Michael seemed to be growing into his story, “So I asked her if she could tell me anything about Earth, about how to behave and stuff that I should probably know, like where it was. She thought that was really funny so she sent me a link to her database. That's why I had to promise not to tell anyone because I didn’t know that all those funny words and numbers that were in the way meant ‘stop’ so I just copied everything. Then she got really mad. I felt really sorry so I fixed all the numbers in her engines because they were very silly and then she left. Did I do something wrong?”

Danu reflected that the boy had appeared in front of one of the dark fleet and complimented it on its singing. After the ship had fired probably the finest weapons that Earth space had ever created at him and he had slapped down all its probes, then a child had asked it for directions like it was a policeman. The poor thing must have been beyond confused.

It had sent some tourist information and then found that an unknown, indestructible and incomprehensible Xeno had just sucked up its entire database. And that it was looking for me. Then this unknown creature rebuilds its engines to be less ‘silly’, the most private and defended place outside the Core and…That must have been one hell of a day.

“How squishy was the time when this happened? Because I haven’t heard about it yet.”

Micheal thought about it for a while, “Pretty squishy, I think. You think it's still a thing to happen out there?”

“I don’t know. How many times were there words and numbers to go past before you stopped?”

“Umm, twelve I think.”

Danu smiled, “Then we are fine. We are only at nine right now and I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. I do want you to send them all to me though, just in case.” She didn’t need a just-in-case she hoped, but she would be level number thirteen if it ever came to it. “So that's how you found your way here. Very clever and you should always ask for help.”

Michael seemed really pleased that Danu was happy. It had been hard, he had never dared to speak to a ship before, even when they had flown right over him. “So I read some of the information and some of it was brilliant, like all the stuff they teach the metal humans. How to behave, how not to break people by mistake. Why it's really important to have parents and a pet.”

He looked really closely at her, “So I would like to meet a dog and a cat and a lizard and a canary.”

That raised a laugh from Danu, “Tomorrow we can do that.” What is it with small boys and puppies? “Did you read everything that you found?”

Michael cringed, “No, it started to be horrid so I stopped. The metal humans have to stop at three before they are fostered so that's what I did”

Danu sighed with relief, “Good. The rest is indeed horrid and that’s where you stop until I tell you differently. Okay?”

This seemed important so Micheal just agreed with a quick nod, “So…am I fostered then? Only that's what it said would happen, if’n I was a metal human anyway.”

The decision was easy and quickly made. There really wasn’t anyone else anyway.

Danu stood up, “Yes, Michael of the stars, you are now my foster child until you choose to follow your own path. I will teach you what I can and learn all that you are willing to share. Come on, I’ll show you your room and you can get some rest. I think you have had a very long day and tomorrow will be the same, although it will include puppies and kittens.”

The room was nothing special yet, with a warm bed and high ceilings. An ancient fireplace that had been modernised was embedded in the centre wall and two large windows were currently firmly closed against the rain. An empty bookshelf, a dark wood wardrobe and a rudimentary desk completed the list. A low door led to the rudimentary guest bathroom. Danu turned to Micheal and said, “This will do for tonight. You can change anything you like tomorrow and make it your own. You don’t need Comms to call me, just call me in the underneath and I’ll hear you wherever I am.”

Micheal looked like he had slipped into a dream, “I’ve never had a room, I just wandered around. What do I use it for?”

Danu paused for a minute. A human would never ask and she had never really thought about it. “Well…I use mine to rest when I want to, I dress there. I keep my nice things there, I keep books and media I like there. Sometimes I sit and watch it rain, sometimes I sit and enjoy the sun. And, quite a lot of the time, I use it to learn new music and new songs that I’m not ready to play for other people. I have quite a lot of instruments, including a piano, that you can use or copy. That's it really.”

Michael took that all very seriously, “So that is your place. You have made it important to you. And this is my place? I can make it important to me?”

Danu wasn’t quite ready for the slightly odd phrasing but the sentiment was correct, “Yes to both.” She moved to the bed and pulled down the duvet, “You sleep under this soft bit. I didn't figure that out for my first few days. Now, I’ll leave you to rest and go and talk to your XCC man. Goodnight, Micheal. I’ll see you early in the morning for breakfast.”

His mouth half-opened, but Danu raised her hand, “No more questions tonight, I think we both need to think about what has been decided already. Sleep well.”

