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Wall above, simulating a real sunset with a gradient of red and gold light. Just below that air traffic raced in orderly lines, the cars’ hulls gleaming in the fading light. Looking down, Hoff saw several more levels of air traffic flowing like rivers against the distant blue haze of the Styx. They were over a hundred and eighty floors above the surface of Avilon.
    “Nice view, isn’t it?” Hoff said.
    Atton turned to him with a wry grin. “Nice? This is as good as it gets.”
    Hoff nodded appreciatively. Soon the traffic would disappear entirely as light from the Celestial Wall dimmed to its natural blue haze and Sync approached. No one in Etheria needed to sleep after they’d been resurrected by Omnius, but they did need to Sync the data in their Lifelink implants with the databases in the Trees of Life.
    Omnius used the data from their Lifelinks to predict any mistakes they might make in the coming day. Armed with that information, He told his children what to do to maintain their perfect world. But Sync was also necessary to create backups, just in case someone died too suddenly to transfer. Death was a rare event, however. The only Etherians who died were those who dared to venture into the crime-ridden chaos of the Null Zone. Most chose to avoid the danger entirely rather than risk going through the pain of death and the expense of resurrection.
    “Your mother said you have an announcement to make?”
    Atton turned to him with a cryptic smile. “Two announcements, actually, but they’re related.”
    “He won’t tell me anything,” Atta pouted.
    Hoff arched an eyebrow at her. “Kind of like how you won’t tell your mother and I anything?”
    “That’s different. We’re not supposed to talk about The Choosing.”
    Atta would be turning eight soon, and that meant she had to go through her Choosing Ceremony to decide whether to become a Null or to resurrect in a new, Immortal body and stay in Etheria with her family forever.
    Hoff regarded Atta with a smile. She might not be allowed to say anything, but he already knew what she would choose. She wasn’t foolish enough to become a Null. The prospect of going to a boarding school for years just so that she could learn how to scrape out a living in a world of crime and shadows wasn’t appealing to most people, and Atta was too smart to fall for either the libertarian view that humans should be free, or the old Etherian view that there was a better life waiting beyond this one.
    Hoff turned from Atta to face his son. “Back to your news—should I be breaking out a bottle of Avilon’s finest?”
    Atton grinned. “Mom already has.”
    “Dinner is served,” a robotic voice said.
    Hoff turned to see his wife and Ninety-nine come in from the kitchen carrying silver platters piled high with food. It was a feast.
    Once they were all seated and Ninety-nine finished bustling around the table to pour wine, and red berry juice for Atta, Atton raised his glass from the foot of the table and clinked his fork against it to get their attention. Hoff eyed his stepson speculatively, waiting for the news.
    “As you know, I’ve been working on special assignment in the Null Zone,” Atton began.
    Hoff nodded.
    “What you don’t know, is the reason for that assignment.”
    Ninety-nine momentarily blocked Atton from view as he leaned over the table to begin serving the food. Hoff watched the drone spoon out an extra helping of meat for Atton. Ninety-nine was trained to know their preferences.
    Atton went on, “After we lost the battle in Dark Space, I came home feeling lost and wondering what to do with myself.”
    Hoff could relate to that. All of the Peacekeepers could.
    “It occurred to me that the only reason I chose to become an Etherian was to join the Peacekeepers and fight the Sythians. After that was taken away from me, I found myself longing for the things I’d given up to be here.”
    “What things?” Destra asked quickly, defensively.
    Hoff’s brow