Mother Love

Still with his eyes closed and half asleep, Tony slued his left leg over onto the opposite side of the bed, seeking contact with the body which had just a few hours earlier, fallen asleep in his arms. His subconscious quickly registered the fact that he was now alone and his eyes flickered open.

Squinting against the brightness of the inset cupboard lighting, he took in the figure of a stranger sitting with her back to him in front of the built-in mirror. Even in his sleepy state, a part of him was aware that he shouldn't entirely believe what he was seeing.

"Maya?" he called out uncertainly, propping himself up on his elbows.

The woman turned and he was looking into the face of a somehow familiar stranger. A Psychon! No sooner had this realisation hit him than a shimmering haze enveloped her body and in an instant, she had wavered out of existence to be replaced by Alpha's Science Officer, Maya. Now fully awake, Tony asked the first question that sprang to mind.

"Maya, what do you think you're doing? It's the middle of the night!" It came out a little harsher than he had intended and he immediately regretted it, seeing the look of embarrassment and for some odd reason, guilt too, which had crept over her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," she apologised quietly. She turned back to the mirror, reaching up to close down the light panel.

"Wait a minute, leave it on," he told her. "Who was that?"

Maya's hand hovered by the panel before reluctantly, she turned to him again. "I couldn't sleep..." she hesitated, about to continue but instead, folded her hands in her lap and smiled uneasily.

That sparked an automatic reaction of concern in Tony who knew what had often preceded a bout of sleeplessness in the past. "You're not dreaming again, are you?" A resurgence of Maya's nightmares of Psychon would have surprised him though, it had been a while now since the last series of horrifying dreams and he knew that he would have been woken by the anguished thrashing and unconscious cries that accompanied them.

"I haven't had a dream for a long time."

Tony sat up now. "So what's the matter? Who was the woman?"

"Really, Tony, it isn't important."

"So tell me." He matched her smile with his but all the same, couldn't help but feel there was something amiss.

"It was... my mother." She looked down at her hands, fingers working restlessly.

"Well, that explains why she looked so familiar." Tony laughed, hoping to put her more at ease. "There isn't some ancient Psychon lore forbidding daughters to transform into their mothers, is there?"

"No, its just... today would have been her birthday." Maya smiled sadly. "I still keep the Psychon calendar in my head. It would've been today."

"Hey, I'm sorry. You should've said something."

"I just wanted to see her again and I wanted..." She broke off there, turning her head so that he couldn't read her expression.

"Wanted what?"

"You'll think I'm mad"

Tony could hear the slight quiver of nerves in her voice.

"I know that already so what've you got to loose?" he grinned.

"We'll be married in a few weeks from now and I'll have a husband. I wanted my mother to see you." She giggled nervously. "I told you it was ridiculous."

Tony nodded. "Well, I've got to admit, I never thought I'd have the problem of in-laws on Alpha. Bill Frazer always swore breakaway was a blessing in disguise as far as Annette's father was concerned. Apparently, he'd never got over the fact that Bill was an Englishman."

"In my case, that would have been the least of your father's worries!"

They laughed easily together, this light-hearted talk easing the tension which as yet, Tony was unable to understand.

"My papa would've loved you," he said with sincerity. "Brains and beauty, you're everything he could've hoped for in a daughter-in-law."

"Mm, and more besides," she smiled ruefully.

"Papa took people as he found them. He and Mama were both very down to earth and wouldn't stand for airs and graces. I think you'd have fitted their criteria quite well."

He had been about to add that his parents had all but given up hope of either he or his brother ever settling down and giving them grandchildren but managed to still his tongue.

Maya pouted. "Are you trying to say that I'm lacking in the social niceties?"

"No, I'm trying to say that you're probably the least affected or pretentious woman I've ever met." He pointed a warning finger at her, "and I don't want that going to your head."

Maya leaned forward on her stool and made a face. "Oh, I know you'd never let that happen."

"Damn straight," he replied in a John Wayne drawl.

Laughing, she turned again to shut off the light.

"Aren't you going to introduce me then?"

"What do you...?" and then she realised what he was asking. She shook her head slowly. "I was being silly, Tony."

"Come on, you can't tease me with that fleeting glimpse and then expect me to leave it like that."

"I know you don't like to see me transform. You told me a long time ago that it gave you the..." she hesitated as she recalled the unfamiliar words, "heebie-jeebies."

