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“We have no idea what it could do to you. To us.” Jace hurried into the room to address the ball.

“Oh, but…” Gehenna’s head moved restlessly. “It could be important! I’m sure it is! And I could shield you by partitioning myself--”

“No! Partitioning yourself means we’ll be separated and I don’t want that,” Jace told her.

“I don’t want to be separated either,” she answered loyally. “But this is special and--”

“Nothing is more special than you, Gehenna,” Jace told her.

Her ball head lifted high off the ball body for a moment. Her voice filled with emotion, “Jace… I feel the same!”

“I know you’re excited to see what’s in this thing. I am too. This might tell you about the people who made you or even why you were made overall,” Jace said, scrubbing the back of his neck. “But it could also change you. Rewrite you. Infect you. We don’t know. I’m just not willing to risk that.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. I was going to say that my abilities are second to none, but this is my makers’ work so they would have anticipated what I can do,” she agreed, her head dipping slightly.

“Now that I see this, I realize we have to go slow,” Jace told her, patting her dome. “It’s fun to dive in, but not at the expense of your friends.”

She leaned against Jace’s legs, making a strange purring sound as if she were a human feline.

Khoth stepped over to them as he, too, observed the construct, “The Moturins are able to interact with this database. That does not require AI involvement. Perhaps that is the best first step to be taken.”

“You’re so right, Khoth!” Jace brightened as did Gehenna. “I guess that old adage is true that when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail and you forget that maybe you need a screwdriver.”

Khoth’s eyebrows lifted into his hairline. “Ah, yes, I think I understand what you are saying.”

“It means that sometimes we forget that there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Jace answered.

Khoth regarded him silently.

Jace’s lips twitched, but he explained solemnly, “There’s more than one way to solve a problem and that when we have one tool we’re used to using on problems that we forget there are other tools.”

“Ah, yes, that makes sense,” Khoth responded neutrally.

“I guess we shouldn’t have outpaced the owners of this place,” Jace said, but then perked up. “Oh, but they’re here!”

At that moment, Amana, Typhon, his father, Davies and Dr. Hayter walked into the room. Typhon performed the gage ritual of forming a circle on his forehead and drawing a line with his fingers down to his chest. Xi and Xa as one. He bowed his head and stepped to the side. Amana did the same. His father and the other two watched curiously, but did not repeat the gesture. His father had never worshipped the Altaeth as the great creators. Khoth had never been so grateful for that. He knew Jace would find that off putting as well as intimidating.

“I see you did know where to go!” Amana glided towards Jace, her expression and voice welcoming.

Jace gave a rather shame-faced shrug. “I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have come here without your permission.”

But she waved away his apology. “You are the last Altaeth and this is yours more than it could ever be ours.”

“In fact, our whole world is yours,” Typhon remarked quietly.

“Well, I think it’s a little big for one person, don’t you?” Jace asked lightly.

Typhon inclined his head. “We are only here at your indulgence.”

“Oh, no, no.” Jace waved that off almost frantically. “If you weren’t here this world would be dead. The city silent. How could that be a good thing? I’m so glad that you and the Alliance are using the tech. In fact, I want to see it working properly.”

“You said something like that up above and then you… fixed our shields. Reports from our security forces indicate that the shields have other functions as well as none being able to breach them now,” Typhon remarked. “Do you mean that more systems could be fixed in this manner?”

Jace nodded eagerly, clearly warming up to the subject. “Oh, yeah! Like I was telling Khoth, this whole planet is only working at like 30% capacity. There’s so much that needs fixing and optimizing and--”

“None of which our Pilot can do for you while we’re treated as enemies,” Davies put in dryly, echoing Khoth’s earlier point.

Jace’s head drooped. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”