Define "rescue"?

Qli, Ash and I were in the thick of it, fighting these witch-powered stompers to keep them away from Bloodwing (whose guts were laid out in a neat circle around a dimensional gate - don't ask). BW's magic was messy and beyond gross but it did bring Ash back to us. And he brought a posse with him too, the Digital Knights. A bunch of kick-ass warriors made from solid light, which is good because we needed all the help we could get. Qli's voice crackled in my ear on my radio headset.

"Koen! Father is being chased!"

Aw crap. I guess he didn't stay far enough away.

"I'll get him!" I was already dodging and weaving on my skimboard through the stompers, tripping them up with lashes of solid darkness so the Knights could pry 'em open like a pack of urchins at a free lobster buffet.

"Koen. Ash here. I detect two Masons in that sandspeeder. Darien's transmitter is off-frequency."

"TWO? Qli, I need backup!"

"I...am unable to assist."

"Ash here. Intercepting."

"Cloaking," I tap my headset off as I wrap the dark around me until the light bends. There's still a wake of sand behind me but the desert winds are starting to whip up as it is. Ash whizzes by me in a glowing light-cycle and almost cuts me in half with the wall of light he leaves behind him. I hop and glide down the edge of his wall, hiding my wake.

That blingtard's a Mason? Which one? That's a scummy dis...

He's wearing Qli's dancing outfit?

Mystery Mason's firing a souped-up mainland gun at Ash! I have to jump as he shatters the shield wall. Ash's wheels get plugged and the clank goes tumbling.

He's aiming at Darien now. Please Dad, hit the eject...hit the eject...HIT THE DAMN...GOOD!

He blew a hole in the dashboard! Doc's blind from the sparks!

**DECLOAK**

**SHADOW LASH**

GOT HIM! YOWCH! I got the lash stuck in the Tesla turbines and Doc's in the middle! This is NOT the way I wanted to go jet-skiing!

"KOEN! WE'RE GOING TO HIT THE CITY WALLS!"

"I'M STUCK!"

caught in between

Qli's tremors started this morning. Then her body started shifting between human and construct, one piece at a time. Ash tried to help her, but the last time she shifted to metal it damaged Ash's neural network. Now I'm the one holding her down in the null-suit Doc Mason built for me for the Steal Head raid just to keep from getting electrocuted.

Doc tossed his monitor console into the sand bucket as it started to smoke and catch fire.

"I'm afraid my theory is correct, Koen. By turning human she's lost control of the nanobytes that remained with her body. She's caught in a vicious cycle..."

Qli screamed as electricity wrapped around her arm.

"...the more human she gets, the harder her nanobytes work to change her back into a form they can recognize..."

Her arm turned to brass. Luckily she didn't thrash when she was metal.

"...and when she turns back into a construct they fall back to their last command to rebuild her as human. And now they're all completely out of sync!"

"What happened to Ash?"

"The nanobytes started stealing the silicon in his nervous system, it very nearly damaged the circuitry in his soul chip."

"Can you fix this, Doc? ... Dad? Come on!"

"This is far beyond Steamlands technology, Son. She must have added this to her system in one of her trips forward. This is Nova's territory."

"So where the HELL is...?"

"She and Six skipped town in their own ship to get replacement parts for the Revenge. They could be anywhere or anywhen by now."

Qli whimpered as she fell asleep in a rare painless moment of stability.

He rolled down a map of the Steamlands on the Consulate wall.

"Her pain comes from the nanobytes craving silicon. They literally tear her apart to rebuild her. Steelhead's humidity only makes it worse. She needs to rest somewhere dry and sandy..."

He tapped on a spot in a desert, far west of Caledon.

"There's an oasis of Steam technology here...it's region called Cala Mondrago..."

Caught!

It was a perfect jump! Why the HELL did the deck explode? The decompression sucked me clean out of the ship, and now I'm headed straight downwards.

Alright, don't panic...magic? Nope. I'm spent. Okay, I just have to land on all fours. I'm a cat. I can do this. I can do this. I can...

"OOF!"

Well that was unexpected. I've landed on the deck of another airship, in the arms a female android who is certainly not my sister. She had a windup key. How very retro.

"Well hello, kitty!"

"Hi. My name's Koen, but thanks for the catch. And you are?"

"I'm pleasure unit SX-069, but you can call me Six."

"Okayyy...like I said, I'm glad to meet you, but would you mind moving your hand please?"

"Why certainly!"

My fur bristled.

"I meant the other hand!"

"SIX!" Shouted a familiar voice from the helm. "Stop groping my brother and secure the tethers on this wreck!"

"Wait, what...brother? I...Qli-2? Is that you?"

"I was Qli-2, yes, but I'm calling myself Nova Sakigake again. We merged."

I shrugged. This is pretty run-of-the-mill for reunions in my family. I peeked behind Six's shoulder and saw the smoldering shell of the Revenge sitting in some sort of steel mesh attached to this ship (SIXES AND SEVENS according to the paint job on the deck.)

And there's the original Qli at the bow. She must have finally disconnected from the Revenge, what's left of it.

"KOEN" She shouted. I waved back with a relieved smile. "KOEN! YOU'VE AGED!"

Yep. My black fur was back. "Puberty was bad enough the first time! I arranged a controlled leak in the zero chamber! I've got from fifteen to thirty, give or take a few months!"

I'm sure she was gonna give me hell for it later. But I knew exactly what I was doing. I'm getting better at this time travel thing. I could make a career out of it?

I tapped Six on her flesh-painted chin. "Speaking of puberty, I asked you to stop..."

She didn't move.

"Oh Hell...you wound down didn't you? ANYBODY GOT A CROWBAR? MINERAL OIL MAYBE?"