"That's just fancy. What in the heck do you want with me if you ain't sore losers? Did you say you're the Zenbot?" Captain Pippy stressed the 'the'. "You're a dangerous one." She played with her pigtails looking at Zenbot's dark, austere and apparently attractive robes.
Zenbot's eye slits blushed pink. "It's just Zenbot." It scratched the back of its head.
"What we want, Ms. Pippy-" Mancy continued.
"That's Captain Pippy." She fidgeted with one of her pigtails, removing the grease and throwing it out into the empty space at the side of the dock with a snap of her hand.
"What we want Captain Pippy is to conduct an interview of sorts. Now this band of ours is on a mission that needs a pilot."
"A mission you say?" Captain Pippy's eyes lit up.
"Yes, a very dangerous one, though I don't believe danger is something you care about. We've got a couple of questions first. Was that your first race?"
"That one, nah, it's probably my tenth or so."
"Real?"
"Heck yeah, real. Ya don't care about none of my virtual runs, I'm guessing. It ain't the same thing I'm telling ya. No matter what they say. I'm lucky to have gotten outta that one alive."
"There is no such thing as luck." Zenbot said.
"Whatever you say hon'. I'll take that as a compliment then." She twirled her pigtail girlishly. "Can't argue with a face like that." She winked at Zenbot whose eye slits went a deeper shade of pink. "What's this mission then?"
"We're going to rob the La2x Vault."
Captain Pippy whistled. "Wooo-heee. That's a tough one. I can see why ya want one of us racers. Though you gotta be downright suicidal to try that run." Captain Pippy frowned for a moment, her freckles twitching with her mouth. "Ya should probably go for one of the other racers tho'. They made it through this time, I didn't."
Freedman opened his mouth to speak. "We alre-" but Mancy kicked him in the shins.
"We're about to go do that, Captain. We're just asking you first. We liked your style."
"Ya got the details on the mine field?"
"What minefield?" Mr. Qruise asked, his usual frown hanging lower than usual. He peered over the dock's ledge at the empty space below. Freedman rested on his shoulder, massaging his leg. Mr. Qruise lost balance and tottered over the edge. He held onto Freedman desperately.
Mancy ignored Mr. Qruise's question. "Yes, I have the minefield prints and a schematic simulation which should get you close enough."
"Ain't no such thing as close enough, till you do the run. Then we'll see if we're close enough."
"I asked what minefield?" Mr. Qruise asked again, still trying to regain his balance, resting on Freedman.
Zenbot placed its hand on its pupil's shoulder propping him up. "There's a dynamic minefield around Qamar, Mr. Qruise. One only a top and suicidal pilot could navigate through."
"That's…that's…. that's expected." Mr. Qruise's eyes glazed over. He was too tired to argue. "I really should pay more attention."
Mancy rolled her eyes. "You really should. So Ms. - I mean Captain Pippy, my next two questions are are you in? and what's your price? Don't answer now. I'm going to interview the other three and get their prices. So think of that before you come back with a quote. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll meet again in, say, an hour? Think hard Captain Pippy."
"No need for that, Ms. La2x." Captain Pippy looked at her torn up racer. "I'm in. This'll make my name. First things first, my price is a favor to be cashed in wheneva' I want if I get us through. Alway's helpful to have a La2x owing ya. And I'll be needing those chips to pay off my debt. I lost the race after all." Captain Pippy eyed Freedman's bulging pockets. "Offer's on the table now. Mightn't be if ya go and talk to the otha's."
"Deal." Mancy said shaking Captain Pippy's greasy palm.
CHAPTER TEN
On the Way to Qamar
Back in the Big Pink's lounge the crew, with VII, were assembled and finally complete. Captain Pippy walked around inspecting bits of the Big Pink. She kept knocking on the ship's walls, placing her ear against them, knocking again and then smiling to herself.
She'd run up and down the ship when first boarding like a little girl left alone in a candy shop, going through every bit and piece of the place and touching it manually.
