The Sound of Silence. Icy, Icy Silence.

It was too much to hope that Una and Moses would be able to accept Aimi's presence here. I know that. They hate her. The only person Una hates more than Aimi is Sever. And Moses - every time he looks at Aimi, his thoughts are full of blood and rage. Kiyoshi? ... I never expected that Kiyoshi would be an ally in this, but then I guess I should have seen it coming. But the one to watch for is High Dive.

High Dive is capable of anything.

Maybe that's why I fixed Aimi's gauntlet. It doesn't seem right to leave her without a weapon like that.

The thoughts of the Rusty Nail Rogues are silent. Shock. This is shock. It is a strange thing to look into the minds of everyone around me and see the same stunned silence in every one. They did better than I expected them to. I'd thought that they'd all be cut down within thirty seconds of beginning the attack. That any of them survived is more than I'd planned for. No matter.

Aimi.

I open the door and step within. It's really not more than a storage closet, and the mattress on the floor takes up most of it. The floors and the wall here are smooth, acrylic surfaces. I can see force and energy moving through them in pleasing patterns. The designers of this ship spared no expense. They must have hired some real artists when they were installing the power conduits.

She's there. Not meditating, not exactly. I remember those exercises. Mama Pa... Doctor Pain and Doctor Soren taught us how to shield ourselves against the outside world. I was never able to learn the trick. But Aimi did. And Sever, and Stitch, and Nero, and Malicious. Half an hour of the exercise every day to maintain the training. To keep the walls strong.

I shut the door, sit down just in front of the mattress, and wait. I'm surprised that she doesn't break the exercise when I come in. Is it because she doesn't think I'm a serious threat to her, or does she trust me? ... The former, I suppose. Her thoughts are muffled behind her mental shields, like a faint buzz of conversation in another room that is just too indistinct to be made out.

Twelve minutes later, she opens her eyes and looks at me like I'm an annoying insect that's crawled into her room through the floor. "What do you want?" she says.

I stare into her eyes, and for a moment, I see myself in them. Strip off the excess makeup, change the colour of the hair, age her four years, and we could be twins. We are, I guess. Six variations on the same DNA. And there she is, asking one of the Questions. "... That's a complicated question," I say. "It's one of the things that defines us, isn't it? Nero asked the same question. I've been asking the Questions for a long time now. 'Who are you? What do you want?'"

She's looking at me like I'm crazy. Maybe I am. I continue.

"I know I'm not very good at expressing..." I trail off. Why is this so difficult? Damnit. "I'm not very good at this. We've never been much of a family. Our people don't really have that. But family is important, and..." I trail off. Her eyes are unreadable, her thoughts a dim, muted hum.

"I know what you're thinking," I say. Instantly, her shield contracts, and the sound of her thoughts fades to barely more than a whisper. I shake my head. "Not like that. You're probably thinking that if family is so important, maybe I shouldn't have brought my friends Home with me and let them kill Mama Pain, right? ... I guess I can't really answer that. It probably doesn't help to know that we were all scheduled for liquidation anyways." I shake my head. This isn't going well. "What I'm trying to say is..."

She glares at me impatiently, and I sigh and move on.

"I guess by now you know that Doctor Pain and Doctor Soren didn't make me. I was... residual biological mass, salvaged from an earlier project. Project Scion. You and the others were an attempt to recreate the project. To use Silex Niveus to usher in a whole new era for our people. ... You saw it, didn't you? The memories I gave you? ... Nero. First in the Blackrock Mine. Then again beneath the manor of Lord Tsuchinaga. Then in the wreck of the Bosphorous. He's gone mad. He knows what we are. Him. Me. More white-rock was used in his creation than in any of you. I don't know if you and Sever and Stitch are the same, but I hope not. He says that the Enemy can be so much more than just the Oni, and I think he's determined to be that."

"I can't deny what I am any longer. It's been proven to me. I didn't believe Nero, but after what the ship's sensors showed, and then Keibatsu..." I smile faintly, feeling vaguely lost. "And you saw what happened today."

"I saw," Aimi said. She gave me a speculative look. "You hate Goshi, but you make free use of their technology. I never pegged you for such a hypocrite. Keep that up and those red eyes of yours..." The corners of her lips turned upwards in a nasty smirk. "Well, they'll still be red, at least. Your friends will probably say that it isn't quite the same thing."

I open the sheath on the pant leg of my leathers and produce the device in question: the DisLocator. "But I haven't," I say. "I haven't put it in. Haven't used it."

She looks at me disbelievingly.

It does sound weak. I rise to my feet. "I just... needed to tell you. Everything. You deserved to know. It affects you too. And since Nero killed Inase Spark..." I look at her, and my resolve grows strong within my heart. "Don't die, Aimi. If you died, it would bother me."

She continues to watch me silently, saying nothing, her eyes unreadable.

I produce her gauntlet and toss it to her. She looks surprised. "I couldn't fix it completely. I didn't have the parts. But I repaired everything that I could. It won't work very well, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix it yourself once you find usable parts." Silence for a beat. "You should hide it," I say. "If anyone finds it on you, they'll probably destroy it."

Silence. Icy, icy silence.

After a moment, I shake my head, step out, and shut the door behind me.

That went well.