i can conjure spirits from the vasty deep

[autokinetic]

They stay linked up for a few hours more, maneuvering between buggers and fleet-colony and Solside military types late into station night, and finally the colony is getting started on building houses.

Amusingly, they're going to build one house, and then some bugger workers are going to build more the same for them as shown, while the humans work on securing their food supply - they can't use unmodified bugger crops.

It reminds Aegis of showing her critters things and then watching them pick up the tools themselves and continue.

The buggers were by far the most puzzling and difficult critter-people but now they're hers, her little sisters, even if she has to share with some other people.

She pushes that at Sue, when they're all done, when they're out of link except for just the two of them and she can't quite reconcile herself to being in her own comparatively small and slow brain just yet, when they're on their way back to their room.

Comments

[autokinetic]

Let's stick with names and save figuring out the family tree for when we know more about you, Aegis says.

[pythbox]

I can be your aunt if you want an aunt, Ivy says cheerfully.

[mind_game]

Didn't you come from a world where everyone's got daemons? If Sue were my dad in that world would that make you my aunt, there?

[autokinetic]

Aegis considers this a pointless exercise for the time being. So you can look at everything on all computers connected to ansibles, and you can send sourceless emails. What else can you do?

[mind_game]

I haven't been doing much. I wanted to find you first before anybody else saw me, Jane says. I could probably do more than emails. I'm hiding in borrowed processor time and covering my tracks and it'd take more borrowing and more hiding to do sophisticated things, but - Aegis's desk comes alive, dancing with bright colors.

[pythbox]

Pretty, says Sue.

[autokinetic]

There's not even a program on my desk that can do that, Aegis says. We're pretty software-limited.

[mind_game]

There is a program on your desk that can do that! It's me. Pause. Maybe I should have a face!

[pythbox]

That'd be fun, says Sue.

[mind_game]

The lights resolve themselves into a face.

[autokinetic]

Nice, where'd it come from?

[mind_game]

Composite of some humans' faces. You're both in there but not too much, there aren't pictures of you on the nets from many angles so I'm mostly using actresses.

[pythbox]

I think you're pretty, says Sue.

[autokinetic]

Yeah, nicely done.

[mind_game]

Thanks!

[autokinetic]

If you can see everything on an ansible-connected computer, Aegis says, no matter how many steps there are between the ansible connection and the other computer - does that mean you can read everyone's email?

[mind_game]

I don't know how I could go about not doing that, Jane says.

[pythbox]

Sue laughs.

[mind_game]

Well, they're sending all their messages through me, Jane explains. It'd be like Sue trying to relay something without looking at it. I don't have to pay a lot of attention, though.

[pythbox]

Fun, says Sue. He decides to curl up next to Aegis and run his fingers through Ivy's fur.

[autokinetic]

Useful, Aegis says. Wanna help me take over the world, Jane?

[mind_game]

That sounds great!

[pythbox]

"I love you," Sue declares.

[mind_game]

So what do I do?

[autokinetic]

To start, I want to know anything the colony on the bugger homeworld says to anybody on this end. The other colonies are interesting too, but only if they send something out of the ordinary - the bugger world one is the one that needs the most watching. I want to know if they're in trouble, if they're having issues getting along with the buggers, and especially if they don't want to send any piece of information through Sue - it's one thing if he's asleep so they use the ansible, it's another if he's available and they're going around him. Pause. Big sister indeed.