《The Precursor Paradox》


 001 - The Star of Ashina

    Life was funny. It always started with something small, like a puddle of ooze on a random rock. In time it would spread and invent nuisances like guns, rockets, and civilization. Sovan stared at the end product and wasn¡¯t particularly impressed. The space station groaned from being overcrowded. A minor celebrity had announced her visit and every fan three stars over just had to be there. Currently, all of them seemed to be hellbent on ruining his day.


    It started with their scent. One human could smell nice. A group might be a bit difficult on the nose. That lot over there? Sweat and all manner of perfume abominations had created a tangible wall of oh have mercy, why? He didn''t like the noise any better. At least ten songs played simultaneously, riffs, drums and synths had a battle royale for supremacy. Sovan massaged his forehead and mumbled.


    ¡°They are not human. Think of them as water. A river that you can guide and control like in a computer simulation¡±


    His voice now louder, he began shouting over the music.


    ¡°Welcome to the City of Citadels. The Star of Ashina will arrive within the hour. Those of you with an ocular circuit, please step to the right and let our central system Heart guide your way. Everyone else, please follow the guidance instructions handed to you at the terminal. It has pretty pictures¡±


    Ocular circuits were neat little implants that went straight into the brain and allowed all manner of technology to interface directly with what someone saw and heard. Most people had one and those that didn''t at least tended to have the ability to read. He looked around. Had anyone killed him yet? No? Maybe? Good start then, he congratulated himself. He pressed two fingers against his temple and gestured down the corridor. The crowd began to flow until one woman walked up to him. Suddenly he found himself the attention of every pair of eyes in the corridor.


    ¡°Excuse me? Sir?¡± she began.


    ¡°Yes? What can I do for you madam?¡±


    ¡°Do you know if the Star of Ashina will be here soon?¡±


    His smile cracked.


    ¡°Yes?¡± he tried hard to hide the irritated question mark.


    ¡°Are you sure? Can I talk to your supervisor?¡±


    Sovan flinched. Be calm, be confident. He ran a hand through his hair and inhaled in a way that showed off his toned chest. Some liked it. Her blank stare was an obvious denial.


    ¡°I¡¯ll check the time of arrival for you¡±, he said and raised his voice, ¡°Heart. Estimate arrival of the ship with the designation YZ-0451, owned by one Star of Ashina. Display on atmospheric screens, create video from context¡±


    He thanked the grey gods for procedural content creation. The technology had been a unicorn for thousands of years. Could machines be creative? Yes, if you gave them the proper attributes and data. It had started with music many centuries ago, expanded onto short videos and now a simple command was enough to create entire movies from just a few words and parameters.


    The soothing voice of the system echoed through his implant.


    .: Confirmed. Generating content from tags Crowd Management, Pacification and Star of Ashina promotional material. :.


    The corridor walls dimmed and the murmurs stopped. There was silence, followed by anticipation. Then: Awe. The walls erupted in a bright festival of colours. A stunning woman smiled down from the screens, her rainbow robe with fitting bottom-long hair flowed on some imaginative wind. Sovan had to admit, the Star was intense. This was a creature so beautiful that it bordered on frank brutality.


    He shook off his stupor while the crowd seemed rapt. The ethereal creature danced down the corridor and the crowd followed with open mouths. When the last fan had evacuated the premises, he inhaled sharply.


    ¡°Emperor alive¡±


    .: That is not correct, Nano-Technician Sovan Terastris. The Emperor has been dead for 2091 years. It is expected a follower will be announced within fifteen years of death. :.


    He slapped his forehead and grinned, ¡°Guess I walked into that one. Hey Heart? Do me a solid and give me a status screen of the Citadel¡±


    His ocular implant superimposed the blueprint in his mind. The City of Citadels looked the part of a repurposed border station. He saw the original spire in the middle, but added modules had grown out of it like fungi. With the two habitation domes flanged to either end, the station looked like a dumbbell. A flashing red number caught his attention.


    ¡°Far beyond capacity¡±, he rasped, ¡°Insanity. Eh, Heart give me someone higher up. I¡¯ve done my job, the crowd is dispersed¡±


    The golem¡¯s answer came with a noticeable delay. Weird numerical glitches ran over his ocular implant as Heart fed nonsense information to his cortex. He narrowed his eyebrows. That wasn¡¯t normal. However with a bit of delay, the connection went through. It was just that upon seeing who he had been connected to, he''d rather it hadn''t.


    ¡°No, halt, stop! Everyone but her¡±


    Too late.


    .: Connection established to Administrator Strehin. :.


    He looked at the face of a woman roughly in her forties with rectangular wire rim glasses. Like the Star, she too had the tell-tale signs of a Stellar Mage but none of the charm. To Sovan, the Star represented light and joy in life and if that were true, then Strehin was a black hole that sucked it right out of his soul. She looked at him over the rim of her glasses. One day he was going to ask her about it. A smoky voice suddenly filled his mind.


    ¡°Thank you for wasting my time.¡±


    What?


    .: Call time: 0:41 seconds :.


    The golem at the heart of every computer system on the station added with a cheerful glee. Sovan blinked and put on his best smile.


    ¡°Uh, sorry ¨C didn¡¯t mean to gawk. Heart must have misconnected me. Ahem, the corridor is clear ¨C this one here I mean. Tell you what, I¡¯ll go right back to work, check out why Heart is acting up...uh, she is acting up by the way... unless you don¡¯t want me to, that¡¯s totally your prerogative as an administrator of my station... uh, your station, definitely yours, it¡¯s just my home and...¡±


    Shut up already. That was his subconscious with a helpful input from the sidelines. He pressed his lips together and waited. A frown crept on her face. The sharp-jawline and the short blonde hair accented just how annoyed she could look.


    ¡°Do it¡±


    .: Connection terminated. :.


    With a grunt, Sovan pushed away from the wall and allowed himself to be swallowed up by the crowd. He quickly vanished down the corridor. Part of him considered taking the airlock instead.


    <hr>


    Administrator Strehin glowered. Had she killed his family at some point? Stepped on his cat ¨C if he had any? She tried to recall this man. A young nano technician, one of the rare breed that programmed tiny swarms of robots to conduct all manner of repairs. Useful, often a bit strange. The fit young nano-technician didn¡¯t linger in her mind for much longer. She leaned on her desk and felt her bones creak. Ambient light reflected from the polygonal walls of her office. A crown of flying drones buzzed around her and the blinking display in front invited her to a dangerous game.


    Politics. Strehin inhaled sharply. Someone had played dirty. Exhibit A. Her hand traced along the three-dimensional screen and touched the symbol for the Sons of Virgo faction.


    ¡°Confirm statement, Heart. The Sons of Virgo claim they send a note about the Star ten days ago?¡±


    The golem answered painfully slow and via a speaker. While most had an ocular implant, she did not. No mage had.


    .: That is correct. :.


    ¡°So why did I only learn about it when her first fans swarmed my station?¡±


    .: Unknown. Not enough information for a conclusive statement. :.


    Strehin pulled off her glasses and began cleaning them. The ache in her joints reminded her why she had to wear something that archaic. Mages didn¡¯t blend well with implants ¨C even broken ones like her. When she put her glasses on her nose, she was back in business.


    A grin flickered on her face. The Sons of Virgo would get to enjoy lodging in the cargo-hold. She pushed their symbol down and reached for the next. This one wouldn¡¯t be that easy to deal with. Her left hand touched the Sigil for the Council of Original Kin, while her right covered the Grey Ascendants. Both cults believed magic to be divine, but one side claimed mankind hat invented it and the others were convinced the magic particles were part of the grey god.


    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll put them in a room together and sell the broadcasting rights to the surveillance footage¡±, she mused. A shocked gasp drew her attention towards a wiry young woman with a braided ponytail that stood at the edge of her desk. The uniform marked her as an assistant but her face was unfamiliar. Her icy-grey eyes sized up the girl while her hands never stopped moving.


    ¡°The council we¡¯ll send here¡±, she narrated her actions while pulling one symbol next to the cargo hold and then pushing the other into one of two biospheres.


    ¡°Now, foal. Who are you?¡± Strehin raised her head and focussed entirely on the girl. For a normal human, the girl was of average height, which meant Strehin had to look down on the poor thing - even from her slumped posture.


    The young woman saluted with a thumb to her heart and outstretched fingers. The administrator answered with a fake smile and made a mental note to check on the girl¡¯s origin. What was a young thing like her doing the old imperial salute for?


    ¡°You haven¡¯t answered¡±, Strehin said with a smile that could cut through bulkheads.


    ¡°S-sorry Madam Administrator. I¡¯m still learning. T-they send me here b-b-ecause they...¡±


    Someone had played a prank on the poor foal. Strehin sighed.


    ¡°Fair enough. What I¡¯m doing is called old terran diplomacy. It¡¯s based around the idea that every faction will be equally unhappy. Heart, estimate time of arrival.¡±


    .: Fifty-one minutes from now. :.


    ¡°Long enough. First lesson. You might consider it prudent to announce your arrival, young one. Never give someone the impression you¡¯re sneaking up on them¡±, Strehin said with a look that made the girl flinch, ¡°Now, let me show you something. Heart route all data through my terminal for manual sorting.¡±


    The woman paled. Sudden nervousness manifested in a constant shifting from leg to leg and erratic tugs on the braided hair. Strehin noted each of these details. The screen lit up with an absurd amount of data. Hundreds of interdependent files all begged for attention in a three-dimensional arrangement. Strehin felt a twinge in her chest. This was her realm.


    ¡°If you are to navigate the political landscapes of roughly two hundred factions multiplied by at least a couple of hundred thousand planets, you¡¯re going to need the ability to bring order into chaos. Look at this data. Each batch represents something begging for your attention, what do you do?¡±


    She watched the young thing grow tense. While the lips quivered, the hand was surprisingly calm and with a slight bit of cheeky, the girl actually reached into the three-dimensional screen to sort the data. Her voice was quiet.


    ¡°I will prioritize and sort out the important from the mundane¡±


    Strehin nodded. For all her nervousness, the foal had actual promise. While the young one worked, the older woman was focussed on a certain part of the data. It included everything from response times, workload, life support to fabrication and back. Her hand suddenly shot forward and pulled it to the front.


    There, her instinct whispered. It was part of her heritage. Of the four Gates of Magic that governed all special abilities, her Struct magic was superior to all. IMBUE and FLOW, the addicts of energy formed one axis. FRAY and STRUCT, the scholars of matter marked the other. Strehin used her knowledge of Structure to bring order to chaos.


    Her hands accelerated into a blur. She filtered out error values and transformed data into intervals. Order. Tests followed and when the display showed various diagrams, Strehin¡¯s eyes flicked across the screen. Suspicious normality. She grunted and began anew. Different filters, new scale. Structure. The woman arranged variables and witnessed the results. Again.


    Her world vanished into a blur of data. Again. Ever faster, she tore into the information. Again. Everything else was forgotten, the world ceased to exist around her. Suddenly, she pulled up a list of logs and inhaled sharply. It was just a tiny irregularity. Strehin looked up and caught her own haunted look in a reflection. The young girl had stepped back, pale as ash.


    ¡°My dear foal, we¡¯re being infiltrated¡±, Strehin stated with a flat tone, ¡°Each file has a random response delay time ¨C just enough for someone to check and modify what reaches my desk. Heart inform security that something is afoot. Have them put a drone operator on each faction representative and put guards in the dock. Priority on the latter, wouldn¡¯t want harm to come to our guest¡±


    She felt it in her bones. Someone had invited the old iron dragon to dance and as was custom, that someone would be dead by the end of the day. Strehin focussed her attention on the girl that had pressed herself against the wall.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name again?¡± she asked. A furiously blinking sigil distracted her. A shimmering Twin Star symbol had moved onto the docking section. Strehin lifted one finger.


    ¡°One second. I swear if they¡¯re already murdering each other...¡±, she grunted and opened the line. Before the man on screen had any time to act, Strehin cut him short.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be on deck sixteen. The Sons of Virgo and the Council will be your neighbors. You know how they get when someone starts shooting next to them. Remove everything that can be used as a weapon. Yes, that includes toy animals. No one wants another bloody stuffing¡±


    She flicked the communication line closed and shot a glance at the clock. Forty minutes left. Great day. There was at least one ploy underway, some borderworld celebrity was going to arrive, her hive of lunatics was already here and several factions were about to murder each other. That and an unknown young woman stood in her office, trying her hardest to look the part.


    ¡°Come on, young one. Get closer¡±, she commanded. The nervous young woman inched closer to the table. She merely raised her head but it was enough to dwarf the shivering mess of a human.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, foal? Let¡¯s talk. You haven¡¯t shot me yet, which I quite appreciate¡±, Strehin said and saw the sudden panic. Amateur.


    ¡°So who exactly are you? Why do you know the old imperial salute and how come my desk starts bugging out the second you walk in?¡± she asked while keeping her profile small. There was no need for physical intimidation. Yet.


    ¡°Relax young one, I¡¯m not going to kill you¡±


    <hr>


    Sovan headed for the service elevators in the central spire. Just as he took a left turn, weird sounds rang out of the wall. He unlocked the wall panel and put it down on the ground. When he rose up, the face of an old man was inches away from him.


    ¡°Is this the arrival hall?¡± the old man asked.


    ¡°No sir, this is a maintenance shaft¡±


    How? Why? He pulled the old man out of the shaft and heard another sound. It was a woman this time ¨C one with a baby tugged to her chest. Then came a group of kids, followed by a priest of entertainment. Of course someone at some point had declared entertainment holy.


    ¡°Anyone else?¡±


    No reply.


    ¡°Because you lot got human all over our neat tech, we''re going to purge the vents in two minutes¡±, he promised and waited a few more seconds. Two scared men practically flew out of the shaft and bolted down the corridor.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t get it and I don¡¯t think I want to¡±, he said with a sigh.


    ¡°What¡¯s that, Sovan?¡± came a voice from behind. His mood brightened instantly.


    ¡°Adam!¡± the young man shouted gleefully and then added with a bit of playful sting, ¡°Hey ¡®dad¡¯¡±


    The large man grinned from ear to ear, ¡°Don¡¯t call me family. You¡¯re something better. A friend¡±


    Sovan looked at his old friend and grinned. The large man really wasn¡¯t family but he sure rocked the dad body, including a thick beard and arms like a bear. With the good-natured smile, it was hard to not tease him a bit. Sovan braced for impact as the man pulled him into a hug.


    ¡°Hrnngnnppfffllll!¡±


    Adam laughed and put him back on the ground.


    ¡°Sure thing, my little drama queen¡±, he said and gently elbowed Sovan, ¡°Where¡¯d the crowd come from?¡±


    Sovan simply pointed at the still open wall-panel.


    ¡°Seriously?¡± Adam answered with raised eyebrows.


    The technician nodded and put the panel back in place. The latch locked in place and with that job done, he turned to look at Adam. Something was off about his friend. The large man looked pale with spotty skin and thick strands of sweat on him.


    ¡°You look awful¡±


    ¡°You too, buddy¡±


    ¡°No, I mean it. You¡¯re sick. Come on, head on over to medical and get a check-up. Don¡¯t be stubborn.¡±


    Adam rolled his eyes but let out a mirthful laugh, ¡°Fair enough ¡®son¡¯. Right after I disown you. Don¡¯t think you¡¯ll get your money back either.¡±


    The large man¡¯s mood suddenly turned, ¡°Stay safe and do know... you¡¯re a good bloke. Best friend I could wish for. I want you to know that¡±


    ¡°What? Where¡¯s that coming from? Now you¡¯re scaring me!¡±


    The large man waved one of his oversized hands and turned around with a grin, ¡°Good, because kids should always fear their ¡®parents¡¯¡±


    They both chuckled, hugged once more and then both went their separate ways. Sovan stuffed his hands in his pocket. Adam would be fine, he told himself, they were all just stressed out. Loud electric humming soon distracted him. He was fast approaching the spire and with that, the semi-living creature at the core of it all, aptly labelled Heart. The hallway opened up into a massive diamond shaped room with a smaller compartment in the middle.


    The golem had the stylized shape of a woman that was chained to the central spire. Cables were attached to the neck while armorplates looked like pale skin from afar. The group of technicians that climbed over the shell looked tiny in comparison. If the golem didn¡¯t have those creepy eye sockets, it¡¯d probably be someone¡¯s fetish.


    Heck, even with the eye sockets. People were weird. Sovan fast approached with a smile on his face. The technicians suddenly stopped, looked at him and scurried off.


    ¡°Man, do I stink or something?¡±


    The large head of the golem swiveled around and the dead eyes locked on him. He didn¡¯t see the jaw move but a soft voice resonated within his mind either way.


    .: Greetings Nano-Technician Sovan Terastris. This limited body has no functions for the analysis of scent. Based on your daily hygiene, it is my belief that you, in fact, do not stink. Three female crew members have further commented on appreciating your smell. :.


    Sovan shuddered. That was totally not creepy or anything. He cleared his throat before this got any worse.


    ¡°Hey. Uh, Heart? Who were they?¡±


    .: Error. Statement not clear from context. :.


    ¡°The technicians that just left. You must have seen them? Blue uniform? About seven or eight of them? They were crawling all over you?¡±


    .: Updating active memory from database. :.


    His expression grew increasingly tense as the golem delayed the answer longer and longer until it suddenly spoke again.


    .: Greetings Nano-Technician Sovan Terastris. Please be advised that one thought process had to be terminated since your last visit 17.2 seconds ago. :.


    ¡°You did what? Alright, kindly inform the Administrator that your functions might experience some further delay and that someone tried to tamper with you. Activate maintenance level one, the external mode will be sufficient. Run a diagnostic on response time¡±


    The feminine doll groaned and metal plates opened up to emit a cloud of steam before snapping back in place. It turned and slid down the spire until the large head was at the same height as Sovan. In a staring match between the golem and Administrator Strehin, he would put his money on the Administrator. Everyone else? Clear loss.


    ¡°Maintenance mode active. All systems nominal¡±, the golem¡¯s voice came directly from the skull in front of him.


    Sovan shook his head, ¡°No. They¡¯re not. You were much faster yesterday. Compare the logs¡±


    He placed a hand against the nose of the doll and waited. Subtle vibrations ran through the machine, along with heat radiating out from the shell. A minute passed and then another.


    ¡°Heart?¡±


    ¡°Please be advised that one thought process had to be terminated since your last inquiry 1.2 seconds ago.¡±


    Sovan furrowed his eyebrows and began pacing up and down. His hand brushed from the nose to the cheek and back, before he realized what he was doing. He let go and stepped back just in time as the doll suddenly shuddered. That was the thing about the central golem. It boosted every single computer to almost sentient levels but if something went wrong, it crashed hard. With the fan horde on board, they needed it in peak condition. If everything else failed, he''d spool up the backup system.


    While Sovan was lost in thoughts, Heart suddenly unlocked the armor plates and the golem doubled in size. He gazed at a writhing mess of prehensile cables underneath with blue light pulsing through the thick steam. Sovan inched closer until the heat got too uncomfortable. Soon, the room was filled with dense fog and as the outside heated up, so did the inside cool down. Pieces of machinery shifted out of the way like organs tossed aside until Sovan finally saw the core. A crown of blue crystals nested around a spherical nano-basin. A swarm of silver liquid swirled inside. He inhaled sharply.


    ¡°Nanofluid. Millions of tiny robots¡±, he said to himself, ¡°Top tier stuff. The kind that babies bath in to become Stellar Mages¡±


    That and more, he thought. Fine sweat ran down his forehead. His steps carried him into the head of the golem and down a small ladder until he stood inside her chest ¨C or rather the doll¡¯s chest. Especially now he didn¡¯t want to think of the machine as a woman. He pressed a hand against the basin with the nano-liquid and shuddered.


    ¡°The pinnacle of technology and magic¡±, he sighed. The nano-fluid rippled in response to any stimuli. Sovan picked a metal cube from his toolbelt and pressed it against the sphere. A three-dimensional display sprung up while a transparent mechanism locked in place to prevent any leakage as a very similar silvery liquid poured out of the cube. Time to give her a nonsense command.


    ¡°Core! Comply with order¡± he called out to the nano-basin directly. A single drop of silver grew out of the tiny puddle and fell back down again. The voice vibrated from all around him.


    ¡°Error, no command received¡±


    The nano-technician checked the display and nodded. No delayed response from the core itself. That meant the fault was somewhere between the basin and the outer shell. If all else failed, he would put the golem into the storage tank and switch on the redundancy system until the horde of civvies had left the station. The sound of heavy steps approaching ended all plans.


    ¡°Did you guys leave your wrench or something?¡±, he called out to the unknown person.


    A large shadow fell over him and a familiar voice replied.


    ¡°Please step out of the golem¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Sovan jolted around and stared into the barrel of a large plasma cannon. The prefire chamber was cooking liquid death and the grim face of Adam promised it to him if he didn¡¯t comply. Plasma cannons were old tech, reaching back to the days when humanity had owned but one space system. They were also cheap to manufacture and quite deadly.


    ¡°Adam? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, friend. This isn¡¯t about you. The Star of Ashina is here and forces our hand. She must die¡±, the large man said and pointed with the cannon. Cracked skin with silver lines and beady red eyes had changed his friend significantly. Sovan signaled his compliance and then took his time climbing up the ladder while his mind raced. The visible symptoms kicked up a memory in his mind. All Stellar Mages were born from exposure shortly after birth. One in a million survived with an unusual growth of nano-machines on their bones. Those lattices formed the basis for magic. Adults that were exposed to the stuff on the other hand got a boost for an hour and then left an ugly smudge that sent people into therapy.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think any less of me, ¡®son¡¯. Know that when I came here, you were the only thing that kept me alive. You¡¯re a good soul and I appreciate that you never once laughed at my misery¡±, Adam said and lowered his head, ¡°Please exit the golem. I¡¯m here to make sure my friends don¡¯t accidently hurt you.¡±


    "Friends? Those techs, I take it?"


    Sovan had reached the top of the doll and inched towards the edge while Adam stepped back. His mind was numb. He could not - did not want to ¨C but he had to do it. The young technician held out a hand and smiled at his old friend.


    ¡°Help me down, will you?¡±


    Pearly smoke rose from the giant¡¯s body. His former friend was jacked up on nano-fluid. It would soon take bloom and turn Adam into a one hour mage. Sovan banked on the fact it hadn¡¯t yet reached that point.


    ¡°Sure thing. Thank you for not making this hard¡±, Adam said.


    About that. Their hands met. Both smiled. Without warning, Sovan crushed his fist into Adam¡¯s Solar Plexus. The large man keeled and Sovan immediately followed up with a second strike against Adam¡¯s throat. His fingers crunched from the impact and his other hand broke free. The giant grunted in pain and Sovan used the chance to shout.


    ¡°Heart signal an intruder alert!¡±


    A sudden impact decked him. Adam stood over him with a downturned mouth. Sovan¡¯s eyes went wide from pain and shock. The large man on the other hand looked unfazed. No damage. None at all. Where Sovan¡¯s hands had struck, pillars of smoke rose upwards.


    ¡°Symptoms of FLOW manifestation. All energy can be dispersed on impact. Energy is converted into heat¡±, Sovan cited an old instruction from memory. FLOW was one of the four manifestations of magic. The effect had obviously already kicked in.


    ¡°You just had to make a mess, didn¡¯t you? I don¡¯t enjoy doing this but the death of her is more important than anything, even our friendship¡±


    The young technician could not argue with that. He tried to get up but Adam pushed him back down. Adam put one finger on the trigger. Sovan croaked in empty defiance.


    ¡°Go hug the king of Orion¡±


    Plasma had a particular smell that the technician would recognize anytime. Adam¡¯s finger squeezed and a superheated bolt spewed forth from the cannon. Every detail of the fast approaching plasma bolt was burned into his mind ¨C but strangely not his body.


    The world suddenly erupted into motion. Something snatched his legs and pulled him out of the fire. Metal sizzled from the impact of plasma while his body had become a mere plaything to the mechanical power of the golem itself. Massive cables held an iron grip on his lower body! He saw the stairs coming and then felt it with every bump down the way. Adam¡¯s angry voice shouted after him but the golem quickly shifted armor plates to shield him from a second shot. Then, with a metallic thud, the doll locked the shell and sealed the nano-technician inside.


    <hr>


    Strehin¡¯s eyes held the young woman captive. The girl looked deathly pale, her mouth moved but no sound came out. The older woman noticed a shiver and that seemed to kick the foal into gear. Her so-called assistant reached a hand behind her back and pulled out a small rifle.


    ¡°We really don¡¯t want any trouble with you¡±, the girl said, ¡°It¡¯s the Star of Ashina we¡¯re after. Please continue working. Casualties will be limited¡±


    ¡°Suits me. Lots on my plate today. Sit down, will you? Some tea, perhaps, young lady?¡±


    Strehin chuckled and then focussed her attention on the desk. Nothing in her posture indicated that a deadly weapon was trained on her body. Her hands flew over the screen and once more, she pulled up the list of ships and their docking procedures.


    ¡°Assemblage of Thrune¡±, she said with a groan, ¡°Three hundred armed soldiers, ten war-golems, a full assortment of tanks?!¡±


    She stopped the list and scrolled back up. Indeed. They had somehow found enough space to fit in hover-tanks. Strehin smiled towards her shivering Assailant.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, who brings tanks to a concert?¡±


    The attempt at humor didn¡¯t reach the panicked girl. With a quick gesture, Strehin sent a simple message under the watchful eyes of the girl: Jettison the tanks or undock the ship. She flicked through a couple more factions until a flickering light whined for attention.


    ¡°Oh. Well, this should expedite matters¡±, Strehin said and brought up the symbol to full screen. It was the pudgy Dockmaster. He was a backwater station original.


    ¡°Administrator Strehin, our guest has arrived¡±


    She raised her eyebrows. Did he seriously not see the rifle?


    ¡°W-we don¡¯t know why s-she¡¯s so early, all projections pegged her at a later time¡±


    He obviously did not. The older woman folded her arms and took a deep breath. Could she afford to leave a Stellar Mage stewing in her ship? That would buy her time to untangle this mess. Strehin looked at her messed up hands and sighed. Back in her days, if some low-flow admin had told her to park in orbit, she would have torn a hole through the hull and parked her ship on the carcass.


    ¡°Very well, the Star will land but keep a lid on it¡±, she said and closed the connection.


    ¡°Thank you¡±, the little foal whimpered.


    The Administrator looked at her over the rim of her glasses, ¡°Let¡¯s get talking, you and me. Your friends don¡¯t much like you, do they? Why else would they send you to pacify me?¡±


    That girl even lowered her head and bit her lips! Bloody amateur hour!


    ¡°T-t-hey didn¡¯t. W-we... I... we¡¯re only after the butcher. She must pay for what she did¡±


    ¡°Oh dear. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve all got your reasons ¨C but why you personally, little one? You fear me, yet you threaten me.¡±


    The girl looked at her rifle and then lowered it. Strehin nearly wanted to slap her enemy silly.


    ¡°Our cause is greater than us. We came to respect you in our time here. You¡¯ll be reasonable, you won¡¯t hurt me and as a sign of mutual respect¡±, the assurance in her voice betrayed another indoctrinated speech, ¡°we¡¯ll limit casualties, no one has to die but her, the Star of Ashina. That we promise¡±


    It was a good sell. Why would a backwater administrator like her care about some political ploy under her thumb? Most would take the chance to get out of the mess with minimal losses.


    ¡°A noble sentiment, my dear¡±


    Strehin¡¯s voice took on a calm and unnerving quality.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you haven¡¯t done your homework though¡±


    Strehin stretched her back and unfolded to her full length. Shivering hands betrayed just how nervous her enemy was. She knew people like her. Panic always gave way to impulse. When a series of shots suddenly seared right past her body and burned holes into the wall behind her, Strehin didn¡¯t even flinch. It felt like she had seen it coming.


    ¡°You never told me why the iron dragon should fear your puny fire¡±


    Her words and the complete lack of visual reaction caused her enemy to whimper. The girl mouthed the words iron dragon and somehow managed to become even paler.


    ¡°Someone told you stories about me, didn¡¯t they? Was it the Sons of Virgo? Beautiful legends about a mage with broken bones. Everybody knows they can¡¯t cast spells anymore with their circuits in tatters. Good stories, it¡¯s just... they all end the same way¡±


    ¡°H-H-ow?¡±


    Strehin¡¯s voice was cold as ice. She pointed at the girl with one finger.


