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neopronouns-in-action · 11 months ago

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Neopronouns in Action #073: With a Smile

(The title will make sense if I ever actually get around to writing out this whole novel)

11,000 words long. This one will actually be under a read-more because it's so long, lol.

(Archived Read-More Link)

(Read More started here)

- - -

The characters and their pronouns:

Andi: ero/ilas/danajei, used like it/its/itself pronouns:

Replace it with ero, Replace its with ilas, Replace itself with danajei

Example:

"It is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as it gets a fence set up around its yard so the puppy can go outside without it having to walk it. Its uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting it use, since it lost its. It's going to buy toys and train the puppy itself."

Becomes:

"Ero is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as ero gets a fence set up around ilas yard so the puppy can go outside without ero having to walk it. Ilas uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting ero use, since ero lost ilas. Ero's going to buy toys and train the puppy janadei."

- - -

8301B (pronounced eight-three-oh-one-bee) : she/her/(hers)/herself

"She is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as she gets a fence set up around her yard so the puppy can go outside without her having to walk it. Her uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting her use, since she lost hers. She's going to buy toys and train the puppy herself. "

- - -

Proffessor Starfield: hea/ler/(lers)lerself, used like she/her/(hers)/herself pronouns:

Example:

Becomes:

"Hea is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as hea gets a fence set up around ler yard so the puppy can go outside without ler having to walk it. Ler uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting ler use, since hea lost lers. Hea's going to buy toys and train the puppy lerself."

- - -

Lera: ido/eis/eiself, used like it/its/itself pronouns

Example:

Becomes:

"Ido is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as ido gets a fence set up around eis yard so the puppy can go outside without ido having to walk it. Eis uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting ido use, since ido lost eis. Ido's going to buy toys and train the puppy eiself."

- - -

Echo: zal/az/azself, used like it/its/itself pronouns

Example:

Becomes:

"Zal is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as zal gets a fence set up around az yard so the puppy can go outside without zal having to walk it. Az uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting zal use, since zal lost az. Zal's going to buy toys and train the puppy Azself."

- - -

Freedom: ae/ryn/(ryns)/rynself, used most closely like she/her/(hers)/herself pronouns

Example:

Becomes:

"Ae is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as ae gets a fence set up around ryn yard so the puppy can go outside without ryn having to walk it. Ryn uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting ryn use, since ae lost ryns. Ae's going to buy toys and train the puppy rynself."

- - -

Drew Morgan: sia/lia/lis/liaself, used like he/him/his/himself pronouns

Example:

"He is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as he gets a fence set up around his yard so the puppy can go outside without him having to walk it. His uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting him use, since he lost his. He's going to buy toys and train the puppy himself."

Becomes:

"Sia is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as sia gets a fence set up around lis yard so the puppy can go outside without lia having to walk it. Lis uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting lia use, since sia lost lis. Sia's going to buy toys and train the puppy liaself."

- - -

Andi was in pain. Which really, wasn’t anything new.

You’d think ero’d be used to it by now. Wasn’t that how these things were supposed to go?

Turns out you can’t actually get used to pain. It just keeps hurting. You can ignore it sometimes, if you have a million other things to think about, but it doesn’t magically disappear just because you want it to and are desperately telling yourself you’re ‘used to it’.

The one exception to this rule seemed to be the scars Andi still had on ilas neck from Freedom’s teeth. That had hurt at first, but over time, the pain had actually faded, until ero had felt nothing except relief, since it meant they could finally stop walking, if only for a few minutes. It wasn’t that ilas feet hurt, because ero hadn’t been able to feel ilas feet. It was just that walking non-stop became boring and even more literally-mind-numbing than the rest of the universe already was, so doing something different--even if it was just standing still-- had become a reprieve.

But it wasn’t the scars across ilas neck that were hurting Andi right now. No, it was the probably bruised ribs in ilas chest, the definitely dislocated fingers, whatever the hell was wrong with ilas forward left knee and forward right ankle, the all-encompassing squished feeling in ilas thorax, the fact that ero hadn’t been able to sleep properly in three days, and last but certainly not least, the severe dehydration.

Andi could, in fact, remember the last time ero’d had anything to drink. It was the orange juice ero’d ordered at the diner Starfield had taken them all to for breakfast. Or lunch. Dinner? It was impossible to keep track, and none of them really cared.

They went to the diner to get bacon and eggs, or waffles, or other breakfast-y items like that, because Lera hadn’t ever had them before, and by that point they were all starting to get tired of the lack of texture that went with the nutrient-dense capsules 8301B could manufacture. (Thought they were, of course, always delicious).

8301B had landed them in the morning, before the sun had even properly risen, to fit the theme of breakfast, even if morning no longer meant anything to any of them. There was only so much time you could spend in a time machine, hopping from place to place and time to time, before your body was forced to develope a circadian rhythm all its own. By Andi’s level of wakefullness, they’d gone to the diner around “mid-day”.

From the clock on a billboard by the road a short distance away, it was just past 6AM, but that was okay, because the diner was apparently open 24 hours a day, every day of the week (which just seemed unfair) so they didn’t have to wait.

They all put on the masks Starfield insisted they needed to wear during this time period (there was, apparently, a pandemic going on, but Starfield had given all of them species-appropriate vaccines against it, and 8301B would disinfect their clothes when they were done. And 8301B had disinfected the 100-ft area around herself as they landed, and would keep disinfecting it until they left. And Starfield was carrying a dozen different forms of vaccinations that hea was planning to give to the staff.) They just strolled right in, and then a server then lead them right back outside to some tables and chairs that had been set up on the sidewalk next to where 8301B had been parked, currently invisible, and projecting an aura to pervent anyone from running into her by accident.

Apparently there were multiple signs on the diner’s door that asked patrons to wait outside (to prevent the spread of the virus going around), but neither Andi nor Starfield could see them, and Lera and the kids couldn’t read them. The staff were very accommodating, though, and didn’t seem upset once they understood the problem. It helped that Andi and Starfield both had their new white canes with them.

The only reaction their server had to Lera was to compliment eis on eis makeup. That was the usual reaction people who didn’t know about aliens had when they met Lera, assuming that ido was wearing extensive makeup, or a costume. Ido received far more compliments than ido ever did fearful reactions. The rest of the kids had their appearances hidden through the same sort of trick that let 8301B appear to be invisible, their part-human / Idolun-matrix and actual direct Idolun ancestry helping to cement the illusion, which would never be able to work for Lera.

