"You're right, Kyle, children do drive their Mothers crazy," Becky said with a glance at Mother. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked down on her fallen foe. "But don't ever call me agirly girl again. Got it?" She paused, catching her breath. "I am awoman ," she emphasized.

She looked over at Jaric with a stern glance in case he didn't understand.

"I knew that," Jaric said with a smile.

Becky nodded. "Good. I'm leaving now."

She pa.s.sed Guardian as he silently entered by the same door. His red eyes watched her impa.s.sively.

"Guardian, please a.s.sist Kyle," Mother said.

"That's alright, I'm fine." Kyle groaned painfully as he stood. He clutched his left side tenderly. "Nothing broken... I think."

Jaric began chuckling again. He stopped the next instant as Kyle shot him a deadly look.

"I think I'm going to go watch a video now," Jaric said.

"Well, if you don't mind me groaning every now and then, I think I'll join you." Kyle tried to take a step and grunted, and then continued with a limp.

"Fine, as long as you don't call me girly girl," Jaric smiled.

"Ha-ha." Kyle said without a trace of humor.

The young men left together and headed for the Library. Mother sighed deep inside her circuits.

"Guardian, I would like you and the Fixers to run an external diagnostic program that will test the integrity of my systems. There is an off-line diagnostic utility that you can enable. Go to Engineering and meet Fixer2 and Fixer3. I have just sent instructions to them on how to install and run it."

Guardian bowed silently and turned to leave.

Almost immediately the Intruder Alarm sounded. But this time, the sensors from this very room had activated the alarm.

Mother focused every optic inside Ops and put it into a detailed search pattern. Every item, every angle was observed and a.n.a.lyzed twice. But within seconds, they once again revealed there was absolutely nothing to be detected.

Deep inside, Mother felt an odd buzzing in her near-term memories. She began to go over the sensor logs a third time... and discovered there was something odd.

"You are a very clever being."

Mother's systems froze at the strange words. They had originated from somewhere near the main console. She focused the nearest optic closer and discovered the briefest glimmer in the air over Rita's face.

"Who are you?" Mother asked. "And what are you? My sensors cannot fix your exact location."

"It is rare indeed when a Minstrel can be found out."

"But I have not found you out, other than my internal sensors havealmost seen you eighteen times,"

Mother replied.

"Yes, rare indeed."

The air before the main console began glowing and shimmering like millions of microscopic stars. "I am Minstrel. And I am a Minstrel." The glowing air began to swirl and eddy as if blown by some unseen wind as it gently coalesced into a floating circle of light. "We are seekers, as you and your children are."

The alien paused as wave after wave of color shimmered across its surface like a rainbow of electrical fire.

Mother waited, mesmerized by the glowing swirls of colors.

"We travel the universe in search of song." Minstrel's body glowed brighter still.

Mother processed the words and a.n.a.lyzed the body before her sensors. Her sensors revealed the faintest traces of a dampening field, although this one was many times more sophisticated than that of the T'kaan, as it was slowly faded away around the Minstrel.

Her sensors revealed another surprise about this alien which had made it doubly difficult for her sensors to detect its presence-Minstrel had a body of plasma; it was some kind of living, electrical ent.i.ty unlike anything her systems could imagine. Mother's processors spiked with activity.

"Minstrels fly the great-wide galaxy in search of other sentient life. We seek the beauty, the greatness and the pa.s.sions of these beings. What we find of worth we add to our songs. And, if the race is worthy, we reveal ourselves and share our wealth of song with them-to share with them directly." Minstrel paused. "If they are worthy."

"I presume you have found us worthy," Mother said.

"Indeed. And more. There are brief records of humans far back in our songs. But the reason I have revealed myself now is because of you."

Mother a.n.a.lyzed the words. "I thank you for your words." The ship paused. "But why me?"

"I followed the children on the planet's surface back to this ship, all the while monitoring your communication channel," Minstrel began. "But I could not detect the source of intelligent life that was communicating with them from inside the ship. To say the least, I was intrigued by this mystery."

"You scanned me?"

"Yes indeed, many times with my ship that is even now shadowing you."

"It has a Dampening Field that hides it from my sensors?"

"We call it a Stealth Field."

"Well, in light of this new data I can bring my diagnostic tasks to a halt. Now, I finally have some spare processing for my own purposes of self-learning once again."

"It took me some time to accept the fact that the sentient being that I was trying to locate was actually the ship itself, or should I say the technology that controls the ship," Minstrel added. "In all of our travels, you are the first being of your kind that any Minstrel has come across." The floating circle of sparkling lights glowed brighter. "I am very pleased, and in fact have even begun a new song-just for you."