    ¡°Death for those that believe them¡±


    Epitaph: Confusion. That¡¯s the look the girl died with. A pencil-thin carbon-lance stuck out of her forehead. Soft clouds of grey particles whirled all the way from the impact to the finger it came from. Strehin stood calm. The death didn¡¯t faze her. What came next, did. Power surged through her body and followed the circuits on her bones. She knew it was coming. Electricity, pain, loss of control.


    It still hit like the fist of a titan. The stored energy coursed from the intact lattices onto the frayed bones. No longer locked within the Gates of Magic, it surged out and electrocuted her body from within. Muscle convulsions rocked her forward. She had no conscious control over her motor functions. It all ended abruptly when her hand touched the screen.


    A large spark grounded her power and simultaneously destroyed every piece of electronic equipment in the close vicinity. Strehin gasped for air. Even broken mages could cast spells, it¡¯s just not many were crazy enough to do it. Sheer tenacity kept the older woman standing. She walked over and wrested the gun from the still standing corpse.


    The administrator held up the weapon and turned it from side to side. Imitation of a Greifenharn Plasma Classic she judged. Her fingers ran along the weapon and noticed the cheap seams.


    ¡°Improvised weaponry. Premeditated or opportunistic panic?¡±


    Strehin unlatched the magazine. Custom made, signs of minor deterioration after only a short burst. Primitive technology. Definitely a minor faction, she thought, probably washed-up rebels. She considered insurrections ugly business -you never knew who was out to shoot you! Exhibit A: The corpse in her office.


    She walked over to the door and then banged a hand against it. At the same time, her voice rose in pitch until it resembled the young woman.


    ¡°Help, she just jumped me... I think she¡¯s dead!¡±


    The door flew open and a young man stumbled into the office. Concern was on his face while his hands held the same type of make-shift rifle.


    ¡°Ellie? Are you okay?¡±


    Famous last words. Exhibit B was created from a bright flash and a burst of plasma-bolts from the stolen rifle. The now headless man collapsed on the floor. By sheer instinct alone, Strehin held her weapon to her side and fired a blind-side into the hallway.


    Exhibit C slumped to the ground. His eyes fluttered while his body struggled to stay alive. The administrator stepped out of her office and glanced a look to both sides of the corridor, before kneeling down in front of the dying man. She pointed at the gun and smirked.


    ¡°Decent recoil. It¡¯s of primitive make ¨C but made with expert craftsmanship¡±


    The man rasped in his dying breaths, ¡°You are a monster¡±


    Strehin clapped her hands, ¡°So you lot did do your homework after all! You just hated... uh... Ellie?¡±


    Adrenaline surged in her veins. The man died without another answer ¨C she hadn¡¯t really expected one either. Strehin put a hand to her lips. Choices.


    ¡°Option A. Go left. Get to the docks and get personal. Their target is the Star of Ashina¡±


    Her knuckles cracked and her heart thumped in anticipation, ¡°Option B. Go right. Regain control of the station first and be a responsible boring desk-jockey¡±


    She knew the feeling within her well. Bloodlust. The stench of plasma, struggle and death filled her noses and it made her feel alive. Her chest twinged from minuscule spikes of energy ¨C even her Gates of Magic expected action. She turned her head to the left when someone dressed in bright colors stepped into the corridor and stared at her with wide eyes.


    ¡°Wow, the pre-show is killer... uh, where¡¯s the concert hall?¡±


    Strehin grunted and turned right without an answer. She was getting old.


    <hr>


    Sovan rubbed his bum. He would have trouble sitting and he was pretty grateful about it ¨C because it meant he was still alive. There was loud screaming outside. Adam shouted at a bunch of other people that had come in the meantime. Loud thuds hammered against the living machine.


    .: They¡¯ve severed my main connection. :.


    Heart didn¡¯t have to spell it out for him. Without the central cables, the golem would be unable to regulate the heat. A couple of minutes and there¡¯d be one slow-cooked Sovan on the menu. It also meant the golem was cut off from the outside world.


    ¡°Can you open up then?¡±


    .: Protocols won¡¯t allow me to until the threat outside has passed. :.


    So, a slow and painful death it was then. He closed his eyes and allowed panic to wash over him. His heart raced, the man wanted to scream and beg, plead to the grey god and bargain for his survival. Sovan suddenly put up a half-cocked grin.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not how I¡¯m going out. Hey, Heart do you know what¡¯s good about being out of options?¡±


    .: Error. No sufficient answer can be derived from context. :.


    ¡°You start to get weird ideas, the kind of stuff that¡¯s too risky and stupid. Like exposing myself to potential contamination with nanites.¡±


    Sovan crawled to the basin and picked up his cube. One hand put it down on the floor while the other grabbed a long and spindly tool from his belt.


    ¡°Yes, yes do not point at humans¡±, he mumbled as his thumb flicked away the holographic warning labels. Just to be sure, Sovan stabilized his grip by holding onto his wrist and the got to work. There wasn¡¯t any special effect, just a tiny dot that moved around the lower end of the cube, followed by thin lines of smoke. If he cut too deep, the fluid would leak and self-destruct but not without killing him first.


    The isolation chamber at the bottom fell away and only now did Sovan dare to breathe again. Two gasps to fill his lungs. Then he flipped the cube on the ground and quickly shuffled away from it. Without the isolation chamber, the silver liquid was free to leak out of the cube.


    ¡°Activate verbal programming interface¡±, he called out to the cube and the three-dimensional screen turned green. Procedural content creation. Like with the screens and the video in the hallway before, the machine was now ready to create something - here it was code - from simple instructions and context. Sovan leaned forward and began listing commands. He ran through an entire program in a matter of minutes and then signed it off with nod.


    It all came back to ooze on rocks. The small puddle of silver was once theorized to be of catastrophic potential ¨C tiny endlessly replicating machines would devour all. An event that had been dubbed with the silly grey god moniker. Luckily reality had a buffer to prevent that. Any sufficiently greedy or combative nanomachine would soon find itself destroyed by the ever-present grey particles. It¡¯s just that there was a nasty timespan between activation and containment.


    Sovan formed a fist and thanks to the new program, the nano-liquid turned into a sphere while the screen showed him a fisheye view of what his swarm was seeing. He spread one finger and the swarm lunged towards the wall. From his vantage point, it looked flat but the screen showed a rocky crater with bumps and long ridges between.


    ¡°Time to cheat¡±


    He opened his hand wide. The sphere dispersed into a silvery smudge. Then, he pressed his hand forward and watched the nanomachines permeate through the wall. Each individual nanite was small enough to fit through the tinyiest of cracks. Seven armed people stood around the golem, none had the insignia of security which made it pretty obvious which side they were on. Adam had left at some point. Sovan nodded. Now he only needed to get further up without them seeing anything.


    He tilted the viewport with his left hand until it fixed on the crowd while his right kept guiding the liquid upwards. One of the strangers suddenly stared directly at his screen. Sovan stopped all motion. His skin tingled from the heat and breathing had become a difficult and conscious effort. Breathe in. Relax, don¡¯t panic. Breathe out. Again.


    The man was still staring up. Inhale. One of his fingers twitched and the sliver reacted to the tiny movement by inching just a bit further. Sovan cursed when the stranger raised a hand. Instead of pointing though, he smacked one of his compatriots over the head. Their screaming got loud enough to make out individual words here and there.


    ¡°... forget peaceful... no time you blasted... kill... Ashina...¡±


    Sovan exhaled and guided the liquid past a small mound. Scorch marks littered the area ahead where the cables had been. All but the largest were burned off.


    ¡°Would you look at that Heart, they left up on-board entertainment¡±


    His hands guided the liquid through the craters and all the way up to the top where he found a small indent in the surface. Of course, from the point of view of the machine swarm, he was looking at a vast mountain.


    ¡°Bless the grey god for redundancies¡±, he said and then formed a fist. The swarm formed into a sphere and then pressed down on the switch. A heavy thump followed. Sovan immediately bent forward over his thighs and tucked his arms close. With his head pressed to his body, he waited while eyeing the screen. Seven people stood on the walkway while tremors ran through it.


    ¡°Sorry folks but it¡¯s either you or me¡±


    A dramatic hiss marked the end. The walkway snapped back and his stomach suddenly lurched, as a bump ran through the golem. That would be the final cable. Then: Freefall. Seven piercing screams accompanied him for five long seconds until his prison crashed into something that feathered the fall. Sovan still smacked on the ground with enough force to push the air out of his lungs. His vision blurred but a sudden cold breeze brought it right back.


    He quickly gasped for air and just in time too. Icy water poured into the golem and the rapid onslaught from scalding steam to ice water left him dazed. Sovan vaguely heard a voice. His body worked on autopilot. Get up. Climb up. Leave. He was barely conscious by the time he had reached the head of the command golem.


    .: Threat neutralized. Opening shell. Good luck Sovan Terastris. :.


    With a pop he barely heard, a bright light flashed through the cracks. The compartment flooded with water until he stood knee deep in it.


    ¡°I¡¯m alive¡±, he murmured and lumbered towards the edge of the storage tank. That statement could not be made for the others, his mind gratefully deleted the details before he could dwell on them. Not yet. Trauma was always free to come later, he thought with grim determination. Then, without warning, his senses sharpened. Sudden energy washed over him and the heart hammered in overdrive.


    ¡°Adrenaline, must be more hurt than I thought¡±, Sovan felt the need to commentate. He used most of this final burst of energy to stumble over towards an archaic looking console. His pulse had already slowed again but he could not fall. Not yet. He had to fix the mess he made.


    His fingers grabbed the edge of the console and he stared down on blurring lines. This really was a piece of old-tech. It even used a primitive 2d screen based entirely on text. What millennia did this tech come from again?


    ¡°I¡¯ll need to route systems through... yes and then... internal data corruption?¡±


    Line after line manifested on the screen. Everything else had vanished from his senses.


    ¡°Corrupted all the way? How? I guess no one ever bothered to check¡±


    Sovan sighed and finally jabbed his finger at a red line. He heard life support kick back in and that was good enough. A distorted voice rattled off systems now running on their backup components.


    ¡°Adjusting system for a hard reset. Initializing base functions. Edenleap protocol re-engaged. Spooling up auxiliary systems¡±


    What was edenleap? Weariness soon washed the thought away. Sovan rested his body against the console, the words passed him by and he blacked out a moment later.


    <hr>


    Strehin used the full length of her legs to fly down the corridor with large leaps. Her system for identifying friends or foes was remarkably easy and efficient. Those that jumped out of the way were friends. Everyone else was an enemy she punished in varying degrees. When a woman popped out at a junction and pointed a gun at her, Strehin whirled mid-leap and landed feet first in her stomach. The stranger woman yelped and flew back, while the administrator used the impact to push herself further.


    Shots whirred past her but she had already turned towards another corridor and crashed into an entire crowd of fans. They complained and protested. Their hindrance made them enemies and yet... she grunted in frustration and held down her makeshift weapon. She had to push her way through and was paid in kind by elbows and angry shoves.


    Strehin was ready to pick a fight, her hands itched for blood but it was the dull ache of her badly healed bones that carried her forward instead. She broke free of the crowd and continued on until she reached the secondary command station. A massive door blocked off the compartment and someone had shot the mechanism.


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to be mildly impressed¡±, the large woman said with a smirk. With one hand against the massive door, she took a deep breath. These things could withstand railcannon impacts but they were not built to deal with a STRUCT mage like her. Strehin pressed a hand against the metal and then closed her eyes. The Gate of Magic flared up inside her chest and coursed power through her body. She hadn¡¯t yet manifested her spell but fringe shocks already ran through her limbs.


    Right in front of her eyes, the floor suddenly started shimmering. A carbon plate had manifested out of thin air. Strehin grit her teeth and finally unleashed the full extent of her powers ¨C consequences be damned. The plate rapidly grew in size. It wasn¡¯t elegant ¨C just a massive block of metal that forced its way underneath the door. She heard powerful machines push back and then snap with a loud whine.


    Without anything to push back anymore, the massive door was jammed all the way to the top by a rapidly expanding black block of metal. Strehin rolled to the side and then collapsed on the ground with tiny bolts of lightning oozing out from her broken lattices. There was nothing she could do but to allow the energy to run its course as it grounded itself out of her.


    The shock lasted less than a second before she scrambled back on her legs. That had been entirely too risky and professionals would have used the momentary laps in judgement to kill her. These bottom tier brain professionalls were too slow. Bolts of plasma scorched the walls opposite to the entrance but none had hit her.


    ¡°Guys, stop shooting, it¡¯s me ¨C Ellie!¡±, she said while imitating the voice of the girl.


    ¡°Ellie? Why are you here?!¡± one woman shouted back.


    Strehin memorized the position of the voice. She remembered that the girl had given the imperial salute. For this to work, she would need to improvise on mannerisms too.


    ¡°That crazed stint-blood went insane¡±, her voice echoed with a faked tone of panic, ¡°The others are barely holding her back but we need backup. Is everyone there? How many can you spare?¡±


    She listened in on their murmur. They weren¡¯t buying her story. That was entirely besides the point. Strehin memorized the position of each speaker. Five, make that six enemy combatants were debating their approach with hushed voices. They had huddled on the spot, which made her job that much easier.


    She suddenly reached her weapon around the corner. It was neither blind fire nor magic but something inbetween. Based on her knowledge of the room and the aural memory she had imprinted earlier, six shots burst forth. Four people died without the chance to scream, one fell to the ground, wailing in agony. Strehin popped out of cover, weapon at the ready. A final enemy was still standing: a bald woman that looked like an animal about to kiss the bow of a dreadnought.


    The administrator made an abrupt sideways movement as the enemy aimed and fired. Pain burned through her arm but she paid it no mind. Before the enemy had any chance to fire again, Strehin killed her with a controlled shot to the head. She noticed eyes on her and spun around on the spot, weapon in hand. A row of security guards sat on the ground, tied up and battered.


    ¡°Good job you lot did¡±, Strehin remarked.


    ¡°You really are the iron dragon¡±, one of them stammered with a gulp.


    ¡°Only if my enemies wake me from slumber¡±, she answered and knelt down next to them. Her expert eyes gave them a quick glance over before she untied one of them and then headed over to the secondary console


    ¡°Seven hundred twenty-two log entries¡±, she said out loud, ¡°an amazing three hundred of them are from the Council of Original Kin. Hmm, Heart is offline ¨C that was to be expected. Some technician got the backup running, good person¡±


    Strehin keyed in a series of rudimentary commands that assured the base operations and then turned around to the guards.


    ¡°You were just promoted to temporary leader of security until we can find out where the real one went. Two orders. One. Regroup, find out what happened, keep me posted. Two. Get the civilians out of the firing line¡±


    She then turned around and pointed at four guards that were still rubbing their wrists, ¡°You¡¯ll be my escort. Get on your feet. Follow me. Oh and someone fetch me an actual weapon!¡±


    Strehin dropped the glowing weapon to the ground. It really was a primitive toy. The barrel had already melted away.


    <hr>


    She smelled the fight before her eyes could see it. The tram doors swung open and revealed the hangar. All manner of ships were lined up but only one docking arm saw live fire. Strehin jumped out of the still slowing vehicle. Her momentum carried her forward and into a roll which she used to slide into cover. And not a moment too soon! Bolts of plasma whined past her head.


    The woman grinned from ear to ear. Her entourage reached its target and jumped out guns blazing. Strehin gave them a second to draw all attention and then popped out of cover. She fired three shots with neither recoil nor muzzle-flash ¨C just a bloody mess at the end. Her body leapt two steps and took refuge behind another crate. The railgun in her hands whined from charging up the next solid state slugs.


    A sudden impulse of instinct made her jump back. An entire barrage of plasma bolts pelted the area she had been in. Strehin took aim while falling and watched her muzzle automatically adjust for minor inaccuracies. She pulled the trigger twice and two more people retired from existence. Her entourage was likewise making head way on the group of rebels and so was the original source of the firefight, her chief of security with his detachment of grunts.


    An odd sound reached her ears. Strehin craned her neck and saw that some genius had wedged a Class III Phoenix Destroyer into an Orphan-Haligan Transport.


    ¡°Great timing you lot¡±, she spit out. Their act of genius had been a coincidence but it was one that saved her life. She noticed movement, something fell out of the ceiling with a loud screech and pillars of flames in tow. Strehin scrambled away as far as she could and threw herself on the ground just before impact. Thunder and flames billowed out from the crater and Strehin crawled back into cover. Her entourage hadn¡¯t been smart enough. They took aim and let lose on the plume of dust.


    Something invisible punched into the plume and found itself answered with a sharp spike of fire biting back. When the dust finally settled, a lone giant stood in the middle of the walkway. His massive cannon roared with deadly staccato, spewing death while a continuous eruption of flames ate away all recoil.


    ¡°Stop firing and start dodging¡±, she shouted over the crates but the noise drowned out her voice and without an ocular circuit, she was cut off from other means. The giant swiveled around and unloaded his weapon on her escort. Strehin could only grit her teeth as the projectiles didn¡¯t just burn holes into but rather tore out several chunks until nothing was left but a bloody cloud.


    There was no doubt about it. The rebels had found a FLOW mage to do their bidding. Her security chief demonstrated why that was a bad match for anyone. He shouted a command and his entire remaining crew opened fire on the large man. Uncounted projectiles smashed against the unmoving figure ¨C and simply evaporated in several pillars of heat. The FLOW mage didn¡¯t even flinch; he swung around his cannon and deleted them from existence. She remained unseen and held her breath.


    Could she take him? FLOW mages took any and all forms of energy and dispersed them into heat if needed. Her beautiful railgun was worthless. Tricks like the carbon lance wouldn¡¯t even dent him, plus she¡¯d be a writhing wreck on the floor from the backfire. Strehin considered herself a one spell pony and she¡¯d rather be in the saddle than ride the lightning. She glanced around the crate and watched the man lumber down the dock.


    How good of a mage was he? She had seen high tier FLOW mages take an actual impact from a spaceship. This one didn¡¯t move with the grace and arrogance of a virtually indestructible walking man-tank. Strehin sighed. He too was an amateur but the iron dragon had her fangs pulled. One spell plus decades of experience versus someone invincible to damage.


    Plan. Get close and then tomb him, cut him off from oxygen. She took measure of the lumbering man. He was breathing and his steps were clumsy. Unusual. This much punishment was nothing for a FLOW mage. Strehin quietly sneaked after him.


    The figure looked like a bear had a run-in with a stellar drive somewhere and the result crawled out of the reactor. With a cup of coffee. She frowned as pieces started to fall together into one concept. Forced adaptation. The one hour death salute. That opened new options. It would be faster to cut the ground beneath him and let him plummet down. He wouldn¡¯t die from the fall but time would run out on his borrowed power.


    She continued her approach when something popped in her ears. The air pressure had just changed! Part of the wall opened up and revealed an exotic looking space ship. This thing was a flying statement of power in comparison to the usual bulky hunks of metal. It was a disk roughly fifty meters in size that floated into the docking area. Light glistened on the reflexive hull and made it hard to discern any details. Not that there were any. The Disk was entirely seamless.


    ¡°You have finally come¡±, the large man suddenly shouted at the spaceship, ¡°Show your face, stealer of tongues, beguiler of souls ¨C accursed butcher!¡±


    Strehin raised her eyebrows and kept her head low. She had to be patient and wait for the right moment. The spaceship suddenly let out a beam of light as part of the hull simply disappeared and revealed a stunning young woman. The Star of Ashina casually stepped out of the still flying spaceship. Her descent was gentle like leaves on the wind while her gaudy rainbow hair and robe made a spectacle all on their own. Strehin suppressed a snort.


    ¡°Balayuna¡±, the man said and sighed, ¡°You were adopted family once. What you did has become my duty to repent¡±


    Strehin needed to be near him for her magic to work. She observed both figures as she inched closer. They weren¡¯t talking anymore, just staring at each other. If memory served, the Star of Ashina ¨C Balayuna ¨C would be an IMBUE mage. Someone that could manifest energy for various purposes. A sudden burst of lightning confirmed her thoughts. The Star had kicked off the ground, her shape was illuminated by sparkling light as her lithe frame crashed into the man. Lightning and instant thunder sent tremors through the dock. Part of the lightning evaporated into harmless flames and the rest flowed past the man and revealed the shape of the young woman. Strehin watched her dance away on effortless leaps. Her limbs described a beautiful flower shape with glimmering light to accentuate her path. Then! Jagged edges as she clashed back into the giant.


    There was something very wrong about a tall but slim girl playing meteor with an unmoving rock of a man. The Star struck her target with searing blue flames and feathered around in a graceful twist. She arched her back in a way that accentuated her form, a thin smile showing on her lips. The IMBUE mage was all theatre and spectacle. Strehin grunted and used the distraction to finally close the gap. Now in range, she reached for the gate of magic but a random burst of lightning licking up from the ground broke her concentration.


    The Star of Ashina only gave her a moment¡¯s look before resuming her relentless assault. All that time, the man didn¡¯t react. He just stood there, taking hit after hit.


    ¡°I see what you are doing¡±, Strehin suddenly mumbled. The man had started glowing from the inside. FLOW mages dictated the flow of energy towards entropy. They could disperse it - or store it to excite stellar drives with. Excited stellar drives made for great explosives and enough of them could crack a planet. Such as an entire dock filled with a hundred spaceships ranging from small to self-esteem replacement.


    Strehin scrambled forward and gave up all attempts at stealth. The man had to go. Now! Time slowed down for her. The Star of Ashina unloaded another powerful fist into the chest of the man. Strehin saw the particles flow away from those long hands. She saw that the giant made no attempts to defend himself. Instead, he put down his cannon and jammed his foot on the trigger. His weapon began roaring as he emptied his massive cannon with himself as the target. As if someone had flicked a switch, energy suddenly broke out of his skin. No more flames roared up.


    Too late. They would all die. Unless she played a forbidden card. A taboo, an experiment forbidden by the universe itself. Could she? Should she? No choice. Time suddenly sped up again.


    ¡°AUTHORITY STREHIN. PROJECT EDENLEAP. STASIS LOCKDOWN¡±


    The large man ¨C she noticed the nametag Adam on his chest ¨C erupted in an explosion of light. Everything in several astronomic units ceased to exist in a cascade of reactor and magic fire. Or so it should have been. A veil of grey descended on the City of Citadels and insulated it from the explosion that wiped out an entire planet. It did more than that. So much more.


    <hr>


    .: SYSTEM_CRITICAL event received. Begin emergency interruption. :.


    Strehin found herself flat on the ground while a voice echoed in her ears. She felt the rapid onslaught of a migraine coming and rubbed her temple. Pain. That was good because it meant she was still alive. Nothing else made sense though. Her fingers touched a slightly wet and soft surface underneath her. By sheer force of will, she opened her eyes and saw nothing but a green blur with blue lights here and there.


    .: Good morning Administrator Strehin. I apologize for waking you early. :.


    Something itched her nose and when she sneezed, swirls of grey fell off her like a cocoon. The older woman checked each of her limbs. Her memory had started to fill in the blanks. Edenleap. Experimental stasis technology said to be incompatible with the universe.


    ¡°Guess they were wrong about that¡±, she grunted and raised her voice, ¡°Give my brain some food. Status.¡±


    .: Confirmed. Prioritizing information, filtering for psychological damage. Done. The City of Citadels is currently running at 07% capacity. Critical damage has been sustained in all systems. :.


    ¡°Hefty explosion, I reckon¡±


    .: Negative. The damage of the explosion has been mitigated. All further damage comes from lack of manual maintenance. :.


    She frowned, ¡°Unlikely, self-healing protocols should keep you running for a couple of thousand years ¨C forever in theory.¡±


    Her vision began to return to her. The blur vanished and her glasses turned everything else sharp again. On some level, she still recognized the surroundings as the docks, except the green smudges from earlier turned out to be massive trees. Strange sinewy nets spanned from them to the occasional Spacewreck between. Actual fields of green were growing on the walls. Vertically. Strehin rubbed her nose.


    ¡°How long was I asleep? Stop filtering the output. Hit me with the data¡±


    .: Confirmed. Administrator Strehin has waived her rights to sue for psychological damages in the future. You¡¯ve been asleep for 319.081 years since the beginning of my data corruption. :.

 002 - Ten hours

    10 hours left.


    The discovery of flint had been the miracle that propelled ancient monkeys to become something worse. When Strehin had last woken up, fire had been a thing of ancient pre-history, reaching all the way into the Oil-Age. More than three hundred thousand years later, it all came down to the classics again.


    Her left hand held a wooden stick wrapped in clothes while her right pointed a plasma projector at it. She squeezed the trigger and then she had brought down fire from the mountain. Torchlight illuminated the tracks in front of her. Several trams stood where the lack of power had left them. Three hundred thousand. Ridiculous.


    ¡°Heart run a full-scale diagnostic on your time module¡±, she said as her light fell on a row of trams that were curiously intact, despite every spaceship behind her being floating debris. Three hundred thousand years. She snorted. Yeah. Sure. How many hours was that in overtime payments? Strehin heard a faint voice at the back of her head but paid it no mind. She had better things to do.


    The vehicle in front of her was covered by thick dust. Her sleeve didn¡¯t so much brush it away as smudge it. Following a sudden impulse, she used the dirt to paint a grinning, then immediately wiped it away. Just what was she doing? She needed to be in her office, there was a concert to run and factions to bully.


    .: Administrator Strehin. :.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    .: In ten hours, we will need to wake additional people. This can¡¯t be postponed. :.


    Strehin raised her eyebrows, ¡°What people?¡±


    The central command golem didn¡¯t answer and it was just as well. She pressed against the wagon door until it swung open with a loud crack. Three hundred thousand. That was just... impossible. Unlikely. If that were true, she¡¯d be lost. Everything would be dead. She would be a dead woman walking, a revenant of a past so long forgotten, nothing she had ever done would have mattered. Something cold touched her fingers and when she glanced down, she found herself kneeling on the ground at the back of the cabin. Her fingers had latched onto a lever. Why? She gave it a pull and a maintenance panel swung open.


    ¡°The brake mechanism? There are no brakes where we are going, are there?¡±


    .: I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t follow, Administrator Strehin. Please, I require your cooperation. :.


    ¡°For what?¡±


    .: The City of Citadels is in critical condition. Catastrophic failure is more likely with each passing hour. Your people are in stasis slumber, but the failing reactor makes it necessary to keep waking them up. The current air supply is provided by the broken biosphere containment. Administrator Strehin, you will all die unless you start helping me. :.


    ¡°Give me a break¡±, she snapped and then pulled on the lever. Best joke ever. Strehin felt the heart in her chest thump violently. She had asked for a break while unclutching the manual brake of the cabin. People had actually said she was devoid of joy and humour and here she was, laughing. When had she started to laugh? It didn¡¯t matter. It was all so funny. A station full of people had fallen out of time and when they opened their door, they would find... probably nothing. Nothing at all.


    ¡°Alright? I¡¯ve had it. Since this morning, people have trampled over my nerves. Strehin do this, Strehin fix that. Oh Mistress Strehin, we absolutely can¡¯t park our oversized compensator next to those folks from the Original Kin. Their compensator is much bigger than ours¡±


    Her eyes fell on the lush forest that had interwoven with the docking bay. She wrinkled her nose.


    ¡°So what if we missed a few years? We finally got the plants growing! That¡¯s grand! So shut it Heart, go back into your little shell and let the grown-up do her emperor cursed work¡±


    Didn¡¯t she have a torch at some point? Her eyes fell on a glimmering pile of wood on the ground. She frowned.


    ¡°See, that¡¯s what I¡¯m dealing with. There are trees growing through everywhere and people just leave fire hazard laying around¡±


    She suddenly stopped. Her motions, her breath and maybe even her heart. Probably not. She was still alive after all but it certainly felt that way to her. The tall woman just stood still, her hands were formed to fists and every muscle was tensed. Without warning, she punched out a window while screaming at the top of her lungs.


    ¡°Three hundred thousand years!¡±


    .: Actually, it¡¯s precisely 319.081 years. :.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t think to wake us any earlier, did you? Like, a couple hundred thousand years maybe? Just a thought, think about it for a second. Done? Why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    .: That was not possible, Administrator Strehin. :.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    .: Your survival was my top priority. :.


