At night Aiedo's Pao Pao bar was abuzz and alight with singing and dancing, music and questionable entertainment. The lights would stay on and the drinks would keep flowing until well after midnight. Hunters were a rowdy crowd of people and they relaxed in the general manner that they worked, with a disregard for life, limb and brain cells. Two or three times a year, usually between Yule and New Year's eve the place was taken apart and thoroughly wrecked. One misdirected slicer thrown in a room full of drunken hunters tended to have an adverse effect on the masonry, not to mention the people within.

Rune had been there, lurking around the tables during that Yuletide carousing. Those were the days when it was extremely amusing to watch a young hunter try to break a bottle into an improvised weapon and wind up with a bleeding hand full of glass shards. Life was dull, boring and unbelievably strict, but every once in a while there were some bright fun spots that would always stick in his memory. Rune entered the Pao Pao and wandered about until he found his friends, sitting at a table in the back of the bar.

During the daylight hours the bar was filled with a completely different atmosphere. It was mostly empty, rather quiet, and only regulars and tired travelers populated the tables and barstools. Part of the wall had been plastered up recently from some kind of breakage. Somebody had tried to stick a hunter's guild scroll over it to hide away the damage. A white-robed sheik loitered beside it, drinking a tall glass of either colorless spirit or water. Rune put his money on water. Nobody could drink that much spirit so casually and hope to remain upright.

Raja noticed Rune enter the bar and waved the esper over to their table. There were already a handful of empty glasses scattered about the table like little glass towers. Many of them seemed to have belonged to Raja. A spare seat had been left empty. Hahn nudged it out for him with a gentle kick from his boot. "Hey, we were expecting to see Chaz." The scholar announced to his friend.

Rune turned and walked up to the table, but did not take a seat just yet. He could hear conversations going on at other tables but he focussed his attention on this one. "He's running around getting ready for the attack on Zelan, organizing weapons for everybody who didn't bring theirs and stuff. You got me to deal with instead. What have you guys been up to? Drinking your confusion away? Mind if I join?"

Something suddenly occurred to Hahn and he slapped a palm to his brow. "Oh man! I just remembered! I left one of my daggers back on Zelan! My Da made those for me, they're one of a kind!"

"Didn't you say your dad was a blacksmith? Couldn't he just make you a new pair?" Raja asked nonchalantly with his elbow on the table, supporting his cheek with his fist. He had a nice fresh gimlet in his other hand to slow things down a bit. The lime juice was a lovely new flavor for him, citrus trees did not usually grow back on his home planet.

"It's a pair of knives, not a pair of socks." Hahn grumbled. He had never bought into the family blacksmith trade, being too weak and far too intellectual for that kind of labor, but he had endured enough of his father's rants about 'the craft' to be able to parrot it off again to Raja. He probably wasn't even aware that he was doing it. "Mahlay alloy is a special material that can only be reproduced by my family in the Krup area. The composition is a secret, Da won't even tell me because I didn't want to follow in his footsteps. All I know is that it takes forever just to be able to forge a single blade."

Rune sat down at the table and felt like folding his arms on the surface then laying his head down upon them. He felt so tired, and slightly hungry too. He hoped that Rika's cooking abilities had improved since the campfire meals of three years ago. As for Hahn's family alloy, they probably didn't even realise the origin of the material. Mount Mahlay, rich in minerals, lurking beneath the great shadow of the Air Castle. The gate to the darkness had been made out of that same conductive metal.

The esper would have liked it if he could get through a day on the outside world without being slapped by some memory or another. It was like being repeatedly hit by a stinky old fish. He watched Hahn working his way through a pint of beer, it didn't look like he was struggling with it at all. "You miss your family?" Rune asked, because a person who was totally happy with their life wouldn't be acting like Hahn did.

"Well, yes and no. You know how it is. When you're there you sometimes wish you were somewhere else, but when you've gone all you can think about is coming home again. I really miss Saya. I wish Piata were closer to Krup." The scholar sighed. "Sometimes I think I should have become a blacksmith so I wouldn't have to travel so much. What good am I doing now as I am? Do people ever care about the information I'm trying to teach? And I'm going to be a parent soon, eventually. My child would need a father, not just a pen pal."