Tony looked abashed. "I never said that, did I?"

"Mm hm. Though I suppose I may have overstepped the mark at the time in becoming a snake. I know they aren't exactly your favourite creature."

That was true enough. Tony was a bit ophidiophobic and finding a particularly sleek and glossy python slithering into the shower cubicle behind him, far from being the prelude to the intended seduction, had put the fear of God into him.

"Yeah, well, where I come from, the only metamorphosis your girlfriend underwent was on a Saturday night when she was getting ready to go out."

Maya smirked. "How unimaginative of her."

"I can see that now, of course."

He reached down by the side of the bed and retrieved his shorts.

"Where are you going?"

"No where. I just thought I should look a bit more respectable to meet her. I always find that clothes are a great confidence booster for some reason."

"But it's still only me."

Tony shrugged. "You know that and I know that but try telling the hairs on the back of my neck... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that the way it sounded," he said, seeing a perceivable frown cross her face.

"Tony, it probably isn't such a good idea. It's difficult for humans to comprehend metamorphosis. I realise that. I think a lot of people on Alpha, deep down, are quite disturbed by it. It's just something I've always known and I tend to forget sometimes."

She was perfectly right. Watching Maya transform herself was a mind-blowing experience for anyone and Tony had found it was often easier to push the whole thing to the back of his mind. He loved everything about her, her alienness was an aspect of her that was totally fascinating but the morphing thing - he'd never really got to grips with that. But tonight was different. It was important enough to interrupt her sleep and the fact that she had felt the need to hide it from Tony was quite discouraging. He shuffled down to the foot of the bed and sat waiting expectantly.

"Go on, sock it to me, baby."

He was glad to see the smile return to her lips.

"Alright."

Her eyes closed briefly whilst she cleared her mind to concentrate. Unconsciously, Tony held his breath as her eyes opened again, glistening in the semi-darkness. She was staring at some point just over his right shoulder when a soft glow began to halo her entire body. The light intensified, swiftly diffused through her flesh and flashed back outwards in a warm white glare. It lasted for only a moment and then, quite suddenly, Tony was making eye contact with the Psychon woman he had unintentionally witnessed a few minutes earlier.

"This is my mother - Geya."

She had a striking accent, very different from Maya's 'Alphan English' accent although she did have the same rich timbre to her voice. Her build was slightly heavier than Maya's, yet facially, they were very similar and Tony found himself laughing in wonderment.

"You're just like her."

"Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment."

"As it was intended." He suddenly felt quite naked before her and wished he'd had the forethought to put on a pair of pyjamas at least.

"So how old was Geya when this picture was taken?" he asked with a hint of audaciousness.

"She was thirty-seven - she died at thirty-eight. This is how I remember her best."

"She was beautiful."

"She was."

"And part of the reason Mentor wouldn't leave Psychon."

Maya/Geya nodded and then suddenly, an almost startled expression filled her eyes. "I loved him so much," she whispered.

Tony felt a heady pang of empathy for her. He missed his family too. Maybe they hadn't been dragged apart quite so dramatically but it still hurt that they weren't in his life. "I know you did. He was all you had."

"He was all I needed, Mentor and my family."

Tony looked closely at her, not understanding what she meant. She leant a little closer and brought her hand up to his face, her fingertips brushing the length of his jaw.

"Tony," she said warmly, although for some reason, it sent an icy chill through him. "Are you a good man?"

A gasp of laughter escaped him. "Depends what you mean by 'good'." What was she messing around at?

"I think you are. I think you are good for her."

"Erm," he faltered. "You know those hairs on the back of my neck? Well, I feel like a porcupine right now.

She found that amusing and a delightfully melodious ring of laughter told of a deep and untainted happiness. Gently, she clasped his face in both hands, shaking her head. "There is nothing for you to worry about. Try to understand. It is important that you listen to her and you will understand."

"Listen to who? Who are we talking about?" he asked slowly.

"Maya needs you."

Tony eased her hands away, trying hard not to show the discomfort he was feeling with this physical contact.

"She is with me, she is safe."

Tony was worried. "What do you mean? Geya's with you?"

She reached out and took his hands. "She needed me and she found me. I can be here for her."

Twisting his hands away, he looked at the alien woman before him in horror. "You're loosing it ... you're loosing it, Maya. You shouldn't be doing this," he told her severely.

