Why is it that silence seems to last forever and no time at all at the same time? Envoy has no idea how long she has been floating in nothingness, but soon pinpoints of light break into her sanctuary. Her eyes flutter open and she finds herself looking up at a frozen sky.

The Hanging City
It's hard to say exactly what this place is, other than an ancient city floating amidst the stars. There is no planet, just this city floating on a fragment of rock and dirt. Perhaps it was once home to a great civilization; the architecture implies as much. Beautiful stonework, coupled with steel and glass reach upward for hundreds of feet. The beauty of this place would be amazing were it not for its utter emptiness. There is no-one here; silence reigns. It is oppressive and in some ways, sad.

"Do you seek to teach me terror, Envoy? You blinked out of existence for a moment," Morpheus familiar voice says. The strange cat-bat is perched nearby on an outcropping of stone. He's also still dressed in his magician's tuxedo for whatever reason only known to him.

Blinking, Envoy says, "Well.. I had to sync up with Icarus to transfer energy to him because a sniper shot him." Then she asks, "Do you have anything to eat? I'm really hungry after doing that. His repair systems aren't as efficient as mine so I had to give him a lot of my energy."

"It's probable his systems aren't efficient because they haven't had as much time to learn. He's quite a complex system and since none of it had any core programming; it has to, well, teach itself," Morpheus notes. He smiles wide, and as his grin grows, his body fades. Soon, he reappears next to Envoy, sitting on the ground beside her. "Eating here may not be of much help to you, I'm afraid," he admits, "This is all in the mind of the universe. It isn't 'real' in terms of the physical."

"True.. but I thought I could get pizza here," Envoy notes with a grin. "Or donuts. But aside from that.. am I dead or just in energy conservation mode?"

"Seeing as how I don't have a scythe and tend to be a bit 'fleshy' for a grim reaper, I think I can safely say you're just in energy conservation mode," Morpheus remarks as he reaches over to tickle Envoy's nose. "You said someone shot Icarus? Why would anyone want to shoot him?"

"I don't know. It could just be that he was standing next to me and I was the target, or somebody wanted to hurt me through him, or we were both targets. I think Icarus got the shooter, but until I can see his remains I just don't know if it's Von Bronson or someone else," Envoy rambles. "I don't want to think it was the Silent Ones."

"Is there any evidence it would be the Silent Ones?" Morpheus asks as he twirls his right hand and his top hat appears in it. He sticks his left arm into the hat all the way up to his shoulder and rummages around. When it withdraws he's holding a black rod with a small white tip. He waves it around Envoy's left ear and says in a rather overly dramatic way, "Abra Cadoughbra." He puts his hat atop his head, then promptly pulls a donut out of Envoy's left ear and offers it to her.

Grinning at the trick, Envoy nibbles on the donut and explains, "Born-in-War's daughters knew we would be waiting on that spot for them to return to pick us up. Otherwise, we'd have to have been under surveillance for some time."

"Have they shown any outward dislike of either of you, though?" Morpheus asks as he tucks his want up his sleeve. "And ... when are you going to bring our son to visit me, anyway?" he asks as he tries to fake a hurt tone. He only moderately succeeds at that. "Or bring me there. Either will do."

"Well.. is the underground portal primed to bring us to you?" Envoy asks. "I haven't finished the Gravy Boat yet, so going to the Imperial city and getting a plant clone hasn't been an option - not without an escape vehicle handy. Is that garden still there, or would we need to bring food and supplies? Also, I've found his more biological mother, Elsa Daedalus. She's with us now.. wherever we are."

"I don't think the Silent Ones are out to harm us, no - at least, not Born-in-War's family," she adds. "I need to see who attacked us. And.. probably start developing some better defensive and offensive tricks."

"It should be ready in the next day," Morpheus says, "The codes have been broken, so it's a matter of getting the proper coordinates configured. The system speaks a rather peculiar dialect, so it has been a bit slow." The cat-being's eyes quint a bit as he peers at Envoy after the mention of Elsa. "Do you plan to relinquish custody of him to her, then?" he asks, "Have you tired of being a parent?"

"She is hardly in a position to care for him," Envoy says. "But she wanted to see him, so of course I let her. It's what's been keeping her alive all these years. She may also have valuable information about Von Bronson or any special needs or vulnerabilities Icarus may have. I thought she could maybe make you a body too, if the plant version doesn't work. Oh! If I bring you a crystal that generates power, could you duplicate it?"

