The VHS player whirred, the scene shown flowing backwards for just over a minute before allowed to flow forward again.

On the screen, a blue-haired girl emerged from the tent centered in the frame, dressed in a pilot's suit that appeared to be two sizes too large, with a helmet held under an arm. Her eyes unfocused as several flashes went off, the main culprit being a brown haired girl with a smile that covered half her face. She says a few words, the sound of which did not reach, and the other girl sighs.

Then the blue-green haired girl takes a step forward, and finds the camera. Even the look of surprise does little to lessen the obvious joy on her face, and in her stride. She waved at the camera itself.

Pause. Whirr....

The room was dark, almost pitch black. The only light was from the television screen. The only way someone could navigate the space was from memory. He stepped forward, finally removing his hand from pistol at his side.

"Honey."

A shape shifted; a lump uncoiled itself from the darkened sofa, and the tape began again.

A hand pointed to the screen as he sat beside her. "There. Right there. You see it too, right?"

Once seated he leaned into her, his arms wrapping around the blanket she had over her. "I saw it, yes. She's happy. Very happy."

"We never should have let her do this."

He added some bite. "She did every thing we asked her to do. She even waited long enough to take the test for her pilot's license. To pull that rug out from under her when she's already feeling the stress from complying would alienate her."

His life partner gave an explosive sigh and hugged him back, through the blanket. He elected not to notice a few extra bends that made such a thing possible.

"Thank you for recording this."

"It was the least I could do since you had to work."

She snorted. "That's another thing. She waited too well; at least she was honest about it after."

He shrugged, just enough so that she could feel it - her eyes were still on the tape, fixated on a dot piercing the clouds. "That's a very kid thing to do, and something we set up a long time ago. We should be happy it worked."

Another snort. "I still think I should have been the lenient one. I make the better chaperone."

"Not a chance - you know what a softie I am. Besides, you lost the coin toss." He had to remind himself she meant nothing by it. She was the tougher of the two of them, after all, and they both knew it.

"How long do you think it'll take?"

He pretended to think. "Maybe a week. We already had the first probe today. Give them a week to organize and wait for the heat to die down, and they'll be back. Do we tell the bots?"

"No, if it gets that far, let's see what those things are able to pick up, and what they do. It'll be a good test for them."

He swallowed his next words. He really was too soft - it was best they learn the capabilities of their firstborn's guardians now, while the kid gloves were still on. He really was a softie. "Well, it shouldn't be too difficult yet."

His partner turned, the relief from the lighting finally revealing the shed tears tracking her beautiful face. "She won't always be like this. It'll get worse. We won't be able to shelter her forever."

He hugged her closer. "Long as we can, hon. We hold that line as long as we can."

.......

I woke up still on cloud nine... maybe I should have named that cloud nine? A smile not even Jeanette could ruin with her gentle ministrations and staring at me in the shower. Not even Monday could ruin this.

I got out after only a few minutes and got dressed. My brother was yawning into my face as soon as I opened the door, so I passed him and went downstairs to find Jeeves had made a breakfast worthy of kings - homemade waffles cooked with our waffle iron. Complete with strawberries. I settled down and grabbed my fork, taking in Jeeves smile and wave before I realized something was wrong.

Where was Mom? Where was Dad? Usually at lease one of them were around on weekday mornings, if not both. So we were down at least one parent.

Jeeves was being quiet, and so was Jeanette. Jeanette was drying my hair with a towel, and not the hair dryer. Both were making effort to walk differently - to make less noise?

"Mom or Dad in the living room, asleep?"

It happened sometimes; Mom and Dad both had problems sleeping the night every once in awhile. Mom was probably worried about me; I pushed the guilt down. Everything had gone fine yesterday!

"Both of your parents are asleep on the couch," Jeanette whispered. "We decided against disturbing them."

No, they would want to be awake. At least one of them had work. Well, probably. They weren't late yet, which was lucky. If I'd been a bit late, as was my new normal, it would have been a demerit or whatever they handed my parents out at work for sure.

There was a specific way to wake up my parents... especially if they were low on sleep. And that was from a distance, with a calm voice. Things tended to go poorly if you tried to walk up on either.

"Mom. Dad. Wake up, its morning."

Dad was still dressed in his clothes from yesterday; while Mom only gave a start from where she was burrowed in Dad's shoulder, Dad half reached into his jacket before waking up.

He covered it well, so I didn't press. "Oh hey pumpkin, morning already?"

"Yeah. So I'm a pumpkin now?"

Dad disentangled himself, and Mom used the chance to wipe her sleep drool on him, which was a little gross. "Sure, why not? Ever since Halloween I can't help but think that it is a great nickname for you."