The only time people figured out ido was really an alien was when they’d already been dealing with other aliens for several hours, or were aliens themselves, and it suddenly dawned on them that maybe, just maybe, the color-shifting person covered in scales and horns wasn’t just wearing a complicated, high-tech outfit just for the fun of it.

The waiter had helpfully listed off the choices of drinks available when Starfield explained that Lera and the kids were still learning to read English, and that they would need help with the menus.

Starfield and Andi both ordered orange juice, Lera ordered hot chocolate, and the kids ordered an assortment ranging from root beer to chocolate milk to lemonade to water.

And the rest, after that? ...That was all a bit blurry. And what Andi could remember clearly, ero’d rather not think about.

The important thing now was that they all were back in 8301B, and for now at least they were safe. The doors were locked, and not even a van full of heavily-armed extremists would be able to get them open.

Starfield was still in a healing trance, but hea was in the medical bay where hea was safe if anything went wrong, and the last time Andi had checked, Lera was watching over ler.

Andi was in the entreance room, draped across one of the floor cushions on ilas back, wishing 8301B could just magically teleport ero to ilas master bathroom so ero could take a nice, long bath to rehydrate and relax in without actually having to move.

It had rained at one point the day before while they were outside, and they’d gotten completely soaking wet, which was the only reason Andi was still conscious and able to function at the moment, if only barely.

Their captors had given them water, but not enough, and Andi wished they had more ablebodied adults on board 8301B with them, if only so ero could ask someone to bring it some water. Or to find a hover bed so ero could get to ilas room.

Freedom was aboard, of course, and so were the younger children children, but they were asleep, or at least Andi hoped they were, and ero didn’t want to wake them, or let them realize just how badly hurt ero and Starfield were. They’d had enough stress to deal with in their short lives so far, and Andi would rather get kidnapped again than add to that list. Not that getting kidnapped would help the situation at all. Freedom, of course, didn’t sleep, and was far more aware of the perils of their life than Andi wanted, since that had been unavoidable. But ero wasn’t going to increase that stress if ero could help it.

So what was Andi’s plan? Ilas plan was to lie there on the floor, and not move, and hope Lera decided to wander back to the interface room sometime soon.

::You know, I can get eis attention for you…:: 8301B said softly, just a whisper in Andi’s mind.

8301B’s voice, even her mental voice, was still raspy and hoarse, and Andi could feel the effort that she had to put in to say even that much.

Well now Andi couldn’t just say no, could it? Not when 8301B was going through this much effort to help.

“Oh, alright,” Ero relented, slumping further into the large cushion, “But only if ido’s sure Starfield’s not going to wake up and wander off before ler memory has rebooted to who knows where as soon as ido leaves the room. I’m sorry, but I’m in no condition to be trekking around in your halls looking for ler for hours on end.”

::Yes, I can see that. Don’t worry, I’ll put an alarm on the door, that should alert me if hea decides to go for a walk.::

Should being the operative word there. It should alert her if Starfield decided to leave the room. But 8301B still wasn’t fully recovered from what had happened to her, and maybe she never would fully recover. Andi knew ero sure wouldn’t. Starfield might, because hea could always connect to the Idolun genetic matrix and heal lerself, but there were no guarantees that would be able to fix anything.

These weren’t normal injuries they’d all been inflicted with, and most physicians - - mechanical, organic, and sympheric alike - - couldn’t even see that anything was damaged at all, let alone figure out a way to heal it.

According to all the hundreds of scans they’d tried before giving up, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Andi’s eyes, or ilas brain. According to all rules except for the ones being expressed by reality, both should be working perfectly fine. There was no physical change to explain why all ero could see, even with ilas eyes closed, was white static.

The machines couldn’t even scan ilas insectoid thorax. It just showed up as blank on all the scanners they tried. Just ilas torso, and nothing else. Like ero was just a human from the chest upward, with nothing to support it in the air. Some species had trouble even looking at Andi now, it gave them a headache if they tried.

Fortunately (and unfortunately, sometimes, like yesterday), humans were not included in this category.

Andi was busy trying to imagine what it would be like to actually go home and meet ilas parents again, talk to ilas si--ilas siblings--again, when 8301B suddenly shocked ero.

It wasn’t painful, but Andi heard the spark, and ilas hand, the one hand that had been touching the floor, jolted numb for half a second as Andi gasped in surprise and confusion, bolting upright with strength ero didn’t know ero still had.

“Wha⏤”

::Hide! Andi, hide! Someone is breaking through the door, and I can’t stop them! They’re moving quickly, they’re going to be through in less than a minute! The energy I’ve given you will wear off soon, you must use this time to hide!::

There was panic in 8301B’s voice, and Andi suddenly found danajei on ilas feet, energized like ero wasn’t about to pass out from physical and mental stress.

Ilas head whipped around, struggling to reorient danajei in the room so ero could find somewhere that would shield ero from view from the door.

::Forward and to your left, two steps each, the tall bookcase--!:: 8301B said frantically, her voice devolving into static on the last word.

Andi lunged to follow the directions, two steps forward, and two steps to the left, and ended up knocking into the edge of the bookshelf in question, but ero found the back panel of the floor-to-ceiling shelf and shoved danajei behind it, flattening danajei against it, counting the touch of ilas toes against the wood so ero could be sure all of ero was hidden.

Ero couldn’t hear any noises coming from 8301B’s door, but ero could feel 8301B humming anxiously beneath ero, and knew ero wouldn’t have to wait long for whoever or whatever was out there to get in. Whoever they were, they were terrifyingly efficient. 8301B hadn’t picked them up on any of the scanners until they were literally about to break down the door. The door that not even a ship full of Vikings could break down. Well, the good news was this probably wasn’t a ship full of Vikings.

It only took a few seconds, though those two seconds seemed to stretch into eternity as Andi’s mind frantically raced through the possibilities, wondering what ero could do, what ero should do, how long this boost of energy would last, what would happen when it faded, how this wasn’t fair, Andi’d thought ero’d at least get a chance to rest before the next disaster - -

The door opened with a soft creak as the only sound to give away how hard 8301B was trying to keep it shut, and a voice outside gasped in what Andi could only assume was wonder.

