Done.

"Dee, you hold the fort down for now," Alexander told his daughter as he, Sehera, Thomas, Jack, and Nancy stepped onto the pad. From the QMT usage that Nancy's AIC had managed to download on their trip to Ares, she had figured out that there had been a QMT to the outer-planet moon pad that they had detected earlier. It had to be Ahmi.

"Okay, Daddy. I don't know why I can't go now, though."

"Because, dear," Sehera told her, "I don't want you around her ever again."

"Don't worry. We'll be back soon, Dee," Alexander rea.s.sured his daughter as they flashed out.

They popped into reals.p.a.ce on a small personnel transport QMT pad in the middle of a larger cylindrical-shaped room with a domed roof. The room was mostly transparent and looked right out into s.p.a.ce. There was a blue-green Ura.n.u.s-sized gas giant filling the horizon. There was a red, white, and blue ski mask lying next to a photograph of President Sienna Madira being sworn in on a desk nearby.

"What the h.e.l.l!" Sehera said at the odd view. Elle Ahmi was sitting in a chair, staring blankly as if in a trance. She wasn't moving at all. "Ahmi! Elle Ahmi!" She poked at her with her railgun rifle.

"Ah, h.e.l.lo, dear," Ahmi's face gained color, and her eyes no longer looked vacant. "I figured this wasn't over with yet."

"It is now." Alexander stepped beside his wife and put the gun to Ahmi's head. "Sweep the place." He motioned to the rest of the team. They spread out and started searching the room.

"It looks clear, sir," Thomas said.

"There's a door over here, but it's locked from the inside," Jack added.

"Oh, Alexander, don't bother. I'm the only one here," Ahmi said. "So, you gonna pull that trigger or what, son?"

"We need to know the leaders of the cells, Elle," Sehera said. Tears started to form in her eyes.

"So, this is it, then. I tell you what you need to know just like that, and then you take me out?"

"Yes, something like that," Alexander told her.

Sir, her AIC is trying to hack me, Abigail warned him. Abigail warned him. He's hacking into all of us, sir. He's hacking into all of us, sir.

Are you okay?

For now, sir! Allison is helping! But, sir, her AIC, is, is...

Abby? Abby!

Alexander slapped Ahmi upside her head with the b.u.t.t of his HVAR very hard.

"Stop trying to hack my AIC! Now!"

"Mother! Tell me what I need to know. You have to help me." Sehera pushed the barrel of her rifle harder against her forehead. "Please, Mother. I can end this today! We must end this today! But we will need your help. d.a.m.nit, Mother, if you ever loved me, if you are even still in there, help us."

"f.u.c.k this," Nancy said. "I owe this b.i.t.c.h." She walked over and started to put a round into Ahmi before her AIC could hack theirs. Nancy had never believed there could be an AIC stronger than hers, or even close. But this AIC was attempting to hack a top-secret AIC, a very, very brilliant one in Abigail, and a top-of-the-line mecha jock's AIC all at the same time, and doing a pretty good job of it.

"No!" Sehera turned to her. Alexander stepped in Nancy's way.

"Not yet," he said.

"Elle!" Sehera started to cry. "Sienna Madira, are you in there? Help us. Help us!"

"Alexander," Ahmi looked over at him. "You...I-I'm sorry I tortured you, son."

"Help us, then."

"Sehera, I love you. Copernicus, stop it! Copernicus, no! I'm in control here!" Ahmi fell forward, holding her head and screaming. Blood started to trickle from her left ear, and then it poured. "Stop it!" She rose up, lunging forward into Sehera and taking the railpistol from her daughter's side holster.

"Mother! Tell us who the Separatist cell leaders are!" Sehera pushed her away, not realizing her pistol had been taken.

"Show, unh, Dee who her grandfather was." Elle stood, held the railpistol to the side of her head, and pulled the trigger.

"No!" Alexander shouted.

Sehera stood looking over mother's body. There should have been more blood and gray matter, There should have been more blood and gray matter, she thought. She knelt beside the body of the one hundred eleventh president of the United States, of the most wanted ma.s.s-murdering terrorist in human history, of her daughter's grandmother. Sehera reached out and closed her dead mother's eyes. she thought. She knelt beside the body of the one hundred eleventh president of the United States, of the most wanted ma.s.s-murdering terrorist in human history, of her daughter's grandmother. Sehera reached out and closed her dead mother's eyes.

"You two are the White House moles!" Nancy stepped forward and swept her weapon between Alexander and Sehera. Thomas instantly turned and raised his weapon on Nancy. DeathRay looked unsure of whom to point his weapon at. two are the White House moles!" Nancy stepped forward and swept her weapon between Alexander and Sehera. Thomas instantly turned and raised his weapon on Nancy. DeathRay looked unsure of whom to point his weapon at.

"No, we're not," Alexander said. "Sehera is just one of many victims of her mother's schemes, and I'm the White House double-agent. Ms. Nancy Marie Bloomfeld, I would think a woman playing the role of somebody else for most of her life could understand the concept."

