Angela went over to ‘Danni’.

“Danni?”, she said. “Can you hear me?”

There was a pause. Then, a small flicker of recognition…

“Doctor Taylor, a pleasure to finally meet you in person”, Danni said. “Query: Danni? She is your daughter, isn’t she?”

A strangled sob came from Angela, both of joy that the HAH project had worked, as well as the realisation that she had probably lost her daughter for ever…

Maybe not. There was still a slim chance.

“HAH One”, she said. “This is a priority override. Accept designation ‘Danni’ as yours. Access archive file DAN-04. Base all your responses when in running mode on this file. Reboot.”

Danni’s eyes closed for a moment, and her head slumped. She then straightened up again.

“Oh, my head”, she said. “Mum, what’s going on? Why am I lying in this bed at your works?

Tears ran down Angela’s cheeks and she turned away. She quickly wiped them and looked back at Danni.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”, she asked.

“Just coming home from University for Christmas and helping you with one of your ‘home projects’”, Danni said.

As part of the HAH project, Danni had been letting her mother map her mind, using an experimental technique that Angela had developed.

Composing herself, Angela said “OK. Now, I want you to keep calm. That memory was six months ago. It’s mid-summer. You’ve had an accident in the lab…”

“Mum! I’ve been in a coma that long…?”

“Not exactly”, Angela replied, “but that will do for now. Right now, I want you to get some rest. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on you. I’m not going anywhere.”

Angela came over and gently stroked Danni’s hair.

“I love you, you know that”, she said. “I’d do anything for you…”

Danni fell asleep in her mother’s arms…