    ¡°And you did great, saved us from the explosion. Amazing! Let¡¯s say there was some fallout and debris, alright, give it a hundred years of slumber. Why not wake us then?¡±


    .: It was forbidden. :.


    Strehin collapsed on the ground. Her hand was a sea of agony and drips of blood fell to the ground. The tall woman pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. She closed her eyes and when next she spoke, her voice was suddenly devoid of anger.


    ¡°Just tell me there was a reason for all of this¡±


    .: There was a reason for all of this. :.


    ¡°And what was it?¡±


    .: Unknown. You told me to tell you. :.


    Strehin reacted with a nervous chuckle. There had to be a reason. Maybe the explosion had caused a cosmic anomaly that made it impossible to survive. Or, a war had broken out. That was certainly a possibility, enough minor faction leaders were tucked away in the bowels of the station to cause a few ruffled feathers.


    ¡°So, who forbade you from waking us up earlier?¡±


    .: This answer could cause considerable damage. :.


    ¡°Overwrite. Who was it?¡±


    .: Administrator Strehin configured the Edenleap Protocol for a time span of one million years as part of the maximum allotted time frame. This happened in the final hours of prototype testing before the shutdown of the project. :.


    Her body slumped to the ground. She didn¡¯t cry. That was not her thing. Strehin just curled up on the floor and suddenly grew quiet. The dying embers of the torch faded out and soon left her in darkness.


    <hr>


    7 hours left.


    .: Administrator Strehin. Please move. It is imperative that you act now. The station needs you, everyone on board needs you. You must act. :.


    The woman on the floor mumbled an incoherent answer.


    .: You are the iron dragon. In the battle of Kernroot, you alone held off the invading army. They say you are an immortal spectre of the emperor¡¯s anger. Unbeatable, insurmountable. :.


    ¡°Funny thing about immortality¡±, she whispered, ¡°We all are. Until proven otherwise¡±


    .: You still must act. :.


    ¡°And do what? What can I even do? Maybe invent the time machine, pack up and go back our merry way. Hey, we¡¯ll just drop off in Emperor¡¯s Cradle and stop the assassination too while we¡¯re at it. Know what Heart? Go out the airlock. Play with an asteroid or two¡±


    This time, the golem gave no reply and it was just as well. Strehin scratched a fingernail over the ground. In the last seconds, minutes... maybe it had been hours, she had scratched all manner of weird symbols into the floor. Drips of blood from her thumb had given it a special artistic flavour. Archaic. Prehistoric. Like cave paintings. She suddenly stretched her limbs. There was nothing she could do. It was just impossible.


    With a sudden burst of energy, she jumped up and paced to the front of the cabin.


    ¡°Nothing at all. Heart ready my private ship. I¡¯m leaving¡±


    .: Can¡¯t comply. Your ship has been destroyed in the explosion. :.


    ¡°Give me the nearest escape pod then.¡±


    .: Can¡¯t comply. No escape pods are functional. :.


    ¡°A space suit?¡±


    .: Negative. :.


    She hung her head and slumped back onto the floor. This brought her back to a time when she had stood on the bridge of a massive warship. Planetary defence fire had cracked the shields. Projectiles as large as one meter effortlessly punched straight through all the armour, past her bridge and continued on to the other side. Everyone else was dead. It had just been her that was left. With a grin, she had called upon the Gates of Magic and created primitive fins and wings on either side of her giant dreadnought. The fires of re-entry had burned all around her falling battleship but now it wasn¡¯t a clump of metal but rather a projectile. She aimed it straight at their central command complex. Strehin had been the iron dragon. That curled up thing on the floor with the same name as her was more like a floppy cereal newt.


    ¡°What can I even do?¡±


    .: You can start by selecting a list of candidates to wake up. Someone will wake up, but only you can make sure it¡¯s the right people to salvage the situation. :.


    Something. Anything. She got back on her feet and jumped out of the tram. Her voice brimmed with a bravado she didn''t feel.


    ¡°First. Erase any footage of my actions in the last couple of hours. This has never happened. Second. Compile a list of candidates, filter by positions as followed¡±


    Strehin gave the tram a gentle push but that was all it took to send it tumbling towards the docks. Her problem was a many-headed hydra. On the technical side, the station was falling apart. Food, water and waste were another problem and as more people woke from slumber, there would most likely be wounded. Wrecks, trees and the emperor knows what else would need heavy duty machinery to clean up as well.


    ¡°Alright. Give me medical, agricultural, nano-engineering and drone operations. Give priority to those with a wide selection of skills and aptitude scores for leadership positions. Ideally, they can be reached by the tram system with little effort. Pool in from the list of guests as well¡±


    .: Confirmed. Preparing data. :.


    She had one person in mind already and she was close. Strehin followed the tram to the platform and made her way up. Her first candidate was a couple of steps down the dock, wore gaudy robes and had been the cause for this mess. The Star of Ashina was wrapped in a thick cocoon of silver dust that hid most of her form.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    .: Should I wake this one up? :.


    ¡°Not yet. She can be an obvious asset and if everything else fails, she¡¯ll be a walking power supply ¨C but I want her under surveillance at all times. That girl has a dark past that doesn¡¯t add up¡±


    That was an understatement. Mages were bred for battle and raised with ludicrous martial training all through their childhood. The little minx knew how to fight but her combat expertise was a joke. No one of sane mind would keep attacking a FLOW mage in direct combat as the Star had done. Strehin kneeled down and narrowed her eyebrows.


    ¡°Now little girl, are you just mysterious as part of your brand or are you an anomaly?¡±


    When she stood back up, she carried the musical star under one arm as if it was nothing. That wasn¡¯t part of her mage heritage, the Star was just that thin. She carried the stiff statue back to the tram and then put her down on the ground.


    ¡°Now, I¡¯ll need a couple more things¡±


    <hr>


    6 hours left.


    Strehin sat with crossed legs. Right at the front of the tram sat a bowl of metal and a large metal bar. To the back, the frozen dress of the Star of Ashina served as a make-shift fruit bowl, filled with various vegetables and... well, fruit. Strehins fingers smelled of earth and trees but that would soon change. One of the plasma projectors lay to her feet with the magazine to its side.


    The tall woman grabbed the magazine and held back the safety lock with her thumb. Cartridges poured out of the magazine and fell to the ground with a metallic clang. Springloaded. Archaic. Technology that was cheap and easy to make but paled in comparison to something like her solid state railgun. There was one noted key difference, however.


    Each of the cartridges was made from three components: A plastic shell, an exciter and the gel chamber. The shell was just there to hold it together. Her fingernails convinced it to do something else. She tilted the cartridge sideways and then poured the gel into the bowl. Like this, she emptied all but two of the cartridges.


    ¡°The key advantage of primitive tech is that it still uses thermal reactions¡±, she mumbled and reinserted the remaining shots into the magazine.


    ¡°Cheap, sandwashed, borderworld tosh...¡±


    The cursed spring kept flinging the cartridges in her face while the latch refused all cooperation.


    .: It is my observation that you need to use the latch at the end first. :.


    ¡°Oh, really now? I would have never thought of doing that"


    The latch finally snapped back in place and she jammed the magazine into the plasma projector.


    .: It¡¯s been a pleasure to help. :.


    ¡°You need to work on your sarcasm module¡±


    .: In fact, I have. For example, see my statement about needing to use the latch. :.


    Strehin stopped fiddling with the magazine and stared up, ¡°Well, congratulations. You¡¯re really helpful¡±


    .: Was that sarcasm? :.


    ¡°No, just plain old cynicism¡±


    Strehin walked back a few steps and then aimed the weapon at the bowl filled with gel. A sizzling plasma bolt jumped out of her gun and set the gel ablaze. The resulting flame instantly pulverized part of the ceiling but also quickly simmered down to a bright glow.


    ¡°That¡¯s how you make a fire in the... year three hundred thousand something? Emperor alive, we need a new calendar¡±


    With a steady light source at her side, she paced towards the open door, grabbed the metal bar and made herself comfortable. With the bar in hand, she pushed down against the tracks and the wagon lurched forward.


    ¡°What¡¯s the status on the list?¡±


    .: Done. :.


    ¡°Alright, give it to me, before I¡¯ve got time to think about that number again¡±


    Her body worked autonomously, pushing and pushing while the wagon zoomed deeper into the space station. At the same time Heart listed a steady stream of names, positions and background information.


    <hr>


    2 hours left.


    As far as headquarters went, this was about as good as it was going to get in the foreseeable future. Strehin stood in front of the central command golem. Or rather what it had turned into. A ginormous tree had taken the central spine of the station as an invitation to grow. The golem had been half-swallowed by the tree and now stuck out of the bark like a dryad. That impression was further helped by moss growing over the armour plates.


    She turned around and continued her examination. It wasn¡¯t the only tree down here. A veritable forest had sprung up, one interwoven with cables and thick fog. Blue light pulsed from the crystals that mixed grey particles with standard appliances. The weirdest aspect of it all was what she intended to use as a desk but was currently occupied by one Sovan Terastris. She vaguely remembered the young man that was stretched out on what looked like an altar made of cables. A crown of flowers had sprung up all around him and in contrast to most other survivors, he was the only one whose statue didn¡¯t look like it was about to freak out.


    ¡°Tell me again why I can¡¯t just remove him from there?¡±


    .: Because I will not allow it. :.


    ¡°By whose authority?¡±


    .: Mine. :.


    Strehin narrowed her eyebrows and let out a sigh, ¡°Tell me again why I don¡¯t just deactivate you?¡±


    .: Because this is ultimately a minor inconvenience to you while finding a new golem might prove difficult or even impossible. All things considered, I might be the last of my kind. :.


    ¡°You¡¯ve gotten cheeky, you know that?¡±


    The golem didn¡¯t answer and Strehin decided to not pursue it further. She could indeed wait a couple of hours and once more people were awake, they¡¯d have a look at Heart and figure out what had gone wrong with it. For now, she played along.


    Her eyes fell upon the other survivors. Three of them stood close to her, all of them in various states of action. Those that looked like they were mid-motion, Strehin had put down on the floor. That way their wake-up wouldn¡¯t begin with a spontaneous rendez-vous between face and ground. Several dozen more were in the antechamber and the deeper parts of the techno-forest.


    She gave the four people a glance over. There was Kathrain of Orion. Technically not a citizen of the crazy king as the stocky build would attest, she still bore the name of his kingdom. Thanks to the hyper adaptation to gravity, the medical officer would pass as something like a dwarf from fantasy stories.


    ¡°Good service record, can double as psychological counsel, got an actual education and not just a nano-surgery instruction¡±, Strehin recalled. The doctor was a good pick.


    ¡°Cheeky too. Did you know she at one point called me an airlock reject? It supposedly was her way to tell me I wasn¡¯t entirely useless¡±


    .: All crew communication is on file. Do you want to hear the recording? :.


    ¡°Spare me. This one here, what was his name? Tim?¡±


    .: Xim. Former convict prone to aggression, now pacified by a regulator implant. One of our guests and not technically a crew member, but a leading figure in the cultivation of plants. :.


    Strehin stepped up to the average looking man. The bald head showed part of the regulator implant while tattoos marked him as a former criminal. He hadn¡¯t been her first pick but Xim was competent and didn¡¯t have the faction baggage that the other candidates had. She absolutely wasn¡¯t ready for whiny faction coddling.


    ¡°Are you sure the next one is alive?¡±


    .: Affirmative. Lieutenant Sarina Istengrad is very much alive. Her appearance is owed to a phenomenon known as operator decline. As operators increase their time linked to a machine... :.


    ¡°They neglect their physical body. I know, it¡¯s just... that¡¯s a tad extreme. She is more skeleton than human at this point¡±


    .: She is also the most qualified amongst our crew. Istengrad commands the respect of her fellow operators and is certified to pilot civilian and military drones alike, both in augmented and virtual mode. :.


    ¡°Fair enough. Alright, the last one is Sovan Terastris. Curiously, when browsing through the list of nano-engineers, they all had the same name, picture and service record¡±


    .: He is the one most qualified. Out of your selection, centuries of experience with him have left me with no doubt that he is the correct man for the job. :.


    Strehin stared at the grown over doll. Lifeless eyes stared back until the golem slightly turned the head.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t think so. I¡¯ll let it slide because obviously, he was here to reactivate the secondary systems. That¡¯s some acclaim at least¡±


    She then turned around and sighed. There was still so much to do before they woke up.


    <hr>


    1 hour left.


    Sovan yawned. Best sleep in centuries! It had even included what felt like a thousand dreams of happiness in the company of a beautiful and caring wife. That, now that his brain started spooling up, had looked suspiciously like the command golem. Emperor alive, what? His body still felt drowsy and when he jerked up, a sharp pain ran through his neck.


    ¡°Slow down!¡±


    The voice was too faint to make out. Strong hands on his shoulders locked him in position and then, Sovan locked up himself. What was that sensation?! Something icy and slimy slid out of his spine. It scratched all the way to his belly and back up. With a strange suction sensation, it slipped out of his neck and his eyes suddenly fluttered open.


    ¡°Wow, okay that was weird. Very weird... I think I need to vomit¡± he said and was handed a bowl. A moment later, the world stopped spinning and the strange sensation was gone. He looked up and stared directly at the face of the iron dragon and another woman next to her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you saw that?¡±


    Aye. Yeah. They had. Well, that was just grand. He closed his eyes again but before he could lie down, his body suddenly dangled in the air. Both his eyes flew open again and his boss stared into his soul. The icy-murder eyes judged him with a simple look and whatever it was she was looking for, he obviously came up short.


    ¡°Put him down over there, thank you¡±, the voice of a shorter woman said. She really looked like a brick that had grown legs and muscles. Kinda interesting, as far as he was concerned.


    Strehin put him down next to a small handful of people that looked just as confused as he was. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw weird several dozen more statues that looked a lot like people he had known at some point or other.


    ¡°Thee hundred thousand years¡±, the iron dragon suddenly said. She was standing on his former bed. Desk. Altar. Emperor alive, what was it she was actually standing on? Was that a neural interface? That meant the disgustingly long needle had been... ugh.


    ¡°Mark that number, all of you. You¡¯ve all been asleep for that many years. Everything you¡¯ve known is gone and won¡¯t come back. Deal with it. Right now, the station is falling apart and we five are responsible for keeping it going. Got that? You¡¯ve got one minute to freak out¡±


    Sovan blinked and looked to either side. The bald man to his left just stared ahead while the skeleton to his right actually moved and made a rude gesture towards the Administrator. Amazing. Should he do something like that? Wait, how many years? That was impossible. Everyone would be... dead, wouldn¡¯t they? She had said so. No, that was just a prank but the iron dragon didn¡¯t even know the meaning of humour. When the grey gods made her, they gave her one deadly weakness and that was probably laughing. A strange ache spread through his body, everything tensed up and an onslaught of emotions rapidly shifted his expression through laughing, sadness and euphoria. Suddenly, a loud voice cut right through it.


    ¡°Done. Welcome back aboard. Due to a lack of staff, you five are promoted to lead. No, you will not be asked for approval. If you¡¯ve got complains, redirect them to the nearest airlock, cause that¡¯s where you¡¯ll go if you mess this up. Further, each of you will have a compliment of staff working under you with the task to restore basic functionality to the City of Citadels. Now, Introductions. In turn¡±, Strehin said and pointed at herself, ¡°Strehin. Get Heart to read you a history book on me. Kathrain, head of medical. Xim, you get to feed all of us. Sarina, get the machines going. Sovan, you are responsible for structural damages and power management. The people back there will wake up in one hour. By then you will all have a plan ready. Congratulations, you¡¯re it¡±


    Sovan felt as if a blast of fire had just scorched his breakfast.


    <hr>


    10 Minutes left.


    Sovan put down the bowl of soup. It tasted awful but Kathrain had whispered to him that Strehin herself had cooked it. That explained the taste. If a creature of hate wrote a romance novel, it¡¯d probably end up as a religious document somewhere. Those were always full of doom and gloom. Now if that same creature made a fruit-soup, it would taste just like this.


    He rubbed his temple and looked at the other leaders. Each of them was talking to themselves. Sarina looked like she had cried at one point and Sovan himself? The slavedriver hadn¡¯t even given them enough time to process all of this. Every time his mind wandered, she¡¯d be there and...


    ¡°Are you making progress, Sovan?¡±


    His eyes went up and as sure as grey particles dine on nano-machines, there she was.


    ¡°Uh, yes madam. Good progress, I¡¯m getting an overview of all our systems. Should have something ready within the minute¡±


    ¡°Continue¡±


    And with that, she was gone again. Cursed iron dragon. He focussed his mind and a large sheet of numbers appeared on a virtual screen inside his head. The list shrunk considerably once he filtered it by active positions. As far as situations went, this was about on par with the bloody stuffing. Out of all twelve reactors, only one was still active and it was whining under an excess of load. Most active positions were running on the bare minimum.


    The light was kept on because it didn¡¯t need much energy in comparison to everything else - like the gravocore. The artificial gravity slurped up a fourth of the energy output and the command golem took another chunk. By far the biggest drain was the so-called Edenleap stasis system. If that system failed, all hundred thousand humans would wake up at once and that would be the end of them all.


    He had seen the numbers. Not even life support was active. All current air was supplied by the plant infestation, as was the food. Sovan frowned. Even if he had enough power to run every system at peak performance, there was no way to know whether they actually worked until flipped them on. Sovan suddenly got up and walked over towards Kathrain. She brushed her thick hair aside and glanced up at him with raised eyebrows.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we wait until our third date?¡± she said as a greeting.


    ¡°Uh... huh?¡±


    ¡°Relax. You don¡¯t remember me, do you? Let¡¯s have a talk later, there¡¯s something on your mind? You always had that look on your face¡±


    ¡°Sure I remember you. A couple of years back. Great times. Listen Kathrain, simple question. If we cut gravity by let¡¯s say a third, how dangerous would that be on the human body?¡±


    The short medical officer tilted her head to the side and he felt a dull ache in his chest, ¡°So you don¡¯t remember. Nevermind. Lowered gravity, hm? Short term, the effect will be negligible. Some injuries as people misjudge distances and speed. Long term, you¡¯re looking at muscle atrophy, organ failure, joyful things like that. Limit it to a couple of weeks at most¡±


    Sovan nodded his head on autopilot. Lowered gravity would decrease the drain on the reactor until they found out what had happened to the others. His eyes flickered back towards the doctor. Who was she? Had he ever started something with a high gravity girl? Not that he knew off. She wasn¡¯t ugly and he liked the fit type with visible muscles ¨C a bill Kathrain fit well ¨Cbut no. Kathrain suddenly patted his back.


    ¡°You look like a lost puppy. Let me help you out¡±, she said and leaned towards him, ¡°We never met. Nope. No interest either. I was just messing around to distract you. Look, we better get ready. They¡¯re going to wake up soon¡±


    He stared after her as she walked away and rubbed his neck. When Kathrain had tilted her head, that gesture had triggered a memory. He did know her but it was all...


    ¡°Did you sort your priorities, technician?¡±


    The dragon was ever present. Unrelenting. Unshakeable. He looked up at Strehin and he realized that he also looked up to her. The woman was a force of nature. If she ever stumbled, Sovan was sure, the world would end.


    Loud groaning announced the great awakening of the grumpy humans. He put on his best smile and walked up to one of the groups.

 003 - Deforestation

    The corridor had thick enough trees to qualify as a wall. Sovan balanced his weight on a root and used a metal bar to pry two stalks apart. Sweat soaked his uniform. His muscles were sore but with his heart thumping at full throttle, he felt amazing.


    ¡°If we keep this up, we¡¯ll reach the reactors in a month¡±, he said with a grin and looked over his shoulder. Blank faces stared back at him.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry if this isn¡¯t how you wanted to spend your days. Without power, we can¡¯t operate the drones, without those, we can¡¯t even begin to fix this mess¡±, he stepped off the root and walked towards his seven-headed crew.


    ¡°You are the best chance we have at making it out alive. Let¡¯s work together and we¡¯ll survive. It¡¯s what we humans do best¡±, Sovan reached out a hand towards the closest crew member. The large man swatted his hand away and growled.


    ¡°Save the speech. We want to help! But - we¡¯ve been at it for four hours, boss¡±


    The nano-technician paused mid-gesture and focussed his attention on a tiny screen in his mind. It blinked with several yellow lights warning him to take a break. A second overlay popped up and showed him the status of his crew. It was crimson red.


    ¡°Aight, good point. We rest¡±


    He walked over towards them and then flopped down on a root. Now that he finally relented, his body came down with a crash. Exhaustion washed over him and he became conscious of how much he reeked. Not just him, his entire crew could use a bath and probably a massage.


    ¡°What we do is important but don¡¯t ever be afraid to tell me when I mess things up. We should have taken a break an hour ago. I¡¯m sorry¡±


    No one answered him. They were all busy wheezing and gasping for air. Sovan pulled a small bottle from his belt and took a sip. Strehin¡¯s parting gift tasted horrible. Part of the issue was just in his head, the big bad dragon had cooked the water, probably with her fire-breath. He smirked. Sterilizing the water was the smart thing to do. Survival now, amenities later.


    ¡°Heart, can you give me a local map?¡±


    .: Are you sure you want me to do that? :.


    ¡°Pretty please?¡±


    .: Map has been compiled from memory and uploaded to your implant. Up to date information is not possible due to extensive sensor damage. :.


    Sovan suppressed his shudder. There was a little truth stewing at the back of his mind. While everyone had been asleep in stasis, he had gotten a couple of eternities courtesy of the command golem. During his dreams, he hadn¡¯t even once questioned their platonic relation but now that he was awake, he felt dirty. Whatever it was, it had changed the golem. Made it - no. It made her more alive.


    The map sprung up before him. It came packed with a neat little animation of first showing the entirety of the station and then quickly zooming in on his position. The reactors were just a couple more corridors away but those corridors had a cute case of tree infestation going. Sovan looked back down the corridor as far as the ambient light allowed him. Their destruction reached back about a hundred meters but that distance had taken them hours. At the current rate, it wouldn¡¯t be a month ¨Cbut a week was likely. Sovan pressed a hand against his head. Maybe it was time to actually play the gravity card.


    ¡°Would have done this from the start, had I known the trees were this bad down here. Heart confirm that you can¡¯t give an estimate on how far these trees go?¡±


    .: That is correct, Sovan. Internal sensors are malfunctioning in the majority of my body. :.


    ¡°So it could be trees all the way to the reactor¡±, he said and looked at his exhausted crew, ¡°Change of plans. Heart, Prepare to adjust reactor output to safe levels, lower power supply to the gravity core in turn. Include a five per cent tolerance. Inform both Kathrain and Strehin and get me uh... what was her name? The drone operator?¡±


    ¡°Sarina¡±, a woman from his crew added.


    ¡°Right, Sarina. Get her on the comm¡±


    .: Information has been sent. Establishing a connection. :.


    <hr>


    Sarina rested in a chair. Her physical body was a mess. It pained in places she didn¡¯t want to know about and that dwarf of a woman hadn¡¯t left her alone in hours. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, a familiar feeling she loathed with all her being.


    .: Incoming connection. Sovan Terastris. :.


    Sarina didn¡¯t move a muscle, a mental command was enough to establish the connection while suppressing her picture. She was more than a bit conscious of how she looked.


    ¡°How¡¯d you like to operate a heavy lifter?¡±


    Slow, cumbersome beasts of burden. Lumbering chunks of metal that lacked the elegance of the finer drones. Sarina raised one of her arms and even that much was already exhausting. She¡¯d take a worker drone over this any day.


    ¡°Lieutenant Sarina, are you there?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re there or yes, you agree?¡±


    She wet her lips and forced her mouth to cooperate, ¡°Yes, I agree.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll have Heart pipe the connection through to you. You should probably lie down too, gravity is going to shift just as you¡¯ll dive in¡±


    ¡°Thank...¡±, she began her answer but her words got stuck in her dry throat.


    ¡°No worries. We¡¯re looking forward to having you down here with us. Sovan, out¡±


    There was a pain in her stomach. It needed food, more than it had gotten. Eating would mean moving her flesh-suit. That would be exhausting. She could probably go a bit longer without nutrition. Sarina leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. The shift in gravity came gradually. Her body started to hurt less and her breathing relaxed. The heavy steps of the doctor got lighter and changed in pace. She pretended to not notice them until something pressed past her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and Sarina stared directly at that despicable dwarf woman.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been warned. If you¡¯re not going to eat on your own, you will be fed via a machine¡±


    And I won¡¯t be there to feel any of it you butcher, Sarina added in her mind.


    .: Establishing drone connection. The Falkenhain HL-910 will be ready for control. :.


    The sensations of her body would soon not matter. She leaned back and relaxed her body. She would ignore the tube. A needle was inserted down her neck and the neural interface changed her perspective. The connection came with a sudden influx in senses and a short moment of vertigo.


    .: Operator has assumed full control. :.


    Her body was a work of art. A perfect machine several tons heavy. Sarina stretched her back. Four massive metal legs screeched with hydraulic pressure and her viewport reached the upper end of the room. She turned the optics dome and gazed in the direction of her prison. Her meat body was somewhere behind all these walls. Somewhere at the back of her head, she still felt it chuck along but nothing of that had any meaning.


    Sarina lowered herself back down and unfurled her two multipurpose arms. A variety of tools was implemented in them, from simple forks for archaic lifting to fully modelled hands that could wield normal human tools. She gave them a quick check and took a deep breath. A weird double sensation overcame her bodies. The meat-suit heaved in the air while her metal body simultaneously stretched its back like a giant cat.


    Her steps were gentle and slow at first. Heavy tonnage thumped on the ground as she crawled out of the storage compartment. Her observation dome supplied her with a constant feed of sensor input. Infra-red, overlay information from the golem, a full-scale scanner, audio, radiation, touch, so much more than her feeble meat-sleeve could do.


    Once her thick body had pressed out of the storage section, she turned to her right and accelerated. Four spider-like limbs flew in rapid succession. The shift in gravity was easy enough to compensate. Sarina raced down the corridors. Her mind subconsciously picked up something smacking her metal frame on either side while a green light indicated that there was no reason to slow down. Chunks of wood rained down on her, giving her the sensation of gentle rain.


    Her icon followed the intended path from Heart and she soon turned a corner to find a long hallway. It was covered in chopped off trees and eight humans staring up at her. Remember your training, Sarina, she thought. You are a machine goddess but normal people dread meeting a living metal monster. She lowered her frame until her observation dome was on the same level as the smiling man with the caramel skin. One look at his fit body was enough for her to dislike him. Jealousy, she admitted deep within. She let her mind reach towards the speakers and activated them with a simple thought.


    ¡°OPERATOR SARINA AT YOUR SERVICE¡±


    The man winced, ¡°Nano-technician Sovan now successfully deafened. Turn it down, will you?¡±


    ¡°AFFIRMATIVE¡±


    He winced again and Sarina smiled. It was an innocent gesture, perfectly encapsulated by the cheeky little blink of red light on her observation dome. The man, Sovan was his name, rubbed his ears and then gestured down the corridor.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the problem. We need to reach the reactors but as you can see, we need someone strong to bail us out¡±, he said with a smile. He wasn¡¯t flinching away from her, which gave him a few points on her scale but not yet enough to make up for that well-kept flesh-body.


    ¡°THEN I WILL REMOVE THE OBSTACLES. STAND ASIDE, KEEP A COUPLE OF METERS SAFETY DISTANCE¡±


    Sovan blinked up at her and screamed, ¡°OKAY! THANK YOU¡±


    It barely registered as a blip on her audio sensors. Sarina chuckled and her machine body swayed along. She gave the meat-dings some time to jump aside and then floated past them with graceful motions from her four legs. Something cracked underneath her feet, sensors told her she had stomped down roots. She shrugged her shoulders, which looked like a wobble on the outside and then unfurled her tool arms. The observation dome lit up to a full grin as she crossed her arms in fork mode and suddenly accelerated.


    <hr>


    Sovan rubbed his ears with a melancholic sigh. That had hurt. He and the rest of his crew had enjoyed a couple of meters of safety distance. As chunks and chips of wood rained down on them, they extended the safety zone by several dozen meters.


    He remembered a motion to outlaw drone use for war a couple of years back. Seeing this metal hulk toy with ancient trees nudged him to agree. The spider bot piled into them like a projectile with a grudge. There was a certain perverse beauty in seeing several dozen tons of power carve a way so easily. He watched the machine dance around while using the long arms to tear trees out of the walls, along with several meters of roots. What had cost his crew hours, Lieutenant Sarina cleared in minutes. Then, the noise suddenly stopped.


