Rose woke up from her nap, hearing Lime sobbing. She muffled a groan and rolled out of bed. She walked over to the doorway and called out, "Lime. Come here,please." She plopped down tiredly in the sofa as Lime came in. Rose motioned her over and sat her down next to her. Rose asked,"What's wrong?" Lime said, "All those people...it's my fault they died! I brought Ushas back with that...that MONSTER in her! Their blood is on my hands! It's my fault!" Rose pulled her close and held her. Rose whispered, "You know something? Guilt is natural, even when you are dead WRONG. You could NOT even suspect such a thing. No one could. I have hyperspace sensors in my left arm and I scanned her! TWICE! I detected NOTHING. How could you? It isn't your fault. Believe me. No one thinks that. If Measure said that, I'll punch her. You hear me?" Lime almost laughed as she said, "Don't punch Measure,mom! She might get mad!" She sniffled. Sunshine came in. She asked,"Hey, Lime? What's wrong with you? Measure picking on you again?" Rose held Lime away and looked at her, and asked,"If Measure HAS been picking on you, I REALLY will consider punching her! I was joking before. I'm NOT now!" Lime did laugh then. "NO! She isn't picking on me. She's got problems dealing with people. I really believe she'd die to save me, if it was needed. She gets along with Snowy alright. She just is so lonely and it makes her mad. She understands metals like I do, so she's alright. She used to be a welder! Like me!" She laid her head up against her adopted mother's shoulder and cried some more. The door bell rang. Rose sighed, "It's fate for me to never get a useful nap! Sunny? Could you answer the door? If it's crew, tell them it'll be a few minutes, if it's family, let them in." Sunny left. Rose said, "Do you know why Cyclops mothers never say 'good-bye' or 'farewell'? Why we always say,'Do your best'? Because we are NATURAL intelligences, not AI. Every day we get better and better at what we do. My mother told me that." Sunny came back and announced,"Mommy? It's your mommy!" Rose almost gave herself whiplash, her head snapped around so quickly. First Mother said, "Hello, Helicopter. I already said hello to your brother, Doctor Blue. I wanted to meet your adopted daughter again for the first time. At least in this new form!" Lime jumped up and wiped her eyes. She exclaimed, "MOM! Doctor Blue IS YOUR BROTHER? You never told me!" Rose seemed stunned, looking at her mother's new form. She KNEW that she had changed, but had been so busy, she barely had spent time thinking about it. She answered absently,"He was raised in creche. I never met him until I was in command of Transport 110. Mom... I mean First Mother raised me by hand. it was pretty revolutionary at the time!" Sunny had an evil grin and asked, "'HELICOPTER'? Explanation,please!" Rose looked embarrassed, as First Mother said,"When I had my original form, I had a pair of plasma cannons that had a free 360 degree transit. Rose when young, liked to climb up on me and play 'horsey' and sometimes she would hang onto my turret and I would spin her like a 'Helicopter' an ancient flying vehicle with wings that spun like a pinwheel to produce lift. We feared that the Cyclops Consensus would impose that name on Rose until she picked her own name!" Rose asked,"MOM! Other than embarrassing me, WHAT are you doing here?" First Mother said,"I look more harmless that a ped-tank now so I thought I would visit! Also, I've seen some disturbing things in the Probability Macroscope that the Oracle moved to Pelagra. I'm the only other who could read it. More on that later. Now how about a hug?" Rose recoiled for an instant. She had never hugged her mother. Both had been armored. NOW it was different. They awkwardly came together. They embraced strongly for the first time. Rose wept. She didn't mean to, or could figure why, but she wept. --TO BE CONTINUED!--