''They've been surprising us with tech all along,'' Kris called over her shoulder as she put the next cookies in the oven.
''Yes, yes,'' Tru agreed. ''The old girl is getting forgetful.'' Kris wiped her hands on a towel and went to stand over her two favorite elders. ''What kind of computer is that? I've never seen anything like it.''
''You won't for a few more years,'' Tru assured her. ''Self-organizing circuits will revolutionize wearable computers like my Sam and your Nelly, but the cost is out of sight. Some of my friends are using it for covert missions.''
''Like this one?'' Tommy asked.
Tru leaned back in her chair, eyeing the objects lying on her kitchen table as if seeing them for the first time. ''Yes. Like this operation.''
The following silence was broken by two beeps. Kris turned her attention to the oven, whose timer she had finally remembered how to work, while Tru returned to the center of their attention. Kris was starting to put the next dozen cookies on the sheet.
''Don't,'' Tru ordered. ''Put the dough in the refrigerator. Turn the oven off, and put the cookies in a napkin. We're going visiting.''
''Where?'' Harvey asked.
''Nuu House. Kris needs to talk to her Great-grandfathers Ray and Trouble.''
CHAPTER SEVEN
''We can't bother them!'' Kris shouted, gulping hard.
''You can't,'' Harvey said bluntly, pocketing his reader.
''Her great-grandfathers need to fill Kris in on a bit of family history,'' Tru said, placing the computer parts carefully in a stasis box she had produced from a drawer under the table. ''They are at Nuu House. We are going to Nuu House.''
''But they're doing important stuff,'' Kris pleaded. ''We can't bother them.''
''More important than your life?''
Harvey cut in before Kris could figure out what kind of response that deserved. ''Tru, you won't get into Nuu House. They've got marines crawling all over the place.
They're applying the Mark I eyeball to all visitors and their credentials. You and all your electron magic will not get past the first eager marine with an M-6.''
''Old-fashioned, are they?'' Tru sighed, closing the now full stasis box.
''Very old-fashioned,'' Harvey said.
''Then we'll have to go elsewhere. Harvey, take us to the prime minister's residence.''
''No,'' Kris squeaked, but her chauffeur was already moving toward the door, Tru on his heels. ''We can't bother the prime minister. He's got a full schedule. You can't just barge in on the man who's running the planet.'' Boy, did Kris know that.
''He will find time in his busy schedule.'' Tru paused, her mouth moving in subvocal communications with Sam. ''He already has. So has your mother.''
Kris hurried after Tru, Tom following her. ''My mother. Oh, no. She's got a social schedule booked solid ‘til New Years. Besides, you don't want to talk to my mother.'' Kris tried to chuckle. It came out sounding even to herself more like a terrified cackle. ''Why do you want to talk to either of them?''
Tru and Harvey were at the elevator. Kris and Tom hurried to squeeze in as the doors closed. A woman, toy poodle in her arms, joined them on the next floor. The ride down was silent.
''What is it you think you have to talk to Mother and Father about?'' Kris asked as she hurried to keep up Harvey's fast pace in the cool shade of the underground parking garage.
''Your life.'' Tru snapped, settling in the front seat beside Harvey. That left Kris and Tom the backseat.
As she belted in, Kris still tried to stop the car. ''So the mission could have gone bad. That's part of the risk you take when you put on the uniform. Yeah, I want to talk to the prime minister about the equipment, but I was planning on getting him aside when he was in a good mood. Maybe, when he pins that medal on me. There's no rush,'' she insisted. ''God, you don't just barge in on my father, and definitely not my mother.'' No way. You check with their personal secretaries first. Check out their moods. Then you make an appointment to slip in. There are basic things you learn when your parents run a planet.
''Kris, you are wrong. There are things involved here that you are unaware of.'' Tru turned to Harvey. ''Please hurry, I don't want to have to reschedule this meeting. People might notice what I've done.'' Tru smiled as she turned to Kris. ''People are so confident anything a computer tells them is true. It won't do to undermine their illusions.'' Satisfied that she'd said all that she intended, Tru faced front and began to mumble to her computer. Kris had seen Tru deep in consultation with her alternate self and knew better than to interrupt.
Accepting the inevitable, Kris leaned back in her seat.
Tom nudged her. ''We're about to meet William Longknife, the prime minister of Wardhaven?''
''Yeah.'' Kris shrugged. ''That's my father.''
''I'll stay in the car.''
If Tom thought he was scared, Kris wanted to find a deep hole to hide in. She knew what they were in for. She weighed several options, including leaping from the speeding car, and decided that if she couldn't wait in the car, Tommy couldn't either. ''You're with me. I deserve some backup. You were on the mission, too. You can tell Mother it wasn't so dangerous.''
''It was.''
''No, it wasn't. I had everything under control.''
''If you say so.''
''I do. You back me up on this.''
Tom looked none too sure about that. For a long moment, he eyed Kris, mouth half open. When he finally spoke, he surprised her. ''It's a bitch, you know, being an adult around the folks who changed your diapers.''
Despite everything, Kris found a smile slipping onto her face. Tommy was always good for that. And maybe Santa Maria wasn't so far from Wardhaven. Kris nodded. ''The bitchiest. Why can't they ever forget? And they didn't change all that many diapers, what with the hired help.''
Kris waited out the rest of the drive, reminding herself that she was a grown woman, had commanded a drop mission, and she was not going to let her mother or father buffalo her. She kept that mantra up as they parked in a reserved place in the basement of Government House, rode up a reserved elevator, and walked down a cold marble No Admittance hallway, doors opening before they came to them. Kris didn't know there were that many automatic doors in Government House; she'd always needed someone to open them. ''Nelly, remind me to ask Tru how she does that.''
''Yes,'' her computer whispered, ''I would love that applet.''
Then, without going by his secretary's desk, they were in the prime minister's cluttered private office, and William Longknife, Billy to his cronies, was rising from his paper-covered work desk. ''So glad you could make it on such short notice,'' he said, extending his hand. ''It's critical we discuss…''
Father trailed off as his computer failed to fill in the expected words. As Tru shook his hand, his smile morphed into as much of a frown as the politician allowed himself. ''Tru, you haven't done this to me again.''
''Afraid I have, Billy.''
''Who else have you invited?''
''Just your wife,'' Tru smiled, with teeth showing.
Before the prime minister could react, the door to his front office opened, and Mother sailed in. Petticoats were the rage in Paris this year; Mother must have had on a dozen. ''I hope I'm not late. I must talk to my secretary. We went over today's schedule, and she didn't say a word about meeting you, Trudy. If I hadn't glanced at my wristwatch, I might have missed it entirely. As it was, I had to just throw on anything close at hand and rush over. Do let me catch my breath.''
''Darling, you look divine,'' Tru said, pecking at the offered cheek. ''Your breathless rush has gotten you here before we could begin. Woman, you are a wonder.''
From their private talks, Kris knew just what kind of wonder Tru considered Mother: a relic from the middle ages. How a woman could be born into the twenty-third century and act Mother's part was a wonder to everyone who met her, except that Kris knew several other women of wealth that fit right in with Mother. No way I'm going to be like her, Kris swore. No surprise, Mother threw only a nod at Kris.