[really, really Infinities] strange things are afoot

[robkelk]

And at the other end of that favor...

The phone rang.

Since it was the phone, not the teleconference video, he knew it was somebody who wasn't part of Stella Via Trading who was calling. And since his secretary hadn't announced the call, he knew it was someone who already had his private number. And he knew from following Eimi's Twitter feed that she was chairing a panel on infomorphs at the moment. That narrowed it down to one person.

Noah picked up the old-style handset. "Hi, Meg! It's been a while; what's up?"

"Hi, brother-mine. Nothing much - the restaurant's doing well, Eimi's been asked to give another lecture on Earth, and I talked to Sora last week."

"Sora? Last week? And you didn't tell me? Why?!"

"Because I knew you'd react this way. She's back through the Miranda Gate by now."

"The Oberon Gate."

"Whatever. And if I'd told you before she left, what would you have done?"

"I'd have stopped her."

"No, you'd have tried to stop her, and you would have failed."

"Really? The company's security force knows how to do its job."

"Really. The Convention's police know how to do their job, too. She's a big girl, Noah. She knows what she's doing."

"Does she really, Meg?"

"Yes, she does. Just listen for a minute. I've had a lot more experience raising a child than you've had, and I know that Sora is just as smart and just as determined and just as sane as Eimi is. And we both know Eimi's got her head screwed on straight."

"But -"

"I'm not finished. Sora's a grown woman, and it's time for you to get out of her way and let her live her own life. You've got one daughter who decided to stay with you, and Kohran's a darling, but Sora isn't Kohran. She isn't Eimi, either, and she definitely isn't you or me."

"But -"

"Shut up, Noah. You're driven to make everything you touch work the best way it possibly can. So is Sora. So am I, and so is Eimi. But you and Sora don't agree on what's best. You're going to have to learn to live with that. She already has."

"But ... But she's hooked up with a criminal gang."

"And she knew that ahead of time. Did you ever think that maybe she's trying to change them from within?"

"Did she tell you that?"

"No."

"Don't try to raise my hopes, Meg. If that's really what she's doing, then I want to hear that from her own lips. If it isn't, then I want to hear from her what it is she is doing. She hasn't told me anything."

"And that hurts. I know. Eimi doesn't tell me everything, either."

"Damn it.

"Language."

"Sorry. So, how is she?"

"She's well. The first thing she asked was how you were. The second thing she asked was whether I had plans for any ship thing that wouldn't stand out in a pre-industrial society."

Noah was pretty sure that, whatever Sora had actually said, it wasn't 'pre-industrial.' "What did you give her?"

"You have to ask? The sky-schooner, of course. It was the only set of plans I had that fit the bill and gave her room for a private cabin."

"If she builds it according to plans. Thank you, Meg."

"I don't want to see her hurt, either. So, when are you, Kohran, Jake, and Takami coming for dinner?"

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012