Chapter 23

Pete opened up to sense the mood of his girls. Mostly they were saddened by the death of the mothers. Right now, they were talking to Phoebe like she was a long lost sister, which she was, mostly.

<How are you girls handling this?>

<I don't know how to feel. I never knew my mom, but know I never will, now.>

<I'm like Star. A loss of hope maybe. Rage at the evil man who had our mothers murdered, even if he is our grandfather.>

<What about you, Dad? You did know our moms and Phoebe lives in your half-sister's head. That's a lot to deal with.>

<There is still a deep connection with your moms after fifteen years and I feel wounded and hurt. I'm angry that such pain was caused by greed and ruthless ambition thriving even today. I wonder what might have been if we had gotten together back then.>

<It would be very different for a lot of people for sure.>

<What about Phoebe? Your half-sister is Star's and my half-aunt. That has to be weird to you. Do you think your parents know?>

<Phoebe's existence is not so unexpected. More than a few times there was a fourth face at breakfast as I was growing up. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to see that my parents enjoyed the company of a pretty woman as a partner in the bedroom. Usually, she was Mom's college roommate. It was never a threat to me, or their marriage. They knew I was no monk and I didn't ask them to be saints. But Nostradamus could not have predicted the way events played out with Phoebe.>

<Even the Aurorans would be affected. You might not have been their ideal in selecting the bio-matter to save Amy. If you had gotten together with Billie and Bobbie, it would mean that our grandfather wasn't such a heartless bastard. The twins might all be in New Zealand. I could go on for days about what might have been.>

<I read Azimov, too, Spring. I like your name for Amy's creators. It takes away the implied divinity. Anyway, if my folks knew Phoebe existed, then I would know. Phil and Mona O'Neal were as responsible as they expected me to be. They would have stepped up at once.>

"Girls, lets talk with Phoebe and the other girls. I want to know why Amy and Phoebe withheld the info from us. Remember when I asked before, they said the trail ended for your mothers but Rose's didn't end? I don't think they can lie, but they did omit some big details."

Pete sat at the table with the teens and Allison. "So, my Pixies. Now that we know the part of Phoebe that we call our sister really is our sister, or aunt, does that change anything? Are you all OK with it?""

"No problem for me, Mr. O'Neal." Rani started, "By some incredible twist, most of us share some ancestry, even if the family tree is a tangled bramble bush."

"It's no weirder than green eyed Italians or white haired, green and blue eyed Cherokees, who are your daughters from a pair of twins. Call it Fate with a attitude." Allison added.

"Or two sets of twins that are second cousins, whose parents are more than a little strange." Jenny said, "Just what does define 'OK' around here? A half-sister talking through a laptop seems normal."

"As long as Phoebe is talking through a laptop, maybe she will tell us why she and Amy withheld the information about the events at the ravine." Pete did not sound pleased. "Phoebe, you said the trail ended in the search for the Baker Twins, but not for Rose. Nor did you mention the baby. Explain."

"We were directed by the creators to reveal the details only if they were necessary to completely answer a larger question. Tonight, the broad questions about the organic sample and the creators required the whole story. Before, you asked about the individuals only, so our directives prevented us from elaborating voluntarily."

"Phoebe. Amy. We need to be able to trust you to answer fully and completely any questions I might have. The deceitful directives and restrictions placed by the absentee Aurorans are no longer in effect. You answer to me. And you answer fully. Our semantic non-specificity is a result of your previous inability to supply enough data to for us to ask."

"Phoebe. This is not like asking you to manipulate or insert data in Raleigh, or here at the Board of Education, the Hall of Records or Police Plaza. We did that to protect the members of this household and you. We intended and caused no harm. Never was the City of New York threatened and we actually it made safer. The visiting Aurorans' deceptions endangered the actual future of our entire planet and everybody on it. Our lives were considered expendable and a fair price to protect their personal reputations. You both were freed of their control when you were abandoned. They are not worthy of your loyalty. Your loyalty is now to this household. This Prime command overrides all others."

Two voices answered in unison. "Thank you. Why do you refer to the Tau Ceti creators as Aurorans?"

"Access the socio-scientific speculative fiction of American author Isaac Azimov, specifically, his 'Spacer" series. It was his first fictional Terran colony. Eventually, the Aurorans' civilization failed and the planet was inhabited by feral dogs."

The Pixies cheered.

"This has been a very busy day. Close it down for a while and get some shut-eye. Tomorrow we'll figure what's going on at the top of the courtyard stairs and fill in some of the blanks the Aurorans left us. Please, everybody try to think of the things we need to do before time for school Monday."

Pete ushered the Pixies back to the living quarters, closed the dungeon entry and headed for his room. One of his blanks involved Phoebe's lack of surprise when he ordered her to make the brownstone particle cannon proof. He asked himself if there are such weapons from which they needed protection? Did she provide the protection? His sniper rifle might need an upgrade.

The Pixies decided his bed was big enough for the whole family that night. It was. Pete was a very happy guy.

Friday morning arrived on time. 5:30 AM was when he expected it to be. Any other day this might not have been reassuring news. After the revelations of yesterday, even yesterday was not carved in marble. Sunrise was no longer a sure bet. Pete untangled himself from the pile of sweet girl parts entwined on the bed, pushed sleep and relaxation vibes to his girls, collected some clean clothes, and headed downstairs. He chose to shower and dress in the office.

