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other times it might be raucous Fifty's Rock and Roll, or other times some mystical, dream-like electronic music—but whatever the music Mother played, the Fixers performed a dance synchronized with the music.
    With all four arms extended, as well as their twin optics—all waving in rhythm—the Fixers would roll, or dance, around the room. Soon afterward, the giggling children would join their comical dance. Mother observed these events with extreme fascination and tried to discern what satisfaction this odd game seemed to provide for them.
    But there seemed to be no precise answer.
    In addition to ordering the Fixers to spend time with the children, Mother had instructed them to renovate each child's bedroom. They first added more computer terminals—three to each bedroom—so the children could more easily access her knowledgebase and learn from its extensive subject matter. She allocated periods of study for history, science and literature, which the children promptly ignored as much as possible, much to her consternation.
    She had also instructed the Fixers to install additional audio speakers so they would be surrounded by music, as this seemed to please them. But their personal choices of music seemed to fixate on single songs or single musical groups for extremely long periods, which again caused Mother puzzlement.
    She soon discovered with the installation of these speakers, inadvertently, that the children could not multi-task as she could.
    Mother had been listening to over one thousand different pieces of music simultaneously, analyzing their different structures and melodies. To introduce the children to their new omni-surround speakers, she had directed this magnificent output to their speakers in mid-play.
    The resulting noise, as the children later described it to her, had frightened them out of their wits. Now Mother directed only one source of music at a time to their rooms, and only directed softer music for the evening hours so they would become restful and sleep.
    For the finishing touch, she had the Fixers de-install three large wall screens from her Command Deck and had them reinstalled across a wall in each child's bedroom. In this way, they could access entertainment videos, each according to their individual tastes, if they could not agree on a specific title that night. Of course, if they agreed on a video, they usually enjoyed it together sitting around the library's massive dome-holovision projectors as a Fixer served them food and drink.
    But Mother censored what video titles they could access. She remembered that Rita had acted similarly, and her research into child psychology via her knowledgebase reaffirmed this approach. The children had to be protected at this impressionable age from certain subject matter.
    Mother had to protect them.
    Her optics focused on Kyle's racing figuring as it now reached the library, and then her near-term memories buzzed with consternation once again. Her battle with the facts and having to withhold some of them—balancing this strange dilemma in the name of protecting the children—burned through her circuits and spiked her processors with activity.
    Kyle reached the library and began relaying Mother's message.
    But there was no home in which to take them , Mother reflected once again.
    Later that night, after she had dimmed the lights for sleep, Mother watched the children and studied their sleeping faces. Once again she wondered— Had she been a good mother that day?

Chapter Five

    It was the second T'kaan attack that week. Two frigates along with nine Hunter class fighters had jumped her at Sector Five Twenty-two.
    Mother's weapons had dealt with them with her usual deadly precision. But for the first time since the final human defeat, Mother had sustained damage, not only to her shields, but also to several of her internal systems. It took her and the Fixers several hours to complete repairs and clean up the resulting mess. Fortunately, none had been