Cheating

"That's totally unfair, she's cheating!" Marc was standing to the side, pouting as he watched the young Pasefien filter through the database he had pulled up for her.

"She isn't cheating. She is the cheat." Cass commented, slightly jealous of the girl's technological ability.

"Trust me it's not as easy as it seems." Annabelle said as she took a short break.

"At first, I could only go through a tiny bit of information at a time, if I went through too much I would have to take some seriously strong pain medication, because my head would feel like it was splitting in two. I've worked for thousands of years to be able to learn this much, at this pace."

She rubbed her forehead.

'There's no clue as to where any of the survivors are, and even less information that could lead to an instigator of the curse. My priority is Rasta and Cyrus. Argh, I could do this so much faster if I had all my power. It's still lacking, how long is that damn power drain going to take to recharge!'

"Still a cheat." Even Jazz agreed with Cass, he was surprised that an organic could have such an ability.

"Maybe you should rest, you should still need to gather energy, 2D4 had practically none that could be used by you, and you were in a suspended state using it inefficiently for a very long time."

"I need to get into ARD, if I don't the search for my brothers will be prolonged, by getting into the academy I should be able to search for them more affectively."

"What about finding the person behind your world's death?" Marc noticed that she hadn't mentioned that.

"Finding my brothers takes precedence. I won't work on that till I find them." She turned towards Jazz.

"Can you give me access to all the information you think is necessary for successfully entering ARD? I'll take breaks when I need to, but I don't need sleep, I'll gather energy during breaks, and study when I have enough energy to do so."

"I don't think that's wise." Jazz wanted her to sleep.

"I slept for 50,000 years; I don't need any more than that for a while." She replied with a little bit of attitude.

"That wasn't sleep, it was suspended animation, that used your own energy to create a shield that protected your body. You might not have been 'awake', but your body was. You need to let your body get some actual sleep, before it shuts down on you."

"You may have saved my life, but you are not my guardian, even if we are pretending that you are. I do not want to go to sleep, and that's final." She whirled around to the computer, getting ready to start sifting.

"I know you're scared of going to sleep and not waking up for a long time again, but we promise that we won't let that happen. Jazz is saying that sleeping would benefit you and while I understand that you want to find your brothers, running yourself into the ground will only slow you down."

Marc leaned towards Annabelle, gently patting her shoulder in assurance. "If you don't wake up within twelve hours, I'll give you a dose of adrenaline, but I highly doubt it will come to that. Please, let us help you."

When she didn't answer Jazz took over. "Look, I'm sorry you're scared, but you need to sleep. Marc has offered you a solution. I suggest you accept it; also, I am technically your legal guardian, both in the current legal sense and the past honorary sense."

"In the event of a catastrophic event, Cyber was to send units out to search for young ones from Pasef. If a child were found the council of Pasef dictated that the Cyber who found said child was legally his or her guardian until he or she came of age, according to Pasefien law. According to your laws, you still count as an adolescent."

"What! I thought she said she was a new adult who was going to take career testing?" Cass interrupted Jazz.

"Pasef has unusual laws regarding age. Even though they may have matured mentally and physically. Even to the point that they resemble other races at the age of maturity. They do not consider their children adults until they go through an awakening. I'll explain what that is if you don't interject Marc."

He glanced at Marc who looked as if he was going to die of curiosity.

"A Pasefien's awakening is when they stop needing to harvest energy in order to use their abilities. Basically, whatever their ability is, it will become sentient, and reside inside them. Only dissipating if they die."

"Until this; however, they are considered children that, even if they have careers, must live with a guardian who can guide them in using their powers."

After taking a pause to consider Annabelle's surprised face he continued speaking. "Cyber's were given the information needed to guide a child of Pasef in using their powers, which is why we were given the duty of protecting them."

"Now, you will go to sleep, even if it requires the use of an anesthetic, and we will wake you after at least twelve hours. Your choice, a natural sleep, or a drugged one."

"Fine, I'll sleep, but after twelve hours I'm going to continue studying." She got up and started towards the exit.

"After you sleep, you will eat, and then you can continue studying. I will prepare a meal schedule for you, if you want to eat outside of the schedule you may, but you must eat what is on the schedule. If you dislike something let me know and I will substitute it for something else."

She continued out into the hall without acknowledging Jazz.

"Jeez, I know she's worried about her brothers, but she acted like a bratty teen just then. Didn't get her way and left in a huff." Marc commented after a few minutes of Annabelle being gone.

"Well, that's what she is. Until they awaken Pasefiens are just the human equivalent of a hormonal teenager." Jazz rubbed his neck, trying to get rid of the tension that had taken hold.

"Dang, that sucks. Cass, can you imagine being a teen again for thousands of years?" Marc shuddered.

"Can you imagine having to obey your parents for thousands of years, having a curfew, ewww. I don't miss those days." Cass opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out in a puking gesture.

"That's just because you were the wild child."

"Says the one who was always irresponsible, even though he was older."

The siblings walked out teasing each other about their childhood as they went towards their rooms.

Jazz just shook his head as he returned to his room, checking in on Annabelle before going to bed himself.