“Oh - - oh my, Professor, what have you done with the place…” A deep voice said as their footsteps echoed on the floor with sharp clicks like metal against stone. “This is - - I can’t believe he’s hid this from me this whole time!” the voice was growing louder as it came further into the interface room, approaching the center interface.

8301B’s humming increased in pitch.

Andi needed to act fast, before whoever this was did anything. Ero couldn’t let them get to the interface, ero needed to stop them. If 8301B were capable of speaking to direct ero right now, she would have done it by now, so ero needed to figure something else out.

Where had ero put ilas telegogs? Ero could still hear the person walking, the tapping ringing out clearly. Like they were circling the interface, like they were wearing heels or something. Where had ero put ilas telegogs? Ero’d sat them down somewhere, but where - -

Andi wracked ilas brain, trying to remember the sequence of events. Ero’d come in, and Lera had carried Starfield to the medical bay. Andi’d had only enough energy to trudge to ilas favorite cushion. The telegogs had teleported to ero as soon as ero set foot in the door, but ero hadn’t needed or wanted them, so ero’d tossed them - -

Yes! Ero’d tossed them towards the bookshelf, the same bookshelf ero was hiding behind now. They would just teleport back to ero whenever it passed through a doorway, or the halfway point of a room, so ero hadn’t bothered with keeping them on ero. Ero hadn’t been expecting someone to break into 8301B not even an hour after they got back to her.

Could Andi get to the telegogs without whoever was in the room seeing ero? They didn’t bother to keep as many light sources active these days, since Andi didn’t need them, they weren’t much help to Starfield, and Lera and most of the kids could see in the dark just fine. And Freedom of course didn’t have eyes to begin with.

But that would require getting around to the front of the bookshelf, and then taking the time to feel around to find them, and if the intruder turned to look, they’d see ero. It was too risky.

There wasn’t any more time to think. The person, whoever they were, had stopped at the interface, and Andi needed to stop them. If ero didn’t, there was no telling what sort of horrible things would happen to them all.

In a split second, Andi decided, almost purely on instinct, that ero wasn’t going to bother trying to get the telegogs. Ero could hear where the person was, and that was all the information ero needed. You didn’t need to be precise to tackle someone. If they just so happened to be covered in poisonous barbs or spines, then Andi would find that out the hard way after 8301B was safe.

8301B heard what ero was planning, and managed to think through her panic enough to help. The humming beneath Andi disappeared, but now ero could feel it thundering in the center of the room, concentrated -- Andi was guessing -- right below the feet of whoever was standing over there.

“What in the world?” The intruder yelped, “What are you doing, you silly old - -”

Andi didn’t hear the rest of that sentence, because ero was too busy tearing out from behind the bookcase and sprinting across the room towards the souce of the noise as quickly as ero could, praying ero didn’t crash into any tables or shelves. Ero did slam partly into the arm of a large cushioned chair, but ero was moving too quickly to let that stop ero.

The thundering in the floor was suddenly directly in front of ero, and the voice gasped again, the sound of it changing as though they’d spun to face Andi, right as ero reared onto ilas back four legs, and swung as hard as ero could with ilas front two.

Ero felt the impact as first ilas left, then ilas right foreleg collided with something hard, and barely a moment later, there was a thudding sound as something crashed to the floor.

And then Andi fell to the floor as ilas front legs seized in pain, and that squished feeling in ilas thorax from before? Had now been promoted to a sharp, stabbing pain in ilas side that made ero thank every god ever worshiped that ero didn’t actually have any lungs that could be punctured down there.

Which just made the stabbing pain in ilas chest, where ero definitely had lungs that could be punctured, all the more concerning. But ero would deal with that later.

Andi lay there on ilas side for a few stunned moments, trying to catch ilas breath from where it had been knocked out of ero, wincing when each inhale came with a small spike of pain, trying to figure out if they were still in danger or if they were about to all die in a fiery explosion or if the person had been covered in poisonous barbs and ero’d been fatally poisoned and just hadn’t noticed yet.

8301B had stopped humming, so the only sounds Andi could hear was ilas own ragged breathing and the rush of blood in ilas ears.

Ero didn’t think ero’d been poisoned, and no one was attacking ero, or screaming, or attacking 8301B, or doing any other horrible things, so after a few moments where nothing horrible happened, Andi guessed that it was safe to assume ero’d succeeded in knocking the intruder out.

Okay.

Now what?

“Are you okay?” Ero asked, starting to cautiously push danajei into a sitting position - - then ero remembered what 8301B had said about the boost of energy only lasting a few minutes, and laid hastily back down so that when the energy wore off - - and ero could only assume it would do so abruptly - - ero wouldn’t fall over again.

Unable to think of any better options, ero sighed and began pulling danajei slowly across the floor, trying to move away from the hopefully-unconscious intruder. If Andi was going possibly to pass out any second now, ero’d rather do it away from the person with hostile intentions rather than right next to them.

One of ilas feet brushed what ero assumed was the person’s fallen body as ero started to crawl away, and Andi recoiled instinctively. Then, when nothing happened, gently poked them again, this time on purpose, with one claw, hoping to get at least a little bit of information.

Ero could feel what might have been fabric, and something with a bit of a give beneath, like skin, but nothing helpful. A lot of species wore clothes. A lot of species had squishy skin. That didn’t tell Andi anything helpful at all besides that this person was maybe not an insectoid. But then again, if you poked Andi in the shoulder, you wouldn’t have any way of knowing ero had the lower half of an insectoid either, so even that didn’t really tell ero anything for sure.

Andi army-crawled along the floor, trying to put distance between ero and the intruder, glad the stone floor was cushioned by overlapping rugs.

The room was wider on one side than the other, so the interface wasn’t actually in the middle of the room. Andi had to go just a little bit further, and - - ahaha! Andi knew ero’d crossed the middle point of the room, because the telegogs had teleported to ero, and were now perched on ilas forehead.

Knowing ero was probably going to regret this later, Andi reached up and pulled them down over ilas eyes, and felt the tiny pin-pricks of familiar pain as the small nodes along the frame connected with ilas mind.

