Alexander departed the holding area feeling relieved that Shall wasn’t some spy or traitor, he was just some paranoid old man.

  Having to deal with this situation was annoying, but it was only a matter of time until his alien ins came out. With Krieger and Fletcher both likely having deduced where he came from, there was no way he was keeping this quiet for much longer. He was holy surprised Fletcher hadn’t tried capturing him for experimentation.

  Then again, Alexander’s ins may have pyed a role in the deal that Fletcher made with him. Getting on friendly terms with an unknown alien race did seem like something that might be important to a Vice Admiral. Then again, maybe finding a new engine manufacturer was more important to the man than turning him into a sce project, or it could be a bination of the two, he really wasn’t sure.

  While it was a relief to have this secret semi-out in the open now, Alexander k would ge things. He didn’t know how, but he k would. When he spoke to Damien and the others, he would ask them to keep it to themselves for now, but that probably wouldn’t st. Secrets spread faster than diseases on Eden’s End.

  While he had said he was only going to go over the story ohere were a few people he would tell in person. Nova Lund and Eva Wu were a few, but he would probably tell Mingyu as well. There were a few others like Branston and Captain Matthews, but he would likely fill them in at a ter time.

  There was one person he wao tell personally before she heard it from someone else though. She was in css right now, but he headed over there anyway.

  Once he arrived, it didn’t take long to get Nancy’s attention, and Yulia’s. His daughter studiously ignored him though.

  “What’s up, Alex?” Nancy asked as she wiped some paint off of her hands with a dirty towel.

  It seemed it was art day in css. “I o take Yulia out of css.”

  “Oh… um,” she turo look at the girl who seemed to be the only one in her ot occasionally gng over at him. “She hasn’t really fiven you for leaving like I thought she might. Taking her away from art css isn’t going to win you any affes.”

  “I’m aware,” he said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

  She nodded. “Alright, I’ll go have a word with her.”

  It took ten minutes of coaxing by Nancy to get Yulia up from the table and evehe girl just stared at the ground as she shuffled out of the room.

  This went on for a few minutes before Alexander got annoyed. Normally he would just let her vent her frustrations until she got over it, but he o speak to her before Damien and the others came to have a chat.

  He scooped Yulia up, earning a surprised squawk from the girl. He tucked her under his arm like a package as he hurried back to their home. His as finally got her to speak with him, although, it was mostly just angry screaming and demands to be put down. Alexander ighem. She quickly grew bored of throwing a temper tantrum aed to pouting as she crossed her arms and kicked her feet and him during the rest of the trip.

  “That’s enough!” he said, finally growing annoyed with her attitude. “You ’t act like a toddler simply because you didn’t get your way.”

  While her mood didn’t seem to improve, she did at least stop kig him. He wasn’t worried about being damaged, but he was worried about her hurting herself by tinuing. Holy, he wasn’t sure what had gotten into her. She had never acted like this before, not even ba Petrov.

  Alexander had read about kids ag simirly to this when a new baby came into the picture, but it wasn’t like he ting another kid. He supposed Yulia’s goal could be to get more attention but he somehow doubted that. She was a rather indepe child. Which was a good thing since he was a rather poor parent at most times. He was trying to do better though.

  With him carrying the petunt girl, it didn’t take long to arrive home. Onside, he set her down on the sofa and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of her.

  She ignored him and still had her arms crossed. Dog came to the rescue though as he bounded out of the bedroom and started barking happily as he ran around Alexander.

  Yulia might be mad at him, but she couldn’t be mad at Dog. Eventually, she reached out and pulled the robotipanion into a hug.

  “Are you ready to listen now?” Alexander asked. “I have something important to tell you, and it doesn’t involve me leaving again,” he added, realizing what his st sentence might have sounded like.

  The girl sat there for a mi slowly she nodded her head.

  “You know how I’m different, right?”

  Yulia nodded again.

  “Do you remember what I told you oation?”

  She seemed relut to speak to him, but she did eventually reply. “That you were sick.”

  “I lied, sort of. I’m not sid I’m not someorapped in a stasis pod, piloting this body. I am this body or i.”

  “I know,” she said quietly.

  “You know?”

  “Markus said I shouldn’t believe everything I hear and that I should learn to tell truths from lies. I don’t know how to do that. I just knew you were you the first time I saw you.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” Alexander asked, fbbergasted by the girl's admission.

  She shrugged. “I trusted you, I don’t trust other adults.”

  Alexander wao hug her and kick himself. This expined why she was so deadset against him leaving. He was her safety b, and every time he left, she was forced to front those emotions that he thought she had gotten over, but she hadn’t.

  “I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

  Yulia broke down in tears a aside Dog before she rao hug him. “I’m sorry for ag the way I did.”

  He held her until she stopped g a few mier. “It’s ok, I uand. I still o tell you something though.”

  Alexander set her ba the coud she wiped her eyes. Then she ched her and gave one firm nod for him to tinue.

  He wao ugh at how serious she was ag now, but that would undermine her efforts, so he kept the feeling to himself.

