12 Goodbye. Goodnight. Good morning.

The night had aged gracefully by when they reached Citi Gardens. Vesper and Mia acted like it was no big deal. Yugo truly didn't know. Slana had the most normal expression on her face. Shock. Palace Heights was completed without fanfare, and looked ordinary from the outside by design. So, not many were aware that it was a luxurious apartment building that rivalled the best in the city. In fact, it was even more prestigious owing to the fact that the flats were all sold quietly. There were only two ways to learn of the owners. One, the owners introduced themselves. Two, requesting the registration documents from the city's office of records. Because Slana knew this, she was in shock at how easy Mia made buying a flat in Palace Heights seem. She wondered again about who Vesper and Mia were.

Inside the building was all quiet. It was to be expected since the flats were home to people who valued their privacy greatly. They first toured 603. The flat was spotless and bare. And very much to the liking of Yugo, which meant it was also to the liking of Slana.

"This is so good," Yugo declared. "So, so good. All of us together. It's perfect."

Mia and Slana smiled. Vesper looked confused.

"It's okay," Mis told him before he could ask what was on his mind. He looked at Mia, saw her nod, and nodded back in agreement.

"It is nice," Mia then said to everyone. "But not enough to sleep in. Let's see my new place."

602 was across the hallway from 603. It was a one bedroom flat similar in design to 601, except for the extra bedroom. Mia had all her things moved from 402, so it looked more like a home.

"Yugo will sleep with me," Mia said. "So you two can get to your stuff."

"What do you mean?" Yugo asked.

"Work, Yugo," Slana answered. "Vesper will be helping me transfer my work. Don't you worry. Didn't you always want a sleepover? Enjoy with Mia."

"But I want all of us at the sleepover," Yugo complained.

"Sure. The next time," Mia said softly. "Tonight, it's just sleeping. We're not prepared mentally for a sleepover, so we won't be able to stay awake all night. It's not a sleepover if we can't stay awake. And we have school tomorrow. Let's have a sleepover this weekend. We'll invite Dee, Cain and Abel too. So it will be a truly complete sleepover."

"That sounds good," Yugo said excitedly.

Slana was surprised again. She was the mother. But Mia was placating Yugo so much better, and so much more easily. She couldn't help but feel that everything was changing much too rapidly.

"Let's go," Vesper said, taking Slana's hand and breaking her out of her head.

Slana nodded, and followed, without taking her hand out of his. Mia didn't miss it, and only smiled. She grabbed Yugo and prepared for sleep. The two would be sharing a bed, an entirely new experience for Yugo.

601 was next door to 602. Vesper walked Slana to the study table in the corner which was also his access node. He didn't give Slana even a minute to appreciate the flat designed with practicality in mind. She could see Vesper in the flat, making her wonder if Vesper had designed the flat himself. She sighed at how many questions there were and how few answers.

"Here," Vesper said, offering her the tablet. "I've given complete access."

Slana wasn't sure as she took the tablet and looked in. And was sucked in. She was laughing as her fingers danced over the glass tablet. She pulled up screens over the table, a new screen every so often, until there were far too many to keep count of. But the faces didn't seem troubled. Slana was growing increasingly excited with every new screen. She wasn't at all lost in the maze. She knew exactly where what was. In her eyes, she was drawing a beautiful map detailing the limits of her program in ways she never could with her system setup at the old home in Farth. Her excitement was more than doubled by the fact that the virtual system could keep up with all of her programs' demands. The most amazing feature - the virtual system was increasing and decreasing processing power as required. It took her a while to identify it, but she did finally and her excitement tripled.

A few years ago, a paper was written by a team of researchers describing the theory of circulating processing power, an alternative model for building virtual systems. It was a revolutionary concept and an idea that had almost impossible demands of coding. Slana had read the paper, and dreamed of one day building such a virtual system. And here she was, working on a virtual system operating on the theory of circulating processing power.

"You built this?" She asked, without turning away from the screens.

"Hmm," he answered noncommittally, as his eyes were frozen on one screen in particular.

Vesper pulled out the screen, and began reading what was on it. He had read through most of the text when Slana noticed, and closed the screen with urgency.

"Forget what you read," she said seriously. "You shouldn't know anything about that. I'm sorry for my carelessness. I'll be more careful now. And so, I must request you to give me some space. Please."

