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so early in the morning.
    â€œEverything OK, Johnny?” she asked, beaming at him and showing off two rows of dazzling white teeth.
    â€œFine,” he grunted.
    â€œI’ve been thinking about your care plan,” she said, clearly not about to be put off. “Remember when we last went to see your mom at St. Catharine’s?” Johnny froze, his spoon halfway between bowl and mouth. This didn’t sound good. “There was that nice doctor at the hospital … tall guy … Carrington, wasn’t it?” Johnny nodded. “Well, he phoned yesterday asking to come talk to you. But I’ve been thinking—it’s so long since you last went to see your mom, why don’t we go there instead?”
    Johnny shook his head, probably a little too violently. He had no desire whatsoever to see the mysterious Dr. Carrington, the man who’d performed Colonel Hartman’s DNA tests on him and Clara. They’d surprised everyone, not least Johnny, when the results showed he and his sister were only half human. At least Johnny didn’t think for a moment that the doctor realized his mom had been the Diaquant of Atlantis, perhaps the most powerful alien in the whole galaxy. It was true that Carrington had helped them escape the Corporation’s clutches, but Johnny was keen to keep him at a very safe distance.
    Miss Harutunian, on the other hand, still thought Johnny’s mom was in a coma at St. Catharine’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and there were so many things wrong with that belief he hardly knew where to begin.
    For one, it turned out that there wasn’t even any such place. The supposed mental hospital had been a secret Krun base, accessed through a portal into hyperspace. Now that portalwas sealed, creating a self-contained “Klein fold.” The Krun trapped inside were cut off from their queen and stranded forever. Before the gateway had closed, Johnny and Clara’s dad had died there, as had their mom, at least in her human form. However, given that she was some kind of trans-dimensional alien superbeing, she had shortly reappeared from another place and time, revealing her true identity to Johnny and Clara and reviving their dead father, transforming him, like her, into a creature of pure energy. But they left together to “go on,” with seemingly no prospect of ever being able to return.
    At this time of morning it made Johnny’s brain hurt just thinking about it, but one thing was clear—taking his social worker to this fictitious place to visit his kind-of dead alien mother would be an especially bad idea. “I think it’s better if Dr. Carrington came here,” he said, forcing down the last mouthful of porridge.
    â€œWell, if you’re sure,” said the American, “but we’ll have to visit your mom soon. Your care plan says at least twice a year.”
    â€œGotta go,” said Johnny, pushing the thankfully empty bowl away from him. “Sorry, but I’ll be late for school.” He walked quickly away from the table before Miss Harutunian could call him back.

    While Johnny found school more than a little boring, especially since Alf had downloaded the entire National Curriculum directly into his brain (the android wanted to be sure Johnny wasn’t missing any of his education), it was great to be able to play soccer with his friends. There was a time when decks 20 through 22 on the
Spirit of London
had been a five-a-side arena, but since a weapons upgrade a few months ago the field was no longer there. Johnny didn’t miss it too much—Alf andClara were pretty rubbish opponents—but he had used the space to practice free kicks and corners and it was especially handy having Sol ping the ball straight back to him each time. Johnny was keen to retain his place as the school team’s set-piece specialist.
    So it was exciting when the bell rang for the end of double chemistry and