"Whatever. Pumpkins don't fly, and as of yesterday I officially do!"

Dad reached down and helped Mom up, muttering something in her ear. She nodded and showed me a smile as she moved past me, her blanket still around her.

It wasn't much of a smile, but she was trying... and she hadn't called me out yet. She would of course, but I was in no rush.

"Well then, not a pumpkin, but a rutabaga! How does that grab you?"

The word play was obvious. "I may be rude, but I'm no rutabaga."

"I beg to differ!" Mom yelled back as she mounted the stairs. She wasn't having any? Oh well, more waffles for the rest of us.

I went to pour a cup of coffee for Dad, only to find Jeeves had beaten me to it.

"Do you have work today Dad?"

My parental unit and fellow human nodded with a sigh as he sat down. "Yep, it's my turn. I won't be home till late, but your Mom will be waiting for you. You'll be coming right home, won't you?"

The question had a bit of an edge to it; a hint of warning. Honestly that was a little angering, but I checked the emotion. "I should be. I don't have any plans to go anywhere else, and I'll need to run maintenance on the jet anyway. I'm sure there is room for improvement too, somewhere. I'll need to look at the flight data."

Dad 'hmm'd' around his coffee before asking the standard silly question. "It'll be done before I do anything else of course. I can get it done before I leave school, if I try."

Dad pulled the trifecta by talking with his mouth full, something Mom would nail him for. "See that you do. One of us will be checking."

"Of course." it was on to the next project, really. I couldn't wait, even though I'd have to - there was no time to program the 3d printer before school. I should have done it last night.

The next project was a suit. If I managed to slim it down enough, it would be able to fit in the plane with me, and act as an emergency life preservation device. It would be better than a simple parachute anyway. Hopefully.

Ian coming down the stairs brought me back from the edge - I'd been about to fall into the deep end of my ideas again. I needed to watch that.

"Morning squirt."

"Morning Dad."

Well he looked awake now at least. "No longer catching flies with those yawns I see."

"Thanks for that lovely image, sis," came the prompt reply. "Oh look, waffles. With blackberries."

What? How did the little nuisance rate blackberries while I got strawberries?

No, no, it wasn't right to be mad over something like that. My bots were already doing the best job they could, so if they missed an occasional minor detail, it was fine. Strawberries were still good, even if they weren't the best berry to exist in the entire world.

A finger tapped me on the back of the head. "Quit moping." Jeanette told me. Then she started running her brush through my hair, probably so I couldn't jump up in outrage.

"I'm not moping. I'm just curious why is all." She had to know what this was about; I refused to believe she didn't.

She proved me right. "One fruit is better for your current dietary needs than the other. You shall receive the other berry when such conditions change."

That... they were monitoring closely, I knew, but to choose one berry over another? They were both berries! That was kind of insane.

Wait, how were they doing it? They would need up to the minute information, and I hadn't built that into them. Well, not into Jeeves anyway, Jeanette had a system but surely it wasn't that good....

Were they taking stool samples?

Another tap to the back of my head. "We are not invading anyone's privacy. We do not need to. Finish your breakfast."

Good. "How are you even doing that? Galvanic skin response and muscle twitches aside, you can't even see my face to read my micro-expressions right now."

"I cannot," Jeanette answered calmly. "But Jeeves can, and we can communicate with each other."

Ack, I never should have given my bots wireless internet access. For a variety of reasons, none of which had to do with security.

I finished up just as Jeanette did. It was time to go back upstairs and brush my teeth like a good kid, even if I didn't need to. At the very least it'd help my breath.

when I got out, Jeanette had already gathered my books and was waiting for me. "You have my phone and laptop?"

If I used them during study hall and gym, no one seemed to mind. Well, so long as I wasn't randomly texting on the one, or watching movies on the other. Mr. Welch kept saying he was going to come by and take a look or two at what I was doing during gym, but he hadn't yet. It wasn't like I had anything to hide; not really.

The doorbell rang as I started down the stairs. Dad rushed to answer it, without looking like he was rushing to answer it. He looked through the peephole and then opened the door.

The response wasn't what I expected. "What are you doing here?" Dad asked, without fully opening up.

A voice I recognized came from the other side. "I'm just here to escort her like normal. You guys already know I do it, so there's no problem if I do it this way, right?"

That was agent Sands from the MCO. I hadn't seen him yesterday, but surely he knew about the plane test by now.

"Right, that's fine. But you're waiting out there, off our property." Then Dad slammed the door, right as I reached it.