He nodded without answering. He moved away to his bed. Found his phone thrown carelessly in the corner. Powered the phone on, and began searching for Farges.

— There's no mention of Farges anywhere. We've searched already. Why again?

He wasn't able to express in words what was in his head. Luckily, he didn't have to. A second search of Farges revealed nothing new. There was no Farges. It was as if Farges didn't exist.

His initial conclusion had been that it was the price demanded by Guv. His everything meant that he wouldn't exist anymore. He was only Vesper now. But now, he realised, it wasn't that simple.

He widened the search, including other parameters from Farges' life and memories. The result was the same, empty.

— Shit. I can't believe this. Shit.

And he couldn't believe it.

The phone fell out of his hands, and he didn't notice. He closed his eyes, and recollected everything that happened since his return. It was always right in front of him, staring him in the face. It was his foolishness for not noticing it before. He was on the other side.

— I guess I'm late. Welcome to my world. To my side.

"Thanks," he whispered soundlessly. And broke into a wide smile.

— I know. It's so exciting. Opens up so many possibilities. Shows us so many mysteries.

"Not all matter."

— True. Let's list those that do.

"1. The relics."

— Yeah. You found Guv on your side.

"You found yours here."

— So, are they the same? Are they on both sides? If not.

"Where are they from?"

— That's definitely 1.

"2. The war."

— We intend to stop it from ever happening.

"Yes. The war was sudden and imposed on the other side. It was planned on this side."

— That means we have greater room to manipulate.

"We'll need a lot many things."

— All for the sake of a beautiful life.

"All worth it."

— 3. Something we can start on immediately. The dimensional rift project.

"And for that, Slana."

He was staring at the back of the woman engrossed in her work. He wanted nothing more than to call out to her, throw the questions and demand answers. What stopped him was her reaction to his discovery of the document.

— Seems to be a highly classified project. We'll need to find a way to break through.

"Why?"

The question shook him free. That was exactly it. Why was he hesitating so much, almost as if he was afraid? He had a question. So he just had to ask.

"Slana," he said aloud, grabbing the woman's attention. "I have a question."

"About the document?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"I'm sorry, I can say nothing about it. And you should really forget about it."

"Sure. I won't ask anything about the dimensional rift project."

"Shh. You shouldn't even mention it."

"That's alright. We're protected in here."

He ignored the doubt on her face, and continued.

"You can talk about what is beyond the purview of the document and the restrictions it imposes on you. Can't you?"

"I can," she answered slowly.

"Good. So, tell me. Is there a project, a separate project, under some secret wing of the government or the military, preparing an exchange? An intervention? An advancement? A cooperation? Could be any one of the terms, or anything along the same lines."

She nodded faintly.

"I cannot confirm or say with any degree of certainty. At best, it's rumours of rumours. There is."

"Do any of your current contracts prohibit or prevent you accepting a new job that has something to do with those rumours of rumours?"

"Yes," she answered more strongly. "Is it important?"

"What if it is?" He asked.

"Then, I'd tell you that my contracts with the government would be coming to an end in a week. I haven't renewed my license due to conflicts with the new policy directives. Fab, my husband Fabius, is in the employment of the government. The new policy states that no contractor with any relationship shared with anyone in the employment of the government can be licensed for government contracts. So, after a week, I would be available."

"Wonderful. I'd like to extend you an offer. We shall discuss the terms later. But I would request for your complete attention."

"I'm expensive."

"I think I can manage."

He rummaged the flat as she looked on curiously, until he found two black cards. He gave her one, while dropping the other into his backpack.

"Will this suffice?"

The question stumped her. She couldn't get over the idea that he had two cards, and he was so careless about them.

"Sure," she answered. "Until next week."

"Until next," he repeated.

"Umm, good night then," she said, seeing that it was late. "You should sleep. You have school."

"Would you like the bed?" He asked. "I won't need it. I won't be sleeping. I've got a lot to do."

She nodded, without asking what he had to do.

"I won't be sleeping either," she said. "I've got work. And your virtual system is amazing. I'm too excited to sleep."

"So, we'll just be as we are? You can have the table. I'll be here."

"Will the phone be enough?"

"Yeah. More than."

They smiled, and then returned to work. They didn't turn away until Mia and Yugo walked in, and only then realised that it was morning.