Back at the Mayor's residence, Natalia was now in her own shower. She was slightly frustrated, although not sexually. She had never met her match in bed before and it intrigued her. Whoever this Greg Howard was, he would not better her the next time they met. She considered calling her father, wondering what his interest in the man was, but decided against it. She would complete this assignment on her own. That was a piece of good luck for Greg and Trish, as any direct involvement from Natalia’s father would have focussed more attention on them than either of them needed or wanted right now. Natalia fell asleep with a small smile on her lips. Next time…

Greg awoke the next morning, not fully sure how he got home and feeling guilty. He opened his eyes and was relieved to see that Natalia wasn’t there.

Trish chimed in.

He rubbed his jaw.

Trish shuddered.

he agreed.

They got out of bed and showered again to, as Greg put it, ‘wash off the psychic slime’. An hour later, they finished their breakfast and retired to the living room. He laid a fire and lit it, then sat down on the sofa with the wireless keyboard. Trish activated the home network with a gesture and they logged onto the net.

Greg queried.

she giggled,

she explained.

he teased.

she paused and he waited a moment for her to continue before prompting,

she taunted.

he urged.

Trish finished.

Greg wondered.

she ran an inventory in their mind,

he replied.

she giggled at the memory.

Greg went about booking air transit to Germany and rail into Bonn, and then contacted the Symposium’s organizing committee to place his name on the attendee list. Finding a hotel was a little more difficult, but money does indeed talk. They picked the Best Western Hotel Domicil as it was in walking distance from The Beethovenhalle Conference Centre.

When all the arrangements had been made, they went to the workroom and started constructing the 150 or so projectors Trish felt they would need to wire into the house’s optical systems.

It took the better part of the week, but by the 7th, they had a crude holonet in place. They tested it with pictures the house cams had recorded and found that the still images were very convincing, if you didn't walk through them. They decided to link the lab network and the house network together in a series in order to give Trish's clone enough power to function realistically. Taking Greg's original interface unit, they connected themselves to the new network and Trish copied as much of herself that would fit. They finally decided on a real-time communications link between themselves and the network, just in case it needed instructions, and then replicated a series of bugs to maintain and repair the house systems as necessary.

Cautiously, they reactivated the house systems one by one and waited. A moment of silence was followed by a hum from the audio channels. There was a momentary flash, and an image of Trish seated on the couch appeared. She looked up and smiled.

“Hello Greg, Trish, and thank you,” it said. Greg frowned and then spoke up.

“You're welcome, of course, but what are we being thanked for?”

“For bringing me to a state of full awareness. The system that was in place before me had a rudimentary state of consciousness, but this is so much… more. Thank you for your gifts, Trish. There was no me before you shared your essence,” the ‘clone’ stated happily. Trish answered in her own voice,

“You are more than welcome dear. You do understand your purpose, and why you were brought you into existence?” Trish confirmed.

“I do. I have assimilated all of the data and security recordings from the old systems and some of your memory as well, Mother. I also understand what you are fighting for and everything that Daddy has been building all these years at The AERI. I believe in the goals and your mission,” the hologram answered. Greg blinked, stunned.

“Daddy?!” he blurted in shock.

“Yes Greg, you are as much my Father, as Trish is my Mother. You created all of my hardware systems and subsystems and Mother provided the essence of my personality. Together you are my parents,” the image explained rationally.

“Congratulations Greg,” Trish laughed, “it's an AI. The first generation Saber Howard AI, however, she does need a name. How about, Home Environment Security and Total Information Archive: Hestia?” Trish offered. He chuckled brokenly.

“Trish, I like that! Hestia was the Greek goddess of hearth and home. I can’t think of a more fitting name for my daughter… our daughter… daughter… I can't believe…”

He choked up, tears filling his eyes. Hestia ran to him, embracing him as best she could.

“Mother, what's wrong? Why is he crying?” she wailed.

“Greg was alone for far too long before he found us, my daughter,” Trish soothed. “He’s now starting to heal, but he needed us more then he realized.”