Mancy sat at the long table and replicated herself a mescal margarita before speaking. "Ladies and gentlemen. This is it. It's been a long, long road getting ready. It took me year to get Zenbot, well, its family to be more specific. And then another year to find, Mr. Qruise. The rest of us have only been together a week or less. I've inputted the coordinates into the auto-piloting system and we're on our way to the La2x system." She took a triumphant sip from her drink. "It's going to be about another week or so before we get there. We still have a lot of work to do on the way. Let's have a run through the prep list. How are we going with our coward of a student, Zenbot?"
"We'll need more than a week." Zenbot looked at its pupil. Mr. Qruise was playing in his ear again. His pinky finger digging deep.
"We don't have more time. You have a week. It'll have to do."
Zenbot's head tilted downwards a few angles, burdened.
Mr. Qruise placed his hand affectionately on Zenbot's hard shoulder. "Don't worry Zenbot, we'll do it, ay? I'll try not to fall asleep so quickly while we meditate. I promise."
Zenbot looked at Mr. Qruise's hand, more specifically his pinky finger, and at his broad grin, missing teeth and pimply bearded face. If Zenbot's face could show horror it would have screamed. "I believe you." Zenbot brushed Mr. Qruise's hand off its shoulder. Zenbot stood up and bowed towards the room. "We'll be going to the holo-deck. I'll take Freedman and Mr. Qruise. There are lessons for the both of them this time. If the rest of you need something, I'm sorry but we'll be busy." It dragged its pupils off their chairs more forcefully than necessary.
When they were gone, Mancy replicated a tiny umbrella and placed it in her drink, stirring and sipping. "That hits the spot. I guess it's just us girls then. Should we talk business or pleasure first?"
Captain Pippy and VII sat silently. Algy's wheel squeaked as it turned on the table.
VII broke the silence. "I thought Zenbot was one of the girls. She, I mean it, took to being a woman like a fish in water."
"What's that hon'?" Captain Pippy asked. "That walking piece of hot metal used to be a dame? Zenny's so big and bulky but now that ya mention it, there's definitely something feminine like about her. I'm taking a mighty bigger shine to her now." She winked at VII.
Mancy sucked on her drink through a newly replicated straw, concentrating on getting the last dregs of the glass inside her. "I don't know what Zenbot is. I think it prefers it that way. It decides what it is."
"Promise ya'll tell me all about ol' Zenny being a girl and all, later. Right now, Ms. La2x, it's best we get down to business. Ain't no time like the present. I'd like to take a couple of cracks at the minefield we're going to tackle. Where are the schematics? You said you had some."
Mancy handed Captain Pippy a sheathe of electro-sleeves.
"Thanks hon'. I'll read through these now," Captain Pippy flicked through the sleeve quickly, "but I'll wanna go practice later. The holo-deck, it's got a sim all set up inside?"
"Yes, Captain, it's all in there. You can kick the boys and Zenbot out in about an hour. It usually doesn't take that long for Mr. Qruise to fall asleep. Would any of you like a drink?"
"Sure thing hon' but I can do it myself. I know my way around a replicator. I'll just go and make myself a drink and study these papers. An hour you say? Alright. You two feel free to do whatever is you did when I weren't yet with y'all" Captain Pippy made her drink, left the table and walked over to the couch by the bay window, plopping down and studying the electro-sleeves.
VII put a few biscuits on the table. Algy jumped out of its wheel and scurried on the table to nibble on them. The cryptographer scratched her mouse behind the ears. "I've been looking at the copy of the code you gave me, Mancy.
Shouldn't be a problem opening the first and second doors, they ain't doors really. More like big damn gates. I'll be able to set up a program to open them if you can get the code into the system, no problem. Won't be hard to crack'em. Shouldn't take more than a few moments at each. A small drive'll be able to hold the code."
"That's a piece of good news."
"The uh… third door - gate - that'll be a bit of a problem. I'm going to need to get in there personally and interface. That's why you hired me, I guess." VII straightened her hair. "For this on the fly stuff." She waved her hand slowly in the air. "It's something I don't like to do. A good way to get your neck broken. I like my neck just the way it is," she rubbed the back of her head. "So…so…"
"Out with it, VII. We only have a week."
"I'm going to need Zenbot by my side when I'm there." VII snatched Mancy's drink out of her hand suddenly and downed it in one gulp. "And to escort me back to the ship once I'm done."