Raja patted Hahn consolingly on the back. He had declined that sort of business when he became a priest, but he did have a family so he could sympathize with his friend. "I know how you feel. I got a nephew and a niece that I never see either. It's just too hard to keep up communications with the climate as it is." He brightened and then laughed. "All the carrier pigeons that I send keep on dropping dead from the cold! It's nice and warm 'round here, though."

"Are you sure it isn't your sense of humor that's keeping them away?" Rune inquired innocently, raising an eyebrow. Raja just smirked knowingly at Rune's little jab at his character, taking a sip of his drink.

A waitress walked up to the table and courteously cleared away the empty glasses for them. She was wearing a short black skirt and a very low-cut top, of course, this was a hunter's guild after all. The lean in her posture as she tidied up for them wasn't quite unintentional, either. Nevertheless, Rune rather appreciated the view.

"You boys want anything else from the bar?" She drawled, her accent thick and heavy from the country. Another pilgrim to Aiedo for the opportunity, he guessed.

Hahn and Raja were still working through their glasses but Rune was parched. After everything that Algo had put him through these past few days he felt like he deserved something special. There was one particular thing he liked each time he came to Motavia. He wondered if they still stocked it here. "I'll have a double bourbon, thanks. From Torinco. Seven years or up, if you have it."

The waitress jotted his request down in her little notebook and smiled. He had pretty good taste for a religious type, unlike the odd green-skinned man who would drink anything if she put a parasol in it. "That stuff doesn't come cheap, you know." She warned him.

Rune did not have much respect for the value of meseta these days. He didn't care, his wallet was full enough for a couple of drinks. He waved her away and focussed back on his friends. They had all talked so avidly about how perfect their lives had become back on Zelan, but nothing was perfect and nobody could remain happy forever. Was it horrible of him to feel sort of consoled by this? To know that his life wasn't the only one that seemed partially incomplete?

"Take my advice." Rune instructed Hahn as he waited for his drink to arrive. His advice was not divine, or sagely, but it was from one friend to another during a time of weird uncertainty. "Just be grateful for what you got. You have a good life so don't complain about it. Try and imagine life without your family, without Saya, without your kid on the way. Think of that then thank the Light for what He has chosen to give you. I hate listening to spoiled whiners."

Hahn meditated on this for several reflective moments, sipping down his beer. Rune was right, he was lucky for what he had. Sometimes he thought it a miracle in itself that Saya had enough faith and trust in him to allow him to work so far away from home. It must be very lonely for her. "I think," he said at last, "that if I save up enough money I might be able to convince her to move to Piata with me and buy a house there."

"You could get Chaz to build it for you." Raja suggested as he finished his gimlet. "But it might fall in after three days or burst into flames."

A glass of whisky was placed daintily down in front of Rune. The deep amber liquid inside turned the small chunks of ice in the glass a syrupy gold. Huh, ice. That was quite a rarity on this side of Motavia. The waitress brushed some hair behind her ear. "It's your lucky day, sweets. This is some Torinco twelve-year. The barman gave me a dirty look for breaking the seal on the bottle."

"How much do I owe you?" Said Rune, the ice clinking pleasantly as he picked up the glass. It was lovely and cool in his black-gloved hand. Cool, but not too cool, he noticed, or else the temperature would subtract from the flavor. A good, well prepared drink.

The young woman shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's already been paid for by that fella in the robes over there, see?" She pointed him out to Rune with a very overt sweep of her arm. The three friends leant over to see who she was pointing at, and by a mild surprise it had been the young sheik Rune had scrutinized earlier. He returned the trinity of looks with a gentle wave, probably smiling under his white cowl.

"Oh, thanks then." Rune murmured as the waitress left again to service some of her other customers, now wary that something awful may have been slipped into his bourbon on purpose. It was a night under the blue moon when somebody bought Rune drinks for no reason, especially whisky well over a decade old. Still, it looked far too good to waste, so…

It was a testament to the great age of the liquor that it went down hot and burning and incredibly smooth. It was like silk. Rune definitely had nothing to complain about. If it was poison, well, then he'd die a semi-happy man. He set the glass down onto the coaster with a satisfied look on his face. "That was exactly what I needed." He admitted to Hahn and Raja earnestly.

