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[Echo Gamin]

Late morning.

Gabrielle Endicott-Corona pop-ports into the lower level of her old tree house, officially now part of her territory. It's been a while, but everything on this level looks more or less the same. She stands on a round area rug. It's a simple design: a gray border around a bright red circle and that says in bold black block font YOU ARE HERE. Her clothes today are tight, sleek, and tactical.  She drops her backpack off her shoulder and sets it down gently, unzipping it to let the fiber-optic sugar glider out to roam.

"Go ahead Zucca. Say hi if you like." She nods. With this bit of permission, the creature chitters happily and goes off in search of its arboreal pals in the branches.

The dome has one wall dividing the space. On it in hand-sculpted letters are the words DREAM OF HOME.

A large disc shaped platform is suspended between five massive tree trunks about four storeys in the air. The majority of the platform is enclosed by a geodesic dome, but a bannistered walkway exists outside the dome wall and wraps around the entire platform. At the center of the dome is a glass-like elevator shaft which is encircled by a series of spiral stairs. Both the stairs and the elevator shaft extend out through the top of the dome into an area hidden from view by the natural canopy.  A red wagon is parked in front of a number of open frame shelves and bins for what appears to be salvage.

Another set of shelves is set up for servers (and squirrels). There are a number of small robots lying around in various stages of construction. A botany lab is set up to one side maintained by automatic sprinklers.

There are a few big floor pillows -- from the looks of it, the place to yank off shoes.

Light filters down through patterns of leaves and the structural beams of the dome. Over a hundred suncatchers and prisms dangle at random intervals and cast rainbow glints of light all over the natural bamboo floor. A patched canvas futon on the floor is covered with scribbles-- clearly a brainstorming spot at one point.

Posters are tacked up on the round wall of the dome: Michelle Obama, Rosie the Riveter, Dar Williams, Ani Di franco, Jim Henson with Kermit, Calvin and Hobbes, Marie Curie, and Einstein and several geek culture bumper stickers (I Hack. Ban Me., I void warranties, etc.)

Some gymnastics equipment -- rings, pommel horse, balance beam-- are spaced safely apart from one another. It's clearly not a space for entertaining.

She casually hops from the floor to the balance beam in one light jump and stands on one foot. She does a few flips and round-offs A couple one-handed cartwheels and then, standing on her head, she sighs.

"You're stalling, Gabby. Don't be a coward. Go see if he's here, and then go get down to business."

[Echo Gamin]

She hops down, leaves the mech servant to play and socialize with the inhabitant squirrels, and heads upstairs to the real living area.

The elevator is fast and silent. As she comes up into the second tier of the canopy, the world becomes cool and green. The air smells like cedar and lemongrass. This tier is much larger than the one below and is divided into an open-concept floor plan. The primary floor is natural cork, slightly buoyant underfoot. Patterns of light and leaves make lace-work of shadows.

Echo has cultivated a natural carpet of different types of moss. It flows like a green river of living velvet forming an organic pathway around the girl's former living space. Streams of water flow together from above and collect in a vessel or pool somewhere, but it isn't immediately visible.

She glances around slightly apprehensive.

"Anybody home?"

[Echo Gamin]

Hearing no one, Gabrielle looks around. His gym bag is gone. Everything looks as if no one had been here since she moved out. Just the same, she heads to the library, stepping softly in case someone is sleeping.

The library is a sphere of glass set low in the open palm of a tree branch. There are a number of bookshelves leading up to it, but the sphere itself is empty of shelves or furniture of any kind. It's lower half is a soft upholstered snuggle-pit of pillows in different colors of greens and copper. There's a ledge around the glass wall of the sphere -- a place to put a glass or a snack. The rest is clear glass revealing the branches of the trees and the sky beyond. Threaded into the glass are threads of pinpoint lights for when the sun isn't enough illumination.

The collection is mostly digital and out of sight, but a number of well-loved books are stacked neatly on the ledge where she left them months before. The House at Pooh Corner, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 1), Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There, On Dreams by Sigmund Freud, Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan, and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.

She looks at the impression of an absent body left in the pillows thoughtfully, takes the books from the ledge, grabs the rest of her Louis Carroll collection from the shelf, and returns to the great room. She sets these down on the large kitchen island. She grabs a dark green hoody sweatshirt from the closet and pulls it on over her techno-catsuit. Over the breast is a symbol of a gryphon. On the back the letters say "SLC Football ~ Still Undefeated~" The overlarge sweatshirt fits better than it used to. She unrolls the sleeves to adjust to her longer arms.

"Ada," She addresses the air. "Is Jason here?"

A holographic figure appears before her. The virtual woman is in perhaps her late twenties, fair with dark hair and dressed in clothing appropriate for the fashionable European nobility of the mid 1800s. The holograph smiles at the teenager and addresses her with an aristocratic London accent. "Welcome home, Gabby. I'm sorry, Mr. Nightcaster has not been here for several weeks. Would you like me to open a channel?"

"I told him he could stay." She sighs.  The Octagon gives the holograph a half-hearted smile. "It's good to see you too, Ada. No thank you. I'll leave him be." She sighs again. "I've missed you though. Please send over a copy of your code to both GCT and also MC R & D. I'd like to see you more often."

"Certainly, My Dear."

"Thank you Ada." Gabrielle takes her backpack and carefully packs in the books from the library. She mutters to herself. "Don't be dumb, Gabby. You broke his heart. You don't get to have hurt feelings because he doesn't want to stay here now."

"Is there anything else?" The holograph inquires.

Gabrielle nods. "Network with my cell please. Locate the frequency for Sebastian Kirsch. Hail, and let's see if we can get him on the line."

"Right away." The image nods, flickers out and begins searching for the Citadel over his radio frequency.