The inhabitants of Layers talked of nothing else, but never in front of a Harlequin. The biggest meeting ever held. Silver was organising it with the Cáirneach, and the prophesies were going to be fulfilled, and so on and so on. The Sisterhood of Time announced rather smugly that it could see that none of its Sisters were due to be there, but when someone mischievously asked them if they’d got their mirror back, all statements abruptly ceased.

Rumour, as ever, was nearly right. The Cáirneach were working together with Silver, and the remains of Weaver’s team. When Stargazer achieved orbit, under the finances of what the Government believed to be the Masons, what the Masons believed to be the MoD, and what the MoD believed to be the people they’d been in extremely delicate negotiations with since just after Roswell, a huge screen was set up in one of the main caverns. The application of a little stolen Unity technology linked it up to the grid nicely. Amazingly, Mater provided the final calculations.

Silver had been intrigued by the mirror Stella had stolen, and wanted to see if it was related to the room-hopping technologies used in the Complex. Despite the daunting workload, there were plenty of people willing to help her, the entire Cáirneach work ethic being based on only investigating what they personally found interesting. Nonetheless, it was a bit of shock to the two technicians working on it, when a living statue appeared in the misty glass.

She was metal, the perfect image of a woman, and entirely interactive. Any attempts to measure her in any way were entirely fruitless, monitors suddenly rusting into obsolescence or becoming mere ore and oil. Despite the urgency to investigate both bell and crystal, more and more people became fascinated by the figure, which answered questions half a second before they were asked.

Mater, as it had to be, didn’t seem to think much about the Sisters she had set up. "The novices are reprobates," she announced in her cold, precise voice. "And the Sisters themselves are children playing at my mysteries for the power they perceive it brings."

"And they’re not too careful about it, either," grouched Silver sympathetically. "Do you need anything?"

Mater inclined her head, a sure sign that there was some serious thought going on.

"Some sort of vinegar solution. This glass is a state."

Hiding her smile, Silver dived off to the canteen, and picked out a bottle of vinegar. She stood up, and glanced at the entrance.

Breaking glassware, a common sound in the mountain, was generally greeted by a smattering of ironic applause. What didn’t then follow was every intruder alarm going of at once, and a woman heading off to an empty room at speed, muttering something about not going back.

Jake looked up. A fairly old couple were standing by the entrance, flanking a Messenger. The man had a posture that screamed military, while the woman- oh, she had to be related to Silver. The same hair and eyes, and, oddly, the same haunted quality.

The man said softly, "we are looking for Miss Silver. Is she here?"

Most of the alarms cut out. Someone said something about her having to be alone for a minute.

Bob,
Sorted W/W
See you Mon.
L.

Probably none of her business, but Silver found herself wondering if W/W was wetware. Then she realised it was a displacement activity, and stopped.

God, she thought, I ought to be over it. It’s not like when I was a kid, and I hated being dragged from birthday parties so much I used to hide under the stairs. You are twenty-six years old, Sil. Nearly thirty. You can handle this. Not the nearly thirty part, but the parent part.

"Silver? It’s me, Graham. Can I come in?"

"Sure." She unlocked the door. "Sorry about that, it’s a bit of a shock. How did you find me?"

"Are giant wolves common where you come from?"

"Oh. Sorry, they were trying to be helpful. Probably. Mum’s here too, I see."

"Yes. I’m sorry, Silver, I told her the moment I got home from the café. She had a right to know."

"Yes, I suppose so. Look, you can’t stay, it’s going to get incredibly dangerous soon. There’s an amphitheatre in Greece we’re going to hold this almighty conference in, and- well, let’s just say I’ve worked a few things out."

Graham looked at his stepdaughter. "Why don’t you want your mother here?"

"She’ll make me-" Silver stopped, and tried to sound her age. "She will expect me to go back, and I’m not going back. Ever. I can’t."

"You fit in here."

"As much as I fit anywhere. I’m not like the Cáirneach, the people around us. I can’t keep one foot in one place and one in another."

