eyes flared when she saw Yin, a look of distaste clearly written on her face. "Jerrem, who is this?"
"Oh!" Jerrem coughed nervously, "This is the female I spoke with yesterday. She had some kind of tramautic breakdown since then and she's lost her memory."
His mother looked confused, "Why is she here?"
"She was wandering around lost, and I decided to give her a place to stay until she can remember enough to get back home."
"I remember where she's from." Marcus quipped.
"You do?" Yin asked, surprised. "Where am I from?"
"From Mentas. The city with human and Meregal integration."
"Was I happy there?"
"No, your life was falling apart."
Yin thought in silence.
"Anyway." Jerrem cut in. "Can she stay until things change?"
Jerrem's mother grimaced, "I can't keep up with your siblings as it is. You'll have to find a way to feed her until she leaves. All I'm willing to do is provide a place to stay. Is that final?"
"Yes. That's final." Jerrem answered.
By this time, the kittens had begun munching away on whatever Jerrem's mother had dragged out of the dome, fighting over whatever scraps they could glean from the mess. Yin looked on with contempt when she realized how hungry she was.
"Jerrem, since that seems to be your name, can you get me something to eat? I haven't had the opportunity to do so since I woke up."
"You woke up two hours ago, tops.""Well, since I can't remember the last time I ate, I have the right to say I'm hungry."
Jerrem glowered at her silently. "Mom, take care of Yin until I come back. I'm going scavenging."
"Scavenging where?" His mother asked.
"Out by the wreck past the narrow stream."
"Okay. Be careful, there's been some territory staking since your father was there last."
"Will do. See you later Yin! Good luck!"
Yin nodded vaguely in his direction. "Where am I staying?"
"Somewhere on the lower floors. I can show you the options." She paused. "Yin huh? You out searching for your Yang or something?"
Yin rolled her eyes, "Very funny."
The mother laughed at her own joke and went inside, dragging the empty pan behind her. Yin was surprised to realize the dome was actually the cockpit of a large hovership that had been buried deeply into the earth. When the female had said lower floors, she'd meant the lower decks of a multi-level system of crew quarters that were used by the original owners of the craft. Yin followed with some excitement as Jerrem's mother led her to an unopened door.
"We've never used this room before," Her guide said, "And we've never looked inside, but hopefully it will suffice." She turned and went back upstairs to round up the kittens.
The door was labeled 'navigator' and Yin instantly understood why they'd never bothered to mess with it since the ship didn't 'navigate' any more. Marcus had come behind her and watched wearily as Yin opened the door for the first time. It was dark inside, and yin could make out a row of monitors along the side of a large desk, which was actually a screen covered with the tell tale signs of a holo-touch screen. She flicked a switch on the side of the desk and a topographical map of the surrounding area rose hauntingly from the surface, casting the room in a faded green. There was a bed back in one corner, hidden behind a curtain that could be drawn across to offer the navigator privacy when the room was in use. Yin brushed some of the dust off and snapped the sheets out in a cloud of old dirt.
"This place seems kind of cozy." She said.
Marcus nodded distractedly, eyeing something in the other corner. An old stack of boxes and crates, left untouched since before the war. Yin glanced at Marcus before moving toward them.
"Do you think they'll mind if I look through this?" She asked. Marcus remained silent.
"Well, here goes nothing then." Yin pawed through a few boxes of discarded magni-cartridges, and stopped when she found an old data disk.
"Marcus, put this in the computer." Yin handed the robot the disk, who turned it over in his metal grippers.
"Yin," He said, "I doubt this computer will have the technical capacity to use such obsolete technology."
"Nonsense. Just hold the disk over the screen. It should play from there." Yin went back to scrounging through the pile.
Marcus blinked and placed the disk in the middle of the screen.
"Verifying data disk." The computer said in a distinct monotone. An old file system display appeared on the hologram.
"Yin, the disk has been successfully read."
"Just a moment." Yin was leaning heavily onto the pile, her paws reaching for something at the bottom. She strained, pushing against the walls of the room to extend her reach, her arms scrabbling at the object she was trying to get. She pushed herself off the pile when she grabbed it.
