Regenesis

That last part was her idea. Why have a U and not take advantage of that i

Or why not small nooks of allthe wings in Reseune, while they were at it?

Economically extravagant, Ya

And she’d said so, and Ya

Ya

It was true–even Ya

There hadonce been different ways of building. Elsewhere, Earth existed, as baroque as anyone could wish. Distant Pell Station was growing a forest inside its heart.

So why shouldn’tReseune have flowers? A sociological plus, flowers. Not one more huge population‑burst to factor in, dug in on an iceball and getting less and less like Reseune, or Gehe

A chance to contemplate something fractal, something to take the tension off…wasn’t a stupid idea, even if it didn’t make money in any visible way. Novgorodcould use some parks, some gardens. It wasn’t the frontier any longer. It was the place people lived, and they were getting changed, sociologically, by the walls, and the dynamic of the buildings they’d been living in, and how they fitted together. Gardens focused people into a different mode.

And the i

But on the day she knew she needed urgently to set up in newer, safer spaces, she’d called on Sam, for what he knew–she’d entrusted the whole project to Sam, who was eighteen, the same as she was–Sam, backed by the resources and computer software of two major construction companies and Sam’s own gift of getting along with most everybody. He’d stood up for her through Ya

Sam was, depend on it, properly respectful of older engineers, but he’d run the designs through the computers himself, and she’d gotten her tall tower with the slanted walls that the older engineers said weren’t cost‑effective. He’d had the company architects, he’d assured Ya

Even while the tech designers were still fussing over the details, Sam, with herorders behind him, had had the earthmovers ru

But Sam had gotten his budget, andhis security‑class installers–Ya

Herself, Amy and Sam, Maddy, Florian and Catlin: when they were kids, they’d gotten anywhere and been responsible for all sorts of mischief–outright sabotage of Denys’ intention to watch her, for starters. And sometimes they’d just done things for revenge, on a kid’s scale, some of them pretty vile.

And today? Today Amy was Admin, born and bred–it was Amy who’d had a good deal to do with cajoling Ya

And Sam–well, Sam built things. Bigger and bigger things were in the future she pla

So their juvenile fantasy wouldcome true. They’d be together again–here, in this wing, when this place they’d all pla

When they came in, they’d bring their liaisons, their families, their staffs, everything they needed…

And damn it, she’d keep them safe, forever safe, everyone she wanted to protect and nothave vulnerable to plots and gossip and schemes and outright sabotage once she took the reins. The Centrists and the Paxers and the Abolitionists wouldn’t get to the people she loved.

The first Ari–that Ari hadn’t had personal weak spots: she’d kept very much alone through her life: Ari Senior hadn’t trusted anyone but her Florian and her Catlin. But she’dlearned how to use allies the way her predecessor never had. She’d confounded Denys, frustrated Denys–finally gotten the better of Denys.