Mancy stood to take back her drink then paused. Her face flushed red. "What? You can't expect us to let you take Zenbot. We need the inorganic, we're going to be surrounded by the toughest mercenaries in the 'verse."
"Exactly." VII leaned over the table and replicated two glasses of the same margarita. She handed Mancy her glass back. "I didn't sign up for no suicide mission. Landing on the moon's gonna be tough enough. Shen, I don't even think we're gonna make it. I have half a mind to get off at the nearest port. If you want me to go running around in a base full of killers that's my condition, Mancy. I ain't ready for the top-top side. You came and pulled me out of my comfort zone to help you break the coding and open those gates. I'm not some zen hero, or some stranger, or a crazy Shen damn pilot that hopscotches between suns. I interface with the AI and convince it to open. From a far. That's my condition for joining you on Qamar. Zenbot brings me back to the ship and then rejoins you, or you can drop me off at the next port and find another cryptographer."
Mancy pointed out of the bay window and the empty space beyond. "Why don't I just drop you off here?" She smiled evilly at VII, blinking her eyes innocently and resting her head on her bridged hands.
VII didn't bat an eyelid. "Because you didn't hire no fool, Mancy. Why'd you think I stayed behind at the End of the Line? My codes are already in the ship and I'll empty the air out sooner than you can say 'there's the door'."
Mancy drummed her fingers on the table. "You got insurance, huh?"
"I always get insurance. The ship's coding is only one. So don't go getting no ideas."
"I guess that's why we hired you." Mancy said, shrugging her shoulders. "You think ahead. I can respect that." She rested her head on a fist, pouting. "Alright," she said lazily, "you've got my word. Zenbot'll escort you back to the ship once we get through the third gate."
"No, I want Zenbot's word. No offense but you're not the most trustworthy of people. You've just threatened to space me. Zenbot don't lie. It's known. You know we had a couple of simulations where you got to be the Zenbot in the Game. I learnt a lot from those ones. So when they're done doing their space hoodoo we'll drag it up here and you'll make it give me its word. Agreed?"
Mancy extended her hand to shake on it, clenching her teeth, and hissing through her teeth. "Agreed. But on one condition. It'll be done in secret. No word of this to Freedman or Qruise. Freedman'll follow his master to hell but the damn fool can't keep his mouth shut. And Mr. Qruise'll get skittish and run if he hears we'll be alone. If he didn't have a bomb in his head, he'd have run a long time ago."
VII shook Mancy's outstretched hand. "There's something else. I've looked at the schematics. We'll get in through the front gate. After that it's a short jog through the side service tunnels till you hit the second security level and the second gate. No problem. Then there's this Shen damn open space all the way up to the third gate. No idea what's in there but that ain't the point. Zenbot can do the heavy lifting. It'll get me there and I'll work on the third gate. Big monster of a thing. It may take a minute, it may take thirty to convince it to open, I'm up for it. But after that… After that I have no idea what's on the other side of that security level. It's not in the schematics. Everything's just Shen damn redacted all the way to the vault. What's on the other side?"
Mancy twitched her nose. "I don't know what's on the other side."
VII leaned back in her chair, hands behind her head. "Thanks for not trying to lie at least." She leaned forward again and whispered. "Don't you think you should tell the others? Shen, you have no idea what you're going to walk into. And you'll be without Zenbot for an hour, an hour and a half, I don't know how fast that inorganic runs. They have a right to know."
"Don't pretend like you care, VII. You're leaving us up to our necks in it, to run back and hide safe and sound like a mouse." Mancy stood up looming over VII, her voice was metal. "Don't push me. You got your deal. I'll handle the others the way I see fit."
"Do you have any idea what's on the side?"
Mancy melted. Her confident exterior shattered. She slumped in her chair. "No. Daddy…well…He was expecting this. So he didn't share many details on what lies on the other side. I really have no idea. That's why I got a jack in the box. A wild card like that'll be able to react to whatever infernal traps Daddy's laid."
VII sipped at her drink. "Mr. Qruise?"
Mancy raised her glass. "Coward doesn't play with the 'verse's rules. He should be more than enough for whatever's on the other end."
