From the outside, the Washingtons' house looked tiny. Its front consisted of a small brick edifice erected against a massive grass-covered hill. Its most prominent feature was two white columns, one on each side of large painted double doors in a style reminiscent of colonial North America. Like most structures erected during the early days of the Second Wave, the structure did not possess any windows to reduce any see-oh-too leaks. In fact, they had built most of the dwellings underground for that very reason.

The brick structure was the primary 'lock into the main residence. Therefore, even though it was big enough to hold ten adults and thus had a large surface area, leaks from the exterior were not of major concern. They pumped filtered air into the construction at a pressure higher than the outdoor atmospheric pressure. As a result, it forced the cleansed air outside through any cracks where seepage might have happened. That way the see-oh-too rich atmosphere could not seep in through the chinks.

Instead of parking in front of this entrance, Anastasia-onee drove further down the driveway and around a slight bend. Here a set of vehicle proportioned gates was built into the hill. Once again, Ana-onee pressed a switch, and the entryway opened to show a scarlet-lit area large enough to hold a medium lorry.

Inside there were many red flashing lights, dying the room in their flickering crimson glow. On the opposite end of the chamber was another portal. After driving into the chamber and stopping the automobile, Anastasia-onee pushed another button. When she did this, the doorway to the rear of the minivan closed. As soon as the entranceway shut, the room's lamps slowly stopped flashing until roughly five minutes passed. During that period the room's illumination faded to yellow and ultimately to a steady green. Then the second pair of doors unfolded inwards to reveal a downward sloping tunnel. As Ana-onee proceeded down the descending road, the opening behind the automobile finally shut. This extinguished the emerald glow emanating from the truck-sized 'lock.

After a few seconds, the tunnel opened into a spacious, well-lit underground garage capable of holding about thirty automobiles. Most of the spaces were already filled with vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

While pulling into a parking space next to a large passenger van, Anastasia-onee looked over to the minivan's left and at the empty space located there. "It looks like Mother still isn't home," she said while exiting the vehicle.

"Thank goodness," Christiana muttered. While it was only putting off the inevitable, this brief reprieve would give her a little while to eat her already late dinner in peace. It would also provide her some time to think about how she would talk to her parent about such a touchy subject.

Together the Sisters walked up to yet another portal. As they approached, the gates retracted into the walls on each side, much like the entrance to an elevator back on Old Earth. Just inside, a few paces from the first set of doors, was a second pair. However, unlike the truck-sized 'lock the duo had gone through earlier, the inner doorway opened as soon as the exit closed. That was because this emergency 'lock would only activate if there was a see-oh-too leak in the garage. Since that would only happen if the vehicle 'lock failed and became stuck open, this was merely a precaution.

After the girls went through the second door, both of them stopped. Lining both sides of the hallway were several buttons that began at the height of one-half emm and continued up to two emms. Each of the switches glowed either green or red. They were evenly spaced about twenty see-emms apart for the first few emms of the corridor.

Without even thinking about it, she pushed an emerald button at her waist level. A small compartment opened to reveal two round depressions, one of which contained a mask filter. Meanwhile, the second was empty.

With a well-practiced set of movements, Christiana reached up, unscrewed her mask's filter, and placed it into the vacant spot. Then she took the freshly cleansed filter out of the locker and screwed it into her mask. After she pressed the button to close the alcove, the color of the switch changed to red.

Meanwhile, Ana-onee completed the same procedure, but she had to do it twice since she wore an adult-sized mask with two filters. Of course, this took her twice as long, so she continued down the hall a short way without waiting for her Sister.

There the hallway widened with benches place into alcoves on both sides of it. Here she sat and removed her outside shoes. Then, after looking for the cubbyhole on the wall with her name on it, she pushed a button to reveal a set of indoor slippers. After exchanging her outdoor shoes for the footwear and closing the cubby, she put on her house shoes. Then she waited for her oneechan to do the same.

Once both of them were ready, they proceeded inwards and stood before a heavy metal security door. This was the first of two armored doors that the Sisters would have to go through to enter the main family's living quarters. Even to her, this seemed excessive. When she had asked their Okaa-sama for an explanation, her parent would only say that there was a reason for the precautions and nothing more.

After doing a little research into the matter, Haruhi-nee and Christiana had determined one important thing. This level of defense was comparable to that of the bank vaults used in Cooper's Landing. The only structures with higher levels of protection were certain government buildings and police barracks containing non-lethal weapons arsenals.

Ana-onee spoke towards the tiny camera above the portal. "This is Anastasia Washington and Christiana Washington gee-emm Harris requesting access." Then both siblings placed their eyes up to the instrument to the left of the door. This allowed security to do a quick retinal scan of both Sisters.

Soon afterward, a cheerful human voice spoke from a speaker next to the entryway. "Both identities are confirmed. Welcome home, you two."

"Thank you, Sara-nee," the girls said, almost in unison. Sara-nee was a surveillance officer who usually operated the house's systems from the main control room. She was a lighthearted girl in her late twenties who had worked on the matFam's defensive detail for seven Colonial Years.