"I should be able to duplicate any crystalline structure within reason," Morpheus notes with an enigmatic grin, "As long as you don't ask me to be a chicken and lay it like an egg." As he fiddles with his white magician's gloves, he asks, "So, what is his mother like, this Elsa?"

"And as for supplies, biological needs can be managed fine," Morpheus adds, remembering that he didn't answer an earlier question. "The garden still grows."

"A bit.. reptilian.. but nice enough," Envoy says, before taking a bite of her donut. "Oh! The crystal may be a bit evil too, so.. watch out for that. But if you can copy it, then maybe you can make a bigger version to power the Leviathan with."

"Evil is a bit of a difficult term to apply, but I will watch for behaviors not conducive to the well-being of others," Morpheus notes and even shrugs. "How many will you bring with you? I rarely have guests, so I will need to prepare appropriate accommodations."

"Well, Icarus of course, probably Walter since he likes to explore.. and maybe Elsa too," Envoy says, looking thoughtful.

"Artificial lifeform, human, and ... reptile?" Morpheus confirms. "Does the reptile require warm conditions or specific levels of humidity? My records indicate most reptiles prefer temperatures above those that are comfortable for humans."

"She does like keeping warm, yes," Envoy replies. "She used to be human, but has altered her genes to maintain her longevity. I.. don't know for sure yet what she likes to eat. Live prey might be problematical. But there are plant-eating reptiles too."

"Mm, that you will have to ask her," Morpheus decides as he pulls a really long series of colorful hankies from his right sleeve, "And what of you? Do you wish your own quarters while visiting? Do you have any particular requests?"

"My own quarters?" Envoy asks, tilting her head in thought. "If I sleep here, will I dream.. and then be here twice?"

"Well, you could sleep within me," Morpheus points out, "and share a direct neural link. Though I am not quite certain you would want to see the worlds as I do."

"I remember a glimpse of how you see them, but that might be fun," Envoy says. "Although the notion of you sleeping is a bit odd."

"Well, I cannot quite find a word that appropriately describes allowing one's consciousness to diffuse and exist in a state of semi-awareness to allow for more efficient data cataloging and storage," Morpheus remarks as he plays with a small tube of braided material ... and then gets two of his fingers stuck in it. As he tugs on it to try and get his fingers free, he adds, "Besides, I am attempting be be more like a 'normal' being and less like the God some claim I am."

Envoy reaches over and pinches the middle of the tube so Morpheus can get his fingers out. "Normal is very complicated and difficult," she claims. "It requires holding a lot of contradictory thoughts in your mind at once."

"Then why do so many people strive to be normal?" Morpheus asks once his fingers are free.

"I don't think they strive so much as are socialized into it," Envoy suggests, then looks thoughtful again. "Have you been able to experience any dreams from Abaddon since its Engine restarted?"

"Like a great wave of chaos, yes," Morpheus admits. He pulls A giant cotton swap out of his sleeve and pushes it in one ear, then out his outer. "Some of it quite disturbing."

"I wonder if you could cast a net to find dreams about myself or Icarus then," Envoy says. "If Dr. Von Bronson's dreams are loud enough, then maybe we could use them to find him."

"Hm. That may be possible. If you can describe quite aspects of this man, I may be able to locate his waveform," Morpheus agrees as he tucks his apparent 'brain brush' back into his sleeve. How all of it fits, well, it's better to not ask.

"Old. He's kept alive by machines, and confined to a wheel chair as a result," Envoy says. "I suspect bitterness, jealousy.. megalomania.. to be prominent flavors. And he may have crystal implants of his own."

"Ah! If he does have implants that will make him trivial to find," Morpheus declares triumphantly! "I will keep watch for him. Now, do you wish to awake in the physical world ... or would you prefer to stay here with me? I might be able to extract your consciousness completely and house it..."

"I.. have things to do in the waking world you know," Envoy points out, and pokes Morpheus in the bow-tie. "So I'd need to wake up there. Icarus would worry otherwise."

Morpheus' bow-tie spins like a propeller. "Can you blame me for trying?" he asks with that Cheshire-style grin again. "Will you at least permit me to awaken you in an unusual way?"

