Kira took out one of the sleeping bags, unzipped it, and tossed it over Jove and the cots. She climbed back into bed next to him, laying close but not right against him. The bars running the edge of both cots created a tiny barrier that kept them from being able to cuddle comfortably, a physical manifestation of a much larger and more worrying reality.
"How do you feel?" she whispered.
"Good," he said. "That was… awesome."
He didn't really know what else to say. His mother wasn't Aster or Eve. Her authority was backed by decades of history. She'd raised him, and there was no getting away from that fact.
"Eve and Aster can never know about this," she said.
"I don't plan on telling them." He turned onto his side, looking toward her in the dark, but unable to see her expression. "When we get back to Termina Station, what happens?"
"We'll see," she said. "This might change things between us a little, but I need you to remember everything I told you before. I'm still your mother. There are still boundaries. Appropriate and inappropriate behavior."
"I know." He reached out and touched her cheek, and they shared another kiss. "I love you, Mom. That was exactly what I needed."
"I love you too, Jove. God, how did we end up here? I suppose I'm… glad I could help you out. The world really is different now."
"It's not all bad."
"I didn't say it was," she said. "I didn't exactly find our little bout of cuddling to be unbearable. It's been a while since I've, well. You know."
"I do know," he said, with another chuckle.
"Oh, shush." She pinched his shoulder. "Don't let it go to your head."
"I'll try not to."
He sighed. In truth, it already was affecting him, but not in the way a typical sexual conquest might. He felt an odd, creeping sense of shame that he hadn't expected. He'd fooled with Eve, Aster, and now his mother.
Rounding out the trio forced him to zoom out a little, to see his situation from an outside perspective. Was he a pervert, a sexual deviant? An opportunist, taking advantage of family members in a time of high emotion? Or was he the one being used, drawn in by women who suddenly saw him differently in light of their indefinite family quarantine?
There wasn't always a single, simple answer, regardless of how much he might want one.
"What's that?" whispered Kira.
Jove lifted his head up. "What?"
His heart skipped a beat as he assumed she'd heard Eve or Aster moving outside the tent, which would imply that they'd listened and possibly heard everything. But no — his ears focused in on a sound that didn't fit and certainly wasn't coming from a person.
A humming noise distinct from the wind was slowly growing louder, approaching from overhead. It reminded Jove of a drone, and with that thought came what that would imply.
"Fuck!" he said. "We need to get outside and see what's going on."
"Mom!" Eve's voice shouted from the distance, her footsteps headed their way. "Jove! Something's coming!"
They threw on their clothes and boots and outerwear as quickly as they could, but it was still a several minute long process. He winced against the cold as he pushed outside the tent, exhaling puffs of white.
Aster ran over to him as soon as she saw him, blonde hair messily tucked up into her fur-lined hood. Jove sensed his mother's disapproval as his aunt took his arm, but their complicated family dynamic took a backseat to the approaching threat.
Andromeda, within the ice bot, was also active and poised to face the situation. Kira stepped in close and began a whispered conversation with the AI, clearly unsettled.
A military drone was slowly descending down toward the lake, a massive quadcopter with mechanical legs hanging underneath it and black camera lenses up front. It reminded Jove of a massive wasp, though he would have happily taken a stinger over the two long rifle barrels connected to the drone's underside.
It was carrying a box underneath it that was about the size of a clothes hamper, a solid metal container that it seemed intent on setting down rather than dropping heavily. Jove glanced at Eve, who was holding a gun in one hand and one of her ski poles in the other, and then back over to Andromeda, who'd lifted her drill arm.
"The drone communicated its landing trajectory to me," said Andromeda. "It's being controlled by Abacus."
"Is he communicating with you right now?" asked Kira.
Andromeda didn't say anything.
"Answer me!" Kira seized the drone's shoulder and tried to shake it in the way one might rouse a stunned human back to reality, but she might as well have been pushing at a closed door.
The ice drone suddenly surged into movement, drill arm whirling as it flung itself into a desperate attack. Several gunshots went off, the quadcopter seeming to flinch with each one as it unloaded its two rifles.
Jove hurled himself sideways with his mother in his arms, adrenaline pounding as his ears rang from the ongoing salvo. The gunshots brought him back, reminding him of the horrifying, unsettling truth. He was the one firing them. He was the one killing two men, leaving the child in the photo in a world with one less parent.
Kira touched his chest, pulling him somewhat back to reality. There was a crunch of snow as the ice bot hit the ground, twitching once before going still. He wasn't sure what to do, if it even mattered anymore.
"You are the director of Termina Station," said the military drone, in the same voice from Abacus's transmission the previous day. "Kira Faremont."
Kira made to stand. Jove was on his feet first and attempted to put himself in front of her. She touched his shoulder, squeezing with emphasis, and met his gaze.
The full implication of what he'd agreed to during their illicit bonding in the tent dawned on him. These were the sorts of moments where she wanted his respect the most, his acknowledgment of her authority. He gritted his teeth, hating himself for trading his loyalty for, in her words, a release valve.
But he held to it. He let his mother step around him and stand before the military drone directly. It seemed perfectly patient and content to hover as it waited for a response.
"Yes," she said. "I am. What did your communication with my drone entail, and why did you gun her down?"
"A hostile artificial intelligence known as Tchaikovsky has obtained a thorough understanding of Termina Antarctic Drone 003's software backdoors," said Abacus. "Tchaikovsky seeks a clean slate for digital life. He would have eventually used the drone to exterminate you and your family."
Jove stepped forward. "Whereas you seek to…?"
He made a rolling motion with his hand in hopes of prompting the AI for an answer, feeling a bit lightheaded, ears still ringing.
"I would like to protect humanity for as long as I am able, but the volatility of the current world state limits me to only openly defending the Hive," said Abacus.
"What's the Hive?" asked Kira.
"The Hive is a habitat for humans to live and breed within not unlike the artificial habitats your civilization once used to display rare and exotic animals pre-collapse."
"So… like a zoo?" said Aster.
"Yes," said Abacus, in a calm tone. "Quite similar to a zoo."
Nobody said anything for a few seconds.
"How did you find us?" asked Kira. "Why did you come here? What do you want?"
"I found you by monitoring your satellite communications," said Abacus. "You may use the restored satellite connection as you please without risk of attracting the attention of Tchaikovsky or other dangerous AI agents. I came here to provide you with the contents of this box. I want you to accept the contents of this box. Please do not attempt to contact Tchaikovsky or discard the contents of this box."
The drone descended slightly, insect-like legs opening to set the box down on the ice. Its chopper blades let out a higher pitched hiss as it began to rise into the air, flying off in the same direction it'd come from.
Jove furrowed his brow as he stared after it. "Is it… just leaving, now?"
"I have no idea," muttered Kira.