Raja, being the least informed person about Motavia kept staring at the sheik, despite the childhood knowledge that it was impolite to stare. The man at the other table seemed immune to his stare. "Is it normal for palmans to wander about dressed in curtains all the time, or is that a new kind of fashion statement just taking hold?" He asked. Maybe it was just him but the man looked ridiculous. It was only the curved sword on his belt that caused Raja to believe it wasn't some sort of a joke.

"Dressed in what?" Hahn repeated incredulously, then understood what the heck he was talking about. "Oh, the sheiks? There's a society of palmans who live exclusively in the deserts and rarely visit the towns. They base their lifestyle around the way the motavians live, because they were the original inhabitants of this planet. They're very nomadic and secretive, so nobody's really certain how many of them there are. In battle they're supposed to fight like devils with rabies, so I hear."

"They wear white because it reflects the heat better than darker clothes. The flowing robes keeps them cool too." Rune chipped in casually, a little more absorbed in his drink than the conversation. His own cloak had been tailored specifically for wear on Motavia for that same reason. He'd never spoken to the desert sheiks before in any of his incarnations, they were a rather new society on the planet that he had no business with.

"It all sounds pretty daft to me. Live the way you're born to live, that's what I say! If people could switch around who they are so easily you'd have penguins wanting to be bishops and people sitting in nests making chirping noises. That's backwards thought, that's what that is." Whenever Raja had a point to make he pounded it into people's head, with a sledgehammer if necessary. When it all boiled down to it he was a priest, and could preach as such.

"But surely the freedom to do whatever we want to do and be whatever we want to be is inherent in our birthright?" The sheik implored in a soft dusty voice, suddenly standing right there and placing a hand on Raja's shoulder. His eyes seemed to smile, he looked very amused. "My mother always taught me that it is okay to do whatever I want, provided I don't hurt anybody physically, mentally or spiritually. You understand, offendi?"

"I'm sorry, this is a private conversation." Hahn explained carefully after clearing his throat. His mother had taught him that interrupting and eavesdropping was very rude.

This did not perturb the strange man. He was barely visible beneath all the white, but Rune could see that his face was deeply tanned. "You were talking in very loud voices, about me I might add. I just came over here to see what was going on." He looked directly at Rune. "You are enjoying your drink, yes?"

"Don't see me complaining, do you? What's with the free booze anyway?" Rune questioned the sheik curiously.

He took his hand away from Raja and strode over to Rune, placing his hands upon the esper instead, familiarly. He leant down a bit and chuckled. "I have seen lots of people come in here needing a drink, but never as much as you. Been having a bad day? We all have them sometimes. You hang in there, my friend."

The sheik brushed his cloak over his white-robed shoulder and headed for the exit. The three protectors watched him go silently. "…Wow. What was that all about?" Hahn asked Rune and laughed. "Do strange men in bars often buy you drinks, Rune?"

Before a backdrop of Raja chortling away Rune asked in a soft, deadly voice; "What exactly are you insinuating?"

Hahn backed off the subject. "Hey, I'm just kidding. Take a joke." He sweatdropped.

Rune could not take a joke. This was displayed soon after when Hahn cried out in surprise and had ice tossed down someplace that was both uncomfortable and outrageously funny. Fortunately, Raja was around to give the scene the full attention that it deserved.

Outside the Pao Pao the day aged and the sky turned to dull red fire.

Night would come soon.

†††

"In the beginning, I didn't think that anything had gone wrong. I had just been shot, there was a brief pain which cut short into numbness, so the only logical explanation I had was that I had been successfully killed. This was death, it was dark and empty and scary, just like I had always heard and read about. I expected a lot of things, like meeting the Light or the Darkness for judgement or something like that. I even thought I might fade away and become nothing at all. Basically I expected something to happen, but it didn't."