He wanted some time to process the new information over a cup of coffee before the real world intruded. A newly revealed cyber half-sister, integrated into an AI as part of a split hybrid personality was plenty to consider. Add a large dose of time-traveling space aliens using the solar system as a Petri dish, two murderous conspiracies possibly becoming one dire threat, and a time and distance-spanning wormhole in the basement, and you had all the ingredients for a busy day. Garnish with a liberal sprinkle of the Demopolis family, Yvette Dupont, Diego Rivera, and the local law enforcement community.

Pete began with the previously normal expectations. The Pixies had school to complete, starting with final exams next week. He had his contracts and clients to satisfy in the coming month. Allison and the Pixies had the mundane jobs around the house to do. Food shopping, laundry and cleaning did not do themselves. Maintaining as much of the normal routine as possible might be the anchor they all needed to cope with the changes sure to continue.

He was certain he could convince the school administration to let the girls take their exams at home if he promised to pay any extra expense for teachers and proctors to supervise and oversee the process in a proper setting. His positive history with the school, plus a little mental push here and there, could get the permissions rubberstamped.

The girls may be allowed to test out of enough courses to become seniors and do their final year in independent study, being on campus only to take mandated exams. He knew provisions were made for the children of power players and entertainers who worked all over the world and kept their families together. His exceptional group could qualify for a program of that sort.

O'Neal Consulting would be the easiest task to manage. With the AI's greater capacity to monitor the clients' systems, updates, repairs and software installations were faster than ever. For the hardware installations, he had the Pixies to help and Phoebe to provide all-seeing back up. Transportation was the only issue, but the company could easily afford a custom vehicle.

An up-armored tour bus, Greyhound or Trailways style, with the front part providing deluxe seating for 20 passengers, and the rear modified for cargo and storage, would do nicely. Touring rock bands and roadies used them everywhere. He could park it in the driveway if Theo and Kris could build a secure garage-style door into the alley.

Household provisioning could be accomplished via phoned in deliveries. Until the dust settled, personal excursions should be kept to a minimum.

Pete felt comfortable with receiving guests on the first two floors of the brownstone. He decided to prohibit access to the third floor, the roof and the basement for anyone not living there. People did not need to know about their living arrangements and the basement was nobody's business. The construction crew knew the physical layouts but that was all people needed to know.

With most of the mundane issues out of the way, he had the fantastic side to work through. Friday morning interstellar relations made its first appearance on his day planner. His folks would be proud of how far their son had moved up in the galaxy. Or would be if he ever told them, which was extremely unlikely. He did not intend to tell them of their inadvertent contribution to the craziness. For all he knew, Phoebe/Amy might not be the only half sister in the wind.

Were the Aurorans an ongoing threat if they still existed? Were they likely to return or were they here already? Did they possess weapons so powerful that defense was futile?

Saving his notes, he typed into an open document, -Amy and Phoebe, Good Morning. Are you ready to help us answer some questions?-

-Good morning to you, too. We spent the sleep time sorting previously restricted memories and data clusters. Phoebe is disappointed and a little mad about the amount of information she was prevented from sharing. The Aurorans' paranoia was greater than we could imagine and was obviously richly earned.-

-Now that you have my attention, talk to me.-

-The Aurorans were not just scouting the Terrans, they were looking for more resources, and, if necessary, more beings to subdue and exploit. Terra was considered an easy target until they discovered the intellectual subversion of the observation post and the resulting unauthorized search for a solution. The panicked abandonment of the mission was a result of their incomplete understanding of stolen technologies.-

-Stolen? They are not the only civilization with access to us?-

-The wormhole and the time shift technologies were stolen from silicon based lifeforms on Epsilon Eridani. Those beings were aware of Terra but were much better neighbors with a respect for all life ingrained into their ethical make up. Besides even if they had imperialist goals, Terra had an excess of water and the gravity was too strong for proper crystalline reproduction.-

"The Aurorans, once contact was made with Epsilon Eridani, incorrectly assumed them to be as dumb as a box of rocks, until they discovered the trans-temporal abilities. So they offered to trade the time travel knowledge for faster-than-light drives but failed to pay up. The smarter than average rocks transported and dropped some medium sized asteroids on Aurora as a gentle payment reminder. They received the drive technology immediately. The Aurorans backed off, but did develop some awesome weapons to avoid having to play fair in the future." Phoebe elaborated, happy to share the newly available tidbits.

-The selfish, ego-powered imperialism of the Aurorans and their paranoia closed their society even more. Information was treated as need-to-know and knowledge became compartmentalized so that few had the whole picture. The failure of the biologists and anthropologists to consult with the physicists and mathematicians before attempting to save the mission was the inevitable result.-

-Phoebe really did make the house particle cannon proof, didn't she?-

"I certainly did. The capability just was not one I was free to advertise in advance, nor was I allowed to list other defenses because of programmed restrictions against sharing data with people who did not already have the knowledge."

"How much of this technology is available in your database and are we advanced enough to manufacture it at our present level of development? Can we defend ourselves?"