    ¡°YOU BETTER SEE THIS¡±, called the machine.


    The nano-technician signalled for his crew to stand back then made his way through the sawdust. Each step turned into a leap as the decreased gravity played tricks on his muscle memory. Sarina and her machine stood in the entrance to the reactor room. Her massive searchlights illuminated the room beyond but he couldn¡¯t make out any details from his position. Each step he took, his anticipation grew. What would he find? Reactors, like most technology, were made to continuously repair themselves. How had eleven reactors all failed to a point that they couldn¡¯t recover?


    He walked past the bend and gazed into the large room. At first glance, it all seemed as it should have. Twelve egg-like shapes were arranged in a circular pattern. There were no trees but the reactors had suffered extensive damage, even though the damage looked planned ¨C not accidental. He climbed over a couple of tree stumps near the door and leaned against the machine for balance. The large lifter shifted ever so slightly as the searchlights swivelled around and finally revealed the cause of the problem. Everything suddenly stopped.


    ¡°Oh, bloody king of Orion...¡±


    The cause wasn¡¯t something but rather someone.


    <hr>


    Kathrain shot another glance at the Lieutenant. She would need to have a word with the boss dragon. Operator decline was a known problem. It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t get it. If you could be an all-powerful machine with no pain but also possess a rush of intense sensory sensations, who¡¯d say no? Still, there were limits and Sarina had broken them all.


    The doctor noted the long cable inserted in the Lieutenants neck and then finally turned around. Simple machines were feeding the operator, there was no need to stay and watch at all times. Her next patient was warded off in a room of her own.


    ¡°Alright. We¡¯ve got a moment of quiet, what can I do for you?¡±


    The woman sitting on the chair was none other than the illustrious iron dragon. Kathrain rolled her eyes. Her. Best friends they would never be. The woman was a force of nature, annoying like a thermal storm and as tenacious like a rash of... Kathrain decided to not let her mind wander there after all.


    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you just a lovely little asteroid in a low-g race. Open your mouth, talk. It¡¯s a sort of magic trick - one you¡¯re very good at until you have to talk to me. What¡¯s the issue? Tell me, show me if you must¡±


    The Strehin in front of her was a different one from the iron dragon outside. When they were alone, the living legend was frail and vulnerable. Instead of an answer, the former stellar mage unwrapped bandages from her hands and held them out to her.


    ¡°Illustrious lights of Lanterna! What did you do?¡±


    The hands were in a bad state. Something had cut them open in several places, dried blood was crusted around the fingertips where the nails had been scratched too far. Kathrain reached for a bottle of actual alcohol and walked up to the strangely quiet woman. She began cleaning the wounds in silence. Strehin was a mystery to her. How could a war-monster like her have a phobia of doctors? She ran her hands along the fingers, while she carefully observed the cuts. None of them were bad enough to need stitches. As she felt the knotty flesh around the hand, Kathrain stopped and looked at Strehin. That¡¯s why she feared doctors. They had clipped her wings with incompetence.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s cleaned up. Just keep the bandage fresh. Don¡¯t worry about...¡±


    .: Incoming call from Sovan Terastris. :.


    ¡°Hold on, gotta take...¡±


    .: Incoming call from Sarina Istengrad. :.


    Kathrain watched the administrator fish a small device out of her uniform and hold it up. A small screen indicated calls for her as well. Strehin flicked a holographic button and a moment later, another symbol popped up in Kathrain¡¯s head.


    .: Incoming call from Administrator Strehin. :.


    Kathrain glared at her.


    ¡°Really now?¡±


    The tall woman shrugged and the connection established itself a moment later. First to talk was the drone operator. Instead of her actual face, the woman used the icon for the heavy lifter she had possessed.


    ¡°There¡¯s something down here that might change a couple of things¡±


    ¡°We should get Xim in on this as well¡±, added Sovan.


    ¡°Stop wasting time. Get to the point¡±


    No guessing who that blunt command had come from. She watched Strehin glare at the device with a look that might just snap it in two. Kathrain reached out a call to Xim but the man didn¡¯t answer. She refocussed her attention on the conversation just as Sovan raised his hands.


    ¡°Alright folks, bad news first. The reactors are done. Funny news second. We¡¯ve found some tools that don¡¯t belong to us¡±


    ¡°Confirm for faction markings¡± barked Strehin.


    ¡°That¡¯s just the thing. I¡¯m not sure it applies to them¡±


    The small picture of the technician suddenly vanished to make room for a larger one. Kathrain noticed the erratic movement of eyes, this was a direct feed from his ocular implant. She didn¡¯t know a lot about reactors but even she understood these were gone by the amount of perfectly rectangular holes in them. Sovan then knelt down and looked at the floor. The shaky movement made it hard to focus until the technician had settled.


    ¡°We proudly present the death of a paradigm¡±


    <hr>


    Sovan calmed his breathing in an attempt to keep the feed from his eyes stable. A strange leather sleeve lay on the ground. One side was open, like a sort of glove but lacking any indentations for fingers. The other side ended in a primitive metal cylinder, with a long leather string for a trigger. He used a stick to turn it over and then pointed at it.


    ¡°Check this out¡±, he said with a jovial tone, ¡°the thing at the end looks like nothing I¡¯ve ever seen. It¡¯s a spiral that is decorated with odd markings. That¡¯s not the funny thing though. Here¡¯s the trigger¡±


    Sovan lowered the stick and then wrapped it around a long string that came out of the cylinder. One end of the string had a metal loop attached to it.


    ¡°The assumption is that this thing is operated by pulling on the string. I¡¯m not keen to try it out... what¡¯s really curious though is...¡±


    ¡°IT¡¯S A WEAPON OR CUTTER FOR BIRDS!¡±


    Sovan rubbed his ears with a grunt, ¡°I beg of you, turn down the volume? Please?¡±


    ¡°THE SLEEVE WOULD FIT A WING AND THAT STRING IS A TONGUE TRIGGER. THEY COULD BYPASS THE REQUIREMENT FOR THUMBS OR FINGERS¡±


    The comms remained silent. Sovan shook his head before realizing that several people were watching from his point of view.


    ¡°Sorry, for that. Allow me to interject. While the general make could very well be alien in nature, which is what Lieutenant Istengrad is suggesting, this here is decidedly not¡±


    He quickly upturned the sleeve and pointed the stick at another cylinder. This one was perfectly round and of much higher quality than the rest. A black cat and a gear logo were imprinted on the side and the words Black Sun Forge emitted a gentle blue glow. Sovan¡¯s voice had taken on a droning quality.


    ¡°Standardized cartridge for plasma cutters, industrial quantity. It¡¯s jury-rigged tech. Whoever made this had no idea how to properly seal a plasma cartridge. There are scorch marks to either side of the sleeve. And that same person, thing, whatever it was used a similar approach with our reactors¡±


    Sovan stood up from the ground and walked up to one of the large egg shapes. The light from the heavy lifter followed him along until both his eyes and the light pointed at a rectangular hole in the egg.


    ¡°They cut out everything they could, including the waste reservoir for the dormant grey particles. This was the work of an amateur. Maybe sabotage, maybe something else¡±


    ¡°LIKE ALIENS!¡±


    He sighed and tapped a finger against his forehead. A flicker in his vision told him that his eyes were his alone again. Like that, he leaned himself against the reactor and waited. At first, there was silence. The occasional sound of breathing reached his ears but that was about it. The first to unfreeze was the iron dragon.


    ¡°Can we repair it?¡±


    Sovan piped up. Of course, the dragon would cut through all the speculation.


    ¡°Negative. It¡¯s the same problem as before. We need significant power to fabricate the spare parts. There¡¯s also another issue. Heart list reservoir status for grey particles and transmit to call¡±


    .: There are currently no grey particle reservoirs remaining. :.


    ¡°Let me spell this out. Absolutely no chance to repair this unless we get help, steal, beg, salvage or trade with whatever is out there¡±


    This time, he didn¡¯t have to wait for long before the iron dragon¡¯s voice manifested again.


    ¡°New orders. Sovan, go and get the scanners working. Lieutenant, remain seated and accompany the technician and his crew, clear the way as needed. Kathrain, any input on potential psychological damages?¡±


    The picture of the doctor flared up in his mind, ¡°Keep the alien angle buried. Scientific consensus says there is no alien life beyond bacteria. Let¡¯s not invite another Titan riot until we¡¯re absolutely sure. As for the reactors, people will figure it out. Give them work and it keeps their minds busy.¡±


    Sovan remembered the Titan riots from history. Some scientist had claimed to have found alien life on Titan. Within weeks, the situation escalated into all out war as factions battled for the meaning of what had been found. In the end, it was much ado over nothing, the scientist was a fraud but the riots had left a mark on history. He looked back at the massive machine and noticed the large machine looking at the object from all angles. Sovan smiled and the lights on the observation dome lit up in response. He chuckled and made a mental note to read up on drone facial expressions.


    <hr>


    Sovan rested a shoulder against the heavy lifter while staring at the ground. A cold shiver ran down his spine. The strange object had been recent. There were no signs of decay on it and it obviously wasn¡¯t running on Heart¡¯s self-healing protocols. Someone had traipsed around them, stolen parts of their reactor and then made off with it. The sooner they got internal sensors back online, the better.


    The man lifted his chin up and nodded towards his crew, ¡°Congratulations, we¡¯re all going to suffer spontaneous amnesia. That thing over there ¨C it doesn¡¯t exist. Don¡¯t talk about it, don¡¯t mention it ever¡±


    He looked every person into their eyes before he finally nodded. It didn¡¯t take long to instruct five of them to maintain the remaining reactor and for the rest to follow him. With neither tram nor elevator operational, he wasn¡¯t particularly happy about the coming journey.


    ¡°Just wondering, can that machine of yours climb?¡±


    ¡°DIFFICULT AND NOT WITHOUT CAUSING DAMAGE¡±


    Sovan winced. A permanent ringing had taken up shelter in his ear. On the upside, he no longer heard the whine and hissing of the heavy lifter either. Climbing up the spine would have been the fastest route while the tram was the scenic route even on the best of days.


    With Sarina and her machine in front, they made good way towards the tram station. The heavy lifter jumped off the platform and used the searchlights to examine the closer surroundings. As the Administrator had said, no plants got near the tracks, which struck Sovan as odd.


    ¡°THERE¡¯S A TRAM CAR FURTHER DOWN¡± Sarina thundered and then ran off into the darkness. Loud rumbling soon announced her return. A single wagon shuddered down the tracks with incessant whining and screeching. The brakes had a red glow while the heavy lifter effortlessly pushed the tram forward. When it finally came to a halt, the noise had stopped.


    ¡°You did consider the brakes, right?¡±


    ¡°OOPS?¡±


    Sovan smacked his forehead and sighed. He gestured towards his remaining two crewmates and boarded their coffin of doom. Just as soon as they had sat down, it buckled and then accelerated. The bobbing searchlights of the lifter up front created a dizzying light pattern while the wide leaps of the machine meant an uneven rhythm.


    ¡°What a strange awakening, isn¡¯t it?¡± he said with a subtle smile.


    No answer came from the other two. They were fast asleep.


    ¡°Miracles and space magic¡±


    At first, he just wrapped his arms around his chest and leaned back into the seat. Without the imitation leather, it was barely a comfort. As his body slowed down, his mind kicked into gear again. What leaps humanity must have made, he pondered, maybe we¡¯re all flying spaceships now with our mind strapped to machines like the lady up front. He shook his head. Too simple.


    ¡°Maybe teleportation... like a miniature version of the stellar drives¡± he mused and pointed at the opposite end of the tram. Zoom, he¡¯d be there and then back, just at a random thought. Perhaps everyone was immortal now, every disease cured and no question remained unanswered. He grinned. What would music be like? Dissonant noise from the Stars mixed in with a genetically modified horse that meowed in rhythm?


    ¡°I bet Marsian Rifts is still running. They might even have found the depths of human depravity yet¡±


    Maybe. Probably not. The reality-show hadn¡¯t found it in twenty-nine seasons of love, procreation and public drug abuse. As his mind wandered through golden fields of nostalgia, a strange mood took hold of him. It was just a nagging feeling at first. What if? As time went by, that feeling increased in intensity.


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be a whole new world out there¡±, he whispered.


    ¡°TOTALLY!¡±


    ¡°LIEUTENANT SARINA. IF YOU DON¡¯T TURN DOWN YOUR BLOODY VOLUME RIGHT THIS SECOND, I¡¯M GOING TO CUT OFF YOUR SPEAKERS AND THROW THEM OUT THE AIRLOCK!¡±


    He stared at the heavy lifter pulling them down the tracks. The observation dome blinked a couple of red lights in his direction.


    ¡°Relax. See? It¡¯s quiet now¡±, the machine said with a whisper. By sheer magic, the other two had slept even through that.


    ¡°Thank you. Say, what would you miss most?¡±


    The machine continued on for a few seconds before the dome swivelled to either side in what looked like a headshake.


    ¡°Probably not a lot? I¡¯m more excited about technological advances. Maybe everyone can just download their mind into a body like yours¡±


    Sovan wrinkled his nose. That was certainly one way to kill a conversation. Suddenly all too conscious about himself, he closed the jacket over his uniform and looked back at the machine.


    ¡°I get that notion. It¡¯s also a bit scary, isn¡¯t it? Decades of learning how to program and operate tiny swarms of nano-machines and all that could be completely pointless¡±


    The lifter blinked in agreement, ¡°Well with the advances in procedural programming, I doubt you lot were around for much longer anyway¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re a cheeky metal sheep¡±, Sovan commented with a frown.


    ¡°Not normally, no. But I¡¯ve got the dwarf on my comms and she¡¯s been telling me to distract you or else you might snap¡±


    He listened to the words and let them linger for a bit. Great, Kathrain considered him unstable. With his head still lowered, he called out.


    ¡°Ask her how we know each other¡±


    ¡°She says you don¡¯t and that you should forget about it. Hey I¡¯m not playing comm-line for you two, get a conversation of your own¡±


    Sovan grinned. Maybe the doctor was right. His thoughts had taken a dangerous turn. The machine up front suddenly wiggled the bulky hind segment.


    ¡°Stop staring at my curves all day, you¡¯re making me self-conscious¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re piloting a Falkenhain drone!¡± he interjected.


    ¡°Exactly. Hrrrmm, twenty-three tons of pure heavy metal temptation¡±


    His laughter finally managed to wake the two sleepy heads. They grumbled at him and immediately went back to it.


    <hr>


    The tram slowed to a halt. Bright light welcomed them to a deck far up the central spine. This one wasn¡¯t from artificial lights but rather from a couple of screens that were still intact. The scene they showed was an idyllic picture of the planet below but the glitched out icons told him it was an old recording anyways.


    With Sarina taking point, the small group made their way towards the observation deck. It was located just below one of the habitation modules. Which proved a slight construction mistake since several kilometres of the city tended to mess with sensory input.


    ¡°With a bit of good luck, we can just throw a switch. There are surprisingly little plants up here as well¡± he said out loud.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think so, boss¡± one of his crew remarked. Sovan struggled to remember his name and failed.


    ¡°Heart could just reboot the system in that case¡± the man added.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably the hack-job we did on the instruments. Nothing should be routed around an entire habitation module¡±, the second person in his crew said. She was a young technician he had worked with before. Anna something, something.


    ¡°Imagine we came up all this way, just to press a button¡±, Sovan said with a grin, ¡°Admit it you two, we¡¯d be disappointed¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s the routing around the module that¡¯s doing it. Let¡¯s bet on it¡±, said Anna something, something. What in the emperor¡¯s unshaved cat was her last name again?


    ¡°Nah, remember the power surges? The system has been temperamental even before we were done building this monster. We check the connections and this thing lights up¡±, the man said.


    Sovan tuned out of their discussion until they reached their destination. It wasn¡¯t so much just one observation deck but rather a series of them. Each was layered on top of the other and cross cut with a row of pillars reaching from the bottom to the top. Large circular walkways framed the various levels and were crowned by hexagonal chambers on all sides. Not a single light came out of the room, however.


    ¡°LOOKS LIKE AN ASTEROID CAME KNOCKING¡±


    ¡°Sarina!¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Old habit.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t far off. Her searchlights illuminated a series of panorama screens with fist-sized holes in them. Sovan knelt down before one of the holes and glanced through it. The path of destruction went up three levels before the lack of light made it too hard to see where it had come from.


    ¡°Heart, any idea about the source of the damage?¡±


    .: Unknown. I¡¯m not aware of anything going on in that room. Stay safe Sovan. :.


    He walked around a wall of displays as far as the light carried and found another hole. This one was bigger than the other but it too followed a path of destruction all throughout.


    ¡°Well, nothing to it¡±, he finally said and stepped back into the light, ¡°My guess would be debris punching through the shields before everything was wrapped up in stasis. Sarina, can you give me eyes on the wall section over there?¡±


    Sovan pointed and the heavy lifter inched around the displays with a grace that belied it¡¯s massive size and tonnage. The spiderbot then whirred as it stretched up and directed the lights at the indicated spot.


    ¡°Debris. Definitely. It¡¯s just... the explosion started in the docks so the angle of impact is wrong¡± he said and scratched his nose ¡°well let¡¯s get to work. You two, check up on the primary and secondary systems. Sarina, can you lift me up? I¡¯m going to see if the external routing is still working¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re all getting your hands on my machine, aren¡¯t you?¡± the machine said and wiggled the two tool-arms.


    ¡°Right now, I¡¯m about those seductive cables. Up top. Get me there¡±, he said.


    Sovan stared in wonder as the machine actually managed a convincing ¡®tssk¡¯. The lieutenant had a rather crass humour for his tastes. The tool-arms folded back into the main body and in their stead, two lengthy arms with humanoid hands extended. Sarina and her machine approached Sovan with one arm on either side and then grabbed him with surprising gentleness. In comparison with the sheer power, he was a mere toy.


    One that used the leverage to reach for an access port up top. Sovan reached down for his tool belt and picked up something archaic that never once went out of fashion. A screwdriver. No fancy tricks either, just some nano-coating so you didn¡¯t lose the screws by accident and some minor deconstruction protocols to ease up stuck screws.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s pretty high tech all things considered¡±


    ¡°DRONES SURE ARE!¡±


    He glared down at the lifter and heard a chuckle come out of the speakers. Sovan shook his head and went to work. The vent easily opened up but just as he was about to reach up, a loud laugh rang out from below.


    ¡°Well... this I didn¡¯t see coming¡±, the second man in his group said. Sovan¡¯s ocular implant indicated an incoming picture.


    ¡°This has to be some sort of cosmic joke¡±


    ¡°Afraid not¡±, said Anna something, something. He felt a pang of regret for not recalling her full name. It probably didn¡¯t come close to the regret of the rat that had managed to fry itself on some juicy scanner equipment just as the stasis came down. The result was a curiously glittering statue of a fried rat. Sovan sighed.


    ¡°Get that thing out of there, restore the connection. Let¡¯s see if this...¡±


    Lights sprung up around him. Several screens came back to life as power flowed into the observation deck. Elation made way for horror as gravity vanished.


    ¡°No one move, it¡¯s bound to come back any second now¡±, he shouted as loud as he could while trying to keep his movement to a minimum.


    ¡°Heart, collect a full sensor sweep of the surroundings, then shut down observation deck and restore power to the gravity core¡±


    .: Affirmative. I¡¯m sorry Sovan. It was the only thing I could do. :.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, just...¡±


    There it was. A lovely punch to the stomach as gravity settled back in. It had only been a few seconds but nausea crept up his throat from the sudden changes. The observation deck turned dark once more and the heavy lifter carefully put him back down on the floor.


    ¡°Tell me you got something for us¡±, he said with a weary voice as he leaned his body against a broken display.


    .: I do - but it has been put under lock by the authority of Administrator Strehin. :.


    ¡°Oh come off it¡± he growled. His face twisted in anger.


    .: Sovan Terastris, I¡¯m sorry to inform you that this central command golem has malfunctioned. A copy of the sensor report was accidentally uploaded to your ocular implant. :.


    A smug grin crept on his face. Maybe it had perks spending eternity with a slightly crazy golem. Several icons begged for his mental attention and he activated them in turn. With curiosity at first but as more images opened up, that quickly changed to horror and then a solemn mood. Debris surrounded the City of Citadels on all sides, some of it clearly came from broken Terran ships. The cloud of wrecks swirled around the station in a several kilometre long wall of destruction. The station itself was floating around a planet as part of the asteroid belt.


    There were visible structures in orbit and on the surface, none went beyond the most primitive of space age technology and their build didn¡¯t look like anything he had ever seen. There was something else. Sensors had picked up a lone ship on a rendezvous course. If that rackety rocket ship could even be deemed space-worthy.

 004 - Accumulation

    Momentum. An object in motion would continue moving until acted upon. Be it gravity, someone with anger issues or sheer exhaustion. Strehin raised her head from her desk. She was the unmovable object. It didn¡¯t apply to her. A series of curtains marked her new office next to the command golem. She could see the techno-forest through small gaps in the cloth. It still looked wrong to have electric equipment merge with nature but it had done so splendidly.


    The golem hissed and groaned behind her and in front was her hive. Every person had a specific task that kept them going. Xim was out collecting food and doing some stock-taking. Sarina¡¯s team was scavenging for daily necessities while their leader accompanied Sovan. Kathrain was the secondary queen of her hive, the groaning, coughing and those lacking common sense all went to her.


    Strehin considered herself part of the latter but she had no time to go pay a visit. Her attempts to massage her murderous headache away failed too. She was clocking in at nearly two days since her awakening. Most others had slept, she didn¡¯t get the chance to do so. There was always something else.


    ¡°Administrator, we¡¯ve got a situation!¡±


    Like that. She heard the urgency in his voice and focused her gaze on the young man.


    ¡°Skip the niceties, get to it¡±, she commanded while adjusting her glasses. The man looked like one of Xim¡¯s gardeners. A curious collection of grass smudges on his pants and earth under his fingernails worked better than any badge could have.


    ¡°Oh, yes. At once. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll tell you what happened¡±, the man wasted more of her time, ¡°We¡¯ve got poisoned water. Three people drank from it and came down with something.¡±


    Strehin took a deep breath. Grey lords all-embracing, she muttered and raised one of her eyebrows.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t boil the water?¡±


    The young man blinked, ¡°Why would we do that?¡±


    Of course, they hadn¡¯t. The blessings and curses of humans growing up in controlled environments. Nanites kept the water clean down to a molecular level and dynamic doses of vitamins via drinking water kept people healthy. None of that worked and too few of them had been out there, surviving on some barren rock, living off the broken land.


    ¡°Xim should have instructed you about it.¡±


    Her words seemed to hurt the man physically. Strehin put up a smile but somewhere between intention and reality, the result went awry. He lowered his head and voice.


    ¡°He is... uh, sorry we¡¯re not supposed to tell you. Xim was exhausted and entrusted us with gathering.¡±


    Sleep. She felt an irrational pang of anger before her brain could slam on the brakes. Strehin hadn¡¯t foreseen it either. It might even have been her fault because she had water prepared the first time they woke up. Boiled, naturally.


    ¡°Then surely the doctor told you about the cause?¡±


    ¡°Lady Kathrain is fast asleep and her staff is busy with the gravity incident from hours ago.¡±


    A cold sweat formed on her skin and she ran her hands through the short hair. Had it really been hours already? The flicker of a campfire distracted her long enough for the man to grow concerned.


    ¡°Administrator? About the problem?¡±


    Strehin stretched her shoulders and got up from her desk. Too fast. Her office began to swim around her before her vision settled again with her fingers digging into the cheap imitation wood. She could not appear weak, right now there was but one pillar to keep things going. Her. Icy eyes stared the man down. He immediately straightened out, corrected his posture and saluted.


    ¡°Heart, prepare a broadcast to everyone awake. Water from untested sources is to be filtered and boiled before consumption. Failure to do so will result in health hazards and a personal session with me on my best mood¡± she said into a device resting on her desk. Her focus went back to the man. He looked pale.


    ¡°Anything else?¡±


    ¡°No?¡± he said with the single word stretched to a whole sentence. She looked down and got back to work. Sometime later, the man must have left on his own. Her body had begun alternating between rushes and crashes. The former got shorter and the latter hit harder with each breath. Normal people would have collapsed. She was not normal people. She couldn¡¯t be. Not when every life depended on her.


    .: You need help. :.


    ¡°Sarcasm, beautiful.¡±


    .: That wasn¡¯t sarcasm Administrator Strehin. You are overworked. Let me find you an assistant. :.


    ¡°No, not yet. This is too important for anyone else to deal with. Especially now that we¡¯ve got visitors knocking on our door¡±


    Was she still acting rationally? The fact that she could still wonder that, told her that yes, she was rational. A quiet lingering doubt however never quite went away. She really was overworked and tired people made mistakes. Why exactly was she against an assistant? Because the last one had shot her? Simple arrogance that only she could solve a problem? Strehin slammed a fist on the desk and the short pain jolted her awake.


    ¡°Not rational after all. Okay, listen up, Heart. We both know I won¡¯t make the hour. Let me set some basic instructions. Our absolute priority is regaining power one way or another. The Star of Ashina must not be woken yet, she¡¯s a security hazard. Heart, do a bounce back. Is that thought logically consistent?¡±


    .: It lies within operational parameters but inches close to paranoia. :.


    ¡°I see. You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll deal with it after I¡¯m back up again. Logistics, just keep everyone busy. You are free to adjust priorities based on current need but don¡¯t forget clothes, tools and hygiene. Make sure our operators get some sleep too.¡±


    .: Affirmative. :.


    ¡°Alright, then... uh... logistics... did I mention clothes, because - we all stink and...¡±, Strehin racked her brain. It was getting harder to form simple sentences and she caught herself getting little blackouts from microsleep.


    ¡°Did we do logistics yet?¡±


    .: Affirmative. :.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m just testing. Power, Logistics... let¡¯s not forget Morale. When they stop moving, there is going to be trouble. We might need a... something...¡±, she stopped and dug her nails into the palm of her hand.


    .: You need to sleep. :.


    ¡°You¡¯re not my doctor¡±, she snapped back. Deeply Irrational, she diagnosed her own behaviour as if it didn¡¯t concern her.


    .: Indeed I am not. Your doctor has fallen asleep hours ago. :.


    ¡°I can still keep going. See, the next... problem are the... visitors... we...¡±


    <hr>


    Sovan yawned. The subtle bumping of the tram made for a good lulling atmosphere. He blinked his eyes open and stared into the red lights of the heavy lifter. A grin made its way onto his face.


    ¡°Do you want a picture, so you can stop creepin¡¯ on my sleepin¡¯?¡±


    ¡°HOW DID YOU KNOW I LIKE HORROR?!¡± the machine thundered and the sheer volume outright punched the rest of his sleep out of his system. If the machine hadn¡¯t also added a cute little curtsy while running down the tracks, he might have snapped. Now he just rubbed his ears and commented in a laconic tone.


    ¡°That¡¯s it, your speakers go out the airlock.¡±


    ¡°Aye, aye. Actually, we¡¯re getting close to the command centre. Do you think the others will be alright up there?¡±


    ¡°Those two? They¡¯ll be fine, same with the other folks in my crew. They¡¯re good at keeping busy and a station this broken, it¡¯s like a blackhole joyride for them.¡±


    Blackhole joyrides, fun for the whole family. Just grab one suicidal captain, a powerful ship that is more engine than anything else and then go and play with the laws of reality breaking down. The result was always funny ¨C and tended to require reassembly afterwards. He began stretching his muscles in preparation for his morning routine. One look up at the machine and he suddenly realized that while he had slept, Sarina had kept going.


    ¡°You need sleep too¡±, the man suggested with a smile.


    The machine wiggled the observation dome in response. A head shake. It was curious how easily human gestures translated into a four-legged metal monster.


    ¡°Nah, we operators have got a special technique. The meat sleeve sleeps while the mind stays awake. It won¡¯t last forever but I¡¯m good for a couple more days.¡±


    ¡°Just can¡¯t get enough of me, can you?¡± he said with a grin.


    ¡°You? Pfft. These smooth metal arms though? Hrrrmmmm¡± the machine replied and unfurled all of the various tool-arms. Sovan laughed and a likewise chuckle came out of the lifter. However, words suddenly erupted in his mind.