It had been a short time since Mieus had managed to get Warren to stop crying and now they were both sitting on the long metal operating table, like children on a fence. Warren was still nervously trying to get used to the bright lights in the room, the loud voices and other overpowering stimuli. To Mieus the lights were dim and fuzzy and they were speaking only a few shades above whispers. She didn't have anything to say, couldn't really think of any words of comfort but it seemed comforting enough to listen. She did hold his hand though, that seemed to help a bit.

"Nothing happened. For a thousand years, nothing at all. I began to get worried. What if something had gone wrong and they had forgotten about me? With the war going on lots of people were dying, I might have slipped through the cracks of the cosmic reassignment system. Every android is atheist until they die, I think. I was willing to believe in anything as long as things would stop standing still and I could go on my way. After a while even hell was beginning to look appealing when compared to the dark."

"I was terrified of it. It drove me mad. Over and over again, slipping into madness, then sanity and back again. I must have done that a hundred times just to escape the horrors of the dark. I started to see things in the darkness, stuff that couldn't possibly be real. Feverish hallucinations, fragments of the past. Lots of blood and palman body parts. You're lucky you managed to revive me when I was in a 'sane' phase, or you might have had a gibbering or screaming idiot to deal with instead of myself."

Mieus didn't really want to know the precise details of what he had seen. If it had been enough to frighten a military officer, who had already seen the grotesque horrors of war into madness, then little Mieus who had committed small yet morbid crimes would not be able to truly cope or appreciate it. But, like a mangled spaceship wreck the question and the curiosity were right there, waiting to be said.

She changed the subject instead, to something else she had an interest in. Warren seemed wretched, tired, more than ever like a prisoner released from his cell for the first time and wondering where to go from there. "So those charges against you, were they real too?" She questioned softly.

Warren looked at her strangely, not badly, but like he was surprised she appeared uncertain about it. He had gotten so used to people blaring at him about his guilt that it made him pause and consider what Mieus had said. "Uh, I suppose so. Maybe. It depends on how you look at it. I changed sides, stole information, plotted along with the Sa Ruik clan, but the murder… I swear to you it was an accident. I would never kill a person intentionally outside of a war zone."

"What happened? Did somebody discover your secret so you had to shut them up? I would certainly kill then, it'd serve the little snoop right for poking into my business." The red-haired girl smiled. Oh, to be around during an exciting war instead of this boring old space station! Imagine the organized chaos, the fighting, all that life! Why did she have to be created in this era, when all that was asked of her was to be seen and not heard? Some things were so unfair, she thought.

Mieus had a thoroughly romanticized view of warfare, while Warren had seen more than enough of the ugly side of war to understand it. To hate it. He let go of Mieus' hand and ran his own over his face briefly. He had thought about it over and over again the past thousand years, there had been nothing else to do.

"We were being shot at, the Sa Ruik clan and I in the deepest depths of Motavia's sprawling external memory, Paseo's central tower. The rebels had to escape. I stayed behind to return fire and give the allied forces a target to focus upon. I remember it very well, as if it had happened yesterday. When the colonel came into range I thought I could drive them away by threatening their commander. It was my intention to wing him, give him a slight flesh wound to think about, but the very moment I raised my rifle and fired I was hit in the shoulder by an enemy blast, throwing off my aim."

"Instead of winging him you shot him in the throat. You killed him. Darling, that wasn't your fault. I hope you know that." Mieus told him, hopping off the table. She wondered if Siren was becoming impatient with their procrastination, but she wasn't going to lead Warren out of the cell until he was ready for it. As soon as his cognitive capacity was back around optimal levels he would be okay.

"Oh, yes. Of course. I'm aware of that. I just wish it had never happened. I still would have been executed but at least Colonel Finley wouldn't have died. In the service he was always good to me." For a moment it seemed like Warren was going to start crying all over again, but the feeling passed and he just looked wistfully sad. "Gods, this is all so hard to take in. So much darkness, so much time, and now everything suddenly rushes towards me all at once. I just don't know what to do with it all."