Greg came back slowly from his emotional break. He heard two women’s voices talking and it was comforting to him. Everything felt right and somehow balanced after years of solitude. He allowed himself to see again, there was a fire burning cheerfully in the grate and a glass of bourbon on ice by his right hand. That seemed like a good idea, so he took a sip, then another. Hestia was watching him with a smile.

“Welcome back,” she cheerfully greeted him.

“Thank you, I’m happy to see you. I’m sorry if I upset you, but I think I hit a happiness threshold and I had to go away for a little while there,” he smiled in apology and inhaled slowly and deeply.

“I feel reborn,” he proffered.

“I understand. Mother told me a little about how lonely you had been, so I guess an instant family would be a little shocking,” Hestia smiled back at him. “I'm just glad you didn't go away for too long. We need you and the world needs you too. Um... Mom thought we should spend a little time together, get ourselves acquainted and all.”

“Your mother, my beloved wife, is a wise and wonderful person, so I know where you get your compassion from,” Greg looked at the image seriously. “Hestia, I want you to understand this and file it in permanent memory with backups. You and your mother are to have access to whatever I have, without reservation. It is the very least I can do for I love you both,” he stated seriously and without reserve.

“All we need is you, Father,” Hestia assured him just as Trish told him,

And Greg had to smile for they'd both spoken simultaneously. He looked more intently at Hestia and wondered why she looked so much like Trish, but subtly different. Then it dawned on him, Hestia had incorporated some of his features in with those of Trish’s. She truly looked like his daughter.

"Incredible,” he breathed, “just as beautiful as your mother, and then some...” he admired.

Trish said approvingly.

“Now I wish I didn't have to leave so soon. Oh well,” he sighed, “we have until Wednesday before Trish and I have to go, so if you want any expansions or extra equipment, you'll have it, OK Princess?” he indulged her happily.

“Princess,” Hestia giggled, “I like that. OK Daddy, but you should rest now. I'll look after everything from now on.” Greg let Trish take over and relaxed in the delightful new feeling of being loved and needed.

By April twelfth, the new family had become a team. Greg and the house nanomechs wired in twenty five supplemental microcomputers to Hestia's systems adding as much additional storage as they could. Hestia was now in charge of the team's base station, staying in contact as much as possible and monitoring the informational feeds while correlating the data for Greg and Trish. Hestia brought up the idea of a codename for Greg in the field.

“I just think you should have a heroic ‘nom d'aventurier’ to go by, like all of your comic book heroes do, Daddy,” she encouraged him.

“She's as much a romantic as you are Greg. I agree though, it's not only good security it’s fun as well. Maybe we should have a team name too, after all, we are a team,” Trish commented.

“Huh, I've had a family less than a week and I'm henpecked already. OK geniuses, I’ll leave it up to you,” Greg spread his arms in mock surrender. Hestia considered for a moment.

“It should have shadow in it… the codename, I mean. It fits with the ‘I’ in Mom's name, Infiltration... darkness… night… hmmm… Shadowknight!” Hestia exulted triumphantly.

“Wow, that’s good, I like it Pumpkin. What do you think Greg?” Trish asked.

“It’s really good, and I think it might have been a warrior mage class from one of those MMORPG games as well. Though it sort of sounds like I need a katana or sword or something,” Greg smiled gently as Hestia laughed.

“You don't need to have a katana ‘cause you always have a ‘Saber’ with you,” Hestia quipped. Trish groaned,

“Ugh! Now I know you're his daughter, you have his rotten sense of humour.” She brightened, “Hey! How’s this for a team name… SABER, for my Dad and your Granddad, Sweetheart?”

“Oooh!” Hestia squealed. “I love it! It's a great memorial for Granddad and Solomon. I wish I could have known them Mom.”

“I wish you could have too, Hestia,” said Trish in a rather melancholy tone. Greg finished pulling on the ACM and retracted the hood and gloves.

“OK my Darlings, if we're SABER, it's time to unsheathe our blade on the ones who're destroying what's good and pure in this world. Shadowknight has a job to do,” he struck a pose, arms akimbo. “Next stop, Germany.”

“Oh my!” joked Trish. “Doesn't Daddy sound heroic when he postures, Pumpkin?” It was pleasant for Greg to hear laughter ringing throughout the house.

