“Next!” called the clerk in a bored voice.
“Transfer of ownership,” Reaghan said, passing him the chip.
“Right,” he looked at her over the top of his glasses, then inserted the chip into his reader. “Let’s see. Starship—Aeon. Class—transport. Registration number…” he trailed off, though she could see him double-checking his forms. “And purchase price—thirty thousand credits.” He let out a low whistle. “Hope she’s worth it for that amount,” he said, meeting her gaze.
“She is,” Reaghan assured him, knowing it was dirt cheap for a starship. Even a basic shuttle went for at least double that amount. “A bit of a fixer-upper, but my engineer’s topnotch.”
He nodded, silently going back to his forms. His lips pursed a few times and he tweaked something on the screen. “Odd, the Aeon hasn’t been in the system before.”
Reaghan’s heart raced in her chest.
“Let me see here, one more place I can check.”
She could hear those in line behind her since her entire conversation could be overheard easily. Tapping her fingers against her thigh, she barely managed to keep her claws sheathed.
“Did you get the ship from a former Dynasty planet, by chance?” the clerk asked.
“Yeah, from Veraniam,” she answered.
His eyes flicked to the screen, checking her answer against the information given to him. “That explains it,” he said. “A lot of those records were lost when the Unity took over. Apparently, someone went a bit too crazy with the delete button. No worry, I can easily re-enter the ship into our system where it’ll be protected.”
“Great!”
The clerk nodded, then resumed his typing. Reaghan leaned heavily against the counter in relief. She could practically feel the disappointment behind her, though she supposed she couldn’t blame them. Someone getting arrested for forgery would’ve livened up the wait.
“Here you go.” The clerk handed her back the chip, along with another. “All your documents are on there, just present it to any docking authority when asked. Safe travels.”
“Thanks.” She tucked them both in her pocket and strode into the busy main corridor. Humanoids of all shapes and sizes flowed past in a living river. Those who were lucky enough to have wings flew overhead, cackling as they passed the masses on the ground. The station mostly moved cargo, though a few transport ships had been in orbit when the Aeon arrived. Reaghan made a quick stop at one of the many food stalls and ordered a bit of sauced chicken over rice. Balancing it and her drink, she made her way back to the ship to check in with Twi.
The AI was once more using her hologram, though a few minor adjustments had been made in order to differentiate the image from the one she’d used with Miraz and crew. That way, she could interact with anyone who came aboard without worry.
“Were you able to take care of it?” Twi asked, not looking up from the screen in front of her.
“Yeah, no problem.” Reaghan sat down on the floor so she could eat without having to balance her drink and food awkwardly. Opening her silverware, she dug in eagerly, ignoring the bit of spice that came from the sauce. “What’s next?” she asked between bites.
“The Aeon is ready to go anywhere, but I worry about the engines.”
“You think we’ll attract attention.”
“Of course. Do you know of any other ship that travels via wormhole?”
“We can use the normal Ci engine,” Reaghan reminded her. “It’s only long distances that we’ll use the other.”
“All it takes is one person to see us use them,” Twi argued.
She polished off the last bite. “Pull up the immediate area,” she requested.
The forward screens formed a large image of the station and surrounding systems. They were on the border of old Dynasty territory, with most of the systems housing at least two populated planets. It was a far cry from the usual places they visited on the edges of settled space. Those planets were still establishing themselves and held a lot of unseen treasures.
“What’s the nearest backwater?” she asked.
“Too far for us to pick up on sensors,” Twi replied, walking over to join her. She sat cross-legged on the floor, hands clasped in her lap. “Are we going to resume business as usual then?”
“Do we have a choice? You said yourself, the Scavenger is dead and our chances of fixing it are minimal. If we can even get back to the Void in the first place.”
“The Aeon has been back,” Twi reminded her. “It could be as simple as we just haven’t dug deep enough to get that answer.”
“Either way, with Miraz and his crew out there, I’d like to put as much distance between us and them. If they think I’m this pirate, they’ll stay in the central territories since that’s where she’ll be. There’s more shipping lanes and things to steal there.”
Twi bobbed her head. “I feel bad siccing them on her like that, pirate or not.”
“So do I, but it’s better than the alternative.” A faint shudder ran through her body. “I’ll apologize, if we ever meet.”
“I wonder why you two look so much alike. It’s curious, but your pod’s file doesn’t mention a twin.”
Reaghan fell silent, searching through the murky haze that made up her early memories. She could remember the tests, being forced to use her Eiha to the point of exhaustion. She remembered people coming in and out, poking and prodding as they collected the data needed to perfect their weapons. The disappointment in their eyes as she remained as free-spirited as ever. Through it all, however, she’d been alone.
“Reaghan?” Twi reached out and put a hand on hers. A faint current ran over the surface.
“I’m okay.” She offered her friend a wry smile. “I don’t know why she looks like me. Maybe one day we’ll find out. Let’s leave it for now. Seems like more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Okay, I’ll set course toward the edges of the central territories then. We’ll adjust as we get closer.”