"Check it out Marcus! It's an old communications orb!" She held out a black ball about the size of a large apple. Several different lights and glass lenses dotted its surface.
Marcus cocked his head, "How do you know that?"
Yin shrugged, "I guess my memory's coming back. Do you know if it will work?"
Marcus didn't answer.
"Okay. Take a look through that old file system while I get this thing working again." Yin sat down on the bed and started tinkering with different pieces of the orb.
Marcus turned back to holo-projector, which blinked green in the dark room. His gaze searched searched the device until he found a control mechanism, turning his attention back to the display. The files were arranged in alphabetical order, starting with the number zero, and ending with the letter Z. Marcus flicked the control and read the file names as they drew past.
"Am I to search for any particular subject, Yin?" He blinked and turned toward the hidden sleeping quarter where Yin was busy reconnecting a loose battery connection in the communicator.
"Just search for anything relevant to Meregals and the cities Jasper and Mentas."
Marcus returned to the earlier files and moved them into a separate folder.
"There are exactly thirty six entries concerning Meregals, Jasper, or Mentas. Seven of which include all three subjects within the same reports and video documentation."
"Video documentation?"
"Yes. It seems this data disk was a personal archive the Navigator created for himself to entertain on long voyages."
Yin stopped working for a moment and turned to Marcus, "What makes you say that?"
"These files are mostly civilian reports, most often shown on news and online resources. The rest is strictly human literature."
Yin mulled this over for a moment. "What can you tell me about where I came from, Marcus?"
"I was purchased by you no less than three days ago. At the time you were suffering from a severe emotional breakdown once your human step father abandoned you for insignificant reasons. You left for Jasper a day later and I was escorted there as well a day or so later by a Meregal who claimed to be doing so at your request."
"That really doesn't make a lot of sense."
Marcus blinked.
"Did my father say why he left?"
"He said he couldn't take care of you anymore."
"Why would he say that?" Yin asked herself. Her memory was still out of order, but something didn't seem right. Her next question was cut off by an entrance at the door. Jerrem waited there awkwardly, a side bag draped over his back.
"I brought you something." He said, shuffling into the room, his head down.
Yin put the orb down on the bed and pushed a few pieces back in place, resulting in a hum as the ball slowly rose into the air.
"Scanning vicinity for base user."
"Base user Yin. Confirm base use."
"Base user 'Yin' confirmed."
Yin looked pleased with herself before addressing Jerrem.
"I suppose it should be something good." She said.
"Well, yes, I hope so." Jerrem grabbed something from the bag with his teeth and place
d it next to Yin on the bed.
Yin's eyes lit up in recognition. "Where did you find an old synthcard?"
"There's a whole bunch of them in a wreck just a few miles from here, and I'd noticed you didn't have one."
Yin smiled at him appreciatively, "Thank you! I think this is just what I needed."
"It doesn't have any juice left though, none of them do, but I'd hoped you'd find a use for it anyway."
"Oh no that should be fine." Yin grabbed the card and went back to the stack of crates, grabbing a magni-cartridge from one of the boxes. It had an old adaptor for electronics and Yin busied herself with finding the right one. "If this works, I'll be greatly indebted to you."
Jerrem nodded distractedly, "How do you know what it is?"
Yin shrugged and connected the adaptor to the synthcard which glowed a welcoming blue. "Intuition I guess. Either that or I've just retained a general comprehension of electronics."
"Huh, that's pretty cool I guess." He drifted off into silence. "Anyway, I brought you something to eat. Hopefully you aren't too picky cause it's a bit old and I'd be fairly cautious around moving objects once you're done."
"Moving objects?"
"Yeah, like hovercars and stuff. If you ride in one and this food doesn't sit well with you, you might throw up or something."
Yin gave him the raised eyebrow and Jerrem coughed.
"Anyway, here you go." He drew something else out of his pack and set it on the ground, making a quick retreat from room, and up to a higher floor.
Yin's eyes were drawn to the floor where he threw her dinner. She was agast at his rude behavior and motioned to the old food packages with a wave of her paw.
"See what I have to live with?" She said.
Marcus's eye stock jerked unsteadily between Yin's paw and the discarded objects.
The Urimine Effect Page 15