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few things. As a member of the Citadel, you will be compensated for your efforts and any alterations you make to an existing machine. We are on the fine edge of discovery here. Many of the machines that started in this room are spreading around the stations of the Alliance and are coming into common usage.”
    Fixer walked with her to the doorway of a separate workshop. “These are all designed with a purpose, but they are falling a little flat. I was hoping for some kind of diagnostic. Since they have never existed before, it is hard to get the baseline that I need. I was hoping that you could help.”
    Ainora shrugged. “I will do what I can. Show me the first patient.”
    Fixer led her to a unit designed to heal broken bones and reinforce weak ones. “It can heal minor fractures, but it can’t laminate the bones the way I intended.”
    “Let me take a look.”
    Fixer showed her a bone sample taken from the kitchens, and she spread her attention between the displays and the bone. The crack in the bone healed, but when the reinforcement protocol kicked in, the bone shattered.
    Ainora flinched and leaned back. “I can see that you have a problem.”
    They brainstormed and Ainora came up with tweak after tweak to refine the healing portion of the mechanism. She had a few ideas on how to work the reinforcement of the bone, and by the time they had gone over all the possibilities and had lunch, Fixer was Mala and Ainora was Ainy. There was no place for formality when you were lying on your back under a control panel with a light emitter wedged in your cleavage and the woman beside you was doing the same.
    The kids came by to meet their mom’s new playmate. Radin squealed when his toy was returned to him. He was a chubby toddler with deep grey skin and his mother’s hair. His sisters were light and dark skinned, respectively, and they kept a close eye on him as he ran around the workshop. A nanny watched them all, and when Radin moved too close to something that could fall on him, the nanny was there in a blur of movement.
    Mala handed Ainora a cup of tea and said, “Chahlok has been a welcome addition to our family. I would never be able to manage the kids without him and remain on active duty.”
    “Super speed is necessary to take care of your children?”
    Just as she said it, one of the girls disappeared and reappeared next to her mother. Mala grinned and stroked her daughter’s hair. “It helps.”
    Chahlok grinned and kept a watchful eye on his charges as they ran out toward the tarmac. “I will take them out for their exercise. Junior is joining us, so it should be a fun afternoon.”
    A small creature holding the hand of a much larger adult came into the open doorway. As one, Mala’s children squealed and ran toward the little person. Chahlok led the way out of the building with his short herd moving ahead of him. He had a pack on his back and water bottles lined up in an exterior pouch.
    Mala grinned as the adult that had brought the small child came in. “Hello, Kale.”
    “Mala. A new recruit for the base?” The man had strange eyes. Two colours were clearly visible.
    “No. Ainora is a diagnostic specialist with the Citadel. She is helping me with the bone regenerator.”
    The man extended his hand. “Ainora, I am pleased to meet you. I am Kale-Gant, the Avatar of Morganti.”
    She put her hand in his and felt a wave of power run up her arm. “I am pleased to meet you. What is an Avatar?”
    Kale blinked. “The ground beneath your feet is a world, and within the skin of that world is an active mind. Morganti is a living world, a living sentient world. I am the voice for the world. A portion of his mind resides in mine.”
    She leaned back. “What?”
    Mala smiled. “One in fifty inhabited worlds is a sentient world. In order to speak with those who have grown on its surface, the planet takes a host or an Avatar. When that Avatar communicates with others, they are speaking for the