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The captain nodded. “We are also being met at Aten by another Hmrain vessel from Kifeessen.”

Sage smiled. “Let me guess. Another Terran consort?”

The captain nodded. “Yes.”

Reem sat back. “We are a welcome infestation.”

Sage laughed. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“The majority of us will find our ways in the stars.” Reem nodded. “One way or another.”

Sage looked at her and smiled. “One way or another.”

Reem nodded. “I need to rest. I wish everyone a good evening.” She got to her feet, bowed, and left the room.

Her guards escorted her back to her room, and the Zellic were still smiling foolishly at her. She got into her quarters and out of the borrowed dress as fast as she could. It didn’t feel right to wear things that were not hers.

Three more dinners in the borrowed dress, and they reached Aten. Aten had arranged his world strategically to be the hub of many Hmrain.

Reem stood in her normal office wear and carried her small bag with her. Her guards walked her to the shuttle bay. A shout made them stop. “Miss! Comptroller! You forgot your dress!”

A crewman was running toward her with the dress in his hand.

She sighed and took it. “It isn’t mine. It was loaned to me and should be returned to a recycling unit.”

Sage’s voice said softly, “It looks lovely on you, so keep it.”

Reem huffed and stuffed it into her bag. “Thank you for retrieving it.”

The crewman smiled as if she had complimented everything he had ever done.

Sage snorted and pulled her toward the shuttle. “Come on. Almost there.”

Reem walked with her, took a seat, and was with the Hmrain and consort, heading for the endless light of Aten.

When Reem left the shuttle, she saw two gold statues, one with wings, one without. When they both moved, she blinked. Oh, right. Ra and Harwin.

She walked behind Zell and Sage; etiquette kicked in. She moved slowly and let the Hmrain greet each other. Sage and Harwin hugged.

Harwin frowned. “Weren’t you bringing Jasmine’s cousin?”

“Sure. Reem is... where is she?” Sage looked around and saw the woman thirty feet back. “That’s her.”

Harwin beckoned for Reem to come closer, so she did. “Greetings, consort of Ra.”

Harwin blinked. “Right. I guess that is a formal greeting.”

Reem nodded. “You seem to be adapting well.”

Small flying drones came toward them, and they began to circle Reem. She told them to behave, and they formed up neatly at her side.

Harwin stared. “That’s new.”

“Apologies. They were just curious.”

“Right. Well, we have a specialized restoration unit for you.”

Reem cocked her head. “Why?”

“Because Ra was told you have a brain injury.”

“I did. I have an implant.”

A new voice called out, “She always was stubborn. It was part of her charm.”

Reem looked at a woman in a bodysuit who walked out of the pyramid. “Jasmine.”

Jasmine ran to her and hugged her. Reem opened her arms and returned the hug with precisely the amount of force necessary to show enthusiasm.

“Reem?”

“Yes.”

“Why aren’t you lifting me and swinging me around like you used to?”

“I lost most of my memories of individual events. My memories start after I woke in the lab, and I don’t know how long I had been there or been awake before my memories began.”

Jasmine leaned back and said, “That is what I heard, but I didn’t think it could be right. Then, we asked around, and we found people who remembered you, and they are willing to do a memory display tonight.”

“What is that?”

“They will put a halo on and listen to music that reminds them of a moment, and the halo will project that moment.”

“I see. That will be interesting.”

Jasmine looked at her face as if searching for something. “You are still in there.”

“I am. Do you want to see the implant? It seems to explain the point succinctly.”

Jasmine looked ill. “Sure.”

“You were always squeamish, Jayjay. You don’t have to look.”

Jasmine inhaled sharply and stiffened her shoulders. “I can look.”

“I paid to have my hair extruded just to hide it because it upsets people, no matter the species.”

“I can look, Reem.”

Reem nodded, bent, and parted her hair to show the silver band. “There, that is the item holding my brain together.”

She felt fingers on it. “Oh, wow. I thought it would be weird. It looks like a headband.”

Gold masculine legs filled her vision. “Comptroller Reem, Wenvari would like to know what is possible with your recovery, so we will do an assessment now. No treatment will be administered.”

“Yes, Lord Ra.” She slowly straightened.

“Follow me.”

She nodded, and as he walked to the pyramid, she followed. Harwin fell into step with her. “I am coming along so that it isn’t scary.”

Reem said, “I don’t get scared.”

Jasmine piped up from behind them. “She never did. Her blood was ice when she needed it to be. Always calm.”

Harwin nodded. “Right. That probably helped.”

Reem sighed, “Couldn’t hurt.”

Jasmine took her hand and held it tightly as they walked.

Reem looked at her and felt another piece of knowing kick in. Jayjay was always clinging to her and hiding behind her. “So, you have gotten spliced with something. You look very creamsicle.”

Her cousin smiled. “Mixed with Maltoothans. Ra is trying to contact them to see if they have a Hmrain descendant for me to play with.”

There was a snort from up front. Reem recognized that Ra was laughing. Harwin snorted. “Jasmine has refused a match until she saw you. Wenvari was refusing to let you go until just now.”

“He does not like dealing with his people, so he has been content for me to do it.”

Jayjay clung to her as they passed a team of archaeologists, who looked at her curiously.

Walking into a pyramid that folks actually lived in felt strange.

Harwin asked, “Reem, did you ever see the pyramids?”

Reem said, “I don’t know. I think so.”

Jayjay said, “She did. A bunch. She was stationed in the Middle East for a while.”

“I was?”

“You were. You were a helicopter pilot, and you worked with a number of charities out there to get supplies and equipment out to places where bikes and trucks couldn’t go.”

“Interesting.”

“You really don’t remember?”

“My brain was sliced horizontally. It does a number on recall.”

Jasmine clutched at her.

They walked to a restoration unit, and Ra typed at it. “It is set for analysis only.”

Reem checked and said, “So, I should just get in?”

Ra nodded. “Yes.”

She moved to the unit and settled. She closed her eyes, and the humming started.

The light was focused on her head for the most part, but her abdomen felt warmth.

Reem linked to the machine and found out what it was looking for.

How peculiar. It was looking for traces of Hmrain DNA.

What was funnier was that it found two strains, one in her genes and one in her implant.

Ra opened the unit, and she met his gaze. He smiled. “You know.”

“There are things I know and things I feel. This is something that I know.”

He helped her out of the unit and nodded. The machine was whirring to try and figure out a way to remove the implant. It was literally brain surgery.