Birun frowned.“No.She suffered a cranial injury and was used as an experimental subject by the station.She was fused with another Hmrain-compatible species, but a version from a few thousand years earlier.”
“So, she doesn’t look like me anymore?”
He sighed and tapped the screen.A woman with a mask of dark blue, waves of black and purple that covered her skin, and her hair had the same waves.
Trin blinked and put the other dozens of names aside.“Can I talk to her?”
“I will call Aten.”
“I can do it.”She tapped the transfer codes for the signal to Aten and looked at Birun.“Right?”
He grinned.“You got that from me.You are learning quickly.”
“It is correct?”
“It is correct.”
She hit the send button and then watched the time to speed things up.
“She was the only sister you found, right?”
He paused, and she gasped.“Where is the other one?”
“Last seen breaking into a communications array.She is older than you by three years but registers astonishingly high intelligence, just as you do.”
“What about Cori?”
“They didn’t use standard tests on those with mental injuries.They only tested them to make sure they got up to usable cognition.”
“Oh.”She watched the connection timer count down.“Wow, you have fast coms.”
“We bolster them with our own energies.They go faster that way.”
The timer reached zero, and Birun casually took her hair and draped it forward.
“Oh, shit.I am naked.”
He laughed as a gold Hmrain took up the screen.
“Honoured Ra, do you have a Terran primal named Cori on Aten?”
Ra looked at her.“Well, you are obviously a Terran consort.They wait until the last moment to get etiquette programming.”
Birun was laughing at her silently.“Ra, this is my consort, Trin, recently of Bellen.She left when her grandfather passed, and fate brought her to my door.”
“His fucking cold door.”She grunted.
Ra nodded and smiled.“Cori is here.She is acting as Harwin’s chair booster when I am not in the room.I will go get her.”He grinned and shook his head.
Birun murmured, “It is amazing to think that the honourable Ra is going to fetch a handmaid because you asked.”
From a distance, she heard, “I heard that.”
She giggled and then paused.“Oh, no.What if she doesn’t know who I am?Or doesn’t want to know me at all?”
“That button there will disconnect the call, but if she is like you, I am sure she will speak to you.”
Ra leaned in.“She’s here.”
