147 ACD

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  “Wow, you are pretty!” exclaimed a small girl.

  Taj turned to look at this child.

  “Didn’t your parents teach you that it was impolite to talk like this to strangers, not to mention to older strangers?” he asked seriously, yet with a hint of a smile.

  “My mom is dead!” the girl shouted. Then stopped and quite calmly added, “Eh, but my dad would mind. He would do his face again.”

  Taj looked closely at her. She had no red hair. Who was she?

  He was puzzled.

  Who activated his Crystal? He hadn’t been asked to project for a long time, or at least he assumed so. In his Crystal time passed differently; he usually said it was closer to hibernation. Though he was conscious.

  Nobody asked him to project for a long time.

  Who was she?

  Where were they?

  “Who is your father, may I ask?” Taj looked at the girl, trying to encourage her to say something more.

  “My dad is Alena, one of the best families in Unio!” exclaimed the girl.

  “Unio?” Taj was surprised.

  What was his Crystal doing in Unio? How did Crystalers get his Crystal?

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  “Unio!”

  “Small girl,” he started to speak slowly. “O, Alena, one of the best families, I see. Your mother, then, who is she?”

  “Nooo, I cannot tell you; dad said that I cannot tell anybody; see, see, dad! Dad? Dad!?”

  She started to shout again and ran away… and she left his projection alone.

  Taj looked around. His Crystal—she left his Crystal on the grass, unattended.

  “Amazing,” he said to himself.

  Whatever—also. As he was a projection, what could he do with his Crystal anyway? Surely, he couldn’t destroy it. He had dreamed about it for some time, but they didn’t find a way. Lan, Wei, they didn’t.

  Song would find a way, if only—

  “… O, not to think about it.”

  He had to focus on the girl again; she came back.

  “Dad will be here soon. I told him that there is a man here; he will beat you, I am telling you! Eh, maybe not; you are pretty; you cannot be bad, right? Right?” she screamed it all, panting a bit.

  Then, as if she truly needed to add it, clarify it. “My dad is almost as pretty as you.”

  She paused, visibly not sure what more to say.

  Taj was silent.

  A moment passed, and her father approached them. When Taj saw his face, he knew who he was—and he could guess what had happened.

  He was the one Mona talked about for two years, or even more. Nikola was his name. Alena was then his surname.

  Taj never met him but heard a lot.

  “O, a lot,” he added in his thoughts.

  He decided to help him.

  Taj made the greeting gesture; it probably looked outdated, but it was what it was. He still liked the Sect’s customs. Then he introduced himself.

  “Welcome, Nikola Alena. I am Elder Shi An. But call me Taj. It is very nice to meet Mona’s daughter—am I correct?” he paused and added. “I am also deeply sorry to hear about your loss. Please tell me what happened.”

  The man looked surprised, but not much.

  “Welcome… Taj. Mona told me about you. She didn’t say how to activate this… I mean… Putting it aside, welcome. Yes, Luna is our daughter. I tried many times to switch you on because Luna has her problem, and it is getting worse. Did Mona say something about our concerns before she switched you off?”

  “Of course I know it. I will help Luna as I can,” Taj said.

  Mona then hadn’t explained who Taj was or what the e.i. was. Nikola treated him as, what? Some kind of an AI project, like in pre-ACD?

  Not the first one and not the last one. O, and also. No one could switch Taj off.

  Regardless.

  … Luna and her issue—Taj was aware.

  Duals, two energies. Mona told him about her concerns. That she died. Taj felt truly sorry it ended like this. He looked at the girl again. Luna.

  The girl was running around him.