It took half a second for the images to form, and then suddenly Andi could see, the images projected directly into ilas mind from 8301B’s sensors. It wasn’t the way ero would have seen with ilas normal eyes had they not been blind, because 8301B didn’t see with human eyes, she saw with mechanical sensors that had been created by Cawfroans and Idoluns. But Andi had used these often enough by now that ero could almost perfectly understand what they showed ero.

The floor beneath ero was glowing dark blue, the table ero was behind was orange, and every book on every shelf was a myriad of colors as ero turned ilas head back towards the interface.

There was a figure sprawled on the floor right where ero’d thought they’d be. Andi could see the fabric of what appeared to be a dress, and long, curly hair. They weren’t moving, which was good, and with a thought, Andi set the imager to show ero an internal scan.

Ero’d done this more than enough times now that ero didn’t jump when the person’s internal organs and veins suddenly became visible, the fabric of the dress fading into background noise, but ero did feel ilas heart rate spike when ero saw not one, but two hearts beating slowly in the figure’s chest.

No, no, Andi didn’t need to panic, there were lots of species in the universe who had two hearts. Ero’d met many of them. There was no reason to assume this was an Idolun just because they had two hearts.

Except, of course, for the fact that they had terrible luck, and it probably was an Idolun bounty hunter just because the universe wanted to spite them. The universe really should be more grateful, they’d saved its life after all...

And 8301B still hadn’t responded in any way to Andi’s question, so that probably wasn’t a good sign.

Andi told the telegogs to analyze the intruder’s lifesigns, and a moment later, a transparent box popped up to inform ero that the person was, both in fact and unfortunately, an Idolun.

But the good news was they were unconscious, and by 8301B’s estimates, wouldn’t wake up for at least half an hour.

Knocking an Idolun unconscious wasn’t as dangerous as knocking out a human or any other non-genetically-enhanced species, because an Idolun would automatically go into a healing trance to heal the damage.

Sometimes, like when it was Starfield being knocked violently unconscious by a blow that would have killed a human for sure, that was a good thing, because hea would probably be right as rain as soon as hea woke up.

Sometimes, like right now, that was a bad thing.

8301B didn’t recognize this Idolun’s current iteration, but Andi could see through the telegogs that 8301B was busy calculating their age so they could at least guess if this one in particular was going to be causing problems.

Well, more problems than they had already caused by breaking in and trying to kidnap them all, which didn’t bode well for anyone.

[[They’re thirty Earth years.]] 8301B finally reported through the telegog’s interface, the words appearing as text rather than sound. It was easier for her to communicate this way, but unfortunately, this wasn’t as easy for Andi. Ero could only wear the telegogs for short intervals, no longer than an hour at a time, otherwise ero would get a splitting headache.

Which wasn’t how they were supposed to work, but ever since Andi had fused with Starfield, and then been torn apart and stitched back together by the Phiartins, things tended not to work the way they were supposed to when it came to ilas physiology.

Andi took a moment to actually digest what 8301B had said, confused and alarmed. They’re thirty Earth years…

“But - -” Ero started, “But for an Idolun, that’s - - that’s just a child, isn’t it? Did I just knock a child unconscious?”

[[A child who broke down my door and was about to kidnap me.]] 8301B reminded ero. [[A child that could be working for the Celestial Intervention Agency[!], or worse. I wouldn’t put it past them, and neither should you. Don’t feel bad, they’ll be fine, they’re already healing.]]

To prove it, 8301B faded out the rest of the room to show Andi a more detailed scan of the unconscious Idolun child, with bars showing the damage ero had done, and the rate at which that damage was healing. Andi’d had done quite a bit of damage, and seeing it up close would probably have sickened ero if ero were younger and less well-traveled. Ero could actually see the pieces of the person’s brain and skull and spine knitting back together.

Andi didn’t regret hitting them. Ero did’t. Ero couldn’t let anyone kidnap 8301B, or take them to who knows where. But this was a child, and ero couldn’t help feeling guilty, even if 8301B enlarged the map of their brain to show that they would be perfectly healed within less than thirty minutes to make doubly sure ero had seen it.

“We need to get some stun guns or something to keep in here.” Andi said, as 8301B let the detailed scans fade away so the rest of the room became visible again. “I wouldn’t want to kill someone by accident.” Not to mention it felt like ero’d broken something using ilas front legs like a battering ram. Or those twin stabbing sensations that still hadn’t gone away.

Ero especially wouldn’t want to kill a child by accident. Especially not a child this young. Starfield had told ero about ler species, and about being genetically engineered on top of that, had answered ilas questions, so Andi knew that for an Idolun, 30 years old was...was…

Ero put ilas head in ilas hands, and told the telegogs to turn off everything except 8301B’s communications. The world returned to its normal white static, and ero groaned to danajei in aggravation.

Ero didn’t want to be sitting here trying to figure out how to articulate the differences in life spans and ages between species when the differences didn’t translate over.

The human equivalent of an Idolun who was 30 years old was an infant who couldn’t even walk yet, let alone break into and try to steal a living ship. It didn’t translate exactly, because the species weren’t interchangeable. But that didn’t change the fact that this was a child, who should be at home, or at school, somewhere safe being watched over by adults.

They should not be on Earth of all places, breaking into living ships they weren’t welcome in and trying to kidnap them!

“Where are your parents?” Andi muttered angrily, dropping back down to lie flat on the floor. Ero could feel the very beginnings of a headache coming on on top of all the other pains, and could only guess that the boost of energy 8301B had given ero for the emergency was about to wear off, and...

Oh, shit. Ero bolted upright. “The doors!” Ero cried, “Are they still open?” Ero swung ilas head, and set the telegogs back on and told them to show ero 8301B’s exit doors.

They were shut, but they weren’t locked. And 8301B couldn’t lock them herself, which meant either Andi had to get over there and lock them, or just anyone walking down the street could come over and walk in if they had enough Idolun-matrix in their makeup to resist the illusion and be curious enough to investigate. That had happened more than a few times.

[[Echo is on az way to the interface room.]] 8301B reassured ero, [[I’m not detecting any other life signs in the immediate area besides the normal wildlife. You should lie down, we don’t want you falling again when the energy I gave you wears off. Echo can lock the doors and secure the prisoner.]]

