Well, hello Another Dangerous Person. There is no way, none, that the PM of the Russian Empire is unaware of the unfolding diplomatic situation on Mars. Not about to let things get muddled, Reina obviously wants some skin, literally, in the game. So welcome Ivan, ladies and gentlemen.

Another slightly longer segment, but after spending the last two hours typing, I realized I’m 4000 words ahead of what I’m posting, and the Alvarez’s still aren’t yet to imperium territory for those talks. I might know where that’s going, but more importantly, I need to decide if this will be a novella (~35k words) or another novel (min 50k). Until I answer that, I cannot start Part Four.

When Sergei meets Ivan in the epilogue of Ice Inundation Intelligence, his private thought was, “how can such a nice kid be her son?”

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Not getting the dynamic, as everyone seemed to be either happy or at least peaceful, Anton concluded these two strangers must be demi-human, and his wife picked up on that.  Best to make sure.

“Everything okay, son?” he asked in Spanish as they drew closer, knowing no one would speak it.

“Yes, father,” he replied.

“You have a dialect I’ve never heard before now,” the older boy laughed, speaking the same with a Catalan dialect.  “I guess from your private academy in Mexico City?”

So much for no one knowing Spanish. 

“It seems you already know my son,” the senior Anton said, back in English.  “I am Anton Alvarez, citizen of the Republic of Mexico.”

“I’m Ivan Mendrovovitch!” He heard his wife’s breath catch.  “Let’s be friends, too!  Don’t just stand there, Sergei, say hi!”

The older man turned at that.  Chiseled Slav features in a face Anton guessed to be in his mid to late thirties.  There was the Imperial Russian crest emblazoned on his chest.  As a diplomat, Anton put his hand out first and reintroduced himself, adding, “and this is my wife, Saras.”

“We already know one another,” she said with a bit of a forced laugh.  Stepping past her husband, she embraced the one called Sergei and kissed both of his cheeks.

“Thank you for saving my mom,” she said.  “I shall always consider you family.”

“So what does that make me?” Ivan laughed.

She let go of Sergei and turned to him.

“You are the son of the most dangerous person on Earth,” she said, very carefully.  “I’m surprised Aqua let that android body down here.”

Now completely lost, Anton did what diplomats did best:  shut up and listen.  When there was nothing to listen to – they just stared and stared at one another – he turned to the older man.

“Guessing from what I’ve heard from stories of my wife’s family, you must be Sergeant Sergei Konev, is that correct?” he asked.

“Indeed,” Konev said, finally getting to shake the other’s hand.  “However just before our departure for here, I retired from the army reserves.”

“While I may be married to a demi-human princess of the imperium, I am also a Mexican national and thus not privy to secret reports,” Anton went on, noting his boy was paying very close attention to what his mother and new friend were doing; which was almost nothing.  “Still, family stories and all that?  I wish I could have seen you pound your shoe on the table in that prison.”

“It,” the otherwise stoic face on the military man twitched just a little, “was, I think, my best performance.  May I ask what brings you, some not of the Polar Alliance, to Ekaterinberg?”

“My work is that of a diplomat for my mother country,” he replied, wondering how much this Russian knew.  “My wife aside, I am something of a neutral party, so I am bearing messages, verbally, between several of the factions here on Mars.”

“Verbally,” Konev muttered, rubbing his chin.  “I see.  I have learned much in the service of our PM.  There are times it is best that no one write anything down.”

After a glance to his still immobile wife, with Junior walking around the two and poking his mother once, Anton pushed.

“You would be the, ah, escort of this young man, here?” he tried.

“Master Mendrovovitch is perfectly capable of seeing to himself,” Konev almost sighed.  “I started as his mentor.  Now I am, according to him, a friend.  He did not want to come here alone, so dragged me away from my family.”

“You must miss them,” Anton fished.

“My wife can take full well of herself, but my three boys and one daughter?” He shook his head.  “I just hope we are not here too long.”

“We won’t be, Sergei!” Ivan suddenly yelled, gathering the human boy into his left arm.  Saras was trying to catch her breath once more as Anton caught her body while she staggered back a few steps.

“Are you okay?” he demanded.

“Too…much…information.” A deep breath, out slow.  “Not used to that.”

She steadied herself and took a step back to the Russian lad.

“I agree with your last suggestion, however we want him back to us for the dinner the Governor-General…”

“Cancelled!  He doesn’t know I’m here but can read the codes in the order I just sent and knows someone with vastly more pull is about.” Ivan blinked his reddish eyes.  “There’s no way to find me via spyeyes, but I’m sure these two aides here will have a funny story to tell Lavrov in about a half hour.  Sergei?  Dismiss them.”

Anton watched Konev pull a wallet from the pouch of his suit and open it while walking to the two minders from Administration.  A few low words in Russian and they left in a great hurry.

“Good!  Anton Minor is with me.  Sergei?  Play tourist.  My dear Saras, and her husband, I’ll let you know where to meet in a few hours.  Bye-eee!” As Ivan took his son’s hand to lead him away, Anton was opening his mouth to…

“Don’t,” Saras said with a touch to his arm and tiny shake of her head.  “He’s fine.  In fact, he is probably safer with him than us.”

“Okay, dammit,” his patience was growing thin, “with him.  And while I know the surname, who the hell is ‘him?’”

“That is Reina’s son.  More precisely, that is a fraction of Ivan’s mind housed in that android construct,” she explained, linking her arm with Anton’s and leading them in the opposite direction, in case pursuers were sent after them.  Seeing that, Konev went off sixty degrees in a third direction.

Used to his demi wife, Anton had never seen an android and only his wife’s arm kept him from turning about and staring.

“Even in that form, Ivan is smarter than anyone here except Aqua,” she went on.  “His ability in the Void is thousands of times better than mine.  And, his size notwithstanding, he could have battered that fountain to rubble in less than a minute.”

“Our son is quite safe,” she concluded.

They walked in silence for several minutes.

“Does this dome have a shopping district?” he abruptly asked.  “I’d like to get you a small present.”

“Anton!” She was surprised.  “What’s the occasion?”

“I don’t need one.”