For her part, Emilly arrived on Tannhäuser, running at speed for the cloning lab. She quickly found Justine's tissue samples, racing back to her skiff, programming it to fly back to ground level, and stopped. She chewed a fingernail. Justine needed the samples, yes, but--she needed to check on the children.
She docked with the nursery building, having to phase through the wall because there was no external access by design. She rounded the corner and screamed.
"CLEO!" she yelled, falling to her knees. The pale kitten turned towards her voice, wet pink smudges on her cheeks below where her eyes should be. Emilly wrapped her arms around herself and keened in distress. Then the kitten blinked, her eyelids growing to do so, and when she opened her eyes--she was fine again.
"Hello, Mama!" she said brightly. "I was trying to change shapes--"
Emilly gathered her up close, holding her, still half in shock. "Shh, shh, dearest, we'll work on that. But you can't scare Mama like that, all right? I was worried you were--" She swallowed, breaking off.
"Worried I was--what?"
She shuddered. Irradiated, she thought. Damaged. Dead... She shook herself, forcing herself to put her daughter back down, rising again. "It doesn't matter," she said, idly, starting to search the nursery for the others.
She found Enoch first, resting on the floor next to his bed. Typical. But where was Athena?
She found Athena in the other room, stariing fixedly at the wall. At least she was okay. They were all okay. Good.
She raced back to her skiff, and flew to ground level.
(Continued in part XCIX.)
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