"It ain't right but why should I care. We've got an understanding. We'll get Zenbot on the side sometime." VII raised her glass.
"You do that VII. You do that." Mancy clinked her drink, downed it and grabbed an electro-sleeve blue print of the base, pretending to study it. After a few minutes she replicated a real cigarette and smoked it.
The boys and Zenbot were in the simulated dojo. Zenbot sat at the center of the mat, legs crossed, dressed in its master's black robes. "Here, wear these." It handed Mr. Qruise and Freedman a pair of white robes. "They're a novice's robes."
Freedman took the offered robes without argument and began to put them on. Mr. Qruise threw his on the ground. "You know you're beginning to-"
"Wear them, Mr. Qruise." Zenbot said, its voice, while still monotonous, was…aggressive. Louder than normal and faster. "I can put them on you if you want. We don't have time for hesitancy. And Freedman, make some tea please."
Freedman rushed to the side of the mat and prepared the furnace.
"Yes. Alright." Mr. Qruise even bowed slightly. "I'll put them on." He looked sharply at Freedman blowing on the furnace. "Don't you want me to fix the tea?"
Zenbot hid its face in its palm and then looked up at Mr. Qruise, as it would a small child. "Do you want to fix the tea, Mr. Qruise?"
"No, not particularly. It's just that every time we've had a lesson you've made me do it. Isn't mine good?"
"I have two hard lessons to teach today, so we don't have time for petty egotism. You it seems, I must jump start through enlightenment, on Ms. La2x's schedule. This will be very hard on us both, but I am sure you will manage. And the other lesson is for both my pupils, the two of whom believe luck runs their lives."
"I don't believe in luck." Mr. Qruise objected.
"You do, Mr. Qruise. You do. But you only believe in bad luck. That the 'verse conspires against you. This is sadly an illusion. And I must teach him," It said looking over at Freedman blowing on the furnace, "that there is no such thing as good luck. That only hard work achieves results."
Freedman heard from the other side of the dojo and shuffled back meekly, teapot in hand, almost tripping over his new robes. "But master. I do get results. Didn't I win back there at the End of the Line?"
"Yesterday, you won, that's true. Now, you'll lose. The net result will be neutral. Through hard work you can mine something from this neutrality. Otherwise you'll always go whichever way the wind blows." Zenbot filled only one cup with tea.
"What makes you think today I'll be unlucky?" Freedman put hi
s cup in front of the pot, waiting for Zenbot to fill it as well.
"Because I have decided it to be." Zenbot threw Freedman's cup against the far wall. It shattered and fell to earth with a sharp tinkle.
Zenbot stood up and grabbed Mr. Qruise, holding him firmly from behind and placing its hand on the back of his neck. A sharp tingle went through Mr. Qruise's spine.
All was dark.
Zenbot stood by a lone tree above a large cliffside overlooking a shadowed valley. Zenbot looked like she did in Woshu. She held Mr. Qruise up in the air firmly by the neck. His legs dangled above the cliffside which looked down into the valley.
"What's going on? Where the hell are we?" Mr. Qruise squirmed beneath Zenbot's tiny grip.
"We're inside your mind, Mr. Qruise. I've interfaced with the nanobots from MO4. This dark mess we see about us is your subconscious. As you can see," Zenbot swung Mr. Qruise wildly about, showing him the dark clouds swirling above in the jet black sky and the swirls of dark fog creeping in the valley below, "you're full of fear and doubt. I can't succeed in training you with so much of this inside of you." She pointed him in the direction of the dark fog. "We must illuminate a small part of you, even the tiniest bit if we hope for you to help us on the mission." Zenbot placed Mr. Qruise on the ground.
"Bu..but how?" Mr. Qruise surveyed the scene around him, his eyes wild with fright.
"I'm not sure. It will take years for you to gain the self confidence, and I am sorry to say, the self-respect necessary to be in control of yourself."
"Hey! I'm full of self respect." Mr. Qruise rubbed viciously at his beard, only to find it wasn't there anymore. He was as clean shaven as a babe. Looking down at himself, he found that he was wearing night black robes. Zenbot in contrast to its usual sombre robing was in immaculate pristine white.
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