He didn't know why he said that but he felt it to be true. It didn't seem right, somehow.

She appeared stunned for a moment, her smile fading. "I can feel her. I can hear her thoughts from somewhere inside me."

"Maya, you're freaking me out here. I don't know who I'm talking to." He had felt the blood drain from his face and now his ears were humming.

Without further words, Maya/Geya stood up and distanced herself from Tony. Again, the white light invaded her body and she was transformed into her real self.

"I didn't realise." she said, shame faced. "I hadn't realised I'd react like that with somebody else."

"You and me both - what was going on?" His voice had risen an octave, a reflection of his alarm. "It was like being in the middle of a bloody seance!"

"No!" she cried. "It's nothing to do with anything like that..."

"Then what? You thought you were your own mother just then."

Maya turned away from him in exasperation. "You're shouting."

"Too right I'm shouting. That shouldn't happen. These transformations take over your body, not your mind." Tony was on his feet, glaring at the Psychon woman.

"But this is different," she objected. "A kindred transformation doesn't work the same way."

"A what? How come you've never mentioned that one before?"

"Tony, why are you so angry? Why are you being like this?"

He wasn't sure. Maybe it had scared. To him, it had been tantamount to a possession, something he'd only ever associated with demons and poltergeists, with evil. And it had been so unexpected. She hadn't warned him the transformation would be anything other than the usual shape-shifting. He felt quite shell-shocked.

His expression softened to a grimace as he said quietly, "I didn't know what was happening to you."

Maya lowered her eyes. "Kindred transformation is a very private thing for a Psychon; it isn't something that was ever really discussed, even within the family."

Tony slumped back down onto the bed, his fingers laced slackly between his knees. "So, do you want to tell me about it? Would that be too much of an intrusion?" There was a hint of reproach in his voice. What he had seen had unsettled him and now she was telling him she didn't want to talk about it? Alright, Tony had urged her into that second manifestation of her mother but didn't he have a right to know what it was all about, why she had appeared to loose control of the transformation?

"I can't tell you when you're in this frame of mind because you're not prepared to understand yet."

"What if I don't want to understand?"

"Then there's no more to be said," she said lightly, "and I apologise for showing you more than you wanted to see."

He was aware that she was moving about the room but he refused to look up. Then, recognising the sound of her boot zips being fastened up, Tony finally raised his head. "It's half past two," he stated, taking in her fully clothed figure.

"I think we both need to be on our own."

"So are you walking out on me?" he joked desperately.

"I don't want to argue with you, that's all. I can see I've upset you and I'll probably go on upsetting you if I stay"

"I don't want to argue either but what good do you think it's going to do by clearing off like this? We live together now, is it going to be like this every time we have a disagreement?"

Maya crossed to the door. "We haven't had a disagreement, Tony. Maybe you just can't cope with what I am twenty-four hours a day."

"That isn't true," he began as she disappeared through into the living room area and a few seconds later, the outer door hissed open and shut again.

Looking down, Tony clenched his hands into fists to keep them from trembling. It had all happened so fast that he couldn't think. Why couldn't she see how bizarre her actions were to him? She accepted he found the transformations difficult to handle so why hadn't she explained this kindred thing before? He had been scared for her, not knowing what was happening. And at the back of his mind, if he was honest, he was mad at her for holding out on him. She had had this secret, this other thing that she had chosen not to tell him about. He had thought he knew everything there was to know about her and now this. He went over and over it in his mind. Maybe she had never told anyone about these transformations before simply because she considered it was one more thing to segregate her from the other Alphans. What if, by allowing him to witness this kindred transformation of Geya, she was breaking down the final barrier between them? He hadn't even given her the chance to explain what it actually was.

There weren't many places to go on Alpha when you needed to be by yourself. Maya's old quarters had been closed up when she moved out, awaiting a decision as to their possible new purpose. The observation lounges would probably be deserted at this time in the morning but then, so would the Biosphere. Maya, who had been deprived of nature for all of her adult life, loved to spend her free time wandering amongst the healthy, living, fruit-bearing trees and to feel the warmth of the artificial sunshine on her skin. That was where she would go to think about how uncaring he was, how insensitive and just how alone she was, living with this colony of humans.

He trekked through the empty corridors, hoping that by avoiding the Travel Tubes, he was giving them both time to calm down. He met no one but a crew of maintenance workers on the way and it wasn't quite their place to question the Security Chief's motives for prowling the corridors in the middle of the night.