"There is a usual way?" Envoy asks, eyebrows raised. "But I give you permission to wake me as you see fit.. so long as that giant ear-cleaner isn't involved."

Morpheus pulls out a notepad and draws a line through one of the sentences on it, tucking it away before Envoy can read any of them. All she could tell is that it was a list. "Right, so ..." he says and holds open his right sleeve so envoy can see. "Nothing up my sleeve!" he pronounces, and literally there is nothing, not even an arm. He releases his sleeve, hooks the same hand behind Envoy's neck, then kisses her! Everything around her seems to dissolve into a warm goo, including her vision...

Everything feels fuzzy to Envoy, including her body. Even as she wakes it feels like Morpheus is still kissing her ... which in itself is pretty nice. But alas reality is not really so kind. As her eyes flutter open she can tell there's a breathing mask, probably built for a karnor, over her muzzle. She's laying in what looks like a hospital bed with an IV going into her right arm; probably glucose or something similar. Thorndike is sitting in a chair nearby reading a book. Icarus, Elsa, and Violette are nowhere to be seen.

There is a device nearby that feels like a hospital call button. It also depresses like one! A minute later the door opens and a female human nurse with bright green hair and a severe frown enters. "Oh it's you. You're awake," she grumbles. "I hope you will be less irritating awake as you are asleep." Apparently she missed the lectures on good bedside manners.

This startles Thorndike! He goes, "Wargh!" and ends up tossing his book up into the air. It flops down onto the floor in a mess of paper and a broken book spine. "Oh, you're awake!" he blurts the obvious.

"I am awake," Envoy says, sounding weird because of the mask. "How was I irritating while asleep though?" she asks.

"You have vitals that are nearly impossible to detect, you babble in some strange foreign language, and your veins are near impossible to find to put a needle in," the Nurse lists off, "And you scared the orderly who tried to fit you with a bedpan. I assume you are aware you lack common waste secretion organs."

"I did try to warn you about that..." Walter starts to say, only to be cut off by a glare from 'Miss Manners'.

"I will.. try to accommodate your sensibilities better next time, Nurse," Envoy promises. "Can I have something to eat please?"

"Yes. We have chicken broth, beef broth, pork broth, mashed potatoes, or lime gelatin," the Nurse offers.

"The pillow would taste better than any of those," Thorndike offers, "I should know. I tried to eat some of their food. I wish I hadn't."

"All of them?" the Nurse asks. Envoy finds sitting up not too difficult, thankfully.

Envoy eyes the pillow, pondering its caloric value. "I need to recover at least five thousand calories," she explains.

"/Five /housand/?" the Nurse asks in a rather incredulous tone. "For that you would need to consume Mr. Jenson's meat and cheese lover's deep-dish lasagna pizza. The broths here have only around one hundred calories each as /normal/ patients don't eat well after nearly dying."

"Can I get the pizza then?" Envoy asks, perking up at the possibility. "I store a lot of energy in my cells. It's critical to my healing system."

"If you die because of a non-sanctioned meal, we cannot be held responsible," the Nurse says stiffly, then marches out of the room again.

"I think that was a yes," Walter offers as he watches the Nurse leave. "I'm glad to see she was in a good mood this time, too."

"I'm sorry to have put you through this, Walter," Envoy says. "How are Icarus, Violette and Elsa?"

"Not allowed to wait in here. The nurse refused to believe that Icarus is your child. She only let me stay because I claimed I was your husband. After she called me a freak for betraying my species and bedding a monster, she let me stay," Walter remarks as he rolls his eyes. "After Icarus captured the man who shot him ... which I might add was quite impressive; it reminded me of some of the heroic tales that permeated the newspapers of my world ... well, we brought you here. I think they're likely all still waiting down in the public waiting room. They all seemed moderately okay with I spoke to them last, they were stuck filling out police reports. The ones who were truly mad where the two Silent Ones. When they showed up and heard what happened ... well. It was close. They were almost arrested because they tried to storm the police station and gut the man who fired the shot."

"The shooter survived then?" Envoy asks in surprise. "I was sure Icarus would squish him. But it also implies he did not have a self-destruct device in his brain. Do you know if he was a normal being?"

