Talking to one of her own kind, Saras almost comes across as normal. Almost. Recall that her father is human but carried the gene for demi-human. Two generations on, Saras is something of a mystery to me.

And she meets someone who makes her inexperience patent.

Enjoy my content? Buy me a beer!

Between them, the two completed their modeling of the currents over the afternoon.  It would have taken humans at least two weeks.  Then again, it would have taken a second for Aqua, Saras thought.  Argyre and Hellas were now great lakes and Elysium a little Australia, off by itself.  They have observer status in the Polar Alliance; I guess they can have a colony there.

“That is an issue,” Kira admitted with a grim look.  “We are approaching a point where humans are going to start drawing lines.  That is:  whose is where?  The Rus will claim nearly everything.  As one myself, I get their point; they’ve done most of the work here and have lost the most people.  But as Midwife, I cannot just turn this planet over to them.”

“Does Aqua have a say?” Saras asked, honestly curious.

“Not so far as I know, so long as there is stability and peace.” That a twenty-five year old was having a conversation such as this with an eight year old was a factor to neither of them.  “Humans are humans and will always be violent.  Witness the, very few, murders and rapes since this project began.  People can kill with their hands as well as artillery.  Not that the latter will be imported.”

“What if,” Saras asked carefully, “colonists made their own?”

“I think Aqua would rod them,” Kira said, grinning again.

“Does he plan to ever give up his… what is the word?  Overlordship of Mars?”

“I don’t think so.  In fact…” That she trailed off into a prolonged silence made the young girl curious.

“In fact?” she asked.

“Speculation on my part.  I shall not speak to it.  Apologies.”

Thinking Machines kept secrets from one another.  There was no reasons demis should not, as well.

“Speaking of…” Saras watched Kira’s eyes flare.  “Uh, oh.  He wants to see you, too.  Get read – ”

Still standing next to Kira, Saras looked about.  Reminds me of Capri.  Italy fell apart under waves of wogs from MENA, but once local communities revived and killed them, many communities got back on their feet.  With armed escort, I had a vacation there when I was six.  The sky was more purple than blue and there was no one…

Aqua’s image was before them, about three meters away.  Tall and thin in a formal black tuxedo with tails.  White gloves.  Olive skin with dark hair and eyes, but the pupils were slit, like a cat’s.

“Midwife,” he said.  “And Saras.”

Kira bowed, so she thought it a good idea to do the same.

“You,” he spoke to Saras, “have done much in your time here.  Even your mother has brought constructive ideas about where cities should be founded, once we allow colonization.  For that, I thank you, both.”

This guy scares me more than grandmother.

“Your words honor us, Aqua,” she replied with another bow.  “We’ve nearly two years before we return home, and hope to continue our contributions.”

“Home?” he asked.  “Are you not home, now?”

Forewarned by Kira’s statement, she could reply, “Although demi-human, I am still young, and finding my way.  But, yes, I am at home here as any place I have ever been.”

My head is starting to hurt.  This is worse than Reina’s construct.

“You are young and clever,” Aqua said with a twist to his mouth, “but too young to be insightful.  At the end of your mother’s exile, go to your first home.  Be older.  I will welcome you back.”

With a sudden intake of breath, Saras was back in the computer lab.  Kira looked over with a grin.

“He’s funny, isn’t he?”

“That was not at all my impression.”

Kira clapped her hand to her the girl’s shoulder.

“C’mon!  Let’s get some food.  After, more work:  I think the Southern Highlands are going to need a massive canal system.” For a Russian, she laughed.  “We are going to make Schiaparelli’s visions come true at last!”