Jace smoothed his hands over the squid-like head and tentacles of the cleaning bot. Though Jace was not speaking out loud it was clear that he was speaking to her. Probably calming her down. Khoth turned back to the general and the parental Parkers.
Jack put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “It looks like he has a very strange friend.”
“Can she be trusted? After everything she did?” Diane’s head swung to Khoth. “I’m not sure we can trust anyone.”
“It is interesting that you speak of trust, Colonel Parker, as the incident in this room that occurred before Jace’s birth was not reported to the Alliance,” Khoth replied coolly.
Diane became stony-faced. “We thought it a malfunction. Does one report malfunctions? Does the Alliance tell us all that it knows about the Osiris?”
“No, but that is not the agreement between us,” Khoth stated simply.
Diane’s nostrils flared. “I wonder if kidnapping my son and entering into the Osiris to release a prisoner AI violates that agreement?”
Khoth stared at her and said nothing.
“It seems to me that both sides have perhaps not lived up to the agreement,” General Intoshkin stated simply as if he were the reasonable one. “But the agreement will have to be reworked in any event as Jace is… the Pilot.”
Khoth saw Diane and Jack look at one another with a trace of alarm and unease. They’d had to tell the general some of what had happened evidently. But they didn’t look pleased to have done so. They knew that Jace would now be a pawn for the humans.
“Mom, Dad, uhm and General Intoshkin, I’d like you to meet someone,” Jace said with a touch of excitement in his voice.
Jace had a hold of one of Gehenna’s tentacles and was pulling the unwilling AI over to them. Jace was grinning. Those eyes of his were sparking with eagerness and happiness. He wanted his parents to meet Gehenna. Clearly, even if Jace had any qualms about her motives, her background or anything else, his evident affection for her outweighed all of those things.
My mother’s plan will work. He is all Xi. Glowing Xi. He needs to be balanced and yet…
“This is Gehenna!” Jace stated as he gestured to the squid. “Now, this isn’t her actual form. It’s a cleaning bot. She wants you to know that.”
Gehenna waved one of her tentacles at them as she hid most of her bulk behind Jace. Well, as much of it as could be hidden.
“She’s shy,” Jace stated as the three humans stared at the AI. “Mom, she’s a big fan of yours. But she’s worried that you’re… ah, well, after everything that you might not give her a chance.”
Diane stepped towards Gehenna. “Jace tells me that you and he are now connected for life.”
The lights in Gehenna’s skull burned brightly before becoming small.
“Mom, it was an accident. She was trapped. She never meant for you or me to--”
“But her actions caused all of this, Jace.” Diane’s eyes traveled over the squid-head. “She knows she’s responsible.”
Jace grimaced. “It can’t be undone, Mom. And other than the painful stuff done to you and Dr. Rancic, I don’t regret any of it.”
“You suffered your whole life, Jace,” Jack said. His jaw tightened. “In pain all the time. Thinking that you couldn’t have a life.”
“But I’m not in pain now. I won’t be again. And the life I can have now… is so much better than anything else,” Jace told his father. “Dad, I can fly spaceships because of Gehenna. I know how. I can teach you. We can fly together like we always wanted.”
Jack’s face showed a moment of… pain? Longing? “That’s good, son. More than I can say. But I don’t know if I trust someone who did what she did in the first place.”
Jace nodded. “She understands that. She wants you to know that… oh, Gehenna, no, we need to--okay, okay, I’ll tell them.” Jace grimaced and said, “She wants you to know that she will do everything in her power to keep me safe and happy.”
“She had better. Or we will have something to say about it,” Diane stated.
“Indeed, we will,” Jack said.
“She understands,” Jace said. “But I know she’ll make good on her promise.”
“While this is all very touching,” General Intoshkin stated, “I think we have other questions for Gehenna.”
Khoth immediately stepped between Jace and the general. “No questioning will occur without express permission of High Councillor Voor.”