Tony stepped through the door of the Biosphere into the Alphan's own tiny little piece of earth. The door was shielded from the main areas by a small enclave where visitors were invited to find out about the latest Biosphere initiatives using an interactive computer. The area was in darkness, having been shut down for the night and he passed through the archway onto a manmade path that meandered down to a small well-stocked pond. As well as artificial sunlight, the Biosphere was designed to provide, ironically, the illusion of moonlight for the benefit of the wildlife. Little stirred within this fictional night; the occasional buzz of an insect, the faintest rustling from deep within the bushy undergrowth, the softest lullaby murmurs of the white doves, perched in the branches of the apple trees. With his eyes screwed up, adjusting to the darkness, Tony quickly scanned about him as he propelled himself deeper into the Biosphere in search of Maya.

He found her, curled up against the trunk of a tree. The side of her face was pressed up to the rough bark.

Tony got down on his haunches beside her and she turned her head, only now aware of his presence. "I. erm ... I've come to apologise." His eyes wandered distractedly about the glade, his hands hanging loosely between his knees. He had expected her to be more upset than this, maybe tearful, she would have been entitled. But no, she was quite composed and in control of her emotions.

"There's no need."

He finally focused on Maya, realising that if she had been holding out, then he had been holding back. He had been completely negative about what he had witnessed but had failed to tell Maya why. Yes, he had been scared for her, but for him too. He'd thought he knew her, thought he'd finally accepted everything that she was until she'd hit him with this. "I was snappy with you earlier, I'm sorry, I was just worried, I mean ... really worried."

"It was my fault," she answered sombrely. "I should have explained before I transformed, it's just that I didn't really know it would be like that."

Tony sat down next to her on the grass and sighed gently. "I've still got a lot to learn about you haven't I?"

She nodded and cast her eyes down.

"And I'd like to understand now what all this is about, if you'd like to tell me," he prompted.

Nervously, Maya plucked a blade of grass and ran a dark line down the centre of it with her thumbnail. "I hadn't expected it to be like that, Tony." She frowned, struggling to put her thoughts into words. "I knew I'd feel she was with me but ... she talked to you, it was like she became independent."

"Wasn't that meant to happen?"

Maya swallowed audibly. "I don't know."

"Why not?" he asked, more confused than ever.

"Because I've never performed a kindred transformation in front of anyone else before." She risked a small glance and found Tony was staring at her.

"Never?"

"No. I told you, it's a private thing, a way to express personal grief."

She was actually embarrassed and Tony felt partly responsible for this without fully understanding why.

A soft cooing sounded from the branches above their heads as though the white doves were in tune with their guests disturbed harmonies and were trying in their own small way to empathise.

"Tell me." He laid a gentle hand over her drawn up knees and felt her fingers curl around his wrist.

"It's something that Psychons associate with the dead." She paused as though waiting for some negative response from him.

"Mmhm, okay," he acknowledged.

"It's used as part of the grieving process when a relative dies."

"Only relatives?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Maya looked cautiously into his face, searching for some small sign of a reluctance to really know the truth.

"Go on," he pushed gently.

She took a deep breath. "When someone very close to you dies, it can help to ... to feel them."

Tony shook his head. "Do you mean like when those creatures tried to blow up the waste dumps? You were able to feel inside their minds."

She gave him a weak smile. "A little like that yes. In our society, it was a taboo to transform into a blood relative whilst they were living. It would've been considered the vilest invasion of privacy."

Tony slowly began to realise what this implied. "You were looking into your own mother's mind. You felt her presence like she was actually with you? That's incredible!"

"Maybe it is."

"But with a relative, it's different?"

"Yes," she answered with a little more enthusiasm. "The connection is very, very strong, especially with parents. Because you share the same genes, the same genetic make-up, when you transform, it's almost like you're sharing the same body."

"So because there's a taboo exists for transforming into a relative - which is understandable, there's still a stigma attached to the grieving side of it."

"I suppose it is a stigma, yes. It was something that was never talked of. When my mother died, I remember my father shut himself away for days. My brother told me why and he was worried because although there was no blood relationship between them, it still isn't good to spend too long in the shape of another Psychon."

"Why?" asked Tony, fascinated by her explanations despite himself.

"Because you can loose your own identity."

