“What you’re saying is, we all want to go back to the womb. No?”

Tapi agreed with smiling reluctance. “I wouldn’t put it so baldly.”

Olmy studied the jagged curve with a combination of pride and the familiar sinking feeling. “I think it’s very good. That’s not a simple parental compliment, either.”

“You think it will predict?”

“Within limits.”

“I…may be acting foolishly, but I thought there was strong predictive value here, too. So I’ve made my decision on primary vocation. I’m training for Hexamon defense.”

Olmy regarded the boy’s image with more pride, and an even stronger sensation of sorrow. “Like father, like son.”

“I’ve studied your history, Father. It’s admirable. But there are ways I think I can improve on the pattern.” Tapi’s image burst into an enthusiasm of colors and then reshaped itself, dressed in defense force black. “I will try to aim for higher office toward the latter stages of my career. Within one or two centuries of active duty, normal time. I wonder why you never made the move toward leadership roles.”

“If you’ve studied your father closely enough, you’ll know.”

“The old ways. Old disciplines. Once a soldier, always a soldier. The best and highest expression.”

Olmy nodded; those were honest sentiments.

“But your abilities…you’ve tended in recent years to feel less regard for your superiors. You say to yourself this is because their abilities have declined…But I think it may be suppressed and diverted expression of your own desires to shape history.”

That’s my son, Olmy thought. Quick and to the point. And doubtless right on the mark. “Leaving partials with you is like leaving lambs to guard the lion.”

“Thank you, Ser.”

“You’re probably correct on all counts. But if you enter that hierarchy, you’ll have to suppress and divert your own cocky compulsions, too. The most difficult road to leadership is through the defense forces.”

“Yes, Father. That would instill discipline and self-control.”

Unless it shapes you in a mold you’re reluctant to break, Olmy thought.

“Do you approve of re-opening?”

No escape, not even in crèche.

“I observe and I serve.”

Tapi smiled. “I’ve missed you, Father. Not even correct partials shine like the original.”

“I have…apologies to make,” Olmy said. “For past and future actions. I’m going to be very involved in work from here on, more so than in the past.”

“You’re working for the defense forces again?”

“No. This is personal. But I may not be able to meet with you any more often than I have in the past few years…maybe less often. I want you to know that I am proud of you, and appreciate your growth and maturity. Your mother and I are both exceptionally pleased.”

“Proud of mirror images,” Tapi said with a hint of self-deprecation.