Amma pointed ahead towards Elevator City, and said, "We're almost there. Keep an eye out for the Trayodashan Embassy." Vorn looked over at Neblae sitting on the center console and said, "That isn't a seat, you know. Wouldn't you be more comfortable in a seat?" Neblae said with disgust, "In one of the mirror rimmed chairs? No thanks." Amma laughed. "If I could find whoever designed REFLECTIVE ANYTHING for the flight deck, I'd beat them to death with a pipe! Vorn, I love the Scav designed heavy shuttle, BUT some of the design elements just SUCK!" Vorn laughed and stroked his beard. "I didn't make it. It's not my fault." He turned to Neblae and asked kindly, "How you holding up? Glad to be back in the thick of things?" Neblae flinched. after a moment, she sighed and said, "Thanks for the duty uniform. It's been six weeks since I lost my baby. I've just been consumed with it. I'm ready to move on. I just didn't bargain on an attack by the Asurans AND the Scourge, giant monsters wrecking Elevator City's river-front, and Toxic getting kidnapped! THAT is a little much!" She laughed a little sadly for Amma's taste. Amma asked, "So...what about this 'drift-ware' or 'hyper-ware' stuff? Free-floating programs that can take folks over like evil spirits? That scares the hell out of me." Neblae looked thoughtful. She responded as they circled around the huge embassy, "If they could take over ANYONE, they would have. Chalchilaloq took over Neon, who has a HUGE amount of Chalchilaloq's DNA in her basic structure. Snowflake was took over by Toxic's personality. THAT is a bit scarier, I'd guess. "Then again--Lords of light! Toxic must have been in Snowflake's body for FOUR YEARS in that Scourge's drift-ware! When the Scourge was sucked out by River-Prince, Toxic must have just taken over. I THINK that all of us 'Four Sisters' weapon-system parts, like ME, must have had part of basic structure converted into Hyper-matter. Hyper-ware or drift-ware NEEDS hyper-matter to glom onto." Vorn's eyes blinked as he asked, "Hyper-matter? Not familiar with the term. Remember, I used to be a spy, NOT a physicist!" "Hyper-matter, Dark matter, exotic matter...its ALL the same kind of thing. Matter that exists in multiple dimensions, and has properties that are NOT readily available to test or explore in normal space." "The ancient forerunners, and modern VERY high-tech aliens know some about it. The Naga of Nada Haltuu know a ton about it, and don't talk about it. It's some kind of secret amongst the very ancient species that they hold over the younger upstart species to keep them from destroying the universe or something like that." Neblae laughed at the end of that. Amma set down the shuttle on the landing pad. She asked in shock, " 'DESTROYING THE UNIVERSE'? Are you whacked? What?" Neblae jumped off the console and ran toward the back. she called over her shoulder, "That's what I've been told by Measure!" Amma keyed the aft ramp to lower as Vorn looked over at Amma. Vorn said, "She seems a lot more lively. That's a good thing. I was really worried about her and Narchi." Amma flicked a look over at him. "We'd have to adopt. If we wanted kids..." Vorn laughed softly, "You think anyone knows, yet? I'm still persona non-grata to a lot of people after spying on the flying cities for twenty years." Amma said, "We'll be in space soon. They can bite my ass. It'll be good to get the original crew back together again. Though...we act more like pirates than Fleet." They heard a commotion from the back of shouting and tussling bodies. Amma rolled her eyes. "Speak of the DEVILS!" She shouted over the intercom, "QUIET DOWN BACK THERE, OR I'LL TAKE OFF WITH THE RAMP DOWN!" She shook her head. Vorn laughed, "First person to call me 399, I'll smack." Amma laughed at their private joke. --TO BE CONTINUED!--