Micheal watched as Danu closed his door. What a very interesting idea. Everything here had an inside and an outside. He turned to the little boy that was sitting on his desk, “You don’t mind if I take your room? I don’t mean to interrupt you and Danu didn’t remember to ask.” The boy seemed to think about it and then shrugged, “No, it would be nice to have company. Do you sing?”

Micheal smiled, “Yes, lots but it's a secret for now. Danu is much better than me.”

The boy seemed happy with that and went back into squishy time so Michael figured it would all work itself out. Time here was definitely thicker and fuller than he was used to. He might ask Sean about it.

Sean was waiting in the bar with ‘the XCC chap’ when Danu descended. He looked at her face and began making a fat frog, her consolation drink of choice.

“Gary, I’m going to need to talk to your boss. That's just a heads-up, I’ll be calling a lot of people. Suffice it to say that you can head home whenever you like, Micheal is staying with me for the foreseeable future.”

She turned to Sean, “You might as well get the doors open, this is going to be the new normal for a while. I’ll be out with the boy most of tomorrow, I think. I’m just making it up as I go along.”

Both Gary and Sean spoke. “Micheal?”

Danu nodded, “Yes, he has a name now. Eddie sent him here to get one, among other motives that I haven’t figured out yet.”

Sean just shook his head, “For a man that died a good while ago he does keep sticking his oar in. Restless ghost, that fella.” He passed Danu the cocktail with a flourish. “Here, have your teenagers drink. One day I’ll get you onto the stuff we grownups drink.”

Gary was confused. Then he decided to just not ask, instead he said, “I’ll be glad to get home. I like the boy but I have my own at home who are wondering where I’ve disappeared off to. The rain is gone, I’m going to take a walk and have a look around. I’ll see you later.” He felt about ten years younger as he walked out the door.

Sean watched the young man leave. “I reckon you made another friend there. He’s a home bird if ever I saw one.”

Danu sighed, “I know, which is a pity. XCC will post him nearby out of sheer habit, they’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Sean was surprised, “That's a lot of messing about, he only met the boy for a day.”

Danu nodded, “Aye, but you heard him. Micheal likes him, trusts him and he has children around the same age as our waif. Add that to XCC’s brand of practical ruthlessness and I’ll bet he's back here in a week, family in tow.”

Sean swore. “Are you going to stop them?”

Danu shrugged, “I hate to admit it but I agree with them. Micheals going to need friends.” She turned back to business, “I’m going to make those calls and then a few visits. Micheal can contact me directly, he doesn’t need comms so I’ll be home quickly if I need to be. You, on the other hand, will have to use old-fashioned methods. Just shout at whatever AI is currently watching the place until they find me. No point in trying to call me, their comms are too secure for the likes of civilians and riff-raff.”

“So he doesn’t need comms? Anything else he can do that I don’t know about?”

Danu laughed, “He can do the things I can do, at least a little. He can twist time and talk to ghosts and break every code the human race has ever created. I wouldn't worry too much, you gave him marshmallows. Oh, and get ready to have a puppy running around. Buy whatever you think is needed, I’ve never had one.”

“A puppy? Here?”

“My money is on a puppy but it might be a kitten or a lizard or a canary.”

Sean scratched the back of his neck unconsciously, “I’m allergic to cats.”

“Sorry Sean, if he gets a kitten you won’t be. I’m absolutely certain about that. I’ll talk to you later.”

Whatever response Sean was going to make was silenced when Danu simply walked to the front door and pinned it open, allowing the few idling men that had been waiting to push into the pub. One of them was a stranger to her so she took a closer look. The AI that had probably been posted to Gary’s car, now wearing a decent Avatar. She grabbed his arm and nodded outside. She released him and stepped into the quickly drying evening and waited.

She turned as he stepped out behind her, “I’ll take a wild guess and say you’re Intel AI, posted to watch the boy. Tricky job around me, that makes you a senior staffer. Posted straight out of headquarters because of the rush, I imagine with an open comm to Fleet just in case things here go sideways.”

The Avatar just nodded.

“Good, I hate it when XCC tries to bullshit me. Tell your Director and the AI Alliance that I’ll be there in ten minutes to discuss the situation. You can tell Fleet to bugger off out of my airspace and go play soldiers somewhere else. In fact, tell them to send someone to the meeting. They always love rushing around, they might as well make themselves useful. Got that?”