Wow, Dad was being rude. Dad was almost never rude.

Agent Sands took it with aplomb. "Sure thing, just letting you know I was here. I didn't want any misunderstandings."

The door slammed shut, cutting off the man's footsteps as he made his way off our porch.

Dad turned, but not to me. "Jeeves, Jeanette. Watch that man."

Jeanette responded with more than a little sarcasm. "Of course, we already are. He shall not long survive any trouble he creates."

"Why would agent Sands start trouble?"

The looks I got back were one part incredulous, and one part surprise. Why were my words shocking? Agent Sands couldn't break the law, he'd go to jail.

Jeanette sighed. "You will be late, my Lady."

"Right. Ian, you ready?" It was best to walk to school together. I wasn't worried about myself as much as Ian since he didn't have an android of his own. Yet? Should I? Making too many still felt like all kinds of bad idea. Why, I couldn't pinpoint, other than getting too much attention. All things AI were not well-loved due to past events, and I'm sure no one would believe me if I said mine were different.

"Yeah, coming!" Thank goodness he didn't question it, only popped up behind us with half a waffle still in his mouth and his backpack held by the cloth in his hand. Hm, enough weight and he'd break his wrist, doing that.

Jeeves looked at Dad and nodded. Dad nodded back... so Jeeves decided to toss his towel in the direction of the sink and adjust his suit while walking over.

Whatever. I grabbed the door handle as Dad left it and opened up.

Agent Sands was already in his car; he'd moved fast.

"We don't need a whole pilgrimage guys."

"What do you mean, sis?" Ian asked, the very picture of innocence - if you didn't count the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I've no idea what you mean," Jeeves answered. "I am simply going out to purchase ingredients for your next meal."

Sure he was... and he'd just see me off to school first. I knew how the game was played.

Of course, Maggie and Sam were there as I reached the sidewalk, I could just barely make out their blurry forms as they approached. Whoops.

Jeanette handed over my glasses without a word once I held my hand out, and soon I was able to see both of my friends with crystal clarity. They were smiling, and studiously ignoring the creeper in the car next to us.

"Good morning Min!" Maggie all but yelled while Sam just nodded.

"Good morning Maggie, good morning Sam."

"Good morning S-sam," Ian stuttered from next to me."

Sam shot him a dazzling smile while he went beet red. So that's how it was, huh? Should I?

I should. "What a shame. Holly is going to be so sad."

Ian rounded on me, going from red to purple in no time flat. "You shut up!"

Huh, he'd actually made fists, he was so mad. "Sure thing, Casanova."

I started moving; We'd be here all day if I didn't start us off. Well, or until Jeanette decided to drag me along.

As expected, my movement got everyone else moving. "So what brings you two here? This walk is a bit out of your way."

"Well, Sam wanted to come and make sure you weren't in your workshop doing stuff without her before school, and since I had nothing better to do, I came along."

That sounded a little suspicious. I gave the both of them another once over, and Maggie preened comically under the attention.

Sam seemed subdued, but happy, so I let it slide.

"Whatever. My guess is you wanted a Jeeves breakfast, but Sam couldn't get you up soon enough so you managed to get here now, just as we're heading out."

Maggie gave an actual full body cringe and Sam nodded. Bulls-eye.

"Alright, so you might be right. Don't judge me!"

What an odd thing to say. "Of course not, why wouldn't anyone want Jeeves food? The waffles were delicious."

"Your words honor me," Jeeves avowed. "I have much to learn."

"By all means," I humbly allowed. He was already better than Mom was, I wasn't sure I could take much more - but I'd be willing to try. I'm sure I was not alone in that either.

Jeanette tsked. "You have other priorities to see to."

Jeeves took the admonition in stride. "You are correct, however I have many talents. I feel certain I can achieve all of my goals."

I wanted to cheer; Jeeves knew what he wanted to do. Fitting that he was the first for that. I decided not to make the inevitable joke.

Other people had no such compunctions. "Like taking over the world?"

Jeeves actually laughed. "What would I do with such a thing? My aspirations are much more humble - to support mistress Min as she chases her goals in life, and assure she reaches them."

Maggie continued to dig. "And if Min wants to take over the world?"

"Then I shall help her achieve the goal," Jeeves replied honestly.

"No intent on taking over the world just yet. I've no idea how to run the world for one, and people would just overthrow me anyway."

Sam decided to get involved. "I'll help too."

I had to nip this in the bud. "No need to help, I won't be doing it. It is enough to just build things without the police breaking down my door."

"Glad to hear that!" Agent Sands shouted from behind us. I decided to keep ignoring him, like I normally did.

