asked. "Should we meet all together or can we do this by sub-vocalization?"

"Together, I think," Tonto replied. "You are all in close proximity except Val, her husband Dan and his sister, Maria. They were helping Horace move the last of the livestock into the farm module. They are now headed toward the bridge at my request, as it is a good meeting place for all of us. Make sure that Sandra joins us too and have all the pregnant concubines and sponsors stand by to meet with us in a half hour."

The bridge was impressive with display screens wall to wall. There was almost no instrumentation for the crew but there was a large, imposing captain's chair, which was being occupied by Ellie and Jason as they cuddled and petted. Jason was rubbing his hand through the down on Ellie's breast and she was making small mewing sounds much more like a contented kitten than a giant golden eagle.

When Val, Dan, Maria and Horace walked through the door the group was complete. Sandra has seated herself on the arm of a sofa with Katie and Rob. "What's up, Boss?" Val asked.

"This is something of a shock," Tonto said, using the bridge speaker system for his voice. "Sara is on-line."

There was a brief silence but Sandra looked at her dad and Ellie sat up straight up in Jason's lap. "What do you mean, Sara's on-line?" Ellie asked.

"Just that," Tonto said. "Sara is now part of the family, part of me. Her brain came on-line eleven minutes ago and is fully integrated into the family matrix. The immediate family is no longer five, there are now six."

"Is she awake? Is she aware? Is she all right?" Sandra asked in rapid fire. "Can I go see her?"

Rob touched his mother's hip, inviting her to sit beside him and asked, "How can that be Tonto, give us the details?"

Speaking aloud Tonto reported, "One minute things were normal then there was a slight sensation and there she was, Sara's brain was fully available to me. I am using her power contribution now and the increase is significant. No, she is not awake yet but will be in a few more minutes. I've been studying the treatment process, at the same time that the med-tube was infusing her with the artificial nanites a kernel of our organic-linking-nanites were catching a piggy-back ride and co-opting their function. The AI nanites led the way but they picked up hitchhikers from Sara's lips and her hand. It appears that Jason's kiss was one source and Ellie's feather in Sara's hand was the other. There was no special reaction until the two sources combined and that changed the entire game. Just two hours later she came on line. That is the same type of time frame that Val experienced when Dr. Scout infused her with organic-linking-nanites. Whatever was missing in the human-to-human transfer of nanites has been restored."