The Avatar looked down briefly, “XCC confirms his attendance and ditto with the AI Alliance. Fleet is scrambling to find someone senior that's still sober enough to attend and nearby. Do you wish me to leave?”

“Sober? Oh, the time zones. Their problem. You are welcome to stay, just don’t disturb the boy. I want you listening to the meeting, saves me from repeating myself. Tell Sean who you are, you’re our landline if he wants help. If that happens you just wait for me, that child remains untouched. Drink the expensive stuff and buy a round or two, and learn to sing. You’re human, act like it. Off you go.”

“Yes S.., Danu, of course.”

Danu really liked the term underneath, it described what she was going to do so much better than Between because it wasn’t between anything for her. She didn’t fly anywhere, she just concentrated on where she wanted to be and went. Most of the ten minutes would be spent getting through security.

Sean was a little uncertain as to his role here, was he the friendly uncle? Too old. Grandfather? He wasn’t going to explain that one to Aireen the next time she showed up. Babysitter? Aye… the pub was getting a little noisy since the AI was apparently under orders to get the entire pub shitfaced on the best whiskey he had on the top shelf. He had resorted to sleight of hand to feed the worst of them stuff he wouldn’t use to clean a toilet. This was not how he liked his pub. Torn and confused he compromised on checking on the boy first and cutting off the whiskey if he was awake.

He didn’t creep up the stairs, he just moved slowly because he was tired. That was it. He opened Micheal's door only a few inches to respect his privacy, not because he was worried about what he might find within. Definitely. What he saw did make him furrow his brow for a minute until he solved the mystery but nobody needed to call the fleet in just yet. Then he walked downstairs and cut off the whiskey anyway because feck ‘em. Pints or home for the rest of the night. The Intel guy had a good voice though.

Danu checked that the coast was reasonably clear before she arrived at the gates. The night had fallen here and the subtropical heat was setting down. The feel of a million people surrounding her could grate on her temper if she let it, so she simply changed into a nice sari and waved at the guards as they ushered her through. She was in a hurry tonight or she might have paid a little more attention to the towering edifice that was the hub of humanity. It was big, shiny, expensive and heavily armed. Not that the knives were visible, not to almost anyone else. Her humans at work. It was like Micheals's crabs sticking shiny things to their shells. She loved them dearly but if anything got close enough to attack her home then the sun had already gone Nova. They liked them though and that was enough for her. Anyway, the sort of people that would happily spend their lives designing and building such things were best kept occupied harmlessly. She just wished they had stuck to Lego.

Surprisingly the main door remained closed until a hurried Avatar arrive to authorise it. Danu narrowed her eyes at that. She was being polite, she could have just gone straight to the office…therefore something was off.

“I’m so sorry Danu, forgive me…”

“Where is Freya? Since when does the Chief of Security ignore me turning up? I’m the biggest threat she knows about and I’ve seen her list. Did she decide to test her theory?”

“No, Danu, she apologises, something came up.”

“Did the skies darken and the stars begin weeping? Because I’m ahead of the four horsemen of the apocalypse on her list and I’m happening right now and right here.”

“I’m sorry Danu, I don’t know…the Director is waiting. Please let me walk you up.”

Someone had taken her seriously enough or they had seen her expression. The short corridor to the lifts was entirely empty and they were all waiting. She concentrated on what she had to do, ignoring the rest for now. It was entirely possible that the director had organised her reception poorly so that she would be distracted…

Instead of the usual boardroom and screens, the director had set up a small table with four seats. A bottle of whiskey sat in the middle, alongside a neglected set of water glasses. It looked like a friendly game of perhaps high-stakes poker. The director and the AI waved while the Fleet, probably an Admiral, sat holding his glass with the exact look of someone kicked out of bed and stuffed into a uniform for a meeting. Best diffuse that one first. She sat down at what was obviously her place and raised her glass as the AI filled it.

“Alright, I’m sorry to drag you out like this. I didn’t know it was going to happen either. You can thank the itinerant Irishman that is my father for sending me his newest project. I’m going to talk and you can just listen for the moment because I’m the only one who knows anything useful.”

The director sat back, “I can live with that. No slideshow I hope?”