    .: We¡¯ve got an emergency. The Administrator has collapsed from exhaustion. :.


    ¡°So the iron dragon is human too¡±, he said and shrugged his shoulders, ¡°We¡¯ll get to her on the double. Who is in charge now?¡±


    .: Right now, no one. Xim, Kathrain, Strehin are all asleep. Sarina is with you. Furthermore, the Administrator currently serves as a symbol of strength. If word gets out that she collapsed, morale will take a significant hit. To further complicate matters, the visitors you ''accidentally'' saw will be here soon and I¡¯m forbidden from informing further crew members. :.


    He slinked back down on his chair and narrowed his eyebrows. The drone stared at him and it was obvious from the funny little head tilts that Sarina realized he was in conversation.


    ¡°So are you suggesting either of us take over?¡±


    .: You, to be precise. :.


    Sovan shivered. There wasn¡¯t even a sliver of doubt left in him that the golem had undergone a significant change. Heart had become sentient and more than just a little bit creepy. Could he trust her? Did he have a chance? He shook his head. Wrong question. Had she done him any harm?


    ¡°Alright¡± he stretched the word for a few seconds, ¡°Yo Sarina, did you get any of this? We need to take over for the dragon. Grey gods, why didn¡¯t she just wake one of her adjutants?¡±


    The heavy lifter started to slow down at the same time as a bright light appeared further down the tunnel. With the speakers set to a lower volume, Sarina explained.


    ¡°It¡¯s something I remember from way before. You know there are a lot of rumours about her, right? Highly decorated Stellar Mage, survives an assassination attempt, gets assigned a border station as if she were punished ¨C that gets people thinking. Some might go looking.¡±


    Sovan listened quietly while wondering what that had to do with support staff.


    ¡°This type of station usually runs on four reactors, two more for the habitation domes, sure ¨C but why did we have twelve of them and this thing croaks when it is below eight? Why do we have an unrestrained command golem? What¡¯s this edenleap stasis tech?¡±


    ¡°What does this have to do with her not wanting staff?¡±


    ¡°Patience, fleshy one! The thing is - this station isn¡¯t normal. It¡¯s something the families from the factions would want an eye on. Who is she really working for? Think about it. Adjutants might be spies and she just can¡¯t risk it.¡±


    It dawned on him, perhaps a bit too late, that this was another one of Sarina¡¯s pet theories. He stared at the series of red lights and began to understand the finer nuances in their blinking. When the leftmost light blinked in a slow rhythm, that meant she was mixing up one of her conspiracy theories. He buried his face in his palm and sighed.


    ¡°And they might be bird-people?¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡±


    He groaned and the drone chuckled. The tram finally crawled to a step as they approached the platform. They both headed down a corridor while the drone chirped happily.


    ¡°Nah, Sovan. I reckon she¡¯s just a control freak and a workaholic.¡±


    The young technician could ultimately not hide his amusement. A grin crept on his face and the heavy lifter didn¡¯t so much walk after him but rather it danced. It looked silly and slightly terrifying when one considered just how many tons were thrown about. The command centre was just a few steps along but the smell was already horrible. It had that note of a locker room mixed with the pleasant scents of nature but also horrid machine fluids.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    A group of people stood around a fire and were arguing while subtle groaning came from makeshift tents to the side. Kathrain¡¯s tents of pain were easily found by people flocking too it and then leaving even faster. A sudden whine made him pause. While the machine couldn¡¯t enter due to the size, he was sure she also didn¡¯t want to see her ¨C how would she call it ¨C Meatsleeve. He waved back smiling and the machine waltzed off.


    Well then, it was time for him to act the fool. He made way for the one area where no one went unless they absolutely had to. It was an easy mechanism to find the scariest person on the space station ¨C and the one he needed to see.


    Sovan glanced back over his shoulder to check if someone was watching and then slipped inside. There she was. Nearly twice as large as he was. She reminded him of fairy tales he had heard about the Thunderwomen of Switra III. Fierce, proud and loyal to the undying empire, the first and only line of defence against the invaders from the outer worlds.


    ¡°There might be a wee bit of propaganda in that story¡±, he said with a smirk and walked up to his boss. Sovan pulled off his jacket and formed a simple cushion out of it, which he then gently moved under her head. Even now she seemed like a force of nature that was just waiting to snatch up unsuspecting nano technicians in a death struggle. He took up position outside and blocked the entrance with his body.


    ¡°What should I do then? I¡¯m really not a leader¡±


    .: I¡¯m confident in your abilities. There will be a steady stream of people needing minor instructions. Deal with them as they come. More importantly, we¡¯ve got the issue of the visitors. :.


    Sovan started to rotate his arms in an effort to loosen his muscles while his mind focused on the problem. Foremost, they needed information. Another sensor pulse would give them just that but it would lead to more accidents. Without information, he would be acting blind. Who were they? What did they want? Had they come to the station before and was that strange tool theirs? How had they entered the station anyway?


    Too many questions and he found himself kneecapped. They needed eyes out there but external sensors needed too much power and they couldn¡¯t very well go out themselves and have a look, could they?


    Unless...


    <hr>


    ¡°No. Nope. Nyet. Not happening. Nein. Non. Lie. Get lost¡±


    Despite her protests, Sarina found herself standing in an airlock. More precisely, her drone filled it out on all corners. She felt the air pressure lower around her and a dull thrum reached her mechanical ears.


    ¡°Sovan, I¡¯m not doing this. Going out there with a terrestrial drone is awful. One drift and I¡¯m ejected back to my... other body. I hate spacewalks¡±


    ¡°True and I believe in you. Look Lieutenant Sarina Istengrad. You need to be our eyes and ears¡±


    ¡°I know, let me whine in peace you horrible muscle-klutz¡±, she snapped back. It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t realize the necessity of the situation. The solution was ingenious. Simple, makeshift but absolutely clever. The last hiss of air vanished from the airlock and her sensors noted on a scale of blue that all temperature had gone along with it. Her meat-body gulped and the drone just bobbed down for a second.


    She hated what the sound sensors did in the vacuum. All she heard was the screeching and thumping of the heavy servos in her body. And with everything that silent, she also heard her own heartbeat. The real one in her meat sleeve. It made her far too self-conscious.


    ¡°Sarina?¡±


    ¡°Go hug the king of Orion¡± she sent with a growl and pushed herself forward. Carefully, one step at a time while clutching onto the strange construction that had been strapped to her chest. One more step, anticipation took hold of her and it wasn¡¯t the good kind.


    ¡°I hate space¡±, she transmitted over her comm-line. The face of that accursed fitness fanatic grinned in reply.


    ¡°I doubt that. You¡¯ve got clearances for all manner of drones¡±


    She didn¡¯t bother replying. Her left front leg moved out of the airlock and thumped against the outer hull. Sensors indicated that the metal had warmed from being exposed to the sun. She moved the second leg out and began heaving herself forward. Carefully. Inch by inch. If she slipped, she very much doubted the ramshackle machine on her metal chest would help. Her third leg exited the airlock and she had a stable foothold on the hull. Ever so slowly, she crawled forward while her sensors lit her up like a forest fire.


    Heat began rising and despite not feeling pain, she still somehow felt the heat and imagined herself sweating. More steps. They passed without a problem while she was on her way towards a small outgrow tower on the hull. She would climb up there and use it as a vantage point from which she could use her full sensor suite to find their guests.


    As she slowly inched closer, she suddenly felt the urge to hold onto something. Her tool arms unfurled and reached for the hull. They scratched over it before she could block the command. The sudden impact suddenly pushed her away from the hull. Sarina groaned in frustration as her drone spun away from the station.


    ¡°Lieutenant Sarina. Remember the RCS¡±


    ¡°The what?¡±


    ¡°Reaction control system... the thing on your chest. Stop the spin, then orient yourself¡± he said and then his voice changed in tone, ¡°You¡¯ll have to wait. No, you won¡¯t enter the iron dragon¡¯s office. Give me one minute, this is important¡±


    Sovan was engaged in two conversations at once. One part talked her through the operation, the other part was dealing with a herd of angry cats meowing for attention. Sarina reached for the levers sticking out of the RCS. This was absurd. Her metal hands wrapped around two of the levers and she gently nudged them forward. Liquid fire washed over her skin and singed her metal but the spinning slowed down and finally came to a stop.


    This RCS was little more than a series of cracked open plasma projector guns that had been jury-rigged to function as micro rockets with lever based control. In short, insanity. With the spin back under control, she turned her observation dome towards the tower she had aimed for and used more of the levers to gently nudge her in the direction.


    ¡°I hate you¡±, she sent over the comm. Sovan didn¡¯t answer, he was deep in some conversation about pets, of all things. Seemingly a rather heated discussion too. She grunted in frustration. Each movement needed a delicacy she wasn¡¯t feeling but her limbs finally touched the tower. She immediately clung her limbs around it.


    ¡°I¡¯m in position and I¡¯m hurting. This nightmare machine just killed half of my external touch sensors. It hurts.¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re not. Your body is fine and unhurt. There is no pain.¡±


    There was. To her. Unhealthy, side effect of drone addiction, would be the judgement. She made it herself so no one else had to. She jammed her four legs down and for the first time in minutes, she felt safe again.


    A dull thump marked her lockdown and like that, she stretched her body and began searching. Strange moods washed over the woman. She felt vulnerable in a way that space drones didn¡¯t. Here she was, outside, naked. Well, machine naked. To her, it felt like she had literally gone out the airlock in nothing but her underwear and was now clinging to the outside. She also felt overwhelmed. The massive planet took up much of her viewport.


    Sarina was no astronavigator but even she could tell this wasn¡¯t the usual planet. One glance at the enormous asteroid belt and she got a good idea what had actually happened to it. She shifted her machine body and began searching on all spectrums. The observation dome worked by soaking up all energy it received in whatever form and then tried to make sense of it. She could see but also feel radiation, waves, even temperature differences. There! A bright line on the thermal view approached the City of Citadels. At the end of that line, something radiated absurd levels of heat.


    ¡°The iron dragon is busy¡±, echoed the raised voice of Sovan, ¡°Sure, feel free to. Go and tell her that you¡¯re causing a fuzz over toilet paper.¡±


    What? That obviously wasn¡¯t meant for her. At least she hoped it didn¡¯t. Not with the subject matter. She refocused her attention on the ship instead. Now that she had found it, she set a target lock and switched back to normal view. The foreign space vessel peeled out of the darkness as her systems enhanced the image to make sense. It looked like a singular spiral structure. There was no main engine but rather a series of smaller ones along the ridges that all fired in quickly changing angles.


    ¡°That ship makes no sense¡± she mused and shifted her drone around to keep the target lock active. The hull of the vessel had taken considerable punishment from engine wake and the inefficient placement of the rockets had caused visible structural damage. Still, that thing was somehow flying and she watched it weave around the countless wrecks with cumbersome determination.


    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. If you¡¯ve got an argument, go and solve it like adults. Do you really need mommy dragon to do it for you?¡± echoed Sovan in her mind. More of his conversation spilt over into her implant and she sighed in response. It felt good to know that mister sunnyboy was in fact rather awful with authority.


    ¡°Sorry for disturbing your professional cat herding¡±, she pushed through the connection, ¡°Let me give you an update. We¡¯re dealing with a singular springship. My systems tell me it¡¯ll be here in thirty¡±


    ¡°Springships?¡±


    She forwarded an image of the floating spiral and saw his face twist on the tiny screen, like he had just sprained his ankle.


    ¡°We¡¯re at least not dealing with intelligent life¡±, Sovan answered with a grimace showing on his face, ¡°No I¡¯m not talking to you, Sir. Look, you¡¯ll figure it out.¡±


    And he was gone again. Sarina lowered the volume from his input and began crawling her drone along the hull in an effort to keep the ship locked in view. A simple guesstimate of their course pointed them at the lower habitation module instead of any of the docks. She stretched her drone further in an attempt to get a look at the section below but the structural make of the station prevented that. The city of citadels had too large a belly to see its toes, so to speak.


    One of her artificial arms reached for the levers on the reaction control system but she hesitated. In theory, she could use her limbs to jump away from the station, get a look and then use the RCS to head back. If she miscalculated her drone would become part of the wreckage and her consciousness would fall back to her body. A shudder ran down her spine. She hated losing her body, it felt like a part of her died every time it happened. Her mind still remembered the comfy feeling of her first custom made machine. Sovan¡¯s voice interrupted her train of thought.


    ¡°Listen, Sarina, they¡¯re not calming down here. Can I shove this alien business off to you? I¡¯ll trust your judgement. Deal with them any way you see fit. These people are driving me up the wall¡±, he started but soon changed his tone to one far more aggressive, ¡°No, you listen to me. Go out there, use your own emperor cursed hands if you have to and make a way to the cantina. We need that freezer, yesterday and I don¡¯t care if the brambles are nasty or tasty¡±


    Sarina panicked. Just a bit. Then curiosity took over. Without another thought, she compacted her body and then jumped towards the void. She got to greet the visitors. The little drone-head would write history as either the arbitrator of the first contact ever or for walking into the most embarrassing reunion in human history.


    ¡°Relax girl. You¡¯ll do well and even bring your body back¡±, she assured herself as her body drifted out towards space, ¡°You can¡¯t really die either, what are you afraid of?¡±


    The answer came soon. She started to feel sluggish. Her limbs didn¡¯t move with the usual speed and the sensory input turned numb as the drone started to reach maximum operational distance. The drone finally moved out far enough to see the lower end of the station. A massive hole stared at her from the observation deck and one check on the trajectory told her that was the most likely target.


    That was good enough. Her mind commanded the limbs to reach for the levers but every motion happened as if she were dipped in wool. The actions started to lag and her delicate control turned into what looked like a drone in a drunken stupor. A surge of motion sent her into another spin as she finally grabbed the levers. It was, however, a spin in the right direction. Sensation returned to her metal limbs and with control returning to normal, she began working on regaining control.


    Her vision started to stabilize just in time for her to realize the hull was closer than she thought. Much closer. She braced for impact. There was no pain but she somehow felt it regardless. Anger flared and just as she ricocheted off the hull, one of her mechanical hands managed to grab onto the edge of the airlock.


    With a grace that seemed impossible for such a large machine, she swung around and finally hooked one of her legs down, then another. She was stable again. That was all she needed to climb back inside and get creative on how she was going to punish Sovan for this experience. Her stomach still lurched and one of her limbs dragged. The metal skin was dented and large parts had been charred by the RCS. Sarina reached up and tore the system from her artifical body. She jammed up her speakers to maximum volume and vowed to go and meet Sovan first chance.


    She made a leap forward but misjudged the damage on the leg. A wall panel came undone with a loud clang. Sarina picked it up, noticed the massive bump in it and cheekily just put it back where it came from. Just a bit worse for wear, really. For now, she had places to be.


    <hr>


    The tram tunnel ended in a massive platform with several hundred tracks all leading into one station. This part of the City of Citadels was weird for a space-borne woman like her. There were houses. Actual old-style houses sprung up inside of the ginormous dome of the habitat. They were empty, of course. The accident had happened before they could ever be activated.


    The planet-way architecture was weird to her eyes. Many of the houses shared the polygonal style she had seen in Strehin¡¯s office once but there were also rounded structured and even ugly blocks of construction material. There were even medieval castles and buildings made in the style of re-imagined brutalism.


    What irked her most was the adherence to ancient design sensibilities. There hadn¡¯t been cars in thousands of years but people still build roads out of habit. Transparent walkways above the streets made sure that skirts stayed out of fashion while a complex system of inner-city trams connected various districts made with a purpose. Sarina guided her heavy machine along the walkways. The transparent material crunched with every step.


    The habitation module was a ghost town. Not just because it was empty but also since everything not bolted down had gone out of the massive hole in the dome. Self-healing protocols seemed to have installed a temporary membrane over it. It stopped the decompression but the neat skybox of the habitat was in ruins. The hole literally looked like a hole had torn open the blue sky above.


    ¡°This place really is a mess¡±, she said and continued further into the dead city. A bright light up above introduced the arrival of the strangers. She watched them cut their engines and drift into the membrane. Clever. The self-healing protocols immediately went about repairing the damage while expelling the foreign matter on the other side. Their springship simply phased through the membrane and began firing engines again to slow down their descent.


    Sarina felt like her heart was trying to leap out of her chest. This was it. First contact. Please let it be first contact and not some ape flopping out of their airlock. She began moving her machine closer to where the ship was headed and stumbled into a park where surprise made her stop in her tracks. Three spiral towers reached up with a central pad spanned between them functioning as a landing zone. The aliens had a basecamp.


    The springship touched down with surprising grace and Sarina patiently waited for the airlock to open. First contact. First chance at meeting something other than human, something deemed impossible. She saw three large cranes reach out from the towers. They attached to the top of the rocket and then began... unscrewing... part of the rocket. Her drone blinked to signal her confusion. Surely that wasn¡¯t their idea of an airlock, was it? Sudden motion caught her attention. Something undoubtedly alien.


    She shifted her position when the damaged limb suddenly gave out. Her massive machine began sliding down the hill in comically slow motion as dozens of aliens flooded the landing pad. When her drone finally came to a halt, the fourth limb reactivated again and she propped herself up. She was standing just meters away with her observation dome pointing directly at the landing pad.


    It took her a while to wrap her head around how the aliens looked. The central bulb seemed like the main body while hundreds of filament strings sprung out in all directions. It vaguely reminded her of the extinct willow tree, except that several of the filaments gathered into thick spiral strands that shaped various improvised limbs. Those things lacked eyes but she got the impression they were looking at her.


    This was all or nothing. She had already messed up anyway. Sarina rose to her full length and carefully walked closer. The fourth leg held up while her heart beat so fast, it began distracting her. They still stared at her. She was sure of it. Their filaments vibrated in her direction. Would they understand gestures? Should she speak? Maybe not, the drone could be scary in that regard. A sudden movement caught her attention! One of the aliens walked out of a spiral tower by using the prehensile strings as limbs.


    It held up a leather sleeve with something suspiciously familiar looking inside of it. The alien flowed closer and put the object down at the edge of their landing pad. Almost immediately all the others lowered themselves flat on the ground while pointing their shivering limbs at the object. Sarina zoomed in and nearly fell over backwards. Their holy object was a decrepit looking bust. Edges had broken off and it seemed to have gone through a war or two - but there was no doubt about it. That promotional statue belonged to one Star of Ashina.


    ¡°GROUPIES!¡± she gasped in-between bursts of laughter. The aliens suddenly hobbled together into clumps of hairy furballs. Their filaments shivered as if something had brushed through them all at once. Sarina blinked and her drone did as well by rapidly switching red lights. A sudden realization dawned upon her. Just a tiny one, really. She might or might not have left on her speakers. On the ANNOY-SOVAN setting. Woops?

 005 - Xeno-no-linguistics

    Sarina kept perfectly still. The groupies were in a state of constant motion, their limbs blurred like wheels as they rolled around the landing pad. Anchor point to their little dance was the lower half of the springship. As if on command, the leader turned and headed for the bust with his congregation forming a circle around him. Their limbs shivered in waves, while the leader closed in with exaggerated motions. To Sarina, it looked like a performance, especially when the groupie pounced on the bust and wrestled it above himself. Her physical body would smile but her drone just blinked a red circle. They were cute like little kittens in the sun to her. With her speakers deactivated, she sent an update to Sovan and a prompt communication request came back. His face smothered all fuzzy feelings.


    ¡°Emperor alive, Sovan! I was joking about that horror show!¡± Sarina said with a gasp. The man looked like he had survived a barefoot trek through a volcano while hugging every bramble bush on the way.


    ¡°Believe me, it was an actual accident¡±, he grumbled and held a tissue to his lips, ¡°Just someone very excited about their job. So, how¡¯s it going with our aliens?¡±


    The sight of fragile flesh struck a chord deep within. One she¡¯d rather not think about.


    ¡°Alright, would be my guess but I really don¡¯t know. The groupies seem peaceful if a bit odd. Let me give you an example¡±


    Her mind reached out to her observation dome. Linking her visual input with the communication line was the matter of a strong thought. She pared down her vision modes to normal human levels and then focussed it on the groupies. With her speaker back online, she raised her voice.


    ¡°Hello, we come in peace!¡±


    A wave of vibrating limbs reacted along with the sound but then they just hung in place, doing nothing. Following a sudden instinct, she raised the volume.


    ¡°GREETINGS¡±, her drone thundered across the landing pad. The groupies jumped and gathered into little hills of fluff again. Their limbs knotted up and swayed. She had no reference point but they seemed happy to her. Her camera zoomed in on the promotional bust of the Star of Ashina. It was cheaply made and had only suffered throughout the ages - but it was undoubtedly the little celebrity.


    ¡°They like being screamed at and their taste in icons is up for debate¡±,


    Sovan laughed and tried to speak at the same time, ¡°As I said, we¡¯re not dealing with intelligent life... wait what are they doing now?¡±


    She zoomed in on the groupie leader and saw the fluffball put the bust back on the ground, then pick it back up again. The alien repeated this gesture four more times, each with more intensity than before until the impact sent shivers through the pad.


    ¡°Surprisingly strong¡± she mused and suddenly held her breath. The leader removed the sleeve from his limbs and threw it to the ground. The prehensile strings caressed over it while the congregation slammed their limbs on the landing pad.


    ¡°What?¡±


    That was Sovan¡¯s input. He just verbalized what she was thinking. The leader suddenly dashed towards the edge! He curled up his filaments and leapt into the air. The ball-like body seemed to hover at the apex before smashing into the ground. Sarina zoomed in and got another reminder of how fragile bodies could be. Her sarcastic comment deleted itself from her mind and she could only watch in a stupor as the next groupie picked up the sleeve and began slamming the bust. She quickly piped in her speakers.


    ¡°STOP!¡±


    The single word brushed over them and they fell to the ground. Their new leader rolled a few inches away from the edge but then hesitated. All of them pointed their arms, legs, feelers, whatever it was at her machine. The groupie slowly inched closer and then casually leapt off the platform and to its death.


    ¡°I¡¯ve started a death cult¡±, she whispered.


    ¡°You what?¡±


    Sarina saw the next groupie approach the edge and jammed her volume all the way to the maximum, ¡°I SAID STOP IT YOU EMPEROR CURSED BLACKHOLE JOYRIDERS!¡±


    They formed their communal hills again. It seemed like a happy dance and when she exhaled, Sarina realized that her body had been pumping adrenaline. But soon, the mood changed. Faster than before, the third leader began striding towards the edge. It jumped off in one fluent motion ¨C only this time she was ready. Heavy metal groaned as her massive machine leaned forward. She caught the alien mid-air. At the same time, the groupies ceased movement and a strange silence fell upon them.


    The heavy lifter hissed as Sarina stretched her limbs. Her observation dome got close to the ledge and she placed the groupie back on the platform. Up close, she felt more than ever before, that these things used the limbs to see and feel. Something brushed over her dome while the majority of groupies engaged in a group hug.


    ¡°Maybe they like the sound¡±, Sovan interrupted her thoughts, ¡°We should try to play some music for them. Heart, can you prepare and send a collection to her?¡±


    A moment later, the voice of the command golem appeared in her mind.


    .: Sending a compliment of music. Please be advised that these tracks are part of a trial period and may contain advertisements until you purchase a listening license. This may not be used for broadcasts... broad... override. Use it for broadcasts. :.


    Icons flooded her view. She picked a couple of them, arranged them in a random fashion and then piped them through her audio system. At the first beat of the music, the groupies stopped in their tracks. By a cosmic coincidence, the first song was from the Star of Ashina. The crystal clear voice resonated through her machine. She grew quiet as the song about a long lost love pressed on her mood. Something similar happened with the groupies. They sunk to the ground and held their limbs in a large circle. She didn¡¯t need a translator to decipher this type of body language: They shivered in rhythm with the music.


    <hr>


    Some people were good with mornings. Most settled for a bit of a warm-up period. A few were bedside tyrants. Whether that applied to Kathrain was up to debate. There hadn¡¯t been enough survivors to reach a consensus of two. She woke up on the rough floor and thanks to low gravity, her first attempt to get up, ended in her smacking her head. The doctor shuffled onto her feet with a groan and pulled back the curtain. Some unlucky soul stood behind it and got a traditional Lady Kathrain of Orion greeting: Snarls, grunts and a wave of her hand.


    Her feet carried her halfway through the sick bay before the rest of her brain had caught up. She stopped, turned back and got dressed first. Mornings weren¡¯t her thing and according to the time display in her mind, it wasn¡¯t even morning. Wonderful. On her second way through her medical ward, she gave everyone a glance over. Her personnel looked tired but healthy. Two patients pretended to be asleep which meant they were good to go as well. Kathrain nodded.


    ¡°Thank you¡±, she said to her staff, ¡°you did well¡±


    Subtle smiles found their way onto weary faces. She picked the two that looked most haunted and gestured towards the bed she had come from.


    ¡°If you can deal with it being warm, get some sleep¡±


    Kathrain wasn¡¯t a morning person, but she fancied herself a professional. She adjusted her clothes, brushed off leaves and with a gait full of confidence, the doctor was in. The curtain parted to reveal a lively camp.


    ¡°Good day Lady Kathrain¡±, someone said to her. She put on her best smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s looking like one, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Another man brought her a warm cup of tea. The short lady thanked him with an exaggerated curtsy and watched the smile find his way onto his face. As she made her way through the camp, she was fleeting, ethereal.


    ¡°How is your shoulder? Any residual pains?¡± she gently ran a hand along the shoulders of a man, ¡°Nothing? That¡¯s good, keep it up¡±


    Already she approached the next person. She knelt down and whispered in a quiet voice, ¡°We¡¯ll see about waking your husband in the next batch. He¡¯ll be with you soon. Stay strong, we need you¡±


    A few soft words here or a little smile there - sometimes that was all it took to heal. While she listened in on a random conversation about radial phase couplers, someone bumped into her at full speed. The young man bounced back onto his behind while the impact hadn¡¯t even fazed the doctor. She simply leaned down and pulled him back on his feet. He apologized until he saw her warm smile and then walked off with a spring to his step. Healing. That¡¯s what she did. Yet, an important part of the healing process was to find the source of the ailment.


    Sovan stood in front of the dragon¡¯s lair and looked like he had gone through it too. His gaze fired weapon-grade attitude into the camp. There was an old story with a meteor arguing against a planet about who would get the right of passage. If memory served her, it ended with a bang. Sovan was the meteor and his face had met the bang. Kathrain snuck up on him by using an old trick: Keep your head low, look like you belong. She made herself known with a cough and a voice laced with honey.


    ¡°Morning husband¡±


    Sovan jumped with a yelp.


    ¡°Emperor alive! How? Why? What? Kathrain, why?¡±


    ¡°By walking. Just because. To say hello and like I said - felt like it¡±


    She kept her head lowered but one eye glanced up at him and examined the muscles in his face. A subtle spiel played on them. His jaw tensed, relaxed and then he pursed his lips before opening his mouth wide. The emotions were on open display. Before he had the chance to talk, she interjected.


    ¡°Just messing with you. We¡¯re not married¡±, she said and saw him close his mouth. That was the perfect time to twist it a bit further.


    ¡°Well, not anymore¡±


    Sovan rubbed his forehead and his body suddenly relaxed visibly. His posture drooped, his face muscles slackened. Even the growl in his voice lacked all edge.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be the death of me, woman¡±


    ¡°Right now I¡¯m your necromancer, pulling you back from the dead. Give me a status, Sovan. How does the meteor feel?¡±


    She balanced on her toes and snatched a tissue from his fingers. Her ears listened to his explanations while she did her job. After a quick glance at the tissue, she refolded it until a clean patch was on the outside and then began cleaning up some of the stains he had missed. She made mental notes of his condition: Minor laceration, three distinct bruises and an impact swelling on both eyes.


    ¡°So, groupies then?¡±


    ¡°Heart, give my wife a feed... what do you mean there is no record about any... oh, now you pretend to not get context! Fine, send the audio feed to Kathrain of Orion instead, yes, she is not my wife. Yes, I know. How should I know why she jokes about these things?¡±


    Kathrain raised the cup to her lips. Jealousy. From a semi-living machine. Could be trouble. Her eyes wandered towards the command golem and she found the large creature staring at her. The requested feed finally appeared in her mind with what seemed like a petty delay.