"You mean things get mixed up?"

"That's right. Two Psychons minds would be working on the same level, there's more of a cohesive element than with a creature of a lower intellect, like, say a rodent."

"So is it dangerous?" Tony frowned, his original instinctive fears returning.

"Over prolonged periods, yes, it could be."

Tony shifted his position as he started to loose some feeling in his right leg. With his back now against the tree, Maya was able to slide in between his outstretched legs.

Was that the first time you'd transformed into her?"

She bowed her head in embarrassment. "Yes. When I was a child, it was easier to accept her death. Children accept easily, don't they?"

"Not a bad thing, sometimes. Was that the first kindred transformation?"

It was obviously getting harder for her to discuss now it was on a personal level. "No, not my first. There was my father ..."

Tony sat up a little straighter. "Since you've been on Alpha? When?"

"You have to see, Tony, I had no one, there was no one left." Once again, she was defensive, apologetic almost.

"I'm not getting at you, it just bothers me that you've never talked about it."

"It was a long time ago, when I first came here. I didn't even know you then," she mumbled.

Tony took her left hand in his, lacing his fingers through hers, aware of the pleasing roughness of the ring he had given her. "Well you do now."

"It's a difficult subject for me to talk to anybody about, not just you."

Tony dipped his head to brush the side of his face against her hair, loving the uniquely intoxicating smell of the silky, auburn waves. "It should be easy, there's no taboo involved for me, you can say what you like." He kissed her hot cheek.

"I suppose that's true but ..."

"But nothing. No secrets, okay?"

Maya felt him tense and realised there was something else he needed to say, something that wasn't easy for him either.

"Maya ..."

"Go on," she said with trepidation, "tell me. What's wrong?"

"It isn't you - it's me, my problem. I know that in the past, I've ... I've always shied away from all this morphing stuff. I didn't want to know for exactly the same reason you quoted everybody else as having - it's disturbing." He kissed the top of her head softly. "And how could I admit that to you? To me? When you love someone, you're meant to love all of them aren't you? Body and soul. It makes me feel like I'm cheating you somehow because I haven't been willing to accept all of you."

"Tony ..." Maya leaned her weight back against him, too emotional to say anything more.

"Maybe I never will, I don't know but I want to try. In a way, I'm relieved this has happened. I wouldn't want you to marry me, not knowing how I felt."

"It doesn't matter," she whispered.

"Yes, it does," Tony replied forcefully. "God knows I love you but I don't want this on my conscience any longer, Maya, it isn't fair to either of us. Metamorphosis frightens me and it feels like it comes between us sometimes..."

"Don't say that!" she cried, causing Tony to hold her tighter as he went on.

"But I know that's only because I refuse to face it ... embrace it, isn't that the expression?"

"It sounds right." She remained perfectly still in his arms, hardly daring to breath as he released his innermost thoughts. It suddenly occurred to her that he was trying to tell her something else. "Are you saying that we're ... that you're not happy? You don't think we should be together anymore?"

"No!" he told her quickly. "God, no." Tony hugged her even more tightly, swinging round to look into her face. "Don't ever think that. I don't want to ever be without you. I had to tell you, that's all. I wanted to be honest with you. Maybe you're not prepared to spend the rest of your life with somebody who sees your abilities as an obstacle."

"I never realised."

"Why should you?" he said, somewhat forlornly. "That's the point, I never told you how I felt and I feel guilty as sin for not saying anything before. I thought I was doing the right thing because I didn't want to upset you but really I was being selfish, I didn't want to have to deal with my hang-ups." He ran a finger down the dark pigment of her right cheekbone. "And now I want you to tell me everything about the Kindred transformations." He heard himself repeating the words that Geya had said to him. "Explain it to me and I'll listen. Make me understand."

Maya looked hard into his pleading eyes. "I don't know why I thought it would be any easier for you than anyone else on Alpha, but I did. I suppose I just got too wrapped up in 'us' and maybe I thought it didn't matter to you that much anyway."

Tony smiled. "I kid around too much."

"Bravado."

"Exactly." He let his chin drop down to rest in between her neck and collarbone. "I want to hear about the kindred transformations. They're important to you - they should be important to me too."

Maya turned her body into his and clung to him, eager now to explain what had only an hour ago been a prohibited subject for her. At this moment, Tony was open to an account of her Pyschon heritage and taboo or not, this was maybe her only chance to bring him into her world.

