They were deep into dinner when Evali asked Alody, “Your daughter seems to be your clone.What does she do?”
Diena had half a salad dangling from her mouth and grinned.
Alody smiled.“Well, she’s a paralegal; she’s recently worked in the commissary at Z-Corp, was a surrogate for an active family, her activation is the same as mine, oh, and she’s the reigning Lorn empress.So very proud.”
Ithal laughed.
The table went silent.
Salmet gasped, “How?”
Jenaki put another roll onto Diena’s plate.“Trial by combat.She took Maro’s head off.”
Diena finished her mouthful of greens.“The paralegal thing was the hardest, but it got me the best connections.”
Halko asked, “Like who?”
“Caska, Avagail, I already knew Keska.I have been working with them on rotation for the last few years.Filing patents, working on business registrations, that sort of thing.They paid for me to do architecture research on how to construct live ranges and playparks.”
Rico’s eyes bugged out.“Holy shit.”
Salat blinked.“Holy shit.”
She smiled.“Experimenting with the adults meant that designing for the kids went smoother.We just had to scale it down and make it more dangerous.”
Jennela asked, “More dangerous?”
“Sure.Kids are short.Tons of stuff fly over their heads.The new paintball course for ages twelve to eighteen is coming online at the end of the month.”Diena smiled.“We have to wait for the protective gear.Our supplier is confused by the variety of suits and the quantity we need of each size, but they are doing it.”
Salat leaned over the table.“What are you using?”
“Impact-sensitive, colouring textiles, with enough density to keep a strawberry safe.Full helmet field generation, which will also register a hit.”
Salat whispered to his partner, and she looked at her daughter.Baola said, “Salat wants to know if he can play.I want to see if I can shoot him.”
Diena paused and tapped a finger on the table.“It would require larger suits.”
Salat grinned.“I would bring my own.”
“Nope.These suits count three hits and bind.A transport removes you from the field for safety, so no one can pile on a person who has been taken out.”She smiled.“Keska has been having fun with this.If you want a custom suit, you order the fabric, and we will take it and the tech and bring it to our manufacturer.”
She got a ping on her wrist, got up, and said, “Please excuse me.”
She walked outside and put up an interference field to stop Jennela from listening.
“Rella, how are the campers?”
“Still there.Half left.”
She paused the call and sent a message to Salat.“Tell Denier that the reapers are about to get crispy.”
“Can you give them five minutes?”
“They had two hours.I will turn the heat up slow.”
“Right.Fair.I am making calls.”
“I am carrying out my word.”