All the youngsters got along with her because of her vitality and pleasant disposition. When the children were younger, the good-natured woman had often cared for them when their secMother was unavailable. Thus she had earned the unofficial title of Sara-nee amongst the siblings, although they were careful not to call her that in their Mother's presence.

The large metal entranceway opened outward towards the girls, causing them to step back to avoid being hit by it. As the two young ladies passed through the portal, they stepped into what seemed like a different world. Whereas the floor on the exterior was bare gray concrete, the other side's floor was carpeted. While they painted the cement walls outside the door in a flat white color, they bordered the walls on the opposite side in wooden wainscoting topped with finished drywall.

There were even curtain-covered 'simulated windows' interspersed along the hallway. These 'simulated windows' used fiber optics to pipe sunlight inside from above ground. However, the light of the many crystal chandeliers which lined the passageway's ceiling overwhelmed the faint illumination of Alterday.

It was as if a person had stepped from a corridor in a modern utilitarian factory into a mansion passageway from the late twentieth century.

Used to this transition, the two siblings paid it no heed. They continued down the hallway until they came to a T intersection and turned to the left, away from the security wing and the servant's quarters. They then entered a corridor lined on one side with the same windows as the entrance hall. Opposite the 'windows' were heavy wooden doors interspersed with framed sketches, drawings, and paintings from the early period of the colony.

After walking for a few moments, the duo moved to an intersection and turned a corner. They then walked for a little while and then came to yet another junction. This went on for almost five minutes, both girls taking the maze of corridors in stride.

The confusing floor plan was a defensive measure. It disoriented any potential intruders while providing an impressive number of meeting rooms, guest rooms, parlor rooms, kitchens, and similar chambers.

The area that they were in was the 'public' or 'outer' portion of the dwelling. This was where visitors and members of the patFam could stay. Only those belonging to the matFam, certain guards, and the most trusted of servants could enter the 'inner' or 'private' part of the home.

Eventually, the girls approached the entryway leading into the innermost section of the house. Security had hidden this heavy metal entranceway behind an otherwise nondescript wooden door, no different from the other doors lining the corridor.

Once again, Anastasia-onee led the way by placing her hand on the plate beside the portal. She then said, "Christiana Washington gee-emm Harris and Anastasia Washington are here and seeking entry. Today my code is tango-tango-charlie-foxtrot-echo." The younger girl then placed her appendage on the sensor and stated, "My cipher is yankee-quebec-oscar-november-x-ray." The entrance beeped softly, at which time Christiana removed her palm from the scanner.

What followed was a momentary pause during which a computer checked the handprints, code words, and voiceprints of the Sisters with those on file. Then, unbeknownst to the siblings, security also ran a voice stress analysis to ensure they were not being forced to open the entrance against their will. Also, the computer conducted a facial recognition check using the portal's miniature camera.

After a brief pause, the entranceway made a soft beep. Over the access way's com' a surveillance officer said, "You may enter." Finally, after a series of loud thunks, the heavy metal door opened away from the girls and towards the interior of the matFamily's quarters.

Since this was Anastasia-onee's normal routine, she thought little of it. However, the amount of surveillance that their matFam had in place once again disturbed Christiana.

After all, when she and Haruhi-nee visited other people in their patFam, their houses did not have as many defenses as the Washingtons had. In fact, her Mother always had at least two members of security accompany her on such trips, "Just in case." The girl could not understand why the duo needed guards when they were only going over to play with their patSisters.

Now that the door was open, the siblings could enter what they both considered their home, the 'inner' house. As they walked inside, the officer greeted them at the security station. "Good evening, Miss Anastasia and Miss Christiana," she said with a slight bow. This was Jessica, a woman in her early fifties who was a former member of a Planetfall SWAT team. She made quite an imposing figure, her tall and muscular frame visible under her impeccable black and silver uniform.

Jessica's long dirty blonde hair and soft gray eyes were in extreme contrast to the stern look she always wore on her face. Whenever she saw this sentry, the child couldn't help but think that she probably looked like a person in the military back on Old Earth. However, since Cooper's World did not have any armed forces, the girl had nothing to compare her to except some two-D photographs from her history texts.

Jessica had been working for the girls' Mother for over ten Colonial Years, and she served as the manager of security for the entire estate. During that decade, she had never missed a work shift, even though she was raising her six children. That alone was enough to earn the woman promotion after promotion within the matFam's defensive forces.

Since she had also had a distinguished career in law enforcement, becoming the head of surveillance was all but assured. Christiana's Okaa-sama had once joked that Jessica would be the police chief in Planetfall by now if she hadn't lured her away by offering her a considerably higher salary.

The sentry had laughed upon hearing this jest, smiling openly for once. Then, seconds later, her face returned to its normally disciplined demeanor. It had surprised her to see how attractive the officer was when she smiled, and she wished that the older lady would grin more often. However, no matter how hard the womb-mates tried, they could not get her to laugh and smile, much to the Sisters' disappointment.