"But you have have been involved with her. Your wife is her daughter? How can we trust you?" been involved with her. Your wife is her daughter? How can we trust you?"

"Before you were even an itch in your daddy's pants, Ms. Bloomfeld, I fought this woman with every fiber of my being. I watched her slaughter, capture, torture, maim, and kill my men. She tortured me to near-death on several occasions. I swore then I'd stop her no matter what it took. And believe me, it has taken a lot."

"Still, your wife is her her daughter. How can we trust you?" Nancy repeated. daughter. How can we trust you?" Nancy repeated.

Sehera answered her. "Put down your weapon, and I'll show you. Plus, I'll save your AICs." Sehera wiped tears from her face. Then she rolled her mother's head over, revealing the exit wound. Sehera reached in and wrapped her fingers around something inside her mother's skull and pulled a gray and b.l.o.o.d.y deformed ma.s.s the size of an egg out. There were clear slimy tendrils extending into her head. Sehera continued to pull until she had extracted the thing from her. Her mother's neck twisted and popped a few times as she pulled. The plastic-coated device looked more like a jellyfish than it did anything else. She tossed it on the floor next to her husband.

"What the h.e.l.l is that?" Jack asked, alarmed at the sight.

"The root of mother's evil," Sehera replied. Alexander stomped a boot on the thing, shattering it to pieces. He stomped it a few more times and twisted the ball of his foot over the plastic pieces until they were nothing more than a b.l.o.o.d.y stain rubbed into the hardwood floor.

"That was a prototype top-secret super AIC from over eighty-five years ago," Moore said. "And this used to be President Sienna Madira, until that d.a.m.ned thing went nuts and started taking over her mind. She became Elle Ahmi after that."

"And she was was my mother," Sehera continued to cry softly. "As I grew up, I saw her go through multiple personality periods and wild mood swings and amazing periods of brilliance and amoral evil. I always knew something was wrong with her, that she was more than just a terrorist. Alexander and I figured it out during the Martian Desert Campaign, while he was in the torture camps. Being a student of history, he recognized who she really was from things she said and mannerisms she had." my mother," Sehera continued to cry softly. "As I grew up, I saw her go through multiple personality periods and wild mood swings and amazing periods of brilliance and amoral evil. I always knew something was wrong with her, that she was more than just a terrorist. Alexander and I figured it out during the Martian Desert Campaign, while he was in the torture camps. Being a student of history, he recognized who she really was from things she said and mannerisms she had."

"And it has taken us decades to figure out how to stop her." Alexander put his hand on his wife's shoulder. "How to stop it it. And the crazy d.a.m.ned plans twisted around other plans within plans. There was always a glitch in the plans, though. Madira was still in there and was somehow fighting to hold the AI in check. And it looks like she finally won out in the end."

"What did she mean about telling Dee who her grandfather was?" Thomas asked.

"Sehera's father was former Supreme Court Chief Justice Scotty P. Mueller, and Ahmi's partner until she killed him," Alexander said. "I guess she wants her to know who he was."

"Scotty? There was a Scotty who helped me escape on that kamikaze battle cruiser for Luna City six years ago. Was that him?" Nancy asked.

"He let you go?" Sehera asked.

"Yes, he did. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead, and that ship would've probably hit Luna City. After Ahmi and this crazy doctor tortured me, he snuck in and cut me loose," Nancy explained.

"That sounds like my father," Sehera asked.

"You're why she killed him, then. She said he had betrayed her," Moore said. "And I bet I met that crazy doctor of yours forty years ago. I'd like a few minutes alone with that sonofab.i.t.c.h!"

"I killed him."

"Can't think of someone who deserved it more," Moore said with disdain for Ahmi's torture expert. That s.a.d.i.s.tic b.a.s.t.a.r.d had needed killing.

"Wait, wait. This is all too much. You talked to Elle Ahmi after the Battle for the Oort?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I did. We had to keep stringing her along until we found out how deep her Separatists were within the government. We've kept in contact with her and acted like we were part of her plans for decades," Moore said grudgingly. "I couldn't think of a better plan, DeathRay. We had a chance to stop her entire plan, not just her. We had to stay the course. And we had also simulated the outcome of just killing her. The colonies and Mars would have been thrown into a period where warlords fought each other for bits of the power vacuum that would follow."

"I was just asking, sir."

"Jesus, I've got a top-secret super AIC in my head, throughout my body. Could that happen to me?" Nancy asked.

"We've read your file, Nancy. The technology is decades ahead of what President Madira had implanted," Moore told her. "Besides, Abby really likes Allison and a.s.sures me that she is perfectly healthy."

"Ahmi, or Madira, whoever, didn't say 'tell Dee who her grandfather was,'" Nancy said as she lowered her weapon. Apparently, she believed Alexander and Sehera-or at least wanted to give that impression.

"What?" Sehera looked up at her sharply.

"No, Allison just played it back for me in my head. She said 'show Dee who her grandfather was,' and her emphasis was on the word Dee who her grandfather was,' and her emphasis was on the word show show." Nancy repeated the dead president.

"Abby says the same," Moore agreed.