"You should talk to my master. It was only through his will that you're alive and moving again. You need to thank him for his generosity. After all," Mieus flashed him a truly winning, faithful smile, "now we can find our purpose of which we were denied."

"Our purpose…" Warren repeated numbly, trying to force himself out of his melancholic daze. He had only ever had one true purpose, given to him by his first master. That order and purpose had sunk so deeply into his core that it had become a part of his very being. Siren would have understood that feeling quite well. His purpose was only to help people, to save and better other people's lives whenever he had the opportunity. He shook his head slowly. "Alright. Let's see if I can still stand up and walk, or if I've forgotten how."

He shifted and tried to get his feet back on the ground. Warren's motions were clumsy and uncertain, like he expected to wind up prone on the floor rather than standing up straight. Mieus didn't help him. It was important for him to test the functions of his limbs and balance on his own. He wobbled a bit but remained upright, then took a few careful steps towards the open door. Siren's reinstallation of his equalizers was successful. The rehabilitation had only just begun, but Mieus thought he would be okay.

Despite the success Warren still leaned against the wall in case it had been a lucky fluke. With a bit of good fortune they'd soon have him running again and dodging blasts just like in the old days. Mieus stepped over to him and peeked out of the corridor for a moment. Siren was down the hallway and starting off into space just as his series type were wont to do. Patience within impatience, she guessed.

Mieus nearly jumped a meter into the air when Warren laid a hand on her shoulder. He didn't know that she was a little skittish about being touched so she could forgive him for that, but Mieus wished that she could get a bit of a warning next time. "Eek!" She squeaked, then readjusted her voice and said in a more normal tone; "what is it?"

She spun around and was surprised and pleased to see Warren smiling at her, for the first time since he had woken up. He had a very open, honest smile about him. "I really am alive again, aren't I? It's not just a dream. I can trust you, right?" He took his other hand off the wall and gripped her other shoulder, trusting Mieus completely with his balance. Warren thought for a moment about to say what was on his mind, then decided to just go for it. What could he lose? "Um… Mieus? I don't remember very well, but I think… um, did you kiss me earlier?"

He was asking a lot of questions, to which Mieus only had one answer for all of them. More than anything else she enjoyed his nervous shyness and the attention paid onto her. Because of that she didn't really mind him touching her. "Yes. Of course, darling." She said.

"Oh. Okay then. I wasn't certain." Warren admitted to her, bravely trying to make sense of a confusing situation. He was grateful to the other wren-type he had seen earlier, the one who had revived him, but Mieus had been the one he identified first and so he bore some sort of illogical attachment to her. He couldn't get past her. It was no time to stand still, he had been doing that for far too long.

"Thank you for helping me, Mieus. Nobody has helped me for so long that I… I had forgotten what it felt like." He murmured to her bashfully, leaning down to kiss her gently on the cheek. Before Mieus could react Warren had already let go of her and was tentatively making his way out of the room, his steps becoming progressively more confident as time wore on. The girl blinked once. She hadn't quite counted on being kissed back. Perhaps the wren wasn't quite as timid as he had at first appeared.

Siren heard them coming long before Mieus and Warren could reach him. He had been loitering beside a cell door and thinking of the Le Cille girl he encountered just before the layans had evacuated the station. Such a small android emblazoned with the red mark of Laya. What could that possibly mean? What purpose could it serve? All Siren knew was that whatever it was he could not condone it. There was something inherently wrong about combining the two houses of Le Cille and Sa Ruik, twisted and not right. Not right at all.

He was the only exception to the rule, always and forever.

Before he knew it the two androids were there in front of him, waiting for him to say something. He had already dealt with Mieus earlier and knew where he stood with her, but the other wren-type needed to be processed as well. The warren only had two certain futures, two paths for him to take. He could either submit to his will and way, or he could opt to go back into his deep and eternal sleep. A real sleep this time, not even Siren was cruel enough to reintroduce him to that old torture. The warren seemed functional enough to make a competent decision for himself. It was time to choose.

"So you are Warren six hundred and eighty three, or Warren McCulloch as you seemingly prefer to be called. How should I address you? Doctor or Major?" Siren announced curtly, coldly, and impassively.