"Hasn't spoken a word to my knowledge," Walter says and shrugs, "And in this world ... what exactly is normal?" He looks towards the door before adding, "As for Icarus not squishing him ... I'm sure he wanted to. But ... he said you don't approve of killing and didn't want to upset you."

Envoy smiles proudly! Even though he was probably still in pain, Icarus kept a level head. "Perhaps the police will allow me to examine the culprit," she says happily. "We'd need to put his head in a Faraday cage of course.."

"Er ... why? A faraday cage is to block electrical signals. It makes a poor torture device. An iron maiden would work better in getting him to talk," Walter offers.

"If he is being remotely controlled via some electronic device in his brain, then it would break the signal," Envoy suggests. "We need to find the manufacturer of the components we recovered from the first attack with the runaway vehicle as well."

"Right now all we need to do is get you out of the hospital," Walter notes, "We still have dinner with the twins, just delayed a day. Plus plenty of other things to get done. Also, were you planning on telling Icarus the lizard woman was his real mother? Because ... well, after everything she told him."

"I had planned to, yes," Envoy says. "And I look forward to dinner after I have my snack. I should be back to full charge in another day or so at this rate. We should plan on visiting the planet Morpheus soon as well."

This adventure is becoming a bit too adventurous!" Thorndike declares, "There is hardly enough time to make a proper cup of tea anymore. Really. Why can't adventures be done at a pace that allows one to savor the moments and discoveries. Why it it always explosions, screaming, and running around?"

"Those aren't the adventure parts," Envoy points out. "The real adventure parts usually involve being too cold, too hot, or very wet. Also.. do you want to get fake wedding bands? I think they use rings in New Zion."

That causes Walter to blink. "Ah, why would we need those?" he asks and fidgets.

"It would save time in trying to convince people we are married," Envoy notes. "And you can surely reuse them later, when you find a real wife."

At that Walter laughs. "Dear lady, no woman can stand me long enough for that to ever happen," the human claims. "And how often will I really need to convince people of such a thing, anyway?"

"Well, if you were to get shot next time, how would any of us be allowed to sit with you?" Envoy asks.

"Oh, well that will make things much easier then," Envoy notes. "Things would have been much simpler this time if I'd been shot.. but if it's Von Bronson again he probably figured that wouldn't have the desired effect."

"And the desired effect being?" Walter asks. "To upset you?" There's a knock at the door, then it opens and the Nurse wheels in what looks like a ten pound deep-dish square pizza. "If you can eat all of this, I'll eat my support bra," the cranky Nurse grumbles.

"Oh, you shouldn't try to do that," Envoy says, already salivating at the sight of the pizza.

Envoy did manage to eat the entire lasagna pizza thing ... and it's good she doesn't have a normal intestinal tract otherwise the probably gas from the food would have been atrocious. Thankfully the Nurse didn't try to eat her bra, but instead unhooked Envoy from the IV, stuffed discharge papers into her hands, then rolled her out of the door.

The others are all waiting down in the public waiting room of the hospital. Icarus is pacing back and forth, Elsa is lounging on what looks like a giant heating pad (probably for the Celestials), and Violette is busy try to, well ... make soap bubbles line up in an orderly fashion.

"Hello!" Envoy calls out and tries to get to her feet. "I hope you've all at least gotten some sleep?"

Everyone seems to freeze and stare at her. "Mom!" Icarus blurts out. "Mrughplth," mumbles Elsa, who apparently was asleep. And Violette squeaks because being suddenly distracted causes all of her bubbles to pop. Her ears droop. Only Icarus rushes over to meet her. "Are you okay?" he asks as he practically feels her from head to toe.

"Yes, I wasn't hurt after all," Envoy says, trying to hug the boy as soon as he stands still. "I'm more concerned about you! Is there any lingering pain or stiffness, problems breathing.. anything?"

It's surprisingly hard to try and hug someone who is in constant motion, but she somehow manages it. "My chest itches a bit where I was hit," Icarus admits, "And everything feels a little tight there too. Breathing is fine and nothing really hurts. Even when it happened it didn't hurt it just ... it felt like I had no strength to move or do anything." Elsa speaks up as she pushes herself upright, "That is a common reaction to significant injury; the body goes into shock."

"Well.. hopefully it's learned how to handle things better now," Envoy says. "And I'm very proud of you for capturing the shooter and holding him for the police, Icarus. Have you been getting along with Elsa? I'm sorry that I didn't have a chance to properly introduce you.."

