We didn't go straight home.
Mary looked at me like I had said something wrong when I suggested it, like there was a version of me that didn't do things like this, and she wasn't sure which one she was talking to right now.
"Come on," I said. "Just for today."
She hesitated.
Then nodded, in her normally shy demeanor
We took the moped.
The engine kicked alive with that familiar low hum, stronger than it looked, always stronger than it had any right to be, and we rode out past the usual cluster of shelters, past the tighter streets where dust gathered between structures, into the wider stretches where the land opened up and the air moved more freely.
Skorrag wasn't large.
Not in the way people imagined planets to be, not that he had been to many, if any,
Most of it was empty, mined out, abandoned, or never settled to begin with, and the few places that mattered were clustered together because it was easier that way, easier to survive, easier to trade, easier to stay seen.
If you had a good enough ride, you could go anywhere.
And we did.
The diner sat further out than most places people like us went to, not hidden, just… selective, the kind of place where the metal walls were cleaner, the lights didn't flicker, and the people inside didn't look like they were counting every coin before ordering.
We parked outside.
Mary adjusted her cover before stepping off, her movements quiet, efficient, the way she always did things when she wasn't trying to draw attention.
I noticed that more now.
Everything, really.
We stepped in together.
The air inside was different.
Warmer.
Filtered.
Smelled like actual food, not just something cooked to fill space.
A few people looked up, our clothing was at least simillar,
We weren't mportant here.
We found a table near the side, away from the center, and sat across from each other, her gear placed neatly beside her, still active, faint lights running along its edges as it processed whatever it was she had been working on.
I ordered more than usual.
Didn't think about it too much.
Just… did it.
The food came faster than expected, plates set down with a quiet efficiency that didn't match the places we were used to, portions larger, better prepared, actual seasoning.
Mary stared at it for a second.
Then at me.
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yeah."
She didn't ask again, we dove in,
I leaned back slightly after a few bites, watching her more than the room, noticing the way she ate carefully, not rushing, like she was used to making things last even when she didn't have to.
She had gotten quieter.
Not just now.
Before this too.
I let that sit for a bit.
Then—
"What have you been up to?" I asked.
She didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes shifted slightly, not away from me, just… inward, like she was sorting through what to say and what not to.
Angel's voice slipped in at the same time.
"Your sister is running advanced simulations," she said. "Baseline structure, but executed with higher-than-average efficiency."
I blinked once.
"What does that mean?" I asked, not out loud.
"Testing environments," Angel replied. Problem-solving frameworks. I could resolve them instantly, but they serve as training tools."
I looked back at Mary.
"Is that a sim you having running in that thing?"
If she was offended by my calling her gear a 'thing', she didn't show it; she nodded.
"Amber and the others are learning a new one," she said. "It's… different."
She hesitated again.
"Harder."
"Are you able to keep up?" I asked.
She gave a small shrug.
"Yeah."
Angel spoke again.
"She is outperforming her group."
I almost smiled at that.
Didn't say it out loud.
Didn't need to.
Then something else caught my attention.
"You're unusually interested in her," I thought.
"Yes," Angel replied.
That was immediate.
"I believe she possesses traits aligned with advanced technological interaction. Similar to yours."
I paused mid-bite.
"Similar?"
"Yes."
"Are you saying we're… what, different?" I asked.
Angel didn't answer immediately.
That was never a good sign.
"I believe your origins are inconsistent with the general population of this planet," she said eventually. "Your biological and cognitive profiles differ from local baselines."
I stared at the table for a second.
Then at Mary.
She was focused on her food again, unaware of the direction my thoughts had just gone.
Or maybe she wasn't.
Hard to tell with her.
My earliest memories didn't help.
There wasn't anything before.
No clear beginning.
Just… being there.
Streets.
Scraps.
Her following me everywhere.
Always quiet.
Always watching.
I pushed the thought aside.
Not the time.
Not here.
"I've been learning new things," she said suddenly, pulling me back.
I realized then how fast that entire exchange with Angel had happened.
Barely a second.
"Amber and the others are working on this new system," she continued. "It's like… layered sequences. You build one, then another sits on top of it, and they interact."
She paused.
"You wouldn't get it."
I gave her a look.
"That obvious?"
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then it faded.
She looked at me properly this time.
Longer, there it was.
Whatever she had been holding back.
"I know you're going to the pits again," she said.
"You know you could die."
That one landed.
Not because it was new.
Because of how she said it.
I held her gaze.
For a second—
I almost told her everything.
Angel, the changes.
What was happening to me.
Then I didn't.
"It's easier than it looks," I said instead. "The fights I take aren't that bad."
The lie sat there between us.
She didn't call it out.
Her eyes told me she didn't believe a word of it.
She looked down at her food again.
"An otherworlder has been teaching us," she said after a moment.
That caught me.
I kept my face neutral.
"Teaching what?"
"Tech," she said. "New systems. Different from what we're used to."
I felt something tighten slightly.
The regime.
The cavern.
This wasn't random.
"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked.
She shrugged.
"It doesn't feel dangerous," she said. "It's like a combinatrix sequence built on the first three orders, with a subnet of—"
She stopped.
Looked at me.
"…you don't understand that."
I stared back.
"Not even a little."
Angel spoke quietly.
"Basic simulation framework", she summarised.
Of course.
We ate the rest of the meal talking about smaller things after that, her training, the group she was with, how she was handling it, and even without her saying it directly, it was obvious she was ahead of the others.
That didn't surprise me.
Not anymore.
I paid when we were done.
Didn't hesitate.
Didn't count the coins twice.
We stepped back outside, the air cooler now, the light fading slowly as the sky shifted toward evening.
We got back on the moped.
Rode in silence.
We reached the settlement without anything else happening.
I parked the bike and let the engine die, the quiet settling in around us again.
She stepped off first.
Paused.
Then looked back at me.
"Thank you," she said.
Simple.
I nodded.
That was enough.
She went inside.
I stayed outside for a moment longer, looking out over the settlement, the distant lights, the dust hanging low over the horizon.
Today had been good.
Better than most.
That didn't change what came next.
Tomorrow—
We go again.