Going into last weekend at a bit of a loss, I, per normal, went to Mass early to pray and listen. I now think I know the rest of Part 5, so it is just a matter of writing it down.

While an interplanetary war would be kind of interesting to write, it would also mean at least of month of research and I want this MS done now, not in January. So, maybe next time. Allie will be at the center of a political resolution to all of this – barring just blowing the damn shrine up – but does not know that yet. Demi she may be but is still fifteen, and Aurie, Reina, and others have plans and schemes she cannot imagine.

Enjoy my content? Buy me a beer!

“You look awful,” the Empress said, handing over glass with a reddish liquid in it.  Alicia gave it a cautious sniff.

“And this is?” she asked.

“Cranberry juice.  Good for your kidneys,” was the woman’s reply.  They were both relaxing on a couch in a small building inside the fort.  “Assuming you’re not allergic.  If you die, that would be bad.”

Having just taking a mouthful, Allie spat most of it back into the glass.  She rolled it around her mouth and swallowed.

“I think I’ll be okay.  Is your husband, Jimmy, here?  I didn’t see him in the VIP section along with other family.” She made a face.  “It is a little bitter, but not bad.  A reason we don’t have this on my planet?”

“They grow in freshwater bogs,” Aurie explained.  “How many of those do you have.”

“Yeah…”

“And, while not caught off guard, Jimmy is on the moon right now.  We think we’ve found some frozen deuterium and I sent him for both his technical skill and as my Prince Consort so other Great Powers don’t try to butt in.” She poured more for her young guest and now some for herself.  “My boys, not that they are, being older than you, Artor and Cai, and their sister Alice, were present, as you noted.  Go ahead and ask.”

“And I thought I was demi-human, too,” Alicia muttered around her glass, unable to not be read by the other.

“You are.  But I’ve been at this for sixty-eight years.”

The Hero sat up straighter.  “Okay.  Fussy had ten kids.  You stopped at three.  That is not imperial policy.”

“My shorter left leg,” the empress raised that booted foot, is not the only flaw I inherited from my mother.  A lack of eggs was another.”

Allie quickly leaned across the couch and hugged her.  “I’m so sorry!”

“It is.” The empress shrugged.  “Who am I to complain?  I also caught you looking at Ildi and Lem, my nephew.  They are both married and happy with their families, but after what happened at the Chinese fusion reactor, EAST, they will never not be a part of one another.  They are a mystery, just like Kalí.”

“And how is God’s prophet?” Alicia asked with her stomach growling.  She made to stand, but her tiredness and higher gravity had her flailing with her arms and legs…

“Like a Crabbie on its back?” Aurie laughed, standing then pulling her up, holding her there with her arm about the girl’s waist.  “To your point, the Rus and Beaners were trading insults on the West Coast, so she, metaphorically, bopped some heads together and there is now a demarcation line from Mount Shasta, due west, with no military units of any kind within fifty miles, either side.  A DMZ.”

“She scared them?  Even Reina?” Alicia saw the empress’ mouth pinch. “Not that that’s any of my business.”

“No, you’re fine.  In fact, you need to know so much before you go there, next,” Aurelia replied, relaxing a little.  “Yes, after the Joseph/Cartaphilus incident with your granduncle, which I know you know, she is very uncertain when it comes to the Secondary World.”

A Hartmann family shorthand for all things both divine and diabolic, there were less than a handful of Thinking Machines, Aurie’s mother, Henge, being one of them, who had Christian faith.  It was not something they could begin to understand.  Nichole 5 was a partial exception:  she understood but did not believe.

“So, yes, Reina agreed.  It does, after all, give the Russian Empire a legal claim to a slice of former California, where they once had colonies.  She is content to outwait the Prophet,” the empress said with a sigh.

“You seem as tired as I am,” Alicia murmured as she was guided down a hall to a room with a small bed.  “Will you retire in ten years, too?  Come to live with us on Mars?”

“Butt out, little girl,” she chided, laying her down and putting a blanket over her.

“Do you’ve a minute, Aurie?”

“Right now, I am here for you.  And ‘Aurie’?  Really?”

“Tired!  Sorry, Empress…” Alicia yawned.

“I’m teasing you,” Aurelia laughed.  “But you are tired, so two questions only before you sleep.”

“Okay.  How much time do I, we, have?  The Midwife is loyal to my home and Aqua first, even if she is a Russian Crown Princess.  Would she turn over – ”

“Shh!” Aurelia stopped her with a finger onto the girl’s lips.  “They were pulling some of the huge tunnel borers out of storage when you were still lost.  You’ve really no idea the stir you caused when you fell down that rabbit hole.  Now, though, I see that Kira plans to mine in from the side, with a series of airlocks, to not compromise the atmosphere and environment of your cavern more than it already has been.”

“It’s not ‘my’ cavern…”

“Yes, it is, Hero.  Shut up when an empress is talking to you,” Aurie said, pretending to be mad.  “From Nichole’s data, they should breach your cavern wall near Allen’s hut in about three weeks.”

“And will immediately seize the shrine.  The device.” Alicia closed her eyes in a wince.  “If they try to transport it back to Earth…”

“I currently guestimate a forty percent chance of war,” the head of one of the potential warring parties said.  “And that includes Aqua trying to stop them.”

“And I cannot do anything.” Allie put her right arm across her eyes.

“Wrong again, little girl.  You can do everything.”

She sat up, angry.  “How!  With what?  I’m a kid who fell down a hole – ”

“That is your second question, Cousin,” the empress said, easing her back down until their noses touched.  Her gold eyes stared into Alicia’s white.  “And I will not answer it.  Yet.  You’ve more briefings and speeches tomorrow.  Then a visit to our vassal, Texas, to keep them happy.  The next day, you will be off to see Tsarina Anastasia in St. Petersburg.”

“And Reina, too.”

“Of course.”

“Will,” her voice caught a little, “will you be there?”

“If you wish it, it shall be.”

“Thank you,” Allie sighed, falling asleep.

“I envy you,” the Empress said, standing.  “I pity you.”