“By the way”—Reaghan reached in her pocket and pulled out the two chips—“here’s our legal documents. Might want to get a digital version uploaded on our core in case these become lost.”
The hologram vanished and the flapping of wings filled the air. Twi’s automaton form swept into position where she could simply clench the chips between her legs. “Much better,” she said, taking them from her.
“The chips or losing the hologram?”
“Both. I feel better now that the Aeon is legally ours, and while I’m used to the hologram, it still isn’t too comfortable, thanks to recent events.”
Reaghan failed to point out that all the documents that made the Aeon theirs were as forged as her biography. She rose to her feet and dumped her food containers in the recycler. “How soon can we leave?”
“Immediately.”
“No odd laws going on that lead to a lot of paperwork for us?”
“I already took care of it.”
Reaghan grinned. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
“I’ll remind you of that the next time you get irritated that I have to upgrade a major component and we’ll have to stop for a week to do it.”
Reaghan wiped her brow as she pulled her hands away from the last piece of reinforcement to be installed in her newly made training room. A shield that was keyed into the Aeon’s systems would further protect the ship’s integrity from any attacks she threw at her training dummies. If anything, Miraz had taught her she’d grown complacent while she sought to fit into the rest of the galaxy. By cutting off her growth, she’d stunted herself severely. Reaghan took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She could still feel their blows on her body, still see Twi fall, bleeding out in her arms. It might have been a hologram, but it was still Twi.
Opening her eyes, she was greeted by waves of blue coming off her body. The energy flowed d
own her limbs to her hands, where it focused into pools of power. Raising her hands, the orbs shifted and morphed into ball lighting that exploded against the humanoid stand-ins. She had just started to circle around when the ship rocked, throwing her off her balance.
“What’s up, Twi?” she asked, trusting her implant to activate properly.
“Not sure. Nothing’s showing up on sensors yet.”
The Aeon heaved again, this time nearly rolling over onto its side. Reaghan stumbled out of the room and into the corridor, narrowly avoiding a repair automaton already at work on the damage. “Get us out of here as fast as you can! And where’s the internal dampeners,” she ordered.
“No idea, but I’m already trying!”
The lights were flickering, plunging them into darkness for as long as thirty seconds at a time. Twi was already searching the sensor readouts on the main screen when she entered. They were at least three days away from any of the surrounding systems and the nearest anomaly was even farther. Since Twi had taken them off the main shipping paths, no ships could be responsible either.
“What the hell?” she muttered.
The Aeon bucked, bobbing around like it was riding waves. Reaghan threw herself in the pilot’s seat, ready to take manual control if needed. Another screen appeared at her side of the view outside the ship. A large fish-like creature appeared off their stern.
“What is that?” she asked.
“I’m trying to get a scan, but there’s too much interference.”
The fish turned toward them, brushing against the shields. The large fins pushed it through the vacuum with ease. The Aeon rode through another round of turbulence, this time almost pitching over on its side completely.
“It’s the beast,” Twi said. “I’m reading strong sound waves coming off them.”
“Sound waves are doing this?” Reaghan started to move them away and out of the line of fire.
“I don’t know how, but the scans don’t lie.”
Waves rippled across the vector, the fish the origin point. Another life sign, identical to it, appeared right beside the first.
“Well, that explains the strength,” Reaghan muttered, guiding the Aeon away as fast as she could manage. The fish continued to follow, matching their pace.
“Sending you new coordinates,” Twi called out. “Let’s try to lose them in the nebula.”
Reaghan set the course. “How Eiha-rich is this nebula?”
“Do you really want to know?”
The nebula grew closer and closer. The fish bumped the shields, sending the ship rocketing forward. The other fish tried to cut them off, it’s mouth agape. She could see the shields warp toward them. Her arms ached as she altered their course, turning hard while trying to keep distance between them and it.
“Just a bit more,” Twi encouraged.
“Easy for you to say, you’re good at this!”
The fish were back on them, circling tighter. The wake of their fins buffeted the ship.
“Twi, you have to take over!”
“Okay. Okay.”
Reaghan released the controls, though it didn’t stop their momentum. Twi piloted between the fish, breaking free and increasing speed to compensate for having to alter course several times. The ship slipped inside the nebula and went dark.
“We’re at minimum power,” Twi informed her. “Hopefully it’ll make the natural Eiha around us more of a treat.”
The ship was pushed forward, propelled by the sound waves. The assault went on and on. Reaghan held tight, her claws pricking the metal.
“We should just keep moving,” Reaghan urged.
“Wait!” Twi cried. “Do you feel that?”
Reaghan froze, looking around with wide eyes. “It stopped.”
“Exactly. I think they either ate their fill or realized this nebula’s just too big to push us out.”
“Maybe.” Reaghan didn’t sound too convinced. “One way to find out.”