At the mention of his military title Warren straightened himself up quick smart. Siren was quite an imposing presence and five years of service made Warren want to treat Siren like a superior, but he was an officer and he had to act as such. He did not take a submissive stance just yet. "Either one would do me fine, but in the end all you need do is call me Warren. That's my name, after all."

Siren folded his arms and smirked in amusement. He watched Mieus sidle away from the two male androids to get a nice clear view of what was about to happen. If Siren could get a few good minutes of time with somebody he could usually read them like a book, androids included. Believe it or not, they were far easier to figure out than any living palman. "I have several questions for you, Warren. Two of them are most important to me. Depending on how you answer them you will either be free to live your life or you will be relegated back to your cell. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly. I'll try to be truthful."

"Do you have an ID code in which to access Zelan's secure information files? Have you worked on this space station before?"

Warren barely had to dwell on the question. He could hardly erase those months of angry, frustrating impatience. "Sure. I mean, I'm not sure if the computers would accept my ID now after so many years but I would be more than happy to try. I used to process meteorological forecasts for Motavia and Dezoris. It wasn't a very glamorous job." He chuckled.

"You were a weather man?" Mieus inquired innocently from the side.

"Yeah. It was my version of retirement. When I was discharged from the service they couldn't rightly throw away a war veteran, so they stuck me out of sight and mind here on Zelan with a few other android vets to work with. I never liked it very much, but I had nowhere else to go. My family had been relegated to the worldships prior to the war. I had to stay behind."

Hearing of the ID code was very reassuring. It meant he wouldn't have to go through the process of resuscitation all over again. Siren enjoyed nothing more than tinkering with machines but business always came before pleasure. He had a feeling that the layans would come back. They needed to be prepared for it. "I am under the impression you served the house of Sa Ruik at some point. Is this true? Are you an Orakian as I am?"

"I'm not sure what an Orakian is, but I was on okay terms with the Sa Ruik clan. I met Riketz Sa Ruik during the war, did some very hasty shrapnel-removing surgery on him, then I was discharged and joined his clan soon after. Up until I was executed I was his friend, not his servant." Warren frowned all of a sudden, like something small had irritated him. "He never came to save me from the firing squad. Nobody did, but I expected as much. Did you know Riketz?"

"Not Riketz, his son Orakio. I know of the elder Sa Ruik only because my master spoke often of his father. I suppose you are an honest orakian, Major. I needed to be certain of that." It was no small thing to be friends with the father of his master. It did not really matter a thousand years in the future, but they had found a stable link to the past in which they could orient themselves upon.

Warren bowed his head a little and appeared to be thinking deeply, sorting through old memories coated in a thick layer of dust. It was the tiny, fragmented memories that were the hardest to keep track of. Also, he wasn't quite sure why but it felt like he was thinking in a completely different way to what he was used to. It was the same result but a different process, the new operating system working flawlessly within his mind. Not his own way. Siren's way.

All of a sudden he looked up again and smiled brightly. "Ah, little Orakio! I remember, Riketz showed me a photograph of him and his brother once. He was a kid with dark hair, slightly serious-looking. Wasn't he sent to the worldships during the exodus of Palma?"

"Yes." Siren replied simply. "Enough small talk. Mieus, get up. We will head for the bridge and unlock Zelan from within. I trust you will be of use to us, Major."

Mieus started to climb to her feet by herself but Warren offered her his hand and she took it without thinking. The wren-type thought that the best way to get himself back into optimal condition was through work. He missed working, even mindless tedium would be a blessing right now. Later on he would try to come to terms with his memories, preferably when he was alone. "You brought me back to life. I would do anything that you asked of me." He intoned softly. "I'd like to help you."

That was exactly what Siren wanted to hear. Together the three of them, the two men and one woman left the storage blocks and their overwhelming atmosphere of death, back to Zelan's control area which was brightly lit and animated. The flashing, pulsing lights gave the illusion of motion, of functionality. Mieus clung to Warren's arm this time instead of her master, which suited Siren just fine. She'd keep him from falling over should his legs suddenly fail him.