Andi resisted the urge to groan again, and not just with pain this time, and 8301B knew why. And even if she hadn’t already known why, she could see the resulting spike in Andi’s hormone levels. She said, since there was nothing else she could say, [[I’m sorry.]]

“It’s not your fault.” Andi said back, waving a suddenly-numb hand to dismiss the apology. It wasn’t 8301B’s fault, and there was nothing that could be done about it, so there was no use in complaining.

Except for the part where Andi enjoyed complaining, of course. Ero had had ilas fill of holding ilas tongue long before they escaped the lab they’d been imprisoned in by Valor Nosliar, and ero wasn’t planning on going back any time soon.

Andi would rather have ilas legs cut off all over again than ever interact with Echo again for as long as ero lived, but...well, there wasn’t really any way for ero to avoid that just at the moment.

Normally, when Echo was out, Andi would leave the room, or go to the opposite side of 8301B, or lock danajei in ilas own room, but that wasn’t an option right now.

“If I pass out,” Ero grumbled, knowing ero didn’t have the strength to pull danajei any further away from the interface. “Don’t let az even look at me.”

[[I’ll make sure zal doesn’t.]]

And sure enough, Andi could feel ilas perception fading as the extra energy began to dissipate, leaving ero feeling even more exhausted than ero’d been before.

The world slowly faded to black, the only other color ero could see naturally these days, as ero lost consciousness.

[[INSERT LINEBREAK HERE]]

When Andi next awoke, ero found that ero was lying on ilas favorite floor cushion again instead of the floor, and for a few, hope-filled moments, ero wondered if ero had just been a really annoying dream, so that ero could forget about it and go back to sleep.

But the telegogs were still over ilas eyes, and when ero activated them on the lower setting, ero saw 8301B’s message, which read, [[The intruder has been tied up and is still in a healing trance. You were only asleep for twenty minutes. Freedom followed Echo here to make sure you were alright, and lifted you to the cushion. Ae went to check on Starfield when Lera came out, but ae’ll be back soon. Lera went to get water for you.]]

Andi wanted to go back to sleep. Ero really wanted to go back to sleep. Especially because the headache that had been brewing from using the telegogs was still there. It wasn’t to the point where ero would need to take them off right this instant, but it was still pain, however slight, and ero would rather not have to deal with it, especially since it knew it would only get worse the longer ero wore them.

But ero didn't have much choice right now.

Why did it seem like Andi never had a choice in anything?

Ero sighed and cautiously, slowly sat up again, feeling the still very much present stabbing sensations in ilas human chest and insectoid thorax, and the bruises that were most certainly forming on ilas front legs. Ilas entire body hurt, some of it quite a bit, but as long as nothing got worse, Andi was pretty sure ero would be able to stand, as long as ero knew Lera was going to be back with water some time soon.

And once Lera was back, there would be nothing stopping Andi from just actually going to sleep for the next day. Or two. Or three. Ero could hope. Lera hadn’t been physically injured during the last incident, so, naturally it was eis turn to stand watch with 8301B while Andi and Starfield slept.

Well, Starfield wasn’t sleeping, hea was in a healing trance, but it was pretty much the same thing for an Idolun. Andi knew that at some point soon ero would need to find danajei in the medical bay as well, so that 8301B and hopefully the awake and healed Starfield would be able to check over ilas injuries and make sure nothing was going to cause permanent damage.

The stabbing sensation in ilas chest whenever ero breathed in was very ominous, and Andi would only be able to ignore that for so long.

But hopefully it would only be a little bit longer.

Andi switched the telegogs to the normal setting and looked around, realizing belatedly that ilas favorite cushion had been moved to where ero was, rather than the other way around.

Andi was only six or so feet away from the center interface, which was worrying, until ero realized that the intruder-child had been moved to the far side of the room. Ero could see them easily, because 8301B had highlighted them in bright yellow with a black shadow to make them stand out. Andi set the telegogs to zoom, and saw that they’d been tied to one of the arm chairs with restraining cable.

The reactive cable would keep them safely secured without cutting off blood flow or restricting their breathing...Assuming they didn’t have some way of deactivating the cable the way they’d cut through 8301B’s other defenses like they didn’t exist.

[[They should be waking up any minute now,]] 8301B said, [[They’ve finished healing.]]

Right.

Andi should probably go over there so ero could interrogate them. Or at least find out where their parents were.

Maybe this was all just a misunderstanding. They were just a little kid, after all, maybe they’d thought this living ship was friends with their parents, maybe they’d come here trying to find their parents…

Except a kid who was looking for their parents wouldn’t go breaking down the door on a living ship. It was impossible to mistake 8301B for anything else, not even another crystal-form, because her exterior was just too unique. No one else had fallen through that rift in space and survived, no one else bore the mind-bending scars of that journey. There was no way you could think 8301B was another ship. The pieces just didn’t add up to this being an innocent misunderstanding.

Andi couldn’t remember what the kid had said when they came in, but ero remembered that it sounded overly familiar, like they already knew 8301B, but were expecting something different. It was always possible, of course, when you lived in a ship who could travel through time...

Andi pushed danajei to ilas feet, feeling like ilas bones were weighed down with bricks, and began the slow and painful trudge over to the other side of the room, using the telegog’s display to navigate around the tables and chairs, wishing ero had ilas cane. That at least didn’t give ero a headache.

But ilas cane had been stolen, again, and ero got the feeling that this time, no helpful bystanders were going to be kind enough to find and return it. There were more in 8301B’s storage room, but that was up a flight of stairs that Andi didn’t have the time or energy to climb right now.

Hopefully before the next disaster struck they would be able to get those automatic furniture alarms Starfield had been speculating about. They would be placed on each piece of furniture, and would have a sensor field, and when Andi or Starfield or whoever else needed them got within that sensor field, the alarm would inform them of how close they were to it, and what it was.

But they’d already been interrupted from going to get those twice now, so Andi wasn’t going to hold ilas breath about getting them anytime soon.

Thankfully, there was another floor cushion not far from where the child was restrained, and Andi gratefully sank into it. 8301B didn’t even need to be asked before she set the cushion so that it radiated a gentle heat that helped chase away some of the aches and pains. Andi flopped over onto ilas side and curled into the warm pillow, promising danajei ero would sit up and act serious once the kid actually woke up.