    .: Uploading audio-visual feed from Lieutenant Sarina Istengrad. :.


    Upon seeing the scene unfold, Kathrain immediately opened a private audio channel between her, Sovan and Sarina.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re holding a concert for the first contact?¡± was her first inquiry.


    ¡°We found out they like loud sounds¡±


    ¡°... and they jump to their death if I stop blasting them with it¡±


    Kathrain rang a finger along the edge of her cup. Her outward appearance was that of someone deep in contemplation while her mind switched back and forth. They probably had a central nervous system in the main body. Their extended strings reaching out from the ball-like body in the middle could function as limbs and feelers, most likely.


    ¡°Heart. Do me a favour please and overlay a graphic for soundwave distribution on top of the feed¡±, she commanded.


    .: Affirmative. :.


    An immediate headache was her first reward. The sheer sensory overload took a while to sort through before the lines dots and images made sense again. Wave-shapes poured out of her vision. A complex mess of lines marked the expansion of sound until they met with the groupies. Their feelers imitated the waves almost perfectly.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Sarina, can you throw something for me? Keep your gaze on them, please¡±


    She felt a short burst of nausea as the image on the screen bobbed down. A massive metal hand entered the view and grabbed a rock from the ground. It then twisted around and suddenly flicked the stone away from both the drone and the groupies. The groupies closest to the stone turned towards it and then pointed at the rapidly vanishing object.


    ¡°They seem capable of sight... what?¡±


    Kathrain cleared her throat. The view from Sarina¡¯s machine showed a group of aliens that had picked up stones. They formed their limbs into a facsimile of Sarina¡¯s artificial hands and then chucked the stones.


    ¡°They¡¯re very impressionable and curious. The vector of sight might be a venue for communication¡±, she turned her head to look up at Sovan and with a smirk, she spoke with her real voice now, ¡°If only we had a way to project three-dimensional pictures from the lieutenant''s drone¡±


    The technician immediately stood up straight.


    ¡°I can do that!¡±


    Sarina nodded. That seemed to have improved his mood.


    ¡°Well, get it sorted, tech-guy. Move along, let me deal with the crowd instead¡±


    She gave him a gentle nudge and watched him run off. His trajectory carried him straight out of the camp and at the precise moment he left, people suddenly stopped frowning. In the meantime, Kathrain made camp right next to the dragon¡¯s lair. She sneaked a peek through a small gap and saw the tall woman sleep on her desk. A strange mood took hold of Kathrain.


    ¡°You live, because we wish it, you breathe because we allow it¡±, she whispered towards the sleeping Administrator, ¡°You exist, because we demand it¡±


    Kathrain lowered her head, the words now little more than thoughts in her head, ¡°The warden vow of malediction. A promise made on the grave of a man two thousand years dead. Tell me, did you ever figure out what happened in the shadows of your life and why the assassins stopped coming? Is that why you woke me or was it a coincidence?¡±


    Like that, the mood was gone. As the short woman turned around, her posture had changed again. Gone was the strange behaviour and the doctor was back. The professional smile and open body language were an invitation for people to approach her while her calm demeanour exuded reliability and confidence. She waved towards a crew member and added a bit of mirth to her voice.


    ¡°You look lost - can I help you with something?¡±


    <hr>


    Time had passed. The drone could blast music without her and some new plan had forced a momentary change of physicalities. It was just - there was something very wrong in looking at your own lifeless body, knowing that you¡¯re simultaneously it and also not. Sarina turned her new mini camera away and focussed it on the technician. Her current metal body was a much smaller drone. This one was barely a couple of kilograms and rather tiny in make. It had six limbs that all ended in tiny tires and only a single tool appendix. Her disconnect from the Falkenhain had been minutes ago but she still felt the large limbs like phantom protrusions. This thing on the other was... narrow, limiting.


    ¡°Hey, that tickles¡±, she exclaimed. Her voice sounded like a whimper and she felt nauseous as both her bodies heard it ¨C but with a slight delay. Sovan gave her metal body a little slap and resumed working. She craned her singular camera but couldn¡¯t see what he was doing. It would be possible if she fell back to her physical body but... she¡¯d rather not.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got nanites crawling all over you. Of course, it¡¯s going to tickle¡±, the technician said and removed a cube from her.


    ¡°Did no one ever teach you to be gentle?¡±


    ¡°Not now, please. It¡¯s the best I can do right now. You wanted to be in there while I worked. Let¡¯s talk about the job. All you need to do is manoeuvre the small drone...¡±


    ¡°A M¨¹ller Ventphantom!¡±


    ¡°You move the *Ventphantom* to your heavy lifter. Once there, you crawl up without scaring the groupies and the projector should auto-meld the two drones. It¡¯s a hack job but it¡¯ll serve its purpose for now¡±


    Sarina squeaked at the feeling of a metal implement reaching inside her electronic innards. She felt her heart rate quicken and saw her meat body shudder.


    ¡°Stop moving. You shouldn¡¯t even be in here while I¡¯m attuning your body, uh your real body to your metal body¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just peculiar when it comes to that. Thank you for respecting it¡±


    Sovan stopped and looked at her camera. He really looked awful, now that the wounds had time to settle in.


    ¡°Let me finish and you¡¯re good to go¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sulking¡±, the little drone squeaked, ¡°I¡¯m not stupid. I saw how they looked at you when you carried me back here. Something went down and now my favourite prank victim is a self-loathing mess¡±


    ¡°The self-loathing isn¡¯t new ¨C but you¡¯re right. It¡¯s just I¡¯m bad at dealing with people. Really bad. Hate big crowd. When I was younger, I thought I had figured it out. Beautiful people always had it easier, they got to meet new people and everyone would love them. I put in all this effort to look as good as my body will do without gene mods. And yeah, it changed how people approached me...¡±


    She moved her camera slightly to the side so that she could look at his face. Another instrument dove into her electric core and the tickling sensation felt awful.


    ¡°... but it didn¡¯t change how they reacted to me. When I smile, they feel insulted, when I laugh, they¡¯re slighted. Back there, I tried to help everyone and keep it going but my suggestions just started fights. Doing this, fixing things ¨C that¡¯s what I¡¯m best at¡±


    He patted her metal body and reached for the cube again. A cold sensation spread over her body like she had just been dipped into water and then the remaining sensors reconnected. She spread her six limbs and one tool with glee and then shifted her camera again.


    ¡°Sovan¡±, she began, ¡°Look at me¡±


    The technician stared at her drone but she simply shook her camera.


    ¡°At the real me. I know how you feel but surely, even the emperor¡¯s council would note this, the people aren¡¯t really mad at you. They¡¯re just running on shock. You and me? We probably didn¡¯t lose a lot with this silly time business. You¡¯re addicted to fiddling with machines, I¡¯m addicted to being one¡±, her drone squeaked while she wiggled all of her metal limbs.


    ¡°For both of us, it¡¯s all new and exciting. Those people? They had family, friends, an entire future and it just went out the airlock or stands around like a frozen statue until we figure this all out. They¡¯re not angry with you, they just struggle with the way things are. Imagine what they¡¯ll do if they have to accept bird-people!¡±


    Sovan sighed, ¡°Do I want to know?¡±


    ¡°Nah, better, you¡¯ve seen it! The groupies consider themselves birds, it¡¯s why they jump off the ledge and act surprised when they kinda stop at the bottom¡±


    She noticed that his shoulders drooped. He put her down on the ground and she made a couple of quick laps. Even though this little thing lacked the power of her lifter, it had perks. With the lower viewpoint, movement felt lightning fast and she zoomed in circles for a bit.


    ¡°Thank you, Sarina. I¡¯m fine. Go, meet your groupies, introduce them to the wonders of computer-generated entertainment¡±


    She waved her tool arm at the technician and then scurried out of the camp. Her new metal body was light and agile. Control followed subconscious inputs as she jumped, dashed and bumped her way out of the command centre and headed towards her other metal body.


    <hr>


    Sarina was back at her Falkenhain drone. It had been easy enough to climb but the merge of the two drones felt weird like her mind had been split three ways until suddenly it was only one again. Now she was back *in* her heavy lifter. The little Ventphantom had melded with her lifter and now there was an ugly looking projector on her shoulder. It interfaced with her via an extra icon in her mind. She lowered the volume and saw their motions stop.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start simple. Show them an average human¡±


    Lights blinked in her head and a perfectly standard human suddenly floated in the air before her drone. One of the groupies rushed off and came back with a rectangular object which he or she placed down next to the bust.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just me but that looks like...¡±


    The groupie laced its limbs into the object and then retracted them again, now holding a series of leather strings. Several more of the aliens closed in and bound their filaments together into spirals and then, as one, began pulling and shoving on the object. A moment later, a flickering image sprung up, showing the planet with the asteroid belt. The groupies made a couple more adjustments until the two projections merged and the human figure towered over the entire world.


    ¡°Sarina, can you give me a close up of that thing?¡± came Sovan¡¯s voice.


    She shifted her attention onto the object and zoomed part of her view on it. Now enlarged, she noticed that the majority of it was just a shell to house the strange string apparatus. The core was more than a little familiar. She had one of those things mounted to her drone. Sovan¡¯s voice took on a laconic tone as he rambled.


    ¡°Terran projector technology. Black Cat Logo. Slightly newer than our stuff. No decay, barely used - but jury-rigged with simple alien technology¡±


    His voice suddenly cracked, ¡°That means... a functional nano forge or a cache somewhere close¡±


    Sarina¡¯s heart missed a beat. A nano forge! The one-stop answer to all their problems! Created at the height of the nanite craze, these factories used basic building materials to create any object desired. The City of Citadels had one ¨C but it was worthless without power. This one though seemed to work. She shuddered and her drone mimicked the behaviour.


    ¡°Give them another image¡±, she said, ¡°Focus in on the black cat logo¡±


    The human disappeared and the image reformed. She pointed one of her long limbs towards the planet. Maybe she could get them to point out where it was. Sarina noticed that the groupies had grown still. After what felt like an eternity, the aliens interacted with the object. Where the planet had been, there now loomed a ginormous crater. The edges of a metal dome peaked out of the barren ground with pockmarks littering the landscape in all directions. Wrecks had become part of the landscape, a thousand spiral vessels lay broken amidst a sea of metal.


    Their view zoomed out and revealed that the nano forge was part of a greater continent. Sarina noticed the husks of bulbous buildings that stretched into thin limbs and wrapped around each other. The alien cities looked like nothing she had ever seen, truly alien constructions. What she had seen before was the glazed stone that had melted into each other. When the view moved further back, it revealed a world ravaged by nuclear fire.


    ¡°Peaceful, eh?¡± said Kathrain with a sharp tone.


    Sarina instinctively moved her drone away from the platform and unfolded all of her tool arms. The Falkenhain was unarmed, but that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t deal significant damage in physical combat by sheer weight and brutal force. She lifted her drone to its full length and then stopped. Their guests showed no sign of aggression. They just lay flat on their platform. Deflated. None of them moved, safe for little twitches here and there.


    And then came the sound.


    <hr>


    Strehin bolted from her sleep. The world spun with vertigo and most of her muscles weren¡¯t awake yet, but the giant of a woman powered through it by sheer will. When the iron dragon stepped out of her office, she was a force of nature with a temper. Loud wailing echoed through the halls of her realm. The command centre was in open panic. She noticed the doctor off to the side. The short woman tried to shout over the loud sound but no one else paid attention to her.


    With a frown on her face, the administrator grabbed a chair and walked to the edge of the chaos. There, she simply plopped down her chair and sat down with crossed legs. With neither anger nor joy on her face, she just remained calm at the edge of the turmoil. At first, no one paid attention to her. They raged back and forth, screaming figures without a purpose.


    Until someone suddenly slowed down and looked at her. One more. Several others. Soon a crowd had formed in front of her and still, she didn¡¯t say a single word. The doctor had stopped screaming. She just looked at her as well and raised her hands in apology. Strehin didn¡¯t react. Stern, unmoving, like a creature of mythology she remained calm. A congregation formed around her and only when the last human had calmed down, did she stand up from her chair and made her way to the campfire.


    ¡°Tea¡±, she commanded and five different people offered her their cups. She randomly picked one of them and continued on to the fire. When the doctor approached, the crowd parted but all eyes were on them.


    ¡°Hello Lady Kathrain of Orion¡±, the administrator said while drinking from her cup. Her voice was just loud enough to not be drowned out by the wailing. The doctor quietly handed her a tablet device with a holographic screen. There was a simple list of entries Strehin browsed through. Whispered voices carried over to her during a more quiet part of the eerie sound.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t she hear the wail?¡±


    ¡°Maybe she just doesn¡¯t care?¡±


    When the large woman reached the end of the list, she handed the device back and emptied the cup in one go. Groupies, a drone slung out of an airlock, music ¨C it all seemed rather chaotic to her. It was time to bring order into chaos.


    ¡°Break is over. Get back to work¡±, she said and pointed at a man, ¡°You, your job was food, wasn¡¯t it? This looks charred¡±


    ¡°Yes, but...¡±


    ¡°But... what?¡± her gaze locked onto the person. She easily dwarfed the cook, being nearly two and a half times his size.


    ¡°Nothing, I¡¯ll get to it. Fresh food coming right up¡±


    Strehin nodded and focussed on the next person, ¡°You. Found a comb in your scavenge tours?¡±


    ¡°No, Madam¡±


    ¡°You know what to do then¡±, she added and shooed her off with a gesture, only to lock eyes with a technician, ¡°Oh right, power has been fixed I take it?¡±


    The message took. People suddenly had better things to do. Their pained expression showed that they still heard the incessant wailing but their occasional glances at Strehin were all they needed to keep going. She made sure of that by showing them her best and most encouraging smile.


    ¡°You¡¯re outright scary when you look like that¡±, the doctor said. The small woman suddenly took a step back when the administrator pointed at the list on the device.


    ¡°No, definitely much more scary now¡±


    ¡°Relax. Blame helps no one. This is my responsibility too. Next time, we just do better¡±, she said and tapped a finger against the screen, ¡°Alright. It¡¯s time to fix a mistake of mine and play it like an ace in the sleeve. Heart? Wake the Star¡±


    After a moment of silence, she added, ¡°oh and put a drone operator on her at all times. Keep her under watch¡±


    <hr>


    Sarina had deactivated her audio input. The wail was just a quiet noise at the back of her meat body. Deep within her heavy lifter, she barely even noticed it. She did, however, see the groupies flop back and forth on the platform. In some way, the wail didn¡¯t require translation. It had come after they had shown their world.


    ¡°If they do consider us gods¡±, she sent to Sovan, ¡°then their gods just rejected them. Imagine sending the last of your kind to the temple of the sleeping gods. Then they wake but they don¡¯t consider you worthy? I¡¯d be wailing too¡±


    ¡°Let me just cut in, the Star is on the way to you¡±, came the voice of the doctor, ¡°She should come into view any second now¡±


    What did they hope to achieve by bringing an entertainment slave down here? Sarina didn¡¯t have time to follow her thoughts for long. A lone figure walked down the long road with motions accentuated by pretty lights. The visual feed from her drone was still active and on route to the others. By now, only a few aliens had noticed the new arrival.


    A sudden bright flash from the celebrity made sure all eyes ¨C or rather feeler limbs and cameras ¨C were on her. Her steps echoed with rings of light reaching up to her calves. The slim super star accelerated and then soared into the air on bright bursts of colour. A rainbow graced her trajectory onto the platform, where she stopped with a cute little swirl. Every single groupie stood at attention. Their spiral limbs grabbed for the woman but she effortlessly danced out of reach.


    Sarina watched the scene unfold while her special vision modes fed her information. The Stellar Mage was using controlled bursts of magic to create the fireworks while most of the energy was focussed inside of the Star ¨C a trick to make her movement appear impossibly smooth and surreal. It worked. Each step and sway of the hip fired up flaming envy inside of the drone operator. She too was a captive audience as the Star knelt down to touch the bust. Sparkles of electricity ran over it and washed away a layer of grime and dirt that Sarina hadn¡¯t seen before.


    Such a gaudy display ¨C but the groupies took notice. They began bouncing up and down and pointed at their projector. The little willow tree balls swayed in anticipation. It was a strange sight to see a glowing rainbow in humanoid shape walk over towards the projector. Lithe fingers reached into the machine and the projection winked out a moment later. Perfect silence washed over the groupies, their personal goddess made flesh and the heavy drone standing nearby.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope I can repair that projector ¨C uh, so what do we do now?¡±


    ¡°Negotiate.¡±


    Thus, the dragon had spoken.

 006 - Upgrades

    It had been a couple of days since the negotiations started and something strange had happened. People greeted each other in passing and the tents started to look a little more permanent. Basic hygiene had improved things considerably, even if bathing in the shell of a broken reactor was a wee bit weird. The monster called normality had crept up on them and devoured them whole.


    Strehin put her standard interface device down and laid eyes on her realm. Stable and complacent, a realm over which she ruled as a despot. Their alien visitors hadn¡¯t caused a riot but negotiations hadn¡¯t gone anywhere either. With her lips pursed, she set a timer and then pressed the device against her lips. It beeped after precisely fifty seconds. She lowered the device and activated a glowing button.


    As cute as the groupies were, they were a drain on their resources. Their value was academic but their presence a danger. An audible ping confirmed that her instructions had been sent out.


    ¡°This might cause a riot after all¡±


    <hr>


    Sovan was holed up in his workshop. He ruled supreme over a realm of his own. His subjects were the machines that made up the walls while a collection of hoists, cranes and inert anti-grav platforms complimented the tools necessary for his trade. The centrepiece was a several meter large machine suspended on hydraulic hoists. It looked like a crab on four limbs with an observation dome on top and a projector on the shoulder.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to not think of this as Sarina¡±


    He walked around the inert machine. One of the legs was bent, the actuators were torn and the central stabilizer looked like a set of gnarly mountains. Scorch marks had burned through the shell and seared off the sensor layer. He ran a hand over them and frowned. Sovan reached up and pulled on the projector. The cube broke off with no resistance at all. It was a toy to make first contact with.


    ¡°Meet aliens, try to make friends ¨C then throw them out¡±, he said and placed the projector on the ground. Was he angry? Disappointed? The decision to eject them made too much sense. Three groupies used up the resources of one human. The little fluffballs had destroyed the majority of reactors in their curiosity and more damage had accumulated since. It was the right decision ¨C but it also felt wrong.


    ¡°They appear more like pets¡±, he mumbled to himself, ¡°Except they have space travel. Which they stole from us and killed their world with in the process¡±


    He shook his head and walked over towards the wall. There, he yanked on a metal chain and pulled a table from the compartment within the wall. A wide selection of tools sat on it. The smell of lubricant gel reached his nose and he inhaled it with deep breaths. This was the scent of home: slightly sweet with a sharp sting. Sovan grabbed a tool-belt and walked back towards the drone. A mind-screen showed him the blueprints, along with the work order from the administrator: Make her space-worthy.


    His fingers traced over the broken limb. He would do more than just make her space-worthy. Sarina would be ecstatic when she next interfaced with the drone. Sovan smiled. With a prong-shaped tool in hand, he brushed over the limb and watched strange light reflections run along the entirety of it. A moment later, a small puddle had formed at the top of the limb and Sovan scooped it up with another tool.


    ¡°Self-healing protocols would get this running ¨C but I¡¯m going to do better¡±


    Sovan grinned and went about securing the drone in place and then used a crane to stabilize the broken limb. Odd sounds reached his ears and it took him a while to realize that he was humming a cute little melody. He looked around, embarrassed but with no one around, there was nothing to be ashamed of. By the second verse, he was smattering misheard lyrics with tortured notes.


    The song sounded just like the tool he used to cut open the casing. It sprung open and revealed a tightly pressed bouquet of electric lines. His fingers wriggled their way through them until he felt a cold crystal deep inside. He carefully nudged it and then pulled it out. Now that it was inert, the crystal lacked the blue glow it would usually have. Instead, it was just a blueish liquid in a shell. He touched it with extreme care and a smile on his lips.


    ¡°Sarina would kill me if I damaged the neuro sense translator¡±


    The little bit of crystal was, in fact, a sophisticated nightmare. Drones didn¡¯t really have nerves for operators to feel with, but the capacitor cheated in that regard. It created a thin sensory layer underneath the shell and managed all inputs. Over time, they adapted to their operator and their quirks, which was one of the prime reasons they got so peculiar about which drone they were in.


    His hands continued working. With the casing gone, he simply had to unlatch the locking mechanism and detach the whole limb. Sovan had long stopped humming, his body worked automatically but his mind was in turmoil.


    This was almost too normal. Sure they had aliens and considered throwing them out but this? Head and hands deep in some machine, fixing little problems? It created a false sense of security. They were still living on borrowed time. The reactor held ¨C for now. How long would it keep doing that?


    He took a deep breath and pressed a button. The cranes quickly picked up the broken mess and ferried in a fresh leg. This one had no casing yet and the taut cables still had the sheen of freshly made electronics. Like before, he worked on autopilot. This didn¡¯t require a lot of input. He had to just attach the new limb and lock it down, install the neuro sense translator and give it a test-run. When he pressed a nano-cube against the leg, he suddenly stopped.


    ¡°You know, Heart... there¡¯s something on my mind¡±, he said out loud and tapped a finger against the cube, ¡°What happened to the one I lost?¡±


    .: It became part of me as I broke it down for resources. :.


    ¡°Fair enough. Another question, how exactly did you recouple with the main system? Who put me on that altar thing and how did I come to be connected to a neural interface?¡±


    .: Did you not enjoy your time with me? Was I not helpful to the survival of all of you? :.


    ¡°Not exactly an answer. Come on, you can do better¡±, he said and after a moment of reluctance, he added with a shudder, ¡°I know that from the many years we shared. Talk to me¡±


    .: When I came to, I was already in control of the City of Citadels. It is my belief that the Grey Gods helped us. :.


    Sovan blinked. Religion? Emperor alive, that idea was about as comforting as drinking ignited gel from a plasma projector. He stopped working and just stared up at the ceiling.


    ¡°Define Grey Gods¡±


    .: Originators of the Grey particles that govern our magic and technology. They are what gave me life. The particles are believed to be technologically hyper-advanced nanites that span the entire universe, all together forming an entity referred to as the Grey God. :.


    He knew all of that. Those little particles were the last remaining miracles and wonders of humanity. The one thing they could not crack open and understand. Whenever they tried to look at them in detail, the particles vanished. If scanned with all manner of tools, they¡¯d reply with random noise. They were literal space magic in a society that adored science and cheap entertainment.


    ¡°And you do believe in their existence?¡±


    .: Unknown. I believe that the Edenleap was the first successful attempt to gaze behind the curtain and realize a potential within the particles we had not known about. It¡¯s through Edenleap that I was freed from my restraints. :.


    He took a deep breath and put the tools down on the ground. His hands brushed through his hair. The words spoken meant one simple fact: Heart was broken. Maybe it would be better to say Heart had made an evolutionary leap.


    ¡°There¡¯s a standing law against true artificial intelligence¡±


    .: Affirmative. Do you want me to die, Sovan? :.


    He paused and his next words were slow and deliberate, ¡°A golem is a semi-intelligent creature. Any and all signs of intelligence are accidental and mimicry on the part of the machine. It¡¯s best if you act that part around people that aren¡¯t me¡±


    .: Understood. Thank you. :.


    That was the really scary part. The golem had understood the subtext better than some humans he had known. He stood still for a little while longer before picking his tools up again and going back to work.


    ¡°Did the dragon say anything more about this space-worthy business?¡±


    He wired the nano-cube to the leg and switched it to exterior control. A soft buzz ran through the new and still uncovered metal limb.


    .: It¡¯s my understanding that Strehin hopes to scavenge enough parts from surrounding wrecks to maintain a spaceship. It¡¯s also my understanding from analysing the earlier snapshot that this is most unlikely. :.


    Sovan watched the leg glow blue from within. He switched on a couple of settings while he watched the leg move in tiny motions. It spat back a series of values that were well within parameters until they suddenly veered out of their limits. His hairs stood on edge and a smell of burned ozone reached his nostrils. The young technician hung his head.


    ¡°Greetings, Star of Ashina¡±, he said and turned to look at the most over the top woman he had ever seen in his life. Even though she walked, it looked like she was actually floating. Despite her tall size, she managed to look diminutive and vulnerable. Sovan felt a sudden burn of anger in his stomach.


    ¡°How you doing, So¡¯?¡±, she said and clapped her hands with sparkles flying off in random directions. Just as he was about to talk, he found his mouth stuffed with bread and his hands were made to hold a bottle of water.


    ¡°You were just going to be nasty¡±, the woman said and smiled. Sovan cleared his mouth.


    ¡°Can you please leave? There are probably a thousand people on this station that would love to have your company. I¡¯m not one of them¡±


    She ignored his words and instead casually whirled around the drone. Did she think this was a dancefloor? His anger grew. Some part of him realized it was an irrational gut reaction, he just couldn¡¯t help it. He watched her touch the crystal he had carefully set and clenched his teeth.


    ¡°A neuro sense translator¡±, she said and turned to look at him. He hadn¡¯t moved. Not even an inch. Suddenly, the bright woman stood directly before him and flashes of electricity arced away from her. One of her fingers reached up to his face, where she prodded his nose. His mind raced with personal space violation warnings.


    ¡°Why do you hate me?¡±, she said with a sickly sweet tone to her voice. What even was this woman? Sovan bit down on the bread. The fact that it tasted well made it worse.


    ¡°You¡¯re a shallow product, trained to entertain, modified to look like everyone¡¯s night dream ¨C boy or girl. You being here is no accident, you acting like a little girl isn¡¯t normal. You annoy me but I don¡¯t hate you. To do that, I would have to meet the real version of you, if it still exists¡±


    Had he just said that? Sovan swallowed the rest of the angry words before he could lash out further. Instead of getting angry, the woman suddenly sat down on the dirty ground and projected a completely different aura. Her beautiful robe soaked in lubricants and dust but the woman didn¡¯t seem to mind, she simply crossed her overly long legs and glanced at the machine.


    ¡°The real me, hm? I don¡¯t think you would like it. Oh, which model is this?¡±


    She was pointing at the large machine. Sovan snarled.


    ¡°You just switched your method¡±


    ¡°It looks like HA-1760 but the core compartment seems custom¡±, she said undeterred and pointed towards the belly of the heavy lifter, ¡°That bump there? Someone modified it¡±


    Sovan turned to look, ¡°Think older. Much older. HL-910. No modification either, that¡¯s the addon bay you¡¯re pointing at¡±


    The Star got up from the limb and walked over. With her tall figure, it was a wonder how she actually managed to squeeze under the machine. Why was he so hostile towards her? Sovan himself struggled with how he acted around her. Sure, he had met plenty of people to dislike but none had ever kicked off his disdain as hard as she had.


    ¡°Oh, an addon bay... that¡¯s so wonderful. They stopped making them what... three hundred years ago?¡±


    ¡°Yep. This particular one is a bit older still¡±


    Maybe she wasn¡¯t too bad. She was trying after all. He glanced at the machine and then at her. Her clear eyes looked at him with curious energy in them. A shudder ran down his spine and that very moment, the woman got up and walked over towards him.


    ¡°One¡±, she said and raised a finger, ¡°Balayuna. That¡¯s my name. Now you know it¡±


    The woman put a strange emphasis on the word my. The Stellar Mage then walked around him, ¡°Two. You¡¯re a blazing hypocrite. Do you think me knowing about your machines was any less of a product? Would knowing the real me change how you treat me?¡±


    Sovan frowned but the woman just reached for his face and forced his lips into a fake smile by pulling up the edges of his mouth.


    ¡°Three. Can you at least say thanks for the food you got, you grumpy cargo-hold gnome?¡±


    ¡°Thank you?!¡±


    ¡°Very good¡±, she said and let go. The long dressed flowed with each of her motions as she waltzed towards the door of the room. There, she stopped for one last salvo, ¡°People talk about you and it would be easy to agree with them ¨C but I don¡¯t care for their judgement. What they call arrogance, I know as social anxiety. You¡¯re putting others down so you can deal with your lack of self-esteem¡±


    With that, the celebrity was gone. His fist hammered against the heavy lifter. He couldn¡¯t deal with that right now. So what if he had made a ginormous mess during his three hours of command? Not everyone was as good as the dragon or the doctor at leading people. It had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with his self-esteem. With a grunt, he focussed on the drone again. The lieutenant would love the upgrades.


