The Space Needle’s restaurant was one level down, in a narrower ring that had massive plate glass windows and an entirely plate glass floor. They’d put a couple tables together on the harbour side, so we’d have a good view of the surrounding area during our meal.

  I’d forgotten that Seattle had been built differently than other megacities until we sat down and took a look at the harbour. Most megacities conducted massive excavation projects prior to construction, digging a massive pit under the city prior to laying down the hexplates. This excavated area was initially intended to provide a place to run utilities, and so they’d have a place to drop the plates in an emergency. This didn’t last long, as the less fortunate naturally migrated to these areas, creating the undercity sprawls.

  Seattle, on the other hand, built upwards. Because Seattle was right on the coast, any attempt to dig down would have resulted in the excavation site almost instantly becoming flooded. Instead of moving inland, the designers simply decided to run the utilities at ground level and construct the hexplates a dozen stories off the ground.

  The elevated system didn’t actually require that many changes from the traditional design. Whether suspended over a pit or a dozen stories in the air, you needed the same massive supports to keep the hexplates from accidentally collapsing under the weight.

  The biggest change was that Seattle required a massive outer wall to support the upper city. This should have made the city near impregnable to the Antithesis, but as we learned last year, all it took was one greedy person, and all that protection could be compromised.

  Why was this important? Because you normally couldn’t see the harbor from Seattle’s upper city. The harbor was nestled right up against the outer wall, too close to actually see from most places. The Sky Needle, however, towered over the surrounding city. It was so high up that we had a nearly unobstructed view of the area.

  I enjoyed gazing at the various samurai ships lined up in the harbour right up until I noticed the asshole that had targeted the Strato Carrier earlier. That really ruined my mood.

  After that I spent most of the meal trying to avoid looking at the scenery. I hadn’t seen my friends in a long time, and I wanted to avoid bringing down everyone else.

  Thankfully the meal was quite scrumptious, using the freshest vegetables and finest fake meat. It was so good that it nearly made me forget the horrid meal we’d had back in Nimbleland. Nearly.

  After the meal the kids got a chance to stuff their faces with some high-class desserts, while the rest of us sat around chatting.

  “So you’re not going to stick around? I thought you’d want to show the family around,” Maggie pouted.

  “I’d love to,” I said. “But it’s too much of a risk while I have several different groups of samurai stalking me everywhere.”

  Alan frowned. “Shouldn’t that actually make the situation safer? More people to intervene if there’s a problem?”

  “Normally? Yes,” I grumbled. “Unfortunately these samurai all belong to different organizations, which may have conflicting viewpoints. I’m not worried about an outside threat. I’m worried about them getting into a fight and us getting caught in the middle of it.”

  “What? You don’t think they’ll act reasonably in public?” Maggie asked, cocking her head to the side. “They’ve always behaved around me!”

  “That’s because they’re afraid of what you might do, love,” Valerie said. “You can be a little unpredictable at times.”

  Maggie just looked at her partner, confused.

  “If they were truly reasonable, they wouldn't be stalking us,” I announced, trying to refocus the conversation before it got too far off track. “And my family has already had enough run-ins with ‘unreasonable’ samurai for a lifetime. I’d rather just avoid the drama.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Alan paled slightly. I’d tried to avoid any mention of Helen’s name or what she did, but apparently I hadn’t been subtle enough. He took a sip of water while Jane rubbed his back.

  “This sucks… I wanted to take you and your family out diving on our yacht, but those paranoid bastards would probably just follow us out there,” Alise grumbled.

  “I don’t get why everyone is on edge,” Jane said. “From what I understand this isn’t the first time a biotech firm has been attacked. What made this last attack so different?”

  Claire leaned back in her chair, raised her wine glass, and swirled the golden liquid around before draining the glass. “It’s because of what happened in Vancouver. I’m not sure if Evelyn informed you, but a couple of samurai raided a hidden offshore Montero-Wisteria lab complex. They were fast enough to prevent the company from destroying the evidence of what was going on out there, and The Family sent several people to investigate. What they found wasn’t pretty.”