Ero didn’t mean to fall asleep again, but ero must have, because the next thing Andi knew ero was startling awake, and the kid was yelling at ero at what had to be the top of their lungs.

“Who do you think you are?!” they shouted, voice so loud it seemed to peirce straight through Andi’s head right to where the headache from the telegogs usually formed, “How dare you! Do you have any idea who I am? Untie me at once, I demand it!”

They continued yelling similar things in what appeared to be a American accent of some kind, but that wasn’t useful information either, because Starfield had an australian accent despite not being from Earth at all, let alone Australia.

8301B’s translation circuits tended to give people any kind of accent Andi was used to hearing, either on the radio, television, or the people ero had interacted with before leaving Earth. Even Echo and Lera seemed to have British accents, though of course they didn’t really. That was just impossible.

With the telegogs, Andi could see that the kid was struggling against the restraining cable, which ero decided to take as a good sign that they weren’t actually capable of disabling it easily. If they could, they probably would have done that before they started yelling so they could have the element of surprise on their side.

Unless they were just too impulsive to plan ahead that far, which was possible, considering this was a kid.

Andi pressed ilas hands over ilas ears to block out the shouting, and snapped, “Enough of that! I’m the one who should be asking the questions around here!”

The telegogs were showing that the kid had closed their mouth and was now glaring rather than shouting, so Andi lowered ilas hands from ilas ears, and ground out, “Now, no one here wants to hurt you, but you broke into 8301B and were going to kidnap her. We had no choice but to restrain you. But if you tell us who you are, and where your parents are, we will bring you to them, and you’ll be free to go, no harm done.”

Andi was making this all up on the fly, still hoping against hope that this would be an easy problem to solve, born not out of malice, but just a simple, innocent misunderstanding, or maybe a prank.

Even though ero knew that the odds of an Idolun child being on Earth for any good reason was slim to none. And it was absurd to think you could mistake 8301B for anyone else. And their luck wasn’t that good to start with. But Andi could at least pretend to be optimistic.

The kid scoffed loudly, then did it again. Then scoffed a third time. They seemed to be at a loss for words. Or maybe they just enjoyed scoffing incredulously.

Now that the kid was awake, and Andi didn’t feel like ero was going to pass out, ero actually had the chance to finally get a good look at the child currently tied to the chair.

The telegogs distorted the colors, but ero could see that they had long, very curly hair that hung out around their head like a halo, and they were indeed wearing a dress, one that was sleeveless, with thin straps, and a long skirt as the lower part.

So either they’d come from a party, or they just enjoyed getting all fancy before they went around trying to kidnap people.

Or rather, their parents made them dress all fancily before they went around trying to kidnap people.

It was just starting to occur to Andi that someone might use a child like this as bait. There was every possibility that this kid’s parents weren’t looking for them, but rather knew exactly where they were, and this was where they wanted them to be.

The child was now just staring at Andi, and if ero could trust the telegogs to translate their expression correctly, they were incredulous and angry.

Andi was starting to get a headache in earnest now, and mentally shut the telegogs off, and set them to only turn on to the lowest power setting if and when 8301B had something to say.

The familiar white static took over the world again, and the pain in ilas head lessed by a tiny fraction, but not by enough. Ero shouldn’t have slept with the telegogs on, even for a few minutes. That had been a mistake.

A few moments passed in silence, and the child still hadn’t answered the question at all.

“If you just tell me where your parents are,” Andi repeated, trying to keep ilas voice gentle and reassuring despite the pounding headache taking up residence in ilas head, “We’ll bring you to them, and we can just forget this whole little misadventure. We won’t even tell them you tried to kidnap 8301B.”

“I’m sorry,” The child said, not sounding sorry at all, “How old, exactly, do you think I am?”

Oh, Andi should have known they’d try to pull this. “I know you’re an Idolun.” ero said firmly, not in the mood to humor them and let this conversation drag out needlessly. Even normal Cawfroans had longer lifespans than humans.

“And I know you’re thirty.” For someone who didn’t know how Idoluns or Cawfroans worked, they would appear to be an adult human. But that was simply not the case. Regular Cawfroans could live for up to 200 years, and many lived to be 300! As for the genetically-engineered Idoluns, there was no known limit to their natural lifespan yet. Starfield was over a thousand years old, hea’d said, give or take a few centuries.

(Andi couldn’t fault ler for not knowing the exact number – at this point, ero wasn’t sure how old ero was either. That was one of the many consequences of traveling through time nonstop.)

The child scoffed again and exclaimed, “Alright then! Yes, I am thirty! So why, exactly, are you acting like I’m a child? I’m probably older than you are!”

(Now that was a statement that would have been funny if it wasn’t so tragic)

Apparently Andi hadn’t been blunt enough. “You are a thirty year old Idolun.” Ero repeated sternly, unintentionally slipping into the voice ero used when ilas kids were throwing tantrums, “You are a child. I know how your species works, don’t bother trying to convince me you’re an adult because we both know you’re not.” Another thought occurred to ero, suddenly. “Are you - - look, are you running away from home, or something? Because if you are, we don’t have to take you to your parents, you can give us directions to some friends of yours or other adults you trust, or - -”

“I am an adult! What is wrong with you?” Again the child was shouting, and again they were trying to pull this trick that wasn’t going to work. Which was odd in and of itself, because that meant they’d been around humans, or at least other species with shorter-than-Cawfroan lifespans long enough to know they could fool people into thinking they were an adult.

Andi closed ilas eyes in sheer exasperation, though that didn’t have any effect on the white static. “8301B, could you please display for this person their age next to a Cawfroan’s expected lifespan, please? Just so they can see it, I've already got a headache.”

8301B made a clicking noise to signal affirmative rather than reactivate Andi’s telegogs, and ero knew she had created a display where the kid could see it.

“Look,” Andi said, while the kid was hopefully busy reading the display, “My name is Alexandra, but you can call me Andi. What’s your name? Will you at least tell me your name? My pronouns are ero/ilas/danajei, and 8301B here uses she/her/hers/herself.”

There was a pause, then the kid replied, sounding exasperated, “My name is Drew Morgan. My pronouns are sia/lia/lia/lis/liaself.”

Alright, now they were getting somewhere. They were speaking civilly. That was a good start.

Andi tried to remember what questions ero should be asking besides the obvious ‘where are your parents’, and came up blank.