The ship returned to full power. On screen, it was like the fish had never even been there in the first place.
The pair exchanged a puzzled look. “Get us outta here, Twi. And let’s hope we didn’t just meet what caused the Aeon to be adrift in the first place.”
“With pleasure.”
“Couldn’t sleep?” Twi asked as she climbed the last step onto the bridge a few nights later.
Reaghan shrugged and simply sank into the captain’s chair, a cup of tea in her hands. She wasn’t about to admit that she’d spent the better part of the night training before coming up to the bridge. The immediate area around the ship was visible on all the screens, their positions arranged to best mirror what was actually happening outside the ship.
“I figured since we couldn’t have the real thing, this would have to do,” Twi explained, landing on her shoulder.
“Nice touch,” Reaghan mused, sipping her drink. “Miss looking at them?”
“Yeah, though more to the point, I guess I wanted to make sure they were still there.”
“Still think we might find ourselves back in the Void?”
“Anything’s possible. And we don’t know what the portals or whatever they are look like on this side. If I had the Scavenger data, I might be able to theorize something, but I don’t.”
“We’ll just have to be vigilant I guess.” Reaghan leaned back, staring at the screens. “They seem very bright tonight.”
“Maybe.” She could tell Twi wanted to explain how her statement was impossible, but managed to restrain herself. “Are you sure you’re all right? I don’t think we’ve ever done this before.”
“We haven’t, but there’s a first time for everything.” Reaghan looked down at her drink. “I don’t get it, Twi. She might be a pirate, but they were willing to kill you and me to get a few credits.”
“You’re asking me about humanoid behavior. I know about as much about that as you do.”
“You’ve more experience than me. I was kept isolated when I wasn’t packed up.”
“My creators were careful to keep themselves as distant as possible. That way, their own emotions couldn’t influence my programming since I was designed to be fairly empathetic, especially to young minds.”
“One of them failed doing that. They wanted you to be great and capable to handle every situation you might come across.”
“He wanted to rush things.” Twi shifted on her shoulder and Reaghan felt the cold metal of her tail brush against her cheek. “You’re crying.”
Reaghan sniffed. “It’s nothing.”
“Liar.”
“I try so hard to ignore that I’m just someone’s creation. I try to make my own way in life, and yet it continues to haunt me. I mean, if it had actually been you beside me that day…”
“But it wasn’t, because we’re smarter than all of them. And between you and me, you’re who they should aspire to be. If Miraz and his crew survived, we’ll be ready for them. I have more than a few nasty surprises to pay them back for what they did. Never mind how brave they think they are by trying again.”
“If they do, it’ll be for vengeance,” Reaghan reminded her. “That changes everything. I doubt they’ll try to keep the ship intact.”
“I wish I was more accomplished at getting into computer systems so I could make it all go away. But unfortunately, I’m limited in what I can tap into. Even your biography needs to travel through several different systems before it becomes official.” A wire snaked out from her abdomen, and then retracted to accent her point.
“That’s because, despite your affinity for it, you’re a companion AI, not a hacker.” Reaghan gathered her friend up in her arms. “Let Miraz come. I’d love to see him try to catch me unaware, because it won’t happen.”
“Right.” Despite her confident tone, she could feel the tension along Twi’s metal exoskeleton.
Her wings twitched, as though debating to fly off and take care of their problem all by herself. Reaghan squeezed her eyes shut. She’d been so preoccupied with her own fallout from her capture she didn’t notice how bad it was affecting Twi. She pulled her friend close.
“Why do we do it to ourselves?”
“Hmm?”
“Why do we beat ourselves up over things we couldn’t help? What we could do better?”
“Because in this case you could’ve gotten really, really hurt or died and I could’ve prevented it. And if they succeed with their goals… well, you know what happens then.”
Now Reaghan did shiver, the fear causing her to shake so severely she had difficulty hanging on to Twi.
Twi coughed, as though to clear her throat, and rose, hovering at eye height. “Follow me.”
The pair made their ways through the hallways. The automatons were already hard at work with their nightly maintenance routines. Their destination seemed to be near the engines, a place she hadn’t really ventured into since Twi and her helpers handled all ship operations. Twi led them into a massive room. The Aeon’s secondary, modified engines sat in the center, waiting for activation. Automatons littered the room, checking the readouts and providing upkeep to the components. None of the work stopped, despite their presence. Twi landed on the railing, twisting around so she faced Reaghan.
“Welcome, to the main computer,” she said.
Reaghan took a step closer, twisting her head to get a better angle to see where the branch-like conduits came off the main trunk. Eiha glowed a brilliant white as it circled through the system.
“Because of its mission, the Aeon’s creators were very specific with what was to happen in case of a hostile takeover,” Twi explained. A holographic screen appeared in front of Reaghan. “I had to hold those programs at bay when they took over the ship because they were designed to take out all organic life on the ship and I couldn’t override it from a distance.”
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