The Transformer robot accepted the sorceress’s statement matter-of-factly. “Indeed, Mistress Kiya, you may indeed order me. I faithfully conveyed your previous one.”
“Stand down, then, Transformer,” Kiya commanded.
The Transformer did not move from its position before the office door. “I cannot,” it stated, after a moment. “My standing orders to defend the Troubleshooters’ Office.”
“I’m not attacking, damn it! Override code J-1575r!”
“Thank you, Mistress Kiya. Standing down.” The Transformer vanished.
“What did you do?” Darla asked her mother.
“Overrode its standing orders,” Kiya replied grimly. “A Troubleshooter in good standing can do that at need, and I in particular am specifically authorized to do so, in token of those robots having originated in my household. Now, then.” Her hand went to her hip again, coming up, not with a weapon, but a key. She opened the door.
The public area of the office proved empty, but one of the doors in the rear wall was open. From it angry voices could be heard. The voices of D.J. Woohoo and Elizabeth Fruitbat, the Backstage’s Chief Troubleshooters. At the moment, Lizzie was speaking:
“—starting to sense a pattern, here? And somehow I've managed to pick myself up and keep on living without going off the deep end.”
D.J.’s voice, sounding oddly different than it normally did. “It's-it's not the same—”
Lizzie: “The hell it isn’t!”
“Lizzie, please, I need this, I—”
Kiya and Darla looked at each other in bewilderment. Then Kiya, setting her jaw, strode toward the open door.
“Well I need you, back the way you were!” Lizzie was saying, sounding almost in tears. “I can't handle you like this, Delia, it's like the rock of my existence is melting into sand beneath my feet! I've waited and waited for you to get over this, and all you're doing is getting worse. You're not a kid. You can't be a kid. You have to stop this foolishness.”
“Lizzie, please don't ask me to—“
”I'm not asking you, I'm telling you.”
”I'll do it anyway!” D.J.’s voice exploded. She sounded like she was in tears herself now. “If you won't come with me I'll just have to do it on my own!”
“I forbid it!” Lizzie shouted back.
“Mom,” Darla whispered urgently, catching Kiya’s arm. “Maybe we’d better not—”
Her mother shrugged her off. “Personal issues must not interfere with the responsibilities of a Troubleshooter on duty,” she stated implacably. “We all learn that. And our errand here is vital.”
“Stop!” Lizzie was shouting. “Just stop. I can't believe I'm even listening this!”
“I can do what I want to!” D.J. raged back. “You're not my mother!”
The Jaegers had reached the doorway now, just in time to catch Lizzie’s soft reply and realize that the D.J. she was addressing was not a full-grown woman, but an adolescent girl....
“I almost feel like I am,” Lizzie breathed. “D.J., what's come over you? You're acting like a child—”
Kiya steeled herself. “You certainly are,” she said. “Both of you.”
Mon Aug 23 15:40:36 2004
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