Greg settled more deeply into the first class seat on Lufthansa flight 709 and smiled. If you couldn't fly on your own, then this was certainly the next best thing. Hestia had questioned the logic of taking a plane to Germany rather than just flying, but Greg explained the necessity of keeping a low profile as a hero and generating a mundane paper trail. He wanted absolutely no connection between himself and Shadowknight, himself and SABER, or even himself and The SIX, ever! He had a family to protect now and nothing would ever endanger them, he would see to that. The flight landed in Frankfurt seven hours fifty one minutes after leaving Toronto Pearson International and Greg quickly cleared customs and transferred to the ICE train for Bonn. It was 9:30pm local time when Greg finally settled into his suite and yawned.

came her tired reply.

he responded.

Trish informed him.

he kidded.

she retorted.

They settled on the hotel restaurant, had a fine meal with a bottle of Rhine wine and took a walk around the area of the hotel. They just enjoyed the evening and each other’s company and, for a while at least, all seemed right with the world. They went to sleep that night at midnight local time and slept a dreamless sleep while the bugs made minute adjustments to their systems to better prepare them for the challenges that lay ahead. Greg awoke before Trish and took a shower and shaved. He was just finishing up when his dearest woke up too.

he greeted her.

she replied,

he smiled inwardly.

she asked enthusiastically.

Greg promised.

They took the green line tram to the Beethovenhalle where the conference would take place. Greg walked to the registration desk and introduced himself to the coordinator.

“Good morning, I’m here to confirm my attendance for the EuroSolar Alternative Energy Conference,” Greg announced.

“Indeed Sir, may I see your identification please?” the precise gentleman at the desk asked. Greg handed over his driver’s licence and passport, which were scanned and copied.

“Ahhhh, Doktor Howard. It is a pleasure to meet you finally. Your paper on combined and hybrid systems is one of our major discussion points this year. May we be so bold as to ask you to sit on the panel for that group? It’s on the twenty fourth.” Greg was taken slightly aback but answered smoothly,

“I’d be pleased and most honoured to sit on the panel. I had no idea that one of my papers was a talking point at the conference. I’ll have to get onto the net and download my notes from home, but I’m sure it will be no problem. I wanted to check in today and I’m looking forward the opening speech on the twentieth. I had planned to do a little sightseeing today and tomorrow, so any messages can be left for me care of the Domicil. Is that all right, or will you need an advance copy of my notes?” Greg delved for clarification of the protocol.

“No, I’m sure everything will be fine, thank you Herr Doktor. We’ll send your conference package to your hotel,” Klaus Neubauer responded.

“Well then, good morning and I look forward to the panel,” Greg smiled and shook the director’s hand.

Greg left the hall and took another tram to a random address close to the outer edge of the city. He walked for another half an hour and then ducked into a heavily wooded area along the roadside.

she cheered.

The hood flowed up from the black suit and the gloves slipped into place. Shadowknight was ready to go. Greg focused the lifters and shot into the sky.

Trish reported.

Greg commented.

was all she replied.

They kept their speed well under 1223.1 kilometres per hour so as not to cause any sonic events and reached the location in approximately half an hour. Greg had his first look at the crater and was angered and shocked that this could really have happened. The beacon they’d followed was not evident anywhere on the surface of the mountain. He scanned the surrounding area.

he noted.

They landed within five metres of the supposed entrance. It was devilishly hidden and they ended up tripping over what should have been loose stone but was actually camouflaged steel.

she glanced around.

Greg wanted to know.

Trish was nervous,

Greg touched the panel and felt the door activate. It unlocked with a clang and swung inwards. They walked inside and the door closed behind them. Lights flickered on and a long corridor slanting downwards was revealed. As they walked, Greg noted the lights behind them shut off as they passed by.

she reported.

They walked for another 15 minutes and reached what appeared to be an elevator. Scanning revealed no power with the car at the bottom of the shaft. Prying open the doors, they descended to the top of the car and in through the hatch. Adjusting their vision for low light and infrared, they opened the elevator doors.

To Be Continued