Oh hey, surprise surprise, Ralph and Ricky were both approaching, each going out of their way to meet up with us. Me? Us? It had to be us, right? It wouldn't surprise me if Sam or Maggie set this up.

"Fancy meeting you here, when you could probably already be at school."

Neither one took my sarcastic bait. "Good morning everyone!"

We had to stop for some reason while the good mornings and other greetings were exchanged, and then it was time to move on. If we added any more people like this, we were going to be late, even though we'd left on time.

Luckily enough we were only a few blocks away, so there wasn't any time for that. Well, other than the other watchers; I'm not sure when they started following, but the CIA was here; Mr. Douglas stepped out from behind a doorway ahead of us, then stepped back into the shadow. Slowly and deliberately.

From what Dad had told me, that was letting me know we were there without actually saying it... as well as a blatant warning for anyone else watching.

Was it weird that I actually trusted the Central Intelligence Agency - an agency responsible for more secrets and possible black ops than any other agency in the world - more than say, the police and the MCO?

Maybe it was because Mr. Douglas was a family friend, but he had an air of trust about him; at least for me.

Either way, it was easy to see how some people sagged with relief after we stepped foot on school grounds, that something was up.

Jeeves stopped just before he would have stepped on school property himself, and changed course. "I shall see you at lunch, mistress Min."

"Looking forward to it," I called back, and I meant it. Giving requests was pointless, as he'd make what he made, but his surprises had been good ones so far, so I could rest easy there.

My friends had also learned to stop pestering him for their own portions, as he just ignores them. I was still waiting for people to figure out that asking me to ask Jeeves might work. Half in shock that hadn't occurred to anyone yet.

Ian broke off to go where he needed to be, across the street. Agent Sands ignored him, but Miss White, Mr. Douglas's partner, stepped deliberately out of a doorway near that school and nodded. Then she stepped back.

They were taking things seriously, the CIA. Or Mom's friends, either way.

The first bell rang as we stepped inside. Five minutes was plenty of time to get where we needed to be, so long as we split up. Some of us seemed sad about that - as if we weren't going to see each other soon enough. So weird, my friends.

Physics, with the two R's. So far we'd been having a grand old time, even though I felt a bit guilty; whenever we needed to do a lab, I couldn't really leave Ricky. His grades needed my help. Ralph always seemed to get stuck with random people who hadn't moved quite fast enough to get partners of their own.

It was obvious there would be no lab today; none of the usual experimental supplies were out. The sinks were also clear, and the fire extinguishers were put away. Everyone was at their usual desks. Well, except for one or two... sick or late, probably.

Ralph and I sat, and I got to watch as Jeanette carefully placed my backpack on the chair behind me by it's straps, then strode to the back of the room, head held high.

She had to be glaring, because everyone behind me was shrinking back in their seats.

Whatever, she wasn't hurting anyone. I dug in the backpack and grabbed my book, notebook, and pen. Some breathing, some focus; this time I wouldn't doodle schematics all over my notebook due to boredom. This time, I would pay proper attention!

The stragglers came in, one at a time. Wait, why was everyone looking at me? a quick scan and... yes, my classmates, every single classmate, was looking at me. Even the people I didn't even know, or know that well I guess.

Mr. Welch finally showed up, just as I was getting jittery and my pen was dancing all on it's own along my desk. The first thing his eyes roved to was my desk, and his faint smile when he saw me was a surprise. I noticed rather than his usuaol briefcase, he had his laptop with him, as he normally did when we were going to watch a movie or presentation.

"Good morning class. Rather than cover chapter thirteen in your text, I felt that we might instead work toward greater understanding of how mankind has learned to fly. Rather than lab on it, to start we're going to watch a short video."

Oh no. No no no. I had an awful feeling about this. But how would Mr. Welch even get a copy of the tape?

Mr. Welch began setting up his laptop up in front of the projector. My few remaining hopes were dashed when I saw him pull out the memory stick from his pocket and slot it; there was no way it wasn't his own work.

Behind us, my traitorous maid got the lights. Mr. Welch finished hooking up to the projector, and sure enough, there was a video of my plane, thankfully paused at the moment after I got into it, rather than before so everyone could see all the cringe.

As if the slight darkening of the room had opened floodgates, my fellow students moved with the screeching of wood on tile, their seats all coming closer to me. The questions came in so fast I couldn't hear them all, but they seemed to be variations on the old "what was it like?" or "were you scared?"

"Children, quiet down!" Mr. Welch roared. Then his smile returned. "There will plenty of time for questions after the video."

This was going to be a long day.