"I know. After you... showed me all those things in the café, I told Susan and we had a long talk. We know you have a different life now, and although we would love to be part of your life, we know you can’t come back." Graham’s voice was as neutral as a public relation officer’s, but his expression suggested this had been decided after a good six hours weeping and wailing. Silver twisted her thumbs inside her sleeves.

"She won’t make a fuss, will she? I mean, she won’t shout at me or burst into tears or anything?"

"Silver, she hasn’t seen her daughter in seven years. She’s hardly likely to just shake your hand."

"You’re right." Silver took a deep breath. "Okay. Let’s do it."

"What the hell did you think you were playing at?"

"Hello, Mother."

"Susan-"

"Running away with your lecturer, for God’s sake!"

Silver found herself adopting the same pose she’d perfected at around fifteen, the ‘I’m only standing here to humour you, and I haven’t listened to a word’ position. And like when she was fifteen, it annoyed her mother even more. Mid-word, though, Susan abruptly burst into tears. Silver pulled herself together. Restraining an eyebrow threatening to rise and signal ‘does she realise what an idiot she’s making of herself?’ she switched to ‘I’m contrite, but not going to back down’.

"Shut up, Mother." Susan blinked. "I’m terribly sorry I could only leaves a quick note, but I was being chased by a very powerful group of people I’d managed to upset. The thing with my lecturer only grew with time. I had no way of contacting you without putting your lives in danger. The wrath of the Unity does tend to spill over."

It was a measure of how overwhelmed Susan was by the surrounding and the way she had been summoned that she nodded. "I see." Unexpectedly she hugged her daughter. Ah, thought Silver, here’s where I’ve grown up. Instead of stiffening up into ‘hey, what with the affection?’ or muttering about needing to breathe, she weakly patted her mother’s back. You were a grandmother, once.

Susan was breathless. "Well, you’re welcome to visit, of course. Have you dealt with these people yet, or are we in danger just being here?"

"I don’t know. The rules are changing every minute, If we can just work everything out at the conference- Graham, I have an idea."

"She’s grown up into a remarkable woman."

Jake started. "Uh, yes. I guess so. I didn’t really know her before."

Susan thought for a moment. "You know in every class there’s someone right at the back, not the troublemaker, but someone who never says a word, quietly gets B for everything, and nobody can remember who she hangs around with?"

"Spends their time in the library and get picked second last for team games? Yeah. I know the kind."

"That was her. Not any more."

Silver was deep in conversation with Graham, Tom, and Mater, propped up by an old workbench. The two men and one trans-temporal entity were nodding at whatever she said. Susan smiled, then came out of whatever maternal trance she was in and looked at Jake.

"What about you?"

"Everyone thought I was just a jock, because I was good at basketball and gym. But I’m kinda good at literature, so I guess that balances out."

"What were you planning to do with your life?"

Jake grinned, and played up his accent. "Well, the NBA isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, y’know? I guess I’ll grab a couple of sponsorship deals, a nice convertible, maybe, and just ride around LA looking at all the chicks."

Susan smiled. "And in real life?"

"Fix the Harlequins, destroy the Unity, date the odd Knight and marry your daughter, if that’s okay with you, Ma’am."

"And that’s real life, is it?"

"It is now."

"How quickly it draws you in."

"It’s the weirdest life there is, and nobody knows what it’s really like until you’ve lived it. And you don’t need a scorecard. You know if someone’s the good guy or not by who they belong to. It’s not like people."

"It’s hardly idyllic."

Jake swallowed. Adam’s corpse floated across his memory. They’d buried him as soon as they’d got back, and now Jake associated him with the thump of the soil on the coffin. If he had a voice, Jake couldn’t recall it now. "I know. But at least you’re fighting for something important, you know?"

"My husband’s a soldier. You’re too young to fight."

"Someone’s got to. Like, right now this whole dimension’s been conned. The Harlequins don’t give a damn about us. And they’re going to destroy us, unless we band together and stop them. Someone’s gotta save the world."

Susan sighed. "But why my daughter? Why?"

© Naomi 'Ni' Claydon 2000. No copying without permission.