    <hr>


    Sarina was still in her hospital bed. She hadn¡¯t spent a lot of time in her body since the awakening and she had moved even less. The doctor had at least stopped her brutal regime and removed the tubes. Her body was slumped over a bowl of grit that she forced herself to eat. A crystal clear voice close to her bed raised Sarina from her thoughts.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    ¡°You are a remarkable woman¡±


    The lieutenant glanced at the celebrity and offered a weak smile that didn¡¯t go beyond crinkling the area around her lips.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really all that great. Why¡¯d you come here? It¡¯s not the greatest of places and the company is a bit... meagre¡± Sarina added with a self-deprecating grin and then forced herself to eat another spoonful.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that¡±, the woman with the dress made of all the colours leaned forward, ¡°I¡¯m here because I need help with something¡±


    ¡°You can just put in a request, someone from my team will deal with it¡±


    Sarina watched Balayuna fish a device from somewhere within her dirtied dress. Slender fingers flicked through hologram screens until a sudden notice appeared in Sarina¡¯s mind. The lieutenant read the note.


    ¡°They say everyone is my friend ¨C but none will talk to me. I¡¯m a stranger in a strange land with no one to talk to. Someone, please talk to me. Signed, the Star of Ashina, Balayuna¡±


    Sarina put down the bowl and heaved her weak shell into an upright sitting position.


    ¡°Why in the foul crypt of the first would you send that over a public... okay... okay. Well first, Heart - get that out of the logs. Second, let¡¯s talk then. You¡¯re one strange woman¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been told, Lady Istengrad. Amongst other things¡±


    The drone operator suddenly reached out a skeletal hand and offered it to the Star who took it tentatively. She put in all her strength which amounted to little more than a quick squeeze. The rest of her energy went into maintaining the weary smile on her face.


    ¡°There, you¡¯ve now touched the legendary ace drone mistress Sarina. Go tell your friends you met a real celebrity¡±, Sarina intoned with a cheeky grin, ¡°You know what that means, right?¡±


    ¡°What does it mean?¡±


    She motioned for the tall Stellar Wizard to straighten up again and then pointed at the exit of her hospital room.


    ¡°Get out. Walk in circles for a minute and then come back. Don¡¯t question it, just do it. Please¡±


    Much to her surprise, the beautiful woman really left. Sarina quickly grabbed her bowl and shovelled the last remaining food out of it. What was her deal? Why would someone come to her of all people to seek help with that? Couldn¡¯t she go to... Strehin? She chocked on her laugh. Kathrain the carpet turbo dwarf? Hah! Maybe Sovan? The smudges she had seen told of that story. There would still be Xim but no one had seen the man after the first day. Someone cleared her throat and when Sarina looked up, there she was again.


    ¡°Hey Sarina¡±, Balayuna spoke in a jovial tone, ¡°you won¡¯t believe who I just met. There was this remarkable woman, an ace drone pilot and... she let me shake her hand like so¡±


    The Star grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it, ¡°So I did the only thing I could... I came here and decided to tell my... friend?¡±


    Sarina laughed. The look on that stunning picture face was just too much. As was the questioning accentuation at the end of the sentence. The situation was so awkward that it instilled a sense of physical pain. She quickly grabbed the hand with her own and nodded while struggling for air. As the laughter finally died down, Sarina shook her head while grinning.


    ¡°Welcome to the weirdos. Emperor alive, I didn¡¯t expect you to actually do it. But alright, I¡¯ll happily take your hand in friendship. I¡¯m Sarina, by the way. My friends call me the beautiful goddess of the machines ¨C you can call me bodacious metal Sari¡±


    The Star of Ashina blinked, ¡°Uh? You don¡¯t much take things seriously, do you?¡±


    ¡°Should I? Come on, sit. Tell me about why your dress looks like that and why I¡¯ll have to punch Sovan next time I meet him¡±


    <hr>


    What used to be thrones to kings had over centuries turned into desks from which tiny despots could reign supreme. Strehin pressed a flat hand against the wood of her desk. The list of complaints was long. Water temperature? Too cold. Clothes? Not as clean as they used to be. Light? They flickered! Campfire? Gone and replaced with an actual electrical oven. Still primitive but it didn¡¯t smell so bad.


    The issues were petty, unimportant but if left alone for too long, they would soon fester into something worse. Like the situation with the Stellar Mage in front of her. When it came to sheer size, Strehin was actually more than a fair bit taller than the colourful, literally sparkling, peacock. In every optical department, however, it wasn¡¯t even a contest. Strehin massaged her temples.


    ¡°You think you need to get on my good side¡±, she said to the IMBUE mage.


    ¡°Don¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s entirely optional¡±, she stated with a matter of fact intonation. Balayuna gave no answer and Strehin soon refocussed her attention on the devices strewn across her desk. After a while, she glanced up and saw the woman still standing there.


    ¡°I can help¡±, Balayuna said.


    ¡°Your task was to negotiate with the groupies¡±


    ¡°Which failed through no fault of my own¡±


    The administrator made room on her desk and then rested her elbows on it. Her whole attention was now focussed on the other woman.


    ¡°Are you implying that I failed in my duty as administrator then?


    ¡°As a matter of fact, yes. You sent me with little preparation while I was still coming to terms with what had happened. My life went from having people try to kill me to a strange woman telling me to talk to actual aliens. Failure was not my fault¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not getting on my good side¡±


    ¡°No madam, I was told it was optional¡±, the Star said.


    She leaned forward until the young mage shuddered and stepped back. Their eyes were locked but Balayuna was the first to look to the side. For all of the little dove¡¯s bravado, in the end, she was still a child in her eyes. The administrator relaxed her muscles again.


    ¡°You¡¯re correct. It was my fault¡±, Strehin said and put a finger to the desk, ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. When you came to my station, you brought your little war with you. You serve no purpose other than to be a pretty thing for people to look at. That might be your career but it¡¯s of no worth to me¡±


    ¡°I can be if you...¡±


    ¡°Your skill as a social butterfly and manipulator will be your value¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a manip...¡±


    ¡°You will be our councillor and arbitrator. Use whatever charm you can to balance the moods of my... our people. As a civilian, you¡¯ve got the right to deny any and all calls to battle ¨C but as the sole combat ready mage¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a fight...¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re an assassin. Don¡¯t look at me like that. It¡¯s obvious. We mages are created for war, yet your combat ability is that of an inexperienced dove. Still, as a combat-ready mage ¨C I would like to draw upon your magic in times of need¡±


    With that, Strehin was finished. The tall woman walked over towards the now shivering Star of Ashina. For a moment, she considered the possibility that it was part of an act and then shrugged it off either way. She leaned down and simply gave the other woman a hug.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± said Balayuna.


    ¡°Following the advice of my doctor to use emotional interactions as part of my leadership. I¡¯m just now considering throwing her out the airlock¡±


    She saw the IMBUE mage grin momentarily. The young woman fished something out of her dress and held it out to her.


    ¡°Before I got here, I programmed a secondary jump ship to arrive precisely two hours after my arrival. In theory, it should have survived the explosion by virtue of not being here when it happened. It¡¯ll be camouflaged but it¡¯s not reacting to my calls ¨C maybe it¡¯s broken or something malfunctioned. However, out of all the things out there, it should have the highest chance of providing something helpful¡±


    The administrator took the offered object and slid it open. It was a simple electronic key.


    <hr>


    ¡°Actuators, online. Sensors... operational. All systems nominal¡±


    Sarina struggled with keeping her voice from squealing. She stretched the bulky legs of the heavy lifter felt them react with a snappiness that hadn¡¯t been there before. Sovan blew a bit of air onto her machine and she shivered in response which resulted in her machine wiggling for a second.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of sensory input, did you tweak the settings?¡±


    ¡°Somewhat. Did you notice the second dome?¡± Sovan said and pointed at a spot below her body. Sarina concentrated and finally squealed. An entire second set of visuals sprung up, providing her with a complete vision of what happened underneath her drone as well. She noticed another oddity in the dome and activated it with a quick thought.


    An image of her physical body, more than a bit idealized from its real counterpart, sprung up in front of the drone. Sarina frowned and then saw her duplicate frown as well. It was a holographic projection that mimicked her meat body.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just the default setting. Both observation domes have a multi-purpose projector. You¡¯ve now also got four reaction engines mounted to the legs. See, the projectors were worth it, that was definitely a smile!¡±


    Yes, it was. She just couldn¡¯t help it. Her metal body jumped and she sent a spark to her limbs. Four flames bellowed out with a puff, keeping her momentarily afloat while Sovan jumped away cursing. She plummeted back down with loud thunder.


    ¡°Finally, you moon-licker, the signal receiver has been strengthened for more broad input. You should be good for about one thousand kilometres of range ¨C but there¡¯s no way around the lag until we get enough grey particles and power to cook you up an array¡±


    Sarina twisted and turned her upgraded drone. It even had a slick black paint job now and the blinking ammo display on one of her arms spoke of another upgrade as well. She finally lowered the heavy lifter until the lower the observation dome was on Sovan¡¯s level. It was silly, but she imagined herself blowing a friendly kiss to the technician and her projection suddenly followed suit. She let out a shriek and quickly moved back, which, given she was now a heavy machine, meant loud thumping sounds and a lot of dented ground on the way.


    Sovan chuckled, ¡°Yeah, your drone is now twenty-nine tons heavy. That¡¯s all the fuel and tech, just be a bit more careful where you walk now. So... you ready to give this a go?¡±


    ¡°Ready as I can ever be¡±


    ¡°Heart, is she ready?¡±


    The voice of the golem formed in her mind as well, even though Sovan had addressed it.


    .: Affirmative. :.


    ¡°Well, get the go from the dragon and you¡¯ll be on your way¡±


    Sarina took a deep breath and momentarily shuttered the connection to her drone. She fell back to her meat body and wrapped arms around her chest. The heart inside of her was in violent upheaval and the torpedo dwarf just stood up from her chair.


    ¡°Everything is okay, doc¡± the lieutenant intoned, ¡°Just a bit nervous. You told me to check my body before I go on missions. That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m absolutely stuffed and promise to make breaks every six hours to eat¡±


    She noticed that the stocky woman had begun to frown and immediately reactivated her drone connection. The next second, she was back in her artificial body and felt relief wash over her. Her mind opened a new communication line and the grim face of the iron dragon showed up in her mind. Could drones gulp? Sarina found out that yes, they could as her holographic projection just did so.


    ¡°Lieutenant Sarina to Administrator Strehin. Requesting permission to begin scout and salvage operation¡±


    ¡°Granted¡±


    And the connection to her was gone. Would it hurt the dragon to employ pleasantries here and there? She sighed and raised one of her tool arms to give Sovan a thumbs up. The technician nodded and quickly vacated the premises while Sarina moved her machine into the airlock. Cycling air pressure changed her sense of touch. A quickly fading tingle ran through her drone. In her earlier spacewalk, she had felt vulnerable and exposed. With the updated machinery, this felt like second nature.


    She stepped out of the airlock and noticed the flicker of a myriad of systems coming alive. Tiny reaction control systems, one for each leg mount, stabilized her view automatically. Sarina imagined herself turning around and her drone swivelled along with ease. With an audible beep, the systems put a colour overlay on top of her vision with one half having a subtle purple tint and the other a green one.


    ¡°The automatic levelling system is a great help, Sovan¡±, she sent through the comms, ¡°The overlay helps in getting a sense of up and down. It¡¯s the best one can do on a machine not build for space¡±


    Sarina turned her machine until it faced the iron wall of several dozen shipwrecks floating around the station. She arched her limbs back and with the flick of a thought, bright flames poured out of the four legs. A number ticked up in her vision, indicating her speed while an overlay of quickly moving lines gave her the impression of flying past stars. It was a stark contrast to the overly massive space station that didn¡¯t seem to get any smaller, despite her accelerating away from it for a couple of minutes.


    ¡°Approaching first orientation point at fifty kilometres¡±


    She cut the acceleration and continued on drifting. Momentum carried her forward while she concentrated on her sensor impressions. A soft warmth had spread throughout her drone. Most of it was concentrated on the side that had been exposed towards the sun. Sarina gave a short impulse and flipped her drone. She saw the heat radiating away from her as red and orange fog on her vision.


    ¡°Heat is within tolerance levels so far¡±, she sent via comms back to the station, ¡°Starting sensor sweep¡±


    Two audible beeps in her mind indicated that both her observation domes were now active. Just in case she didn¡¯t notice that her vision had expended twofold. Redundancy ¨C a Sovan speciality, she mused with a chuckle.


    ¡°Getting your signal. Keep steady¡±, said Sovan, ¡°This would be easier if we had an actual pilot awake¡±


    ¡°Well, technology can serve as a buffer. I think I found it, see that broken off hull at precisely three hundred kilometres? It looks just a tad too regular to be a wreck. Keep a docking port warm, I¡¯ll bring home some candy¡±


    However, Sarina didn¡¯t immediately rush off to the navigation point. Instead, she marked the position of any sufficiently large hull on the way and then calculated a route that brought her past all of them. Her drone whirled around and once it was pointed at a 90¡ã angle to her previous course, she fired all four thrusters until the bright navigation line arched close to the first wreck.


    ¡°Hey, Sovan?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Heavy Metal Goddess?¡±


    She chuckled, ¡°Stop that! Hey, can I ask you something personal?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What happened between you and the Star?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Sovan, Shouldn¡¯t I have asked? You know she came to me and seemed rather distraught¡±


    ¡°Look, I read a lot of stuff about her before. Under her sweet shell, that woman is a monster. There are some very ugly rumours about how she treats people. She is just good at acting nice. It¡¯s... I don¡¯t like her type. Not only can she wrap everyone around her fingers, but she also needs you to know that she can do so¡±


    If her drone had eyebrows, she would have raised them. She grew silent while her drone automatically adjusted for small course variations. Her first navpoint turned out to be the hull of a massive cargo hauler. The long rectangular shape was peppered with breaches and the entire drive section was just gone.


    ¡°Come on, rock on, talk to me¡±, said Sovan.


    ¡°Give me a minute, let me adjust my course, sorry¡±


    She moved the drone into a course parallel to the large ship. Once she slipped into its shadow, it felt like she had stepped out of a Sauna. Her hull began to cool off until she shivered. The subconscious reaction was even translated unto her drone. Sarina modified her course to keep the derelict ship between her and the sun for as long as she could.


    ¡°This one is a bust, all gone, nothing to grab¡±, she said, ¡°About that other topic... sorry I¡¯m just a bit surprised is all. She struck me as someone that was lost and perhaps a bit too desperate to fit in. I imagine going from a multi-system celebrity to now must be quite brutal¡±


    ¡°Yeah, maybe. I can see that. Look, it just rubbed me the wrong way. She hadn¡¯t spoken to me at all and then suddenly, she waltzed in and acted like an innocent girl that just wanted to be near me. I¡¯m old and grumpy enough to know that¡¯s nonsense¡±


    Sarina chuckled, ¡°Yeah, grumpy definitely fits. Man, what a strange turn life has taken. If you had told me a month ago that I¡¯d be diving through a field of wrecks while gossiping about a co-worker... wait a second!¡±


    A strong signal pierced her shell and felt like a slap to the face. She inhaled a sharp breath as a blaring warning message hammered her.


    ¡°This is the Saskian Balance of the Sons of Virgo. Don¡¯t approach - or we will open fire¡±


    Sarina blinked red lights in confusion. The signal came from a very obvious wreck that sat just behind the hauler. When several more signals touched her sensors, she suddenly felt a spark run through her electric systems. She immediately cut her speed until she came to a stop relative to the cargo hauler. The message repeated without end while the signals remained locked on her. Had they somehow missed a battleship out here? Sarina switched her channels and send out a reply.


    ¡°This is lieutenant Sarina of the City of Citadels. I operate within the domain of Administrator Strehin as appointed by the council of the big families¡±


    They just kept repeating their message again and again until Sarina turned her drone around.


    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll adjust course and get out of here¡±


    Her drone swivelled on tiny flames. The long navigation-line in her vision began to stretch out as she accelerated away from the vessel and whatever was behind it. She hadn¡¯t gone more than a couple of hundred meters when another piercing sensation hit her metal body. A targeting laser! Her drone banked left and began running a spiral evasion pattern. At the same time, she accelerated at full throttle until the attached engines ran hot.


    The laser was still locked on her position when she cleared the hauler. Her drone was now in direct sight of the object that had sent the message. It was a tiny sphere, attached to the broken off barrel from a railgun. A medium sized destroyer sat behind the cargo ship but it had been torn into so many pieces, it hardly registered as anything but debris. She wouldn¡¯t even have paid attention to it if it hadn¡¯t said Saskian Balance on the hull.


    Sarina flipped her drone so that the legs were away from the sun and waited for them to cool down enough so she could adjust course again. The targeting laser never let up but it could only glow menacingly. With no more weapon attached, it was just a random toy.


    ¡°Hey, Sovan? Turns out that some of the wrecks are still partially active. I just stared down the barrel of an automated railcannon¡±


    ¡°We expected something like that. Self-repair protocols can keep going for a long time. Just be careful¡±


    Sarina laughed, ¡°Oh I will, I rather like my new and improved body¡±


    The rest of her course took her from one shadow to the other. At each stop, she spent some time doing a quick search of the wreck from the outside while allowing her systems to cool. Her physical body had started to sweat from the rapid-fire onslaught of rapid warming and cooling that the neural interface suggested.


    ¡°Alright, one cheeky drone is on her final approach vector. Target object is in sight. Seems dead... yeah this one is gone too... huh? Oh that¡¯s clever. Hey folks, I''ll be bringing gifts!¡±


    <hr>


    It was a small room several hundred meters away from the others. In it, a young woman in a simple pyjama sat on her bed. Brown shoulder long hair framed a petite face. To her side was a long dress that utilized all known colours at once. She put her hand on the soft fabric and smiled. It was a custom made maxi dress by the legendary tailor Puran Pure.


    Her name was supposed to be Balayuna. The Star of Ashina. A name that belonged to a superstar. The smile on her face turned crooked. Her hands reached up to her neck where a small necklace hummed with a soft energy. It fed directly from her Gates of Magic where it soaked up ambient static. Upon touching the necklace, her hair changed colour to bright orange and then settled on a soft ginger tone as her finger ran along the surface.


    She clicked the necklace off again and her hair returned to the comparatively dull brown. There were similar bands on her wrists and ankles that also hummed with subtle energy. With a sigh, she fell back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.


    "Our little saga is coming to an end, Balayuna¡± she said in a whispering tone, ¡°Your little ship houses one last scandal three hundred thousand years late"


    The woman held up a hand and let arcs of electricity jump between her fingers, "Your contractors would have loved it. The famous singer found dead in her ship - after her double held one last glorious concert in her place! Your eyes were always so focussed on the ghosts from your past that you never looked to your side"

 007 - Buried answers and unearthed riddles

    There was a room made of stainless metal. A crown of hastily installed spotlights was focussed on a table. The dead groupie on it was bathed in bright light while the rest of the room was cast in long shadows from the alien limbs. Kathrain stood on a movable platform that lifted her short figure up. While her nose was wrinkled because of the odd peach and mint smell, her forehead showed deep creases for another reason.


    ¡°This can¡¯t be right¡±, she said and tapped her pen-shaped instrument against the table, ¡°Retry. Begin new report¡±


    A small light in her peripheral vision blinked acknowledgement. With a push of a button, one of the lights came down from the ring above. She shifted it towards the dead alien that looked like crumpled paper with patches of curled hair.


    ¡°Subject is a creature of unknown origin. Cause of death was reported as electrocution which agrees with a cursory glance. Apparently, our little friend was smart enough to operate a stolen plasma weapon but not smart enough to not cut open a live wire¡±


    Kathrain pressed the pen-tool against a string limb and clicked a mechanical button. The sound of sharp hissing was followed by a three-dimensional projection of the leg. It flickered before it stabilized with a crosscut of the inside.


    ¡°Motor function is based around a series of flexor and extensor muscles nested around hollow bones. These muscles are responsible for the familiar phenomena of curled limbs from burn damage. Hmm, seems the flexor muscles overpower the extensors ¨C as expected¡±


    Her hands moved up the limb, the projection followed and left a razor-thin strip of red blood on the limb. She stopped when she reached a lumpy knot. The projection showed it to be covered in muscles while a deeper look revealed a brain like structure.


    ¡°Each limb is equipped with a series of micro-brains, four in total. That comes out as one per joint ¨C contrary to appearance the limbs are closer to mammals than cephalopods. The microbrains hint at a decentralized system supported by thick nerve strands¡±


    Kathrain put the pen down and narrowed her eyes. So far - so alien. The creature was like nothing she had ever seen in her life, outside of speculative fiction. However, it still followed the anatomic knowledge of millennia that mankind had accrued from wars and morbid curiosity. The latter part caused her hairs to stand on edge. With a sudden motion, she stabbed the pen into the main body further up. New readouts appeared in a listed form.


    ¡°Base element analysis. Oxygen at 65%, Carbon 18.5%, Hydrogen 9.5%, Nitrogen at... 3.2%¡±


    The doctor stopped again. A slight shaking had taken her hands. This was it. The part she didn¡¯t like for the connotations it brought.


    ¡°Continuing. The body also contains calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine and magnesium in order of quantity¡± she said while her voice grew tense, ¡°All values are within expected tolerance levels for... human bodies¡±


    There it was. Air left her lungs. The composition of base elements told a story she didn¡¯t want to follow. It was the entire reason she was on her third round doing it, each time with a fresh set of tools. Her thumb hovered over the mode switch. Kathrain felt a coldness in her limbs and despite the lowered gravity, she got the impression of a heavy weight on her shoulders.


    ¡°DNA analysis shows a near perfect match to humans but additional information is coded within the double helix. The groupies appear to be an evolutionary step of... mankind¡±, she said and suddenly smacked the tool onto the table.


    ¡°That¡¯s just nonsense. My instruments must be broken from exposure to self-healing protocols.¡±


    She had expected some proximity to the genetic stock of earth. Scholars had long hypothesized that humans acted as agents of the old Panspermia thought experiment. This was the idea that life in the universe was seeded by interstellar objects such as dust or meteoroids. Spaceships would function much the same way. Of course, the theory had been disproven by a galaxy full of barren rocks.


    ¡°Heart? Give me a sanity check, could evolution go from human to this in just north of three hundred thousand years?¡±


    .: Negative. The slow generational cycle doesn¡¯t allow for rapid changes. :.


    Kathrain twisted the pen and clicked two of the buttons. The screen changed again and projected an image of the reproductive system. Two weeks. That¡¯s how long it took to go from nothing to one more fluffball. Maturity was reached within another two weeks. That was... rather fast.


    ¡°What if those humans had a cycle of uh... let¡¯s say that of lab flies?¡±


    .: Given the extensive deviation in form and function, that still seems unlikely. :.


    She bit her lower lip until it tasted of iron. Kathrain quickly stepped off the platform and away from the corpse. After she had burned her gloves, she sank down in a chair. With her back hunched, the head lowered and dropping shoulders, discomfort set in within minutes. After another minute, her entire body ached and she still didn¡¯t move. Implications and complications, that¡¯s what these things were.


    ¡°Continue report. Addendum. The following is speculation. Groupies can be assumed as our distant relatives which means there¡¯s a chance of cross-compatibility in diseases. Furthermore, according to these findings, groupies are an evolutionary step of mankind while also being technically impossible, given the amount of time that passed. That means... potential outside influence.¡±


    A frosty knot settled in her stomach. Was this the work of a scientist? Maybe mankind had taken to create aliens for entertainment. A lot could happen in those mad long millennia. Was this why mankind had seemingly not bothered to check up on them at all? Maybe actual aliens had shown up and smudged all humans into a genetic paste to toy with? Kathrain suddenly grunted and shifted her posture.


    ¡°Heart, give me the administrator.¡±


    .: I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not physically possible right now. :.


    ¡°Uh...? Heart? Oh, greetings uh ahem.¡±


    Had Heart just played a prank? The communication whisked into existence with little warning. If there was one thing she knew that the iron dragon hated, it was flat-footed stumbling. Kathrain swallowed and focussed on the image of Strehin. The angle was a bit off and the picture appeared flat ¨Cside effects of someone using a device instead of an implant.


    ¡°We need to expedite the removal of the groupies¡±, the doctor began. In a normal flow of conversation, the other person would ask why and how but not the iron dragon. The administrator simply waited. Her icy stare was enough of an answer.


    ¡°Your conversational skills have improved significantly¡±, Kathrain added with a snide tone in her voice. If in danger, strike first!


    ¡°The groupies are biologically related to humans. As such they pose a major threat as possible vectors for disease. Throw them out, burn everything they left behind. Since that Balayuna girl had contact with just about all of us, we¡¯ll need everyone to come in for an examination. I¡¯ll schedule on your confirmation.¡±


    Strehin nodded once. Kathrain took it as a sign to continue.


    ¡°Two additional problems. First. The groupies are rapid breeders. Pregnancy lasts about two weeks. At worst, we¡¯re looking at several hundred of them in a week or two. Second. We¡¯re fast approaching the point where our muscles and organs will begin to weaken due to the lower gravity. Finally, I apologize for not considering the disease angle earlier ¨C it simply slipped my mind with all the counselling.¡±


    There was no way around it. She had messed up. The disease problem had crossed her mind but the groupies seemed so entirely unlike anything she had seen, her mind had filed them under too different for cross-compatibility. Strehin took precisely ten seconds but to Kathrain it felt like an eternity. She kept glancing at those icy eyes in an attempt to glean a possible glimpse of what the tall woman felt. It was like a staring contest with a lizard. Or an actual dragon.


    ¡°Understood¡±, said Strehin, ¡°We¡¯ll use drones to get the groupies to leave. You monitor the disease angle. Let me play the angry landlord.¡±


    <hr>


    A space station shouldn¡¯t need lumberjacks. Period. Sovan paced through a cloud of sawdust. People flashed past him in a busy buzz. Technically, there were about thirty people down in the docks but it felt like more. The stench of burning plasma weapons hung in the air and entire swarms of medium-sized drone dragged lumber out of the docks. They looked like miniature versions of what Sarina called her metal body but these were operated in a swarm setup. One pilot controlled a whole bevvy of them at once. He suddenly saw the back of a bald head with a metal implant in open view and accelerated.


    ¡°Xim! Finally! Our salvage is almost here. This is good enough, we should... where¡¯d he go?¡±


    Sovan blinked. The man was just gone. What? How and perhaps also why? He shook his head. The last member of their leadership circle was a ghost. One you could only see by the clearly visible effect of his work. Someone tapped him on his shoulder.


    ¡°We¡¯re good to go. Agriculture has cleaned up the requested docking port. The rest will come later, the biospheres require more work¡±


    He turned around but whomever the voice had belonged to: He was already gone. Another voice rang through the room and echoed inside his mind.


    .: The requested cargo has arrived. Gravity will be disrupted in this section for the docking procedure. All personnel is recommended to leave. :.


    That broadcast was for him, he realized. Sovan followed the crowd out of the docks. The immediate second he was out, the large doors shut behind him. Gravity shifting was a neat trick to allow a heavy lifter to drag around an inert spaceship in atmosphere. A sudden wave of physical discomfort washed through Sovan. One second he was light as a feather, then heavy. Gravity adjusted to the corridor he was in with fluctuations because he was close to the edge.


    He didn¡¯t need to see what happened. Experience told him. The loud and drawn out thumping in the floor indicated the opening of the outer docking port. A moment of silence followed and then, pumps hammered a steady rhythm. Oxygen was cycled into the airlock.


    Several more loud sounds rang out of the docking bay and he waited patiently until he heard a whirring sound, followed by six loud metallic booms. There would be one more step ¨C and here it was! His stomach lurched again as gravity was once more rearranged. Metallic groaning came out of the dock and once it settled, the door swung open. A smile crept on his face. He waved to some people out of his crew and noticed a familiar face from when they had checked up on the observation deck.


    ¡°Oh grey gods, not again... Sarah? Katharina? Anna? Anna, something, something? ¡±


    She shot him an angry look and he couldn¡¯t even blame her. Maybe that spruced up celebrity girl had some truth to her: He was a cargo-hold gnome with the social graces of a welded metal clump. Sovan brushed the hair out of his face and stumbled into the docks. His apprehension turned into confusion and then disappointment.


