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They were kind of surprised to come back to the timestream in 2562 to find
that there were no more hits on Ramses’ warning system. Well, there were few
in the meantime, but they closed out by the time they returned. He
specifically designed it to maintain some privacy. An invisible probe would
spy on the colonists, and log what was happening to them, categorizing what
might be an issue, then if necessary, send an alert back to homebase. It
would not reveal what happened, or what they would be getting themselves
into. If something changed about the situation, the probe would amend the
status with a new report, which in many cases, would render the team moot.
They knew there would be things they missed due to their patterns. That
didn’t mean they wanted to gather exabytes of data on the lives of
strangers. They were only here to help, and if there was nothing they could
do, they didn’t need to know about it.
In his spare time, Ramses had figured out what went wrong with Romana’s
sojourn in her private virtual environment before. She had set it up
incorrectly, not reaching out for help when she needed it, because she
wanted to keep it a secret. He assured them that it would not happen again.
She was going to go back there when her father stopped her. “What? You don’t
want me to see him? You think it’s unhealthy?”
“I’m not here to judge you,” Mateo promised. “We would like to meet him. For
real, this time. Preferably when he’s fully clothed, but...again, I don’t
wanna judge.”
“We’re not naturists,” Romana explained. “What do you want, a dinner?”
Mateo checked his watch. “Whatever meal you would have at whatever time it
is in there. We’re flexible. I just want you to know that I love and I
support you. I saw how Linwood Meyers’ eyes lit up when his companion bot
walked into the room. I come from a different time, when that kind of
relationship wasn’t possible. That doesn’t mean I should be closed off to
the idea. Quite the opposite. I need to recognize my ignorance.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Romana said. She looked over at Leona and
Olimpia, who were planning to go in too, but hadn’t spoken up yet. “Maybe
just one at a time, though. I don’t know if Boyd is conscious, but he
is sensitive.”
“That’s okay,” Leona said with a smile. “You two go in alone. I have some
work to do on our habitats anyway. Enjoy your dinner. Eat whatever you want.
You can’t get fat.”
“Yeah, and I’m gonna...go eat something that might make me fat,” Olimpia
added.
“I’ll still love you,” Mateo said. “All of you.” He kissed his wife, then
his other wife.
Father and daughter entered the simulation. It didn’t look like Topeka
anymore. It was just a peaceful jungle or forest, or whatever. A huge
waterfall fell into the little pond before them, but the volume was turned
down low, so it wasn’t a sensory overload. They were wearing casual summer
clothes, and it was the ideal temperature here. They heard someone call
Romana from behind. They turned around, and she smiled brightly.
“Boyd!” Romana cried back, waving. She ran up to him so they could kiss.
Boyd was noticeably uncomfortable with the PDA. “Is it okay?”
Romana looked back over at Mateo too. “It’s okay. He won’t bite.”
Mateo walked up to them. “I really won’t.” He offered his hand. “It’s nice
to officially meet you,” Boyd Maestri. “I thought maybe we could share a
meal.”
“I would very much like that, sir,” Boyd replied. “I had a picnic planned,
but we can do something else. There is plenty of food either way.”
“A picnic sounds lovely,” Mateo said. “Lead the way.”
They went off to eat. It was awkward, but became less so over time. Then the
monsters came.
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