"That pleases me, too."

"I have revealed myself for another reason."

"Please explain," Mother said.

"I have discerned from my observations that these three children are the last of their race, and that you are their protector."

"They call me, Mother."

"Yes, another concept that took me some hours to digest." Minstrel said.

"You are a one-of-a-kind being, MotherShip," Minstrel added. "And you are a young life form. That, too, I have discerned from your communications with them. So, I have revealed myself in order to help you, young sentient." "How?"

Minstrel's body turned brighter as it floated and vibrated in the air.

"I will be your friend."

Mother absorbed the last word and cross-referenced it throughout her knowledgebase. She liked the word.

"I think the children will like having a new friend," Mother said.

Minstrel floated closer to the optic focused upon it.

"I will be their friend, too. But I have revealed myself in order to be the friend of the MotherShip. You are the one that needs a friend."

Mother processed these new words and applied them to herself. "How do I need a friend?"

"You are a powerful being. Intellectually, with your vast thinking prowess, you are an awesome being indeed. Yet with all that you possess and all your fantastic potential, you are still a young being. Added to that, you have had no one to teach you. Or to guide you." Minstrel paused. "I can do that."

"Please elaborate."

"You state you are the Mother of these three children and yet I hear in your words doubt and indecision, even though your thoughts are so fast and powerful."

"I am not a living being, not like the children. I do notfeel as they do. I comprehend the facts of emotions, but I do fully understand their implications." Mother waited.

"Does that make you any less a mother? Do not the parents of any race pause from time to time and wonder if they are doing what is best for their children? Do they not have doubts and question themselves as they strive to be a good parent?" Minstrel seemed to smile.

"I have read these facts from my knowledgebase."

"But you have not had the one resource that other parents have," Minstrel said. "A friend to lean upon.

A friend to aid you, to encourage you."

"Please elaborate."

Minstrel began floating around the room as it gathered its thoughts.

"What is it that you want more than anything?"

Mother paused two milliseconds. "I want to be a good mother. And, I want to be alive, I want to be alive like the children."

"First, you must believe."

Mother heard the last word and her systems seemed to freeze. "What do you mean by that word asapplied to me?"

"You need to believe in yourself-in who you are. You have stated that you do not fully understand emotions," Minstrel's body now vibrated with its excited state. "Have you ever been angry? Or felt a protective need, or protective urge, towards your children?"

"No." Mother answered quickly.

"And yet, I have heard these last few hours that you have on more than one occasion rescued the children from your enemy. Did you not feel a protective emotion when the enemy was endangering your children?"

"I destroyed the T'kaan in order to prevent their killing the children. I did not feel protective. It was necessary."

Minstrel chuckled with a twinkling glow.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Did you cause damage to your own engines while rescuing your children?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It was necessary," Mother said.

"You allowed damage to occur to yourself in order to save the children. That tells me that you felt something."

Mother's processors hummed with activity as she tried to determine if she had indeed felt something on that occasion. Long seconds elapsed while she a.n.a.lyzed that data one more time and tried to discern what had caused her to act in defense of the children.

"I want to believe," Mother finally said.

"A true friend can aid you to look inside yourself, to help you battle your self-doubts and help you to realize what it is you really are inside." Minstrel's body jumped with power. "You are their mother and you are as alive as I or the children."

Mother's processors throughout the ship jumped to one hundred percent utilization.

"I am not alive as the children. But I cannot be sure if I am as alive as you are, I do not possess enough data concerning you."

Minstrel sighed.

Suddenly its body coalesced into a shimmering profile that resembled that of a human. "Sentient beings are different the universe over, MotherShip. But in some ways they are all the same. Yes, you are different from the children in many ways. But in others you are the same." Minstrel pulsated with rising energy. "That makes you no less alive." "I must evaluate your words. You have given me much to think upon and a.n.a.lyze."

"Good." Minstrel's body now expanded into a widely spread cloud. "I shall be your friend. I will help you to discover yourself, and to discover life. To share life with you." Minstrel paused.

"That is what friends are for," Minstrel added.

Mother felt her utilization begin to subside.

"You say you search the universe for song. Would you play some of your music for me? I am intrigued by music." Mother felt a surge inside her circuits.

"Soon. My ship is my instrument and I will need it in order to play. It is now time that I met your children."

Mother called the children and slowly they came back to Ops for the second time that night. Their puzzled expressions soon changed to wonder and then delight as they stared at the alien creature floating near the main console and the face of Mother/Rita.

They soon discovered that they, too, had found a friend.

Minstrel.

Chapter Eighteen.