"Alright," she drew a deep breath, "I'll tell you. Two weeks after I was brought here, the first night I spent in my own quarters after I was released from Medical Centre, I felt desperately alone. I thought people were still thinking of me as the enemy and I didn't know what to do with myself. It was so quiet. I needed my father to get me though it. It was wonderful to see him again, you can't imagine."

That made Tony smile. Yes, he could imagine but unlike Maya, he couldn't do anything more. "But you felt guilty?" he asked.

"Not guilty exactly, at least, not to begin with."

"But you did later?"

"Mmm." She seemed to drift away for a moment. "I began using kindred transformation as a crutch. I found it was becoming addictive. Whenever I got the chance, I would lock myself away in my bathroom and be him for as long a period as I could. I'd usually be there for the whole hour."

"I'm getting the impression that it wasn't a very clever thing to do."

"I found I was getting confused. I was getting lost inside Mentor. There was one occasion when the hour elapsed and I reverted back involuntarily. It was frightening; I didn't know who I was for a few seconds."

Tony shook his head in disbelief. "I think one or two in Medical would've had something to say about that. It's like ... I don't know, voluntary schizophrenia or something."

"It made me stop. I knew it wasn't right and if I carried on, I'd do myself permanent damage. Besides, things were starting to get easier - you'd stopped hating me."

"I'd what?" Tony chuckled.

Maya had to laugh too. "I remember, the very next day when you said, "good morning", you actually smiled as well. That was the first time you'd ever smiled at me."

"You must be wrong. I must've smiled before that," he said, incredulously, " and I certainly never hated you. In fact, I'm surprised to never realised that I fancied you, practically from day one."

"She shrugged. "You could still hate me too."

"I suppose I could have," he said thoughtfully, "but isn't that a bit sinister?"

"Exactly, which is why you used to make me so nervous. You scared me!"

"Maya! You're kidding. I scared you? For the first few days, I daren't turn my back on you 'cause I was worried you'd turn into something big and hungry and bite my head off!"

"Only as a last resort," she said humbly but with a hint of mischief.

More seriously, Tony said, "You never told me that before, that you were actually frightened of me. If I'd known, I'd probably have acted differently."

"Maybe so. It's irrelevant now anyway."

"But I was part of the reason you took those risks with Mentor," Tony protested.

"It was my decision. That was the way I chose to handle the situation I was in. You could even call it the coward's way. And anyway, you don't have to feel guilty, I've already told you that that beautiful Italian smile made it all better."

Slowly pushing Maya forward, he got himself to his feet, dragging her with him. "Well, you learn something new every day. I'd been that much of a threat to you had I, that one smile could put you back on track?"

Maya nodded happily. "It obviously proved that you weren't an uncaring, uncivilised thug afterall, you see."

"Oh, this just gets better and better," cried Tony, flinging an arm about her and pulling her against him.

She slapped his chest playfully. "You're still a fool though."

Tony laughed and touched his lips to hers lingeringly. "Only for you."

Looking into those brilliant blue eyes with a suddenly serious expression that made him look a little angry, he said, "I'm glad you told me all that. It wasn't easy for you was it?"

"I should have told you before now. If you'd known that metamorphosis could frighten me too ... that there are some aspects that even Psychons can't come to terms with, you might have found it less daunting from the start. We were both keeping secrets. Hardly the ideal start for a marriage is it?"

"It doesn't matter now. We've cleared the air. Just so long as you know how much you mean to me."

Maya touched her nose to his. "I do now. I think I must mean a lot to you for you to brave the powers of a Metamorph." She grinned impishly but Tony, for once, wasn't in the mood for playful retaliation. Instead, he kissed her with a tender passion that summoned tears of powerful emotion in Maya's eyes.

"I love you, sweetheart," he told her.

Maya couldn't deny the conviction she heard in his voice. "I love you, too. I don't want this to come between us any more."

"It won't. It won't," he murmured soothingly as he gently massaged the small of her back. "We'll be okay now, don't worry," he assured her.

In response, Maya nodded her head against his, comforted by those words.

"Shall we go home?" he asked.

As they began to make their way back through the sweetly perfumed darkness of the Biosphere, their arms wrapped about each other, Tony looked up at the ghostly radiance of the crescent moon.

Happy birthday, Geya. I can take care of her now.