  “So, I’m in this robot body. What you probably don’t know is where it came from. This body is alien.”

  Yulia looked at him in fusion. “Alien? Like the Shi?”

  “Yes and no. I don’t think the Shi designed or built it, but some other species did.”

  “Ok, but you’re still Alex?”

  “I am.”

  “Then it doesn’t matter,” she decred as if that was that.

  Alexander wished it was that simple. “It doesn’t matter to you,” he corrected. “You’re probably going to start hearing rumors about me around Eden’s End. Some people simply won’t care, others, will.”

  “They get f-,” Alexander quickly cut her off.

  “Whoa! Language, missy. Who taught you that word anyway?”

  Yulia’s eyes went wide when she realized what she had just said. “I’m sorry! Please don’t make me do extra chores, or tell Headmaster Wong. He would be very unhappy to learn I said a naughty word.”

  “I promise I won’t tell him as long as you promise not to curse like that again.”

  She nodded and he tinued. “People are allowed to have other opinions, Yulia, even if they are wrong. I just want you to be aware that you might hear unfttering things about me so you aren’t caught off-guard.”

  “Ok, Alex.”

  Alexander smiled. “So, tell me what you did while I was gone, I’m sure you had some fun adventures?”

  ***

  Yulia told him everything she and her friends had been up t his absence. And even though he knew he robably making Damien, Lucas, and Gabriel wait, he didn’t really care. He let the girl go on until she ran out of steam.

  Then they shared an, aold her he had to have this versation with some other people. She seemed to uand and headed off with Dog.

  Alexander made his way to the workshop door and found the trio waiting for him outside. Damien looked annoyed, but Gabriel just bumped the grumpy man with her shoulder.

  “I told him that you probably o spend some time with your daughter before you met with us,” the woman stated.

  “Thank you, I did. Let’s head inside?” he gestured them toward the door and sidering Lucas looked about ready to burst with questions, Alexander assumed Damien had at least told them something. “You might as well tell me what Damien already told you so I don’t waste time rehashing the same information.”

  Gabriel actually cut off the excitable Lucas. “That you’re an alien. I mean I guess I see it.”

  Alexander rolled his eyes at that. “I am not an alien. My body is alien, but I’m human. At least I have memories of being human. Might as well find a seat, I think Lucas is about to pass out if he doesn’t get to ask a question.”

  “Where did you e from?” Lucas asked before his butt even hit the chair.

  “Earth.”

  “…What?”

  Alexander chuckled. The one-word reply had short-circuited the poor man. He expined how he had memories from around the year 2050, how he woke up orov Station inside a damaged robot, and how he’s been trying to figure out how he got stu this mess since he first woke up.

  “Wait? Is that why you built those super old puter chips? I thought you were just some huge retro nerd,” Lucas stated.

  “Yes, I built what I knew, which wasn’t very much I might add. Most of my memories are spotty and fragmented from that time.”

  “That’s awful,” Gabriel said. “Have you tried, I don’t know cutting yourself out of that body?”

  “I… don’t think that’s possible. I doubt that I’m a physical presen this form.”

  “Ooh! You could be a memory impnt,” Lucas offered. “Or an AI simucrum.”

  “Weren’t you the one who told me not to watch those old ‘AI takes over the world’ shows?” Alexander sighed.

  “…That- that’s fair. But if your body is alien, who knows? Maybe they figured out true AI?”

  “I somehow doubt that, but let's move on. Damien, you’ve been awfully quiet. Is there something you would like to ask?”

  “No. I judge people, or robots by their as. Not how they look. You keep proteg the people here, and that’s all I care about.”

  That was very magnanimous of him.

  “If you stop or turn on us, I will do everything in my power to put you down though.”

  And there was the Damien Alexander expected. Holy, he was fih that. “Duly noted.”

  Lucas bombarded him with more questions after that, most of which Alexander had no answer for, or didn’t feel fortable discussiually, even those came to an end and Alexander asked Damien about Shall.

  “Will your uncle be a problem while he fixes his ship?”

  “No,” Damien replied with certainty. “After you left the cells, he tried to vince me that you were trouble waiting to happen. I expio him that as speak louder than words and that shut him up. We khe old man was getting paranoid as he got older, but none of us expected it to have gohis far.”

  “He kind of lost it after his sister, our mom was killed in an act. He was vihe STO was behind it and they somehow covered it up. There was no evideo support that but he’s never been the same since,” Lucas offered, earning a gre from the older brother. “What? Alex would have figured it out eventually anyway. It’s not like our uncle’s past wasn’t something he couldn’t have learned by doing a quiet search.”

  “Still,” Damien grumbled. “It’s not our pce to be airing the man’s dirty undry.”

  Alexander waved his hands to prevent any further argument. “Look, as long as you don’t think he’ll be an issue until after he leaves, I don’t care about his history. Just keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble. Eveer, if he’ll accept, offer to help him patch his ship up faster to get him out of here sooner.”