Thankfully, Drew Morgan decided to ask a question of lia own. “Where is Professor Starfield? This is his timeship, I know it is.”

“8301B is Starfield’s friend, hea doesn’t own ler.” Andi corrected automatically, “And Starfield uses hea/ler/lerself pronouns right now.”

“Really?” There was amusement in lia voice. “That’s pretentious.”

Oh, Divergence, help me.

Andi was rescued from where that conversation was heading by the arrival of Freedom, thank gods.

“Mama, I’ve brought you an entire tub of water!” Freedom called out as ae entered the interface room, keeping up a steady undercurrent of humming that allowed Andi to track ryn progress through the room.

Ero could hear the quiet slosh of the water in the tub as it was carried closer, and could only imagine the expression that had to be on Drew Morgan’s face at what it had to look like for someone who could see.

“Thank you, Freedom,” Andi said as ilas daughter came to a stop just over ilas cushion, “You can set it down next to me here, there should be enough room.”

“There is, I made sure before I brought it!” Freedom replied cheerfully, and Andi heard the soft thunk as the tub was set down on the stone floor.

Andi reached out a hand in the same direction, and sure enough, ilas fingers found the warm side of the largest of the plasticrete bathtubs. Ero could tell which one it was because each of them was engraved with a different pattern. This one had a repeating pattern of cross-thatches that were familiar under ilas hands, since this one was ilas favorite. It was big enough that it could practically be considered a swimming pool.

“Do you want me to lift you in?” Freedom asked in a whisper, hovering so close that Andi heard ryn voice like it came from ilas own head. Ae clearly didn’t want Drew Morgan to hear, incase Andi was embarrassed.

Andi contemplated the question only for a moment. Yes, ero could probably climb into the tub by danajei. No it wouldn’t be fun. And there was nothing embarrassing about needing help moving. “Yes please, and thank you.” Ero said.

Ero felt Freedom wrap around ilas chest and thorax like a gentle blanket, and a moment later the floor disappeared.

It would have been frightening, if Andi hadn’t been long used to this. There had been many situations where Freedom had had to carry ero, and sometimes Starfield as well. And sometimes ae just did it for fun. Freedom enjoyed the fact that ae was bigger and stronger than both ryn parents combined.

They’d never actually tested the limits of ryn strength, mainly because neither Andi nor Starfield wanted to risk Freedom getting hurt if ae over-exerted rynself. But ae had no trouble lifting Andi.

Andi was lowered gently into the warm water and released when ilas feet touched the bottom. Ilas thorax immediately began filtering the water, pulling it in to rejuvinate dehydrated cells, and using it to flush out the accumulated stress hormones and waste products of the past three days.

It tasted like oranges, which meant Freedom had added one of Andi’s flavored nutrition tabs.

They’d gotten them from a hospital in the year 5B24-ALE on New Earth, which was also one of the first placed they’d gone after sneaking back into the universe. The hospital in New53.5 Hamshir was one of the highest regarded facilities in all of history across all of the universe, and that was saying something.

But they still hadn’t been able to scan Andi’s drex half or ilas brain. The only reason the staff had been able to create nutrition tabs for ero at all had been because ero and Starfield (but mostly Starfield) had memorized the chemical and molecular formulas the drex scientists had provided for them. And as soon as they’d had the opportunity, they’d written them down and added them to 8301B’s databanks.

Andi now had a permanent device implanted in ilas arm that could be scanned by any relatively advanced scanners when ero had it set to open signal, and it would list off for the scanner what ilas nutritional requirements were, as well as a basic list of what not to do, like leaving it in a dry or cold room. It was the high-tech version of a medical bracelet.

Drexi needed to submerge themselves in water preferably at least once a day, and could go for five days without, though that was the equivalent of a human going three days without drinking any water.

If Andi ever went more than five days without submerging danajei in water, ero would die from blood poisoning from the toxins that naturally built up as a byproduct of, well, being alive.

Humans and other species on Earth had solved this problem by evolving to have a liver and kidneys. Ancient drex ancestors had opted to outsource for the solution.

And while Andi’s human organs still worked fine as of the last time anyone had checked, they just weren’t capable of filtering the toxins created in ilas drex half, not only because of the sheer volume, but also because ilas human organs just wouldn’t know what to do with them.

Andi sank down until the warm water was up to ilas neck, smiling in relief. The pain in ilas front legs was already beginning to fade, now that the healing process could finally begin. Ilas chest still hurt, because the water couldn’t do anything to heal ilas human half, but the stabbing sensation in ilas thorax already felt noticeably better.

Andi still had no idea what had caused it, but this was probably a good sign. Maybe it had simply been caused by dehydration. Ero could hope.

They hadn’t exactly had time to stop and have an in-depth talk with the drex scientists that had rescued them. 8301B had managed to escape for a few seconds, and had materialized in an attempt to get their help, but was recaptured almost immediately, before any of them could do more than lurch in her direction.

Andi still felt guilty for not being able to rescue her.

8301B never talked about what had happened to her, not to Andi, at least. Ero hoped she at least talked to Starfield, or someone. At least Andi had Lera to relate to, they’d both gone through the same horror. 8301B had no one.

Andi didn’t know as much as ero should about the drex half of ilas biology, but ero knew enough not to die, and that was pretty much as good as it was going to get. It wasn’t like they could call the drexi up and just ask. Not anymore.

Andi knew that the longer ero went without immersing danajei in water, the slower and weaker ilas body’s responses would become. Ero wouldn’t be able to heal as quickly, ero wouldn’t gain as many nutrients and calories from food, and sleep wouldn’t be as restful.

Ero knew that the water wouldn’t make ilas headache magically disappear, since the headache was caused by divergent-human/Idolun incompatibility issues, not human/drex incompatibility issues.

Andi also knew that ero got colder now more easily than a human would, and that ero needed to sleep less often now than ero had before, though there wasn’t any guarantee that that was an effect of it being part drex, rather than the fact that it was also part Idolun now.

It was only when Drew Morgan asked, “Excuse me, I’m sorry, what is happening right now?” that Andi remembered sia was even there. Ero’d started falling asleep again.

Oops.

Andi was very easily distracted when ero had nice, warm, fruit-flavored water to bask in.