"She never said anything or did anything without it meaning something else, or having design." Sehera rose to her feet. "She was trying to tell us something without giving it away to the AIC."

"Fan out. Look for a picture of Scotty P. Mueller," Moore ordered.

"I saw it earlier." Sehera walked over to the desk and picked up the ski mask. She held it in her hands briefly and then stuck it in her pocket. "Here it is."

She picked up the picture and examined it closer. It was in a very nice Mars cherry-tree-wood frame and covered with an antiglare pane of gla.s.s. The picture was of the newly elected Democratic president, Sienna Madira, shaking the hands of freshly congressionally approved Republican Supreme Court chief justice, Scotty P. Mueller. The chief justice had just sworn in the new president, and they were shaking hands. There was handwriting on the picture that read: The best minds are not in government; if they were, business would hire them away.

Thanks, Sienna Madira, President of the United States of America They all examined it closely but didn't see any double meaning. Sehera rolled the frame over in her hands a few times. They looked at the back of it and noticed fingernail marks on one side of the backing. Sehera pulled the frame open, and there was a piece of silica about the size of a microscope slide inside it.

"What is that?" Thomas asked.

"Thomas, my boy, I'll just bet you that there is data on that thing. And I'll bet it is data about who is who in the Separatist organization." Alexander smiled.

"Ma'am, we hadn't heard from you in a couple of hours. We feared the worst!" U.S.R. Fleet Admiral Sterling Maximillian said. "The battle is not going well, ma'am. The Americans have decimated our fleet. We have but a couple of ships still fighting."

"Put me on a systemwide broadcast, Admiral."

"Yes, ma'am. You're on, now."

"People of the United Separatist Republic, you have all fought so bravely and made such sacrifice. I love you, each and every one, with all of my heart. But the time has come that I must ask you all to lay down your weapons and surrender. There is no longer any need for us to continue the bloodshed. Our Separatist movement has been heard in history and throughout all of humanity, from Washington, D.C. to the deserts of Mars, to the Oort Cloud of Sol, and to colonies light-years from where man first crawled out of the muck. We have made our point to all of humanity, to our brethren. It is time now for us to make our amends with them. I ask you all to stand down. Thank you, and G.o.d bless you all."

"You are clear, ma'am," Maximillian said.

"Stand down, Admiral. Ahmi out." The holoscreen blanked out, and the view of the blue-green gas giant filled the horizon again.

"How was that?" Sehera pulled her hair out of the hole in her mother's ski mask and slipped it the rest of the way off.

"Perfect." Alexander smiled at his wife. "Let's go home."

Epilogue.

December 14, 2396 AD Tau Ceti, Ares Sat.u.r.day, 7:15 PM, Earth Eastern Standard Time Sat.u.r.day, 2:15 PM, New Tharsis Standard Time Dee and her father sat on a park bench across from a row of condominiums, feeding the New Tharsis pigeons. December in New Tharsis was warm, humid, and more like May in Mississippi. It had taken Nancy months to figure out where their last target had slipped off to. It turned out that he hadn't slipped far. They had been finding the targets and eliminating them one by one for about fifteen months, and this last one had proven to be the most slippery of them all.

"Thanks for bringing me along on this one, Dad," Dee said.

"Like I would have ever heard the end of it if I didn't let you come." He laughed. "I just hope he shows up before we need to QMT to the emba.s.sy. I cannot miss the treaty signing. Finally reuniting all the human colonies-nothing is more important than tonight's ceremony. It'd be a shame to have to let Nancy finish this without us."

"We won't miss it. I'm sure Nancy's intel is right. So, are you going to run again?"

Alexander Moore knew he'd never get used to the way the gears were always churning in his daughter's head. "Well, your mother and I have talked about it a great deal, and-"

I've got our target in ten seconds. Nancy's voice rang in their minds. Nancy's voice rang in their minds.

"Saved by the belle....We'll finish this conversation tomorrow." Alexander stood up and eased a modified railgun pistol out of his waistband, holding it casually against the side of his leg.

Dee stood up as well and turned toward her father.

"There's our target." Dee nodded toward the condos across the street.

A car pulled up and parallel parked in front of the condo just to the right of the only tree on the street. Dee and Alexander watched as the man got out of his car. He checked his mailbox and started to unlock his front door. Dee tossed the bag of pigeon food in the trash bin by the park bench.

"Time to go to work, Dad," she said a bit too eagerly.

Bree, QMT to target AO.

Roger that.

They flashed from the bench to the living room of the condo. As Alexander handed her the railpistol, Dee could hear the keys in the door. Then a shard of red and purple light from Tau Ceti and the Jovian's rings glinted through. Walt Fink stepped in and tossed his keys on the table next to the doorway and then turned and locked the dead bolt behind him.

"Well, h.e.l.lo there, General General." Dee smiled at him and set the muzzle of her railpistol against his forehead. "Remember Clay Jackson and Jay Stavros? I do." Dee didn't blink when she pulled the trigger. One single tear rolled down her cheek as she stepped up and put a few more rounds into his head.