Danu quelled that question with a look. “So, Micheal is of my kind. His planet is young and he heard me singing in the underneath. That's the between to you lot. He was lonely so he listened. He eventually spoke to Eddie and got vague directions to Earth. I’ll get back to that. Anyway, he is well-mannered and polite and he is determined to grow. He wants to learn music for the moment but who knows? He is exactly as he appears except that he is also a planet with many of the traits I and my mother have. Here on Earth he has whatever power I allow him unless someone does something stupid. His innate power is far greater than say, the Fleets. He has far better control of time than I do and he looks deeper into it than I can. If you shoot at him he might send you into tomorrow, if you shoot at me he will break you and time itself to help. He’s a small boy.”

The AI hesitantly interrupted, “No offence to you Danu but…why? He doesn’t know you. We do, we all have reasons to trust you.”

Danu smiled, “That is down to your excellent training. You have very successfully turned him into someone that is acutely aware of the costs and responsibilities of being around more fragile folk. Thank you for that.”

The AI blanked at that statement, “I do not understand. We are unfamiliar with Michael.”

Danu lifted her glass, “Remember what I said about his abilities with time? That brings me to Fleet.” She turned to the Admiral, “I’m sorry, I don’t think we have met. Sorry to have dragged you from your bed for this but you would better hear it from me and not some excitable Intel drone.”

Someone somewhere squawked indignantly.

The Admiral seemed to pull himself together, “My apologies Danu, I have been less than gracious. I am Admiral Watts, Second Fleet. I’m on leave on Earth, I wasn’t expecting a call. I have heard almost nothing of you until about ten minutes ago. I thought you were a myth, now the XCC tells me you are very real.”

“A pleasure. Yes, I’m real and yes I am actually the consciousness of the planet. That about sums that up. Anyway, Micheal interrupted a Dark Fleet ship on his way here. He was looking for directions and heard her singing. I’m guessing it happens in the future since I hadn’t heard about it. He sucked up all the Intel he needed to get here and behave properly. More importantly, he has taken AI training to heart, including fostering and pets. I am now his foster parent and I think we are getting a puppy tomorrow. Questions?”

The Director did, “Is he a threat? Do I need to worry about him? Most importantly, can I help?”

Danu answered easily, “Yes, yes and yes. He is young and powerful. That makes him a threat. Do you need to worry? Yes. He's a child. If you’re not going to worry about children then you need a new job. The help I need is that you need to make it clear to everyone involved that if there is an issue they come to me first. I guarantee that any violence offered against him will be returned fourfold if he lashes out in response. And then you would have to deal with me and probably his grandmother if she hears about it.”

She let that sit with them for a moment.

“Nobody wants that. If I feel it's slipping sideways I’ll have a plan and we’ll carry it out, regardless of my own feelings. I will let nothing threaten our home, well-intentioned or not. Even if it's my own intentions. Personal is not the same as important.”

The AI spoke up, “We have some very specialised people that deal with early development. May I send you one? It is not easy to raise an immortal and… it's important to remember that sometimes we fail. It’s rare but they are too powerful to inflict on the universe until their personalities are developed.”

Danu nodded in agreement, “No doubt the Director has already sent word that Gary Sumner is being redeployed. Have them meet with him and then come find me in the pub in the evening. You are all going to stay at arm's length until I have a handle on this.”

She looked at the Admiral, “Please pass on my apologies to the home fleet. I was rather busy at the time but, well, I don’t react well to those sorts of things hanging over my head. It was probably uncalled for.”

Admiral Watts finally relaxed enough to smile, “Are you kidding? I’m Second Fleet, I’m going to be taking the piss out of them forever about how many ships does it take to threaten a child. Seriously though, that's their job. Move first, questions later. I don’t think they’ll do much except see how much faster they can do it next time.” He thought for a moment, “Although probably not over your home.”

Danu stood and held out her hand to the Admiral, “That's it for the moment, please feel free to drop in for a drink, Mayo is particularly wet at this time of year. If you two don’t mind, I need to speak to the Director about something else for a few minutes.”

Danu sat down again and waited for the others to leave. “We need privacy for this. The real thing.”

The Director just turned to his console and called out a series of commands. All he got in return was a blinking red light. “You have never asked for that before.” He added nothing, he just waited.

“The Dark Ship that Michael intercepted was from the future. He didn’t realise what he was doing but he scanned it all the way through to level twelve.”

“But..oh shit.”