  “What did they find?” Alan asked.

  “Antithesis experiments,” I declared, preventing anyone from revealing the full extent of the horror. Human-Antithesis hybrids were not something I wanted to discuss around the kids.

  “Of course they tried to move subtly and keep their findings hidden from the wider samurai community until the investigation was complete, but of course the news got out,” Alise sighed. “Now the community is polarized. On one side there are those that think all the biotech companies are suspicious and want them all investigated or shut down, and on the other are those that believe most biotech companies are extremely beneficial and shouldn’t be subjected to this witch hunt.”

  “And that’s enough to get militant over?” Jane asked, aghast.

  Alise snorted. “The media may make us look like superhuman deities, but we’re human like everyone else. We have lobbyists, politicians, extremists, and immature assholes that you find in the general population. The only difference is that samurai have enough power to actually push their agendas, for better or worse. When something like Montero-Wisteria pops up, everyone has their own opinion on how to handle it.”

  “Most cities have one or two major factions, so they have enough muscle to keep the extremists in line,” Claire explained. “Since we only had a skeleton crew of samurai after the Siege, we had to accept disparate groups from all around the country. The entire city’s a melting pot right now.”

  “That doesn’t explain why everyone is so cautious around Evelyn, why they didn’t want her in town,” Alan mumbled.

  “Because she’s a rogue element and can upset the balance in town. Some are afraid of her, while others want to recruit her. A class III samurai can shift the balance of power in an entire region, so having her on “their” side would be a huge boost. If you stick around, I suspect the groups that are shadowing Evelyn will eventually approach her,” Claire said.

  “Isn’t that good? She can just let them know she’s not interested and send them on their way,” Alan said.

  “Sure, if they were reasonable. If they’re unreasonable, they might decide it would be better to try and remove me from the equation. Not everyone is as reasonable as me and my friends,” I grumbled.

  “Do you honestly think they’d be willing to do something like that?” Jane paled. “That’s insane!”

  “We samurai spend most of our lives fighting alien invaders that are hellbent on devouring all life on this planet,” Alise smirked. “What sane person would do that?”

  Maggie nodded energetically. “We’re all a little nuts!”

  “You’re not insane, you’re just brave,” Valerie exclaimed, placing her hands over Maggie’s. “Very few people could do what you do. Don’t put yourselves down--Be proud!”

  “I am proud!” Maggie replied. “I’m also aware that I’m far from what people consider normal. You have to be a little odd to put up with what we go through.”

  I could see the concern building on Valerie’s face, so I decided to steer the conversation away from the current direction and back towards the original topic.

  “No matter what our mental states are, there are unhinged people out there, and some of them are samurai. I’m not willing to risk anyone in a confrontation. That’s why we’re leaving as soon as possible.”

  “But I wanted to tour your ship!” Maggie pouted. “It sounded like you had all sorts of new tech on it.”

  “You’re still welcome to visit before we leave,” I replied. “I’m just not going to risk coming back to town, or moving closer, so you’ll have to come visit us.”

  Maggie slowly turned towards Valerie with the biggest puppy dog eyes I’d ever seen. “I know I promised a week-long date time, but Evelyn is leaving early. Can I get a one-day pass to visit? Please?”

  Her partner sighed. “Fine, but I expect you to come to the spa next week in exchange. A full day, with no complaining!”

  “Deal!” Maggie exclaimed, leaning forward and delivering a peck on Valerie’s lips before jumping to her feet. “Tech day!”

  Valerie just smiled, a light blush on her face. The two of them certainly had an interesting relationship.

  “We’re done with dessert!” Issi declared loudly after she finished licking her ice cream bowl clean. The area around her mouth was completely covered in chocolate, so I leaned over and wiped it up.

  “Well done for finishing everything. Are you ready to head home?” I asked.

  Issi glanced at the empty bowl longingly for a moment, then nodded. “It was only here a short while, but it was good while it lasted.”

  “That’s the way things are sometimes, kiddo,” I said, patting her on the head. “Here only for a moment, then gone.”

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