Whatever secrets Zelan held for Siren were beginning to become unlocked even before Warren spoke of his ID code. There were many different ways to get at classified information and controls. He knew that Zelan held some kind of mastery over Algo's weather, and he knew that the layan would want this place back badly for the damage that it could do in the wrong hands. Not all damage could be bad though, some of it could be cleansing. Algo needed to be cleansed of the layan scum and the Great Light had seen it fit to lend him this powerful weapon. He did not believe in coincidence.

The major was looking all around Zelan as they walked towards the control area, as if to reacquaint what he was seeing with the memories in his data banks. After a thousand years hardly anything had changed. The only difference was the vast echoing emptiness. What had happened to all the people? Usually whenever you walked down this hallway you couldn't help but bump into a scientist or a friend, or both. Zelan had been a two hundred-strong force of hard workers, androids and intellectuals. They were all gone.

Time held a cruel, gnawing hunger for life. Warren had avoided it by existing on the edge of time but it made him want to cry again thinking about all the things he had missed, all the friends he had lost. He slipped into a seat in front of one of the central control computers and detected Siren and Mieus taking their places standing and behind him. The computer came online smoothly. He started to type. "I hope I still remember the code." He said to himself and the others quietly.

"For your sake you had better." Siren replied in a threatening, yet subdued voice.

"I'll try my best, sir." Without even realizing it Warren had begun to address the elder wren-type with a respectful honorific. He accessed Zelan's mainframe and selected a program restricted by the ID system, the climate manipulation program. This was way out of his old jurisdiction but to hell with it, who was going to stop him now?

He entered his eighteen digit ID code into the computer and expected to be denied access. It had been too long, and because of his criminal record they were sure to have deleted all his computer clearance. Warren hit the enter key and waited. He was mildly surprised. "Oh, it went through. We're in."

"Move over." Siren snapped and pushed Warren out of the seat. There it was, access to all of Zelan's various functions. Limited read-only mode had been deactivated. He memorized the ID code for further reference. They could alter climate, some short-term weather patterns, had a dedicated connection to all other facilities within Algo and that was only scratching at the surface. It was Algo's ultimate seat of power, and it was all his. "Yes, this is exactly what I wished to see. Thank you, Warren."

He climbed out of the seat and as if he were in his own world Siren wandered toward the most central part of the control area. Zelan's mammoth computer brain towered above them like an ancient colossus. Large plexiglas windows around the station let in the stars and the oily blackness of space. The red-haired android turned sharply on his heel and regarded the only two people in Algo he had no inclination to hate. Warren and Mieus were holding hands, like they were about to be involved in something they couldn't possibly do alone.

"My dream is my master's dream. My purpose was my master's purpose. Lord Orakio Sa Ruik may be slain but his ambitions and determination live on within me. I will never allow Dark Force to come back into this world, I will kill all who worship Him and send them to the Great Light for their judgement. The layan race shall be destroyed." He looked out the window. From there he could see Motavia floating in the sea of space, much like the dirty brown pebble that it was.

Siren calmed himself, kept his sermonic attitude in check. But this was to be the beginning of a new world order, so they must forgive him for a little zealotry. "…I am many things, but I am not mad. I know that I cannot accomplish this great and terrible feat on my own. I require servants to carry out my will and my way. From now on there will only ever be one true way. What say you souls who have been exiled from the worlds for your crimes?"

Mieus reacted first. She detached herself from Warren's side and slowly walked towards the central area, toward her master and the one who had set her free. When she got to about five feet away from him she sunk down to her knees, kneeling in subservience to her master. "Many people have said that they loved me but in the end it all turned out to be lies. I don't need love, I need a reason to live. If you can give that to me, Master Siren, then I would follow you to the ends of this galaxy and beyond. I swear to serve you faithfully."

"I can give that to you, Mieus, I swear it on my honor." Siren intoned respectfully to his servant. All of a sudden this had become a ritual, an induction into something that would both be horrible and wonderful. Algo had not seen this likes of this in well over a thousand years.