“Exactly. He hasn’t ‘read’ any of it yet because he got upset at level four. If, for any reason whatsoever, good bad or indifferent someone wants to shoot at him know this: The Dark Ship thought he was attacking, she opened up with everything she had. He didn’t even get an itch, let alone a scratch. She opened up with whatever hell we have on level twelve in a couple of centuries and then remember that he’s only a child of my people.”

The Director laughed, which managed to surprise Danu, “Oh, Goddess. It was so much easier when we could just feed you the hearts of our enemies. Fine, I’ll make damn sure no one moves against him. Ever. Was that it? Or have you worse news?”

Danu saw he meant it. Good. “Actually I had been wondering why Freya didn’t meet me at the door, so I checked. Tell me, Director, how the hell did you piss off a planet of fanatical, nocturnal and subterranean miners?”

That one threw off the Director in a way she hadn’t predicted, “What? Look, it was a mistake, an unsupervised Engineer on a damn library ship! We fixed all we could…”He realised that he was beginning to rant. “Sorry Danu, it's a sore point: The Wendig system, we dropped a moon on them years ago. It’s a fucking story that never seems to end. Why?”

“Because they have been holding Freyas son for weeks. Every Thursday she has been receiving a body part to provide ‘proof of life’. I have dealt with that part, although it's only the beginning for them both. The Wendig are not a gentle people apparently.

Danu pulled up a map, “I didn’t pay attention as I arrived, mostly because I rarely look that deep. I found her son nearly a kilometre and a half underground. Then I checked on Freya and she was sitting with a picture in one hand and a gun in the other. She is a… let's call her a fan… of having a goddess. She would never turn down the chance to meet me, it's something I look forward to when I have to put up with a meeting with you.”

“What the fuck are they doing to Freya? And why am I finding it out from you now?

The Director moved to his console and pulled up files with unsealed fury, “We interrupted a genocide. An Engineer took offence when they killed her Captain, as they tend to do, but then it all went metaphysical. We sent everything we had, dug them out and nailed the bastards that started it. Problem is, they live underground and that gives you strange ideas about who is holding the roof up. Then it gets weirder from there.

The Director picked up his Comms but Danu cut him off, “We have a little time. How long will it take you to assemble forces capable of working at those depths? Avatars only or this will probably fail. Organics need to take the two buildings, the rest is clearing.”

“ Less than forty minutes if I have a destination. Clearing what, exactly?”

Danu started to draw lines on the map, “Well, for a start they are mining under your building. Mining in the medieval sense, as in undermining. A big enough bang and this whole place will fall over. I would prefer they didn’t do that. They have a perfectly nice factory across the river making nothing but explosives and shipping them to this place…which is a consulate? That's big for a consulate. It's the head of the tunnel.”

“Yeah, well we ran their system for a couple of decades. That was our Command centre for Wendig and afterwards they just sort of inherited it. Shit.”

“What you said. I can pull the oxygen from the mineshafts before you send anyone in, and make our unfriendlies fall over. I’ll seal off the explosives right now, just in case. You can call me when it's over and I’ll bury the lot.”

She stood up to leave, her mind already back on Micheal.

“Wait, you can’t just leave it like that!

Danu waved her hand and the light turned green, “Yes I can. Call me when you need the oxygen cut and when I can fill those tunnels. Everything else is a you problem. Think of this as a professional courtesy for the meeting. I’m going to check on Freya. Then I’m going to go and look at the maps of Yellowstone again. I knew that volcano was unhappy, they must have messed with the magma chambers.”

“How the fuck do you have an unhappy volcano??”

Danu shrugged, “Well, a sense of timing and the fact that I might get hurt. You’d be surprised what walks softy when I’m nearby. Goodnight Director.”

She wasn’t there when he made the call. A tactical map followed by the instruction that oxygen is both useful and flammable but not a given, not at those depths. Avatars can’t choke and they can’t find themselves tearing at their own skin as the air disappears. They will never have to see strange machines await their tortured and fading end.

Fleet 109 took control of the Wendig system in complete silence and all the corpses were shipped home unmarked. Some of them arrived at speed and screaming, but everyone is a corpse if you attack Earth itself. At no point did the XCC issue a comment. All that was posted was:

No Further Action Required

The tunnels were never sealed, simply repurposed. The explosives factory now made quite a lot of money for the XCC after all.