Icarus scratches at his left pectoral through a loose-fitting replacement shirt. "We've been getting along fine. It's ... weird to be talking to the person who, well, made me. She was telling me about the design process and watching me from the first few cells and crystal lattice grow into a person. To, well, reading me stories while I grew in the tank," he admits, "And about developing the virtual world for me before she had to hide me. It wasn't complete, she had intended it to be more real than a vague repeating loop but ..."

"But there wasn't time to make it real enough," Elsa adds. "In the end, it just had to keep mental functions working. If it hadn't ... you would have had a complete mental collapse and been, well ... brain dead within a few years of being put in suspension. I'm sorry; I had no choice. They had to believe you were dead."

"Von Bronson did not give her a lot of time," Envoy notes. "I still need to ask her how she faked her own death. That could come in handy someday. But, I hear we are going out to dinner tonight with Rising-Star and Setting-Sun, and then maybe we can visit another planet. Does that sound like fun?"

"Right now any real meal sounds like fun compared to the food they serve in here. Bleagh," Icarus says as he makes a particular gagging face. He can't see it, but Envoy can. Elsa is smiling sadly as she watches him.

"My breath may smell odd for a while," Envoy notes. "I had a pizza," she admits to Icarus. To Violette and Elsa, she says, "Are you two doing alright? I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so long. Are you hungry?"

Violette shakes her head. "Nah! They have a machine here that shoots food out at you if you stuff coins in it," she chirps. "did you know they make cakes here shaped like a small loaf of bread and filled with a sweet, white, goo? Yum!"

"When was the last time you had an enjoyable meal with company though?" Envoy asks Elsa. She blinks at Violette though. "Are they made right in the machine?"

"No idea!" Violette chirps. Icarus rolls his eyes and keeps running his chest now and then.

"Far too long," Envoy says, then asks Icarus, "Did you have a doctor examine you while you were here? Or at least let Elsa do so?"

"I did a cursory examination. There is likely some level of scar tissue developing at the impact point, which will itch. It should thin over time. Hopefully since his metabolism is extremely high, it should ease up in a day or so," Elsa explains, "You are, of course, to examine him as well if you like."

"I'm not a doctor," Envoy notes. "My understanding of my own physiology does not translate well to understanding others. So long as the itch fades, I will be happy."

Icarus pulls down his shirt collar and claims, "See? It's fine." Of course he doesn't look, but Envoy can see it, there's a circular spot about the size of a shekel where the bullet entered that has developed what looks like a fragment of a stiff, golden, scale. It's surrounded by light white, and spotted, fur.

"Oh my.. well, hopefully it will revert to your own tissue in time," Envoy says. She didn't think any 'contamination' from her would actually manifest like that. But.. it's at least confined to just the healed wound.

"What?" Icarus asks and his ears splay. He has to crane his neck hard to look, then taps on the odd spot. "Uhm, it wasn't like that two hours ago. That explains why it itches."

Envoy twitches. "We'll have to watch that closely," she says, and smiles in what she hopes is a reassuring manner.

"I don't know," Envoy says. "It could just be an echo from the metabolic energy. I don't think that's actually my tissue developing - but that can be tested with a microscope."

"After dinner?" Violette asks, "And it could be worse! At least you aren't a partial purple smear and ugly."

"You're not ugly, V," Icarus tells the Eeee. "Weird and scary, yes. Ugly, not so much."

"Right, then we had better get going. The restaurant reservations are in a couple hours and we need to go get the twins from the police station," Walter ahems. "Plus put in a request to interview the attacker tomorrow, perhaps. I'm not sure the police will allow it, but it never hurts to ask."

"Okay," Esla says, the tone almost a complaint since she has to leave her heated pad.

"Do you think I'm cute, then?" Violette asks Icarus as she stares at him in the uncomfortable way women can manage. Not unlike the look given when a woman asks a man if he thinks she's fat.

"Of course he thinks you're cute, Violette," Envoy says. "Cuteness is a matter of action and personality, after all. And dimples. I think dimples play a part too. But let's go meet with the twins, so they know we're all doing fine. Then, maybe.. we can interrogate the shooter! He might respond to Violette's sort of cuteness, if we're lucky."