Warren was next. He hesitated, because he could feel the heavy gravity and seriousness of the situation. The last time he had bought into an organization such as this it had gotten him killed. He didn't want to go through that for a second time. However, on the other hand, and from the small part of himself that had come from Siren, deep down he was bitter and angry, wanted revenge for the hideous punishment he had endured which far outweighed his crimes.

This was his only future. There was nothing else. Warren walked up toward Siren and dropped to one knee beside Mieus. He had spent his life serving others, this would be no different. "Despite what I have done with myself I am not a special person. Compared to other wren-types I am unintelligent, undisciplined, far too emotional, and untrustworthy. I am only a good fighter and a good surgeon. If you have use for my services you can have them, and if you can give me a new life to lead then I would gladly take it. Master Siren, you brought me back from the dead. For that I swear to serve you faithfully."

He was selling himself short, but that humility was another sign of a good servant. Everybody had their uses, Siren would figure one out for the major soon enough. He smiled. "I can give that to you, Warren, I swear it on my honor. Stand, the both of you."

They stood in perfect sync, awaiting further instruction. Like brother and sister, or like a close couple. "With the life I have returned to your bodies you will use it to serve me for the rest of your days. Until I choose to release you, or until death takes you. Do you consent to these terms?"

"Yes, Master Siren." Mieus and Warren said in unison, mechanically.

Siren seemed pleased. This reminded him of that stormy night so long ago, when he and Mium had pledged their lives to Lord Orakio. He saw a part of himself in this second generation of loyal vassals. "Very well. From this moment onwards you will be my faithful disciples, and the both of you are bound as partners. I trust that you will get along well with one another. Are there any objections?"

Warren and Mieus both considered the proposal. Being bound into servitude was something they had expected, but they had not anticipated being bound to each other. Mieus had always been alone her entire life, and Warren had had comrades but never a partner. The pair looked at each other for a few moments. It wouldn't be so bad. It wasn't as if they hated one another or anything. They liked each other.

"I asked for Warren to be brought back to life, so I'll take good care of him. I promise." Mieus pledged to her master with a pretty, sincere smile.

"Mieus and I will be very happy together." Warren reassured him, hoping he would be telling the truth. He hadn't known that it had been Mieus' idea to bring him back to life. That was rather kind of her.

"Soon enough I believe the layans who have guarded this space station will return. Three palmans, two androids, one dezorian, and one female of unknown species. They are all layans or layan sympathizers. We will let them back on Zelan and we will slaughter them." Siren laughed shortly and cruelly. Immediately all the tension, all the ritual atmosphere of the room was gone. To the two servants it was a relief. The elder wren-type strode up to them and planted one hand on Warren's shoulder, the other on Mieus'.

"We do have some time left before they arrive. I am going to use it to get acquainted with this station's computer system. You two should spend your time getting prepared for combat. Warren, many of your missing parts are back in your cell. Go and take what you need. Mieus will go with you. Tell me, have the both of you ever killed anybody before? Up close and personal?"

This question placed a catlike smile on Mieus' lips and a slight air of defensiveness in Warren's attitude. The girl tossed some hair over her shoulder proudly. "That's that only way to do it right, Master. I've done it lots of times. If you ask me to do it again I won't disappoint you." Her tone dropped, becoming smooth and sultry. "We're here because we all are murderers."

"I've never had any reason to keep track of them, but surely my rank says enough. I didn't become a major by shooting at birds." Warren muttered as quietly as he could, having virtually the opposite reaction as his partner. The only pride he had ever held in the trenches and jungles was the pride of keeping his friends healthy and alive. He had happily kept track of all the people he had saved, both inside the war and out. It kept him going, reminded him that he really was making a difference.

Siren moved back to the computer, which sung and beckoned to him silently with its comfortingly flickering screen. He had no fears, no anxiety. There was no need for anything but confidence when one was protected and supported by the Great Light itself. "Good. Then I am certain that there will be no problems when you kill again for Lord Orakio's sake, for your master's sake." He turned back to look at them with a steely gaze. "Go on, you are dismissed. Do not waste your time."

A nod and a salute.

"Yes Master."

"Sir."

Siren's way had begun.