Especially when it had been several stress-filled days since ero had last been able to bathe.

Thankfully, Freedom came to ilas rescue again so ero was free to continue lounging in the water as ae explained, “Mama has had a very stressful last few days, and wasn’t able to get to any water, which is very bad for ilas health.” Ryn voice grew darker, higher, threatening, “They just got back to 8301B when you broke in, so I hope you have a very good explanation for your behavior, because I don’t take kindly to people threatening my parents, or their safety.”

Uh-oh, that was coming on a little strong.

Andi resurfaced enough to protest, “Freedom, you- -”

“No!” Freedom snapped, raising ryn voice to drown ero out, “No, it’s not fair! It’s not fair! You and daddy got hurt, and duunei is tired and upset, and you only just got back, and now this one’s here, trying to kidnap everyone, and it’s just not fair! You didn’t even get to sleep yet!” Freedom was flying rapidly in circles overhead, Andi could hear the agitated movements and the echoes of specific sounds that signaled that ilas daughter was sad and angry and afraid.

This was exactly how Andi felt about the situation, but ero had been trying to avoid actually saying any of that out loud. Ero had to set a good example, keep up the semblence of normalcy for ilas kids.

“You know,” Drew Morgan’s voice interjected suddenly, “If it’s all the same to you, I can just go. Just untie me, kick me out the door, and I’ll leave. I don’t want to be here, you don’t want me to be here, I think it’d be best for everyone if you just stick me right back outside and we pretend like this never happened.”

That suggestion was too ridiculous to even contemplate, which Freedom vocalized with a derisive snort of, “Don’t be an idiot.”

Drew Morgan gasped in offense. Sia seemed to do that a lot.

Andi sank back down beneath the water until ilas head was fully submerged, muffling the sounds of the argument now raging between the two children, and decided rather abruptly that ero wasn’t in the mood to deal with this situation right now.

But, unfortunately, ero was still the adult here, so ero didn’t really have a choice. But it could take a break for a little while anyway.

Andi stayed submerged for a minute or two, relying on the filters in ilas thorax to replenish the oxygen in ilas blood, and just let danajei bask in the warm, citrusy water, pretending for just a little while that there was nothing to worry about and nothing that needed to be done.

And then ero resurfaced, determined to get this situation over and done with so that ero could bathe properly so ero wasn’t actively dying, eat before ero passed out, check on the rest of ilas kids to make sure they were okay, check on Starfield to see if hea had gotten any of ler memories back yet, and then go to sleep for about a week.

“Alright, listen up.” Ero snapped, interrupting a snide comment from Drew Morgan, “I am not going to argue with you, so just tell me, right now, either why you broke into 8301B, or where I can find an adult to drop you off with, or we drop you off with the Interstellar Alliance, and they’ll be in charge of finding your guardians, how does that sound?”

Not that Andi knew how to get to the Interstellar Alliance, but 8301B could probably help, and so could Starfield once hea woke up. Hopefully.

Drew Morgan seemed even angrier than before, which Andi wouldn’t have thought possible. “The Interstellar Alliance? The Interstellar Alliance?!” Sia yelled, even going so far as to stamp one foot on the floor, which was a feat, considering sia was tied to a chair, “You can’t take me to the Interstellar Alliance! Do you want me to be arrested? Why not just drop me off in a jail cell? That’s as much as you’ll be accomplishing if you leave me with those jumped up bureaucrats!”

Yep. That was starting to sound like a very nice plan.

Andi tried to remain patient, “They don’t arrest children, and they aren’t going to put you in a jail cell. They don’t even have jail cells, or jails for that matter. I don’t know which iteration you’re thinking of, but it’s not the one we’d be bringing you to. They have their own time travel agency, and they have an entire chapter dedicated to reuniting families through time and space. They’d be able to find your parents, or a friend, or whoever is best suited to caring for you.”

“You can’t⏤” began Drew Morgan again.

“Yes we can, and don’t complain.” Andi interrupted, “It could be worse, we could just bring you back to Cawfro. Though I suppose if you’re a proper Idolun you wouldn’t consider that to be a bad thing.”

“Alright, now I know you’re mad!” Drew Morgan snapped, “You can’t go to Cawfro, it’s gone. Either you think I’m an idiot, or you’re an even bigger idiot that I already thought you were!”

Andi resisted the urge to go back under water and just stay there for the rest of eternity. “8301B,” Ero said, “Will you please ask Lera if ido would like to take over for me here? I’m not getting anywhere, and I really don’t feel like arguing around in circles with a child for the rest of the night, or day, or whatever it is outside.”

Then ero went back under the water so any more outbursts from Drew Morgan would be muffled.

The telegogs activated to the minimum amount, and 8301B replied, the long wall of text scrolling down Andi’s field of vision slowly enough that ero could read it easily.

[[I already called eis again, ido’s on eis way. I think you’ll be happy to know that Starfield is awake, and coherent, though hea has lost quite a sizeable chunk of ler memories. But don’t fret, I’m certain they’ll return shortly, the effects of that weapon are only temporary.

[[As it is, ler memories have regressed to a point several iterations back, so hea won’t remember you, or Lera, or any of the children, but hea will still be able to pilot my controls until hea recovers.]]

“Is hea alright?”

[[I have explained the situation, and hea has accepted it well enough. Aside from the amnesia, there don’t appear to be any negative side effects from the weapon. Ler injuries healed with the healing trance, but hea is still dehydrated and malnourished, as is Lera, and you, for that matter.

[[Before anything else happens, everyone is going to sit down and eat. And then you will sleep, and then you will deal with this problem.

[[Drew Morgan can be moved to a secured room, where sia will be safe, and we don’t have to worry about lia hijacking any more of my systems.

[[This is non-negotiable. Once Starfield pilots me to a safer location, you are all going to eat and sleep. We will return Drew Morgan to wherever sia came from after everyone has slept properly.]]

There was a finality conveyed even through the simple text that Andi didn’t doubt, and wouldn’t have argued with even if ero’d wanted to.

Ero couldn’t reply while underwater except through ilas thoughts, which 8301B read easily when Andi was trying to project them. Ero was still getting the hang of telepathy.

[[You’re welcome.]]

And Andi was definitely staying underwater until the food was ready.

[[I encourage it. You need a break.]]

Yes, yes ero did.

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