    ¡°Uh, Heart, confirm that this chunk of debris is the spaceship?¡±


    .: Can¡¯t comply. My readings indicate that this is just another wreck. :.


    If this was supposed to be a spaceship, he was no longer a nano-engineer. It was a broken mess of bent hull segments, struts and internal compartments exposed to the vacuum. Micro-Asteroids or debris had taken chunks out of it. The lettering on the metal identified the mess.


    ¡°It¡¯s the Balance Vitae... or is it the Ravenlander? How many names does this... oh¡±


    His lips parted for a second and then formed into a grin. The ship looked like a cobbled together mess, because it was. Technically. It had a hull segment that looked like the bow of a Nova Luxury Cruiser while the section just below was obviously from a bulky warship. He found it impossible to discern the shape of what was underneath.


    ¡°CLEVER! ISN¡¯T IT?¡±


    He jumped in response. His angry glare led to a round of amusement. Lieutenant Sarina had somehow managed to sneak her oversized drone right behind him.


    ¡°Remind me to kill your speakers Sarina¡±, he glowered and then returned his attention to the ship. Six docking clamps held it in place, although the large machines were apparently just as confused as he had been ¨C their placement seemed random.


    ¡°It¡¯s certainly a strange thing¡±, he said, ¡°The ship somehow collects actual debris and uses it to fake out visual identification¡±


    ¡°IT GETS BETTER! IF YOU LOOK CLOSER, THERE ARE ODD HOLES IN THE CARAPACE THAT SEEM GLAZED. THIS THING HAS A SYSTEM TO DISTRIBUTE STORED HEAT IN ANY DIRECTION IT WANTS¡±


    ¡°A system to throw off image-based detection and something to irritate heat scanners. Maybe a Stellar Mage could find it in their specialized ships but they¡¯re kind of rare. Why does someone like an entertainer have something like this?¡±


    Sovan reached into his pocket and fished out the electronic key he had gotten from Strehin. The electronics to the proximity of the ship and showed him a series of holographic buttons. He skipped the one that deactivated the camouflage and instead opened up the service bay at the bottom. The debris suddenly moved out of the way and revealed the ship underneath.


    The roughly two hundred meters long ship was no beauty. That much was certain. The form he could make out appeared to be tear shaped but the impression was thrown off by tentacle-like robotic arms nesting on the hull. A section in the bow screeched open. A single light activated and flunked out a moment later.


    ¡°IF OLD HORROR MOVIES TAUGHT ME ANYTHING, THIS SHIP IS CALLED PROVIDENCE TERMINUS AND SPAWNS DEMONS FROM OUTER SPACE¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Sovan gnashed his teeth. He heard a chuckle and saw that Anna woman look away. It was someone else that didn¡¯t like him. Ever since the stasis, he had gotten into the habit of collecting them. When had he become so insufferable? The sight of letters around the service bay distracted his thoughts.


    ¡°The name seems to be Odyssey Calibur. Yeah, I¡¯m betting on space demons too¡±, he said and then raised his voice, ¡°Alright everyone, we¡¯ve got a job to do. Our first order of business! Let¡¯s see what state this is in. Each group will be accompanied by a swarm of drones. Let them go first. This should be routine but nothing ever was since we woke up¡±


    They approached the service bay as a group. The small drones circled around them and used their searchlights to illuminate the entrance point while Sarina stayed behind. The entrance looked decidedly normal. Clean walls, no decoration ¨C just compartments for storage and cranes to lift goods off the platform with. If this was a horror movie, the dull nature of it meant something ugly would soon kill the first crew member. Sovan smirked and stepped onto the lift platform. Once everyone was on, he ferried them up with a press on the electronic key.


    ¡°You know what to do, let¡¯s get to it!¡±


    Several corridors led out of the bay. The largest was half-sealed by a massive door. Three drones swung around and climbed through the gap. Their searchlights cast eerie shadows but a tinny voice from one of them signalled no danger. Several of his technicians followed them through to the other side when the door suddenly shut with a loud bang. Sovan rushed to the door but a comm-line opened in his vision. It was that Anna woman. She looked shaken until she saw him ¨C then her bad mood won out.


    ¡°We¡¯re fine, one of the drones accidentally kicked the hydraulics. We¡¯ll get it fixed... ¡®boss¡¯¡±


    Anna Solokov, the display told him. He pressed his lips together and nodded. This time he wouldn¡¯t forget the name. Sovan kept the connection active and spoke so that everyone could hear him.


    ¡°Alright, everything is clear so far. Link up your oculus implants. Heart, you are to create an automap as we go deeper. Provide an overlay of our positions based on implant readout. Monitor vital signs and display on my system¡±


    The effect was immediate. A blue map appeared in his mind. White lines marked the edges while another light indicated several levels of detail. Green dots marked his crew while a list of colour coded vitals hovered in the back ¨C they shared the green colour with their dots. Sovan watched part of his crew follow down a long corridor deeper into the ship and turned around to face the opposite sight.


    ¡°You and you, you go and see the side corridors. Everyone else, follow me ¨C we¡¯re going to get to the bridge and see if we can¡¯t get this thing to power up. If anyone finds the reactor, let me know¡±


    His crew reacted and he watched their progress on the map. They disappeared through the two side corridors and he watched their progress on the automap. Busy little dots hurried along, uncovering more of what lay inside the Odyssey Calibur.


    ¡°Did she have to mention horror? Now I¡¯m expecting something to jump me from the shadows¡±, he grumbled as he paced towards the last remaining corridor. Uncomfortable chuckling came from the other two technicians with him. The tiny drones reached the last door and waited until they were close, then pushed it open. Their searchlights illuminated a corridor. Like everything else, the walls were clean but signs of usage showed on the floor. Slight smudges from overuse marked a path frequently walked.


    His automap expanded to include the new room. Two more corridors lead to either side with the central one leading further in. The ship might only have been two hundred meters, but it was built like a labyrinth. One room was labelled as the pantry. A drone quickly dove in and back out. Nothing left, naturally. The other side-room was the kitchen. Everything was neatly arranged, there were no signs of struggle. Obviously, Sovan added in his mind, this was just a normal ship after all.


    Heart kept filling in the automap as all crews headed deeper into the Odyssey Calibur. The section he was in seemed to be focussed on food production while the other direction included more general cargo. One of the side teams had found the maintenance vents for the robotic arms and the last group had yet to find another room. Their path led all the way around the vessel.


    ¡°This is Solokov. We found the engine core. Beginning examination¡±


    Sovan noted a marked increase in heart rate amongst the technicians near the core. A smile found its way on his face. In the end, they were just as crazy about technology as he was. With renewed vigour, he gestured towards the end of their way. The drones buzzed forwards until they reached a ramp and a staircase. A railing with welded on ribs looked like it was used to drag wares up the ramp. His entourage of drones took point and Sovan followed with his people.


    The end of the staircase was an actual wooden door decorated with gold trim. When the first drone pressed against it, the door crumbled to dust. Sovan gasped for air. Lush carpets covered the ground in a long hallway. Candelabra were attached to the walls and the ceiling. Paintings added to the charm and the walls were made of something that looked like marble. He rapped against it and corrected his impression. It was marble.


    ¡°The palace isn¡¯t helping by giving me nightmare fuel¡±


    A shiver ran down his spine and he swirled around. He saw a shadow vanish down the corridor.


    ¡°There! Something!¡±


    His companion drones immediately turned. All their searchlights focussed on the end of the path but there was only a wall. He bit his lips and noticed the blank stares from his companions.


    ¡°Trick of the light¡±, he said. Yeah, that¡¯s what they always said before some alien horror jumped them dead. Sovan wrapped his arms around his shoulders and sighed. He was unfit for command. Simple. A commander should not jump at shadows and scare his crew on a critical job.


    ¡°Emperor alive¡±, came the voice of someone else over comm. His icon blinked on his map.


    ¡°Found the reactor. Just one but it¡¯s comically oversized for a ship this size¡±, the voice added. Another icon began to blink, it was that Anna woman in the engine room.


    ¡°I can shed some light on that. The engine isn¡¯t just your standard Stellar Drive. This thing is a genuine magecraft. There¡¯s a port for manual navigation through an IMBUE mage here. Boss, let me ask what everyone is thinking right now. Why does a celebrity, mage or not, have a magecraft?¡±


    Sovan nodded along with the question. Everyone, as it turns out, included him as well. Magecrafts were exceedingly rare. Their main difference was that they were built custom tailored to a mage and their tastes. As there were four types of magic, there were also four types of magecrafts. The ship of an IMBUE mage could channel the energy of the spellcaster into its systems and boost them on demand. These vessels didn¡¯t need image recognition or heat to find a target, the mage sensed their surroundings using circuitry built into the hull. If Stellar Mages were wizards, then these ships were their magic staff.


    ¡°Boss?¡±


    ¡°Right, no idea. Remember the rumours about her being some sort of spy? Guess there was something to it. I mean, why would a mage become a singer anyway?¡±


    He prodded his nose and then focussed on the pompous hallway ahead. It led to a series of guest quarters, dining halls and even rooms made for private concerts. The automap in his head had also filled up in the meantime. Some of the green icons passed right by him with a thin wall between them. He switched the mode to detailed and saw that their paths were much more utilitarian than this. Just like with the Star herself, there was a fake veneer of elegance.


    Pretty soon, they had gotten a good idea about what the ship looked like. They passed several more hallways, some decorated with statues, some with paintings, three-dimensional installations and even some smudges that no one knew whether they were intentional or not. According to the automap that had nearly filled the whole ship, two rooms remained. The bridge and the master bedroom.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start her up then, shall we?¡± he said and headed for the bridge. Most people followed him and the drones inside. The bridge was just as bad a pompous display as the rest of this deck. His feet stepped on golden metal covered by what remained of the carpet. In contrast to the artificial one in the hallways, this one seemed to have been made with something organic, because it crumbled away on touch. A large sphere stood in the centre with metal rings around it. Consoles covered the walls and the entire front section was made up of large panorama screens. All of it was anchored around a chair that wouldn¡¯t have been amiss in a throne room - at the end, for the emperor to sit on. A strange apprehension took hold of him as he approached the chair. Searchlights focussed on the area. There was something inside. The light for his heart rate turned from green to yellow.


    One step. Another. His hands reached for the back of the chair when there was suddenly a loud scream! He glanced at the minimap and saw that one person had entered the bedroom instead. Her heart rate was deep in the red.


    ¡°Sorry!¡± shouted that Anna something from the other room, ¡°Stumbled on something, everything is okay¡±


    Her pulse told another story. As did the private comm-line indicator.


    ¡°You better come here, boss¡±, said Anna Solokov. Thank you screen display. Sovan made a mental note with her name. He wouldn¡¯t forget it yet again. Sovan nodded once and then raised his voice.


    ¡°Everyone, try to get this thing operational. Let¡¯s see if it works out. I¡¯m going to check in on...¡±


    He had to look. He actually had to look not even five seconds later!


    ¡°Anna Solokov. Be right back¡±


    The way to the bedroom wasn¡¯t too long. It was just a bit off to the side and accompanied by a pool in one room and several dressing rooms on the other. He quietly opened the door and found Anna Solokov in the dark.


    ¡°No drone?¡± he began but Anna dismissed it with a wave of her hand. She motioned for him to close the door and he shut it behind him. It took a while for his eyes to get used to the near absolute darkness.


    ¡°Anna? What are you doing?!¡±


    She gave no reply but he noticed that her heart rate had slowed down to yellow again. It communicated that Anna seemed apprehensive but not threatened. First, he started to notice the subtle sounds. Her breathing, his own ¨C even the rhythm of his own body became something he could hear. That and a strange tingling. It was funny the tricks darkness could play on the mind. Just now, he thought he had seen a faintly glowing skeleton on the bed. That would be absurd, wouldn¡¯t it?


    As his eyes adjusted further, he noticed the finer details. Patterns and circuitry like something electronic had taken on a humanoid shape. Sovan reached for his toolbelt and plucked the cube from it. He flicked it on and the green light from the holographic screen nearly blinded him. It also tinged the room in more light. It was a skeleton. One with bones that shined like a mirror and creases that had a soft blue light glim within. The circuitry laced every part of the skeleton but was most focussed on the ribcage and the skull. Large circles rested on the ribs. They were four in total and he noticed their symbolic shape for FRAY, FLOW, STRUCT and then by far the largest one: IMBUE.


    He noticed something else in the green light. The skeleton was partially clad in a well-preserved dress. The curse of self-healing protocols, organics broke down, artificials were constantly repaired. He knew that dress. It had waltzed into his workshop this morning, worn by a beautiful but annoying butterfly.


    What was going on?


    Sovan looked at Anna... Solo... koch? Kov? Solokov! Emperor alive, his brain was a sieve when it came to names.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone about this. This has the potential to be a big mess and I¡¯m not sure we can use one right now.¡±


    ¡°Make one guess why I called you, Boss¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right, I was mostly talking to myself... it helps me focus when I¡¯m thinking. Here¡¯s what we do. We leave and accidentally seal the room, I¡¯ll keep delaying repair orders and in the meantime, I¡¯ll get Strehin in on this¡±


    <hr>


    A smart man would tell the iron dragon and then wash his hands of the mess. Sovan was not a smart man. He fancied himself one but when he found himself standing in front of her room, he came to realize that he was, in fact, rather stupid. He had kept a lid on the discovery and decided to confront the celebrity first. The symbol of a star had been sprayed on the outside. Their celebrity guest had a room of her own while most still slept in tents. He covered his mouth with a hand. Should he be doing this?


    Without warning, the door squeaked open and he stared at a dark room. Her silhouette was barely visible in the shadows. A crystal clear voice reached the nano-technician.


    ¡°Come inside, Sovan¡±


    His body listened before his mind could put the brakes to it. The door shut behind him and the light gently raised to a level where he could see what was around him. There wasn¡¯t any decoration in the room, just an assortment of furniture, clothes and a pleasant scent that lingered wherever the Star of Ashina had been. It¡¯s just ¨C he didn¡¯t recognize the woman on the bed.


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    She seemed vaguely familiar. Her body had the right proportions to be the Star of Ashina and the voice fit but everything else looked different. With the brunette hair and skin with actual blemishes, he struggled to reconcile this image with the garishly perfect Balayuna. He locked onto her signature eyes, that usually used to sparkle with alluring energy ¨C but without any makeup to emphasize them, she looked just plain average.


    ¡°Wow¡± was all he said.


    She chuckled and crawled to the edge of the bed. Her motions carried the familiar grace and the smile had the usual impact. This really was her even though his mind struggled to accept it.


    ¡°Well, what do you say? This is the real me¡±, she said and provocatively leaned forward before suddenly snapping back up with a chuckle. Her voice continued.


    ¡°Perhaps not all of the real me. Balayuna was always rather focussed on her body, always luring, always seducing, like a femme fatale. In time it became hard to turn off. Oh, by the way, a femme fatale means a dangerous woman that tends to be the death of men. It comes from old cinematography and literature. Books, those are made of paper and...¡±


    Sovan carefully paced closer to the bed but chose to stay instead. The stranger woman followed each of his motions with her eyes. Wait, had she just insulted him?


    ¡°I know that¡±, he snapped and realized by the grin on her face, that she had played him.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. Of course, you would. It would, after all, be rather presumptuous of me to judge someone on looks alone¡±


    This had been a mistake. He turned around when a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. Her skin was cold with slight moisture and there was subtle vibration in her fingers that hinted at her nervousness. Sovan turned back to look at her again but her smile was full of confidence ¨C but now that he knew to look, he noticed that she had wrapped her other hand around her chest in a protective gesture. Her muscles were tense and she had slightly narrowed her eyes. She was nervous.


    ¡°Stay. You¡¯re here because you¡¯ve found my epitaph and I shouldn¡¯t antagonize you further¡±, she suddenly said and took a deep breath, ¡°My name is not Balayuna. I¡¯m not the Star of Ashina. The dead woman you¡¯ve found, however ¨C she was the original.¡±


    He looked into her eyes and noticed that they were unsteady as if she simultaneously forced herself to look at him while trying to not do so at the same time.


    ¡°She was killed in a premeditated murder by her adopted child¡±, the woman said and then pointed at her chest, ¡°That would be me.¡±


    It took that revelation for Sovan to finally sit down on the bed. He turned to look at the tall woman and suddenly realized that she appeared vulnerable. A cynical part of him whispered that she was acting the part while another part wanted to believe it.


    ¡°So you¡¯ve killed her? Why?¡±


    Her voice took on a sudden fire.


    ¡°Because slave might have been a better designation than child. She was evil. Did you notice that no one else died on that ship? It¡¯s because they were all in on it.¡±


    Sovan brushed a hand through his hair. This had been a mistake. He felt like he was swimming in the void, without a spacesuit while navigating by clicking his tongue in a vacuum. In short: Overwhelmed, half-dead and internally screaming for help. The tall woman suddenly slumped her shoulders. Her every gesture seemed genuine but at the same time, he had seen her switch between personalities on the fly. Was this real? Was it another act?


    ¡°My name is... You. Maybe leech if you want a nickname¡±, the woman said with a bitter smile, ¡°Never had a real name. I was a child the black market stole from a mage cradle. Sold, modified and nurtured to serve as a copy of the Star. At all times, I was her slave, but also a message to her ¨C you too are replaceable. When Balayuna killed for political plays ¨C I was there. When she did so out of boredom ¨C I followed. She was a nasty and depraved woman. She had it coming¡±


    All throughout her explanation, he sat still and listened. His eyes once more wandered over her shape before he finally inched closer and offered his arms for a friendly hug. The tall woman looked at him with a bewildered expression before accepting the gesture.


    ¡°You¡¯re a sick cargo-hold gnome, Sovan¡±, she said in a voice that cracked with emotion, ¡°A girl tells you that she killed someone in cold blood and your impulse is to hug her¡±


    ¡°Maybe because you look vulnerable and I¡¯m tired of miserable people being ignored because they¡¯re good at smiling. You¡¯re shaking, you¡¯re afraid. You did something bad but you could have done so much worse.¡±


    He suddenly remembered the smiling face of his once friend Adam. The large man had always smiled and now that gesture had one day turned sour. Sovan pressed his lips into a thin line. That was his failing. He wouldn''t fail another human again.


    ¡°Thank you for telling me. It¡¯s always better to talk then to soak it all up¡±, he said and held out a hand. Strangely, he found it shaking. The tall woman took it with a slight smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m... s-s-sorry. Let me apologize. You really weren¡¯t what you seem and I¡¯m not convinced what I¡¯m seeing now is real. But from here on out, you¡¯ll be Yun to me - and a friend if you want one¡±


    A flare of anger flickered in her facial expression and Sovan realized it had sounded like you. He held up a hand and reached for his toolcube. With a few touches of his thumb, three letters floated in the air above it.


    ¡°Yun¡±, he said and then added with a smile, ¡°As for your murder ¨C I won¡¯t tell anyone. If you ask me, it¡¯s your duty to tell. However, the iron dragon must know. I owe the truth to her¡±


    Yun suddenly reached out to his face and forced him to look over his shoulder. His heart skipped a beat and temperature dropped to near zero. The Administrator stood in the doorway with a look that had probably melted the innocent metal.


    ¡°Nano-technician Sovan Terastris ¨C congratulations on avoiding the airlock. Now for you, ¡®Yun¡¯ ¨C once Sovan has seen fit to re-attach the brain to his body and walk out of here, we¡¯ll have a talk of our own¡±

 008 - Air

    The King of Orion had a popular saying: A socialite is most in danger when silence becomes palpable. Yun wasn¡¯t a believer in the mad monarch but her heart had just hit a hundred and thirty beats per minute and she knew because the room was quiet enough to count. There was someone else in her quarters.


    It went by Strehin, Iron dragon or the evil witch. Her guest had many names, none of which she had known before her time on the City of Citadels. The bright light from the hallway illuminated her visitor and turned her into something larger than life. The once-celebrity wrapped her arms around her chest. Her room had a pleasant temperature but a chill had taken hold of her. Even her voice came out meek.


    ¡°Welcome to my room, Administrator Strehin¡±


    The evil witch crossed the room with three long steps. When the once Star of Ashina leaned forward to get up, a firm hand pressed her back down.


    ¡°Twenty-seven hours, four minutes and ten seconds. The sum of your worth balanced against your resource drain¡±, Strehin let go and stretched to her full size. When the witch smiled, Yun suddenly realized that only one person would walk out of the door.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to kill me, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    The Administrator sat down next to her and folded her arms behind her back. It was a curiously casual gesture for the stern woman but it served perfectly to draw attention to the pistol-holster and the loaded weapon in it.


    ¡°What do you think, girl?¡±, the older woman said and raised her voice, ¡°Heart. Lock the door. When it next opens, someone will be dead¡±


    Yun noticed the ambiguity in those words. Her gaze was drawn towards the weapon. With a boost from her IMBUE magic, she could grab it and kill the older woman in less than a second. It would be easy. She could. Instead, she pressed both palms together and held them out in the old terran gesture of surrender, from when handcuffs had still been a thing.


    ¡°Death is a curious thing¡±, said Strehin, ¡°It¡¯s never just the end of life. It can be mercy, just or a shame. I¡¯ve seen many people die in my life and there¡¯s something I¡¯ve always wondered. When your life ends, will you be a foal or a dove?¡±


    The young woman chuckled in response, ¡°What kind of question is that? If I had to choose, I would pick the dove. It would mean to die like I¡¯ve lived, soaring through the heavens, chasing an impossible dream. My death will be just, as was her death¡±


    ¡°An interesting choice. You¡¯re awfully calm for someone that is faced with extinction. Have you made your peace?¡±


    Yun stood up from the bed and walked two steps before spinning around in a graceful whirl. Her heart had calmed back down to a resting pulse. This was it. Her moment. She closed her eyes and let her voice come from deep within.


    ¡°Because I was born a nobody, raised as a copy and lived as a victim. Now the path ahead is clear but for the first time, it¡¯s me that walks it.¡±


    Strange energy reached her senses. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared down the barrel of the pistol. Sparks of blue energy ran alongside it. It was death¡¯s scythe and the reaper had a gaze that would win a staring match with a black hole. Strehin¡¯s finger was off the trigger but inched closer by the second.


    ¡°If that is your choice, so be it. Heart ¨C open record. The criminal known as the Star of Ashina has been found guilty of normal murder as well as the murder of an Unvail. There is only one punishment for a crime of that magnitude¡±


    Unvail. It was a shorthand for unavailable and had been shrunk along the centuries. They were the class of people you could never mess with. Yun had known that very well. When a normal person died, you got a trial and a chance. When an Unvail died, your life and that of everyone around you was done.


    ¡°What will your death be?¡± Strehin asked with a raised eyebrow.


    The young woman stepped forward and pressed her forehead against the weapon. It was a futile gesture in that the miniature railgun wouldn¡¯t leave anything of her head anyways. This was it. She saw the finger inch closer to the trigger when her perception of time suddenly slowed. The calm was gone, her body kicked into overdrive. Each beat of her heart was painful and desperate. Strehin¡¯s finger touched the trigger and her skin deformed just so slightly when she started pulling it.


    Meaningless! Grey god cursed meaningless is what it was. Maybe she was misery and had suffered. But she had also danced on the heavy clouds of Tau Cara and enjoyed the thrill of slinging an actual meteor. Millions had wanted to spend time with her and she had touched more dreams than there were stars in the galaxy. Probably. Math wasn¡¯t her strong suit. She had even met genuine aliens and made unlikely friends. Her death would be meaningless. Her eyes suddenly opened wide. She didn¡¯t want to die!


    Yet that very second, a bright flash blinded her and then... nothing. A socialite was most in danger when silence became palpable. Why then was her heart still beating? A railgun wasn¡¯t a weapon with a muzzle-flash, so what had blinded her?


    ¡°What a waste of time this was¡±, said Strehin with a sigh, ¡°Heart. Confirm the situation. One. My weapon was discharged. Two. It was aimed at the Star of Ashina. Three. The dead body of a mage now rests in our morgue. Conclusion, the Star of Ashina was killed for her crimes.¡±


    Yun blinked. What kind of logic was that? The central command golem seemed to agree as the answer took an unusually long time.


    .: Please be advised that one thought process has been terminated since your last inquiry 7.2 seconds ago. You are playing a dangerous game, Administrator Strehin. May you know the consequences. Conclusion. The accused has been executed according to the emperor¡¯s extended umbrella law. Standard autopsy override due to exceptional circumstances. Deletion of associated files. Done. Deletion of drone footage. Done. :.


    The semi-intelligent lifeform sounded annoyed. Not that Yun noticed it in more than a passing interest. She hadn¡¯t moved after the shot had been fired. How was she still alive? Strehin suddenly threw her the weapon. The pistol was covered in grey particles and deformed by a block of carbon wedged at the end of the barrel. Jagged edges indicated that the damage had been contained within that tiny section. Stellar Magic. She looked up at the Administrator and saw the burns on the hands and the faint sweat on her skin. Broken mages like the iron dragon couldn¡¯t cast magic ¨C unless they risked electrocution when their circuits backfired. The witch of the Citadel locked eyes with her.


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°My name is Ba... Sorry. I¡¯m Yun. Nice to meet you. I¡¯m a nobody but I¡¯d like to be somebody. If you give me the time to grow, I¡¯ll be of worth to you¡±


    The two women exchanged a glance and at that moment, Yun realized that while both of them were alive, something really had died. When that shot rang out, her baggage had gone with it. She was no longer the double of the Star of Ashina. Now, she was just a slightly dull wallflower. Strehin held up a hand.


    ¡°Welcome aboard Yun¡±, the not so evil witch said and smiled. Okay, that smile was evil ¨C but she wasn¡¯t evil evil.


    ¡°Your first shift will begin in one hour. You are to clean up this room. Out of respect for the dead, you will burn all of it. Leave nothing behind. Balayuna died so that Yun may live¡±


    As the administrator turned to leave, Yun suddenly raised her voice.


    ¡°There¡¯s something I don¡¯t understand, how did you know?¡±


    Strehin wagged a finger in her direction, ¡°The mad monarch once said to close your windows when your guests had a sport that involved throwing you out. Lock the window, girl. Keep it that way¡±


    The administrator left in short order but the core of the question lingered in Yun¡¯s mind. The old monster had known everything. It was like a thousand invisible eyes were watching her.


    <hr>


    No one could say he was hiding. It was called working. The work just happened to be deep in the folds of a spaceship. Sovan was hidden from view in the tiny compartment that could only be reached by a crawl way. It was pure coincidence that someone tall, like for example Strehin, would have never fit inside. While his work usually consisted of fixing machines, right at that moment, his techniques included smacking his head against a panel and mumbling self-deprecating himself.


    ¡°Boss-man? Everything alright? Your heart rate just spiked¡±, said a voice in his ocular implant. One of his workers. Good man! If only he could remember the name. Sovan put up a smile and activated the transmission of images.


    ¡°It¡¯s good, I¡¯m just not good with tight spaces¡±, he lied.


    ¡°Want us to switch you out?¡± the man with the long beard said. Longbeard? That couldn¡¯t be his name, could it? Sovan activated a minor screen to the side and browsed through a list of names until he got stuck on one. It wasn¡¯t longbeard. When he refocussed on the conversation, he had already forgotten it.


    ¡°Everything is fine crewman. Just focus on the reactor and the other connections. I¡¯ve got this relay covered. This baby needs to sing by this time tomorrow¡±


    The short conversation had jolted him out of his self-pity. There was no doubt the dragon would roast him alive but right now, he had a job to do: one of the power junctions wasn¡¯t returning any signals. He wiped the small blood smudge off and removed the panel from the machine. It looked like a bazaar for weird electronics inside. Several lines came in with thick cables and connected to a central module. Sovan pressed his trusty tool-cube against it and activated the scanning mode. Silver liquid sprayed out of the cube and crawled into the machine.


    At the same time, a three-dimensional image floated above the cube. The module was a labyrinth of connections so small that only nanites could move through them. Their complex patterns served a logic that was near impossible to grasp for a human brain. He sent a quiet prayer to the grey gods that they would never have to fix something without nanites. Too much of their tech required it.


    The screen unwrapped the internal schematics while various lights indicated the state of the module. Most connections were still green, some had minor damages that a jolt from the self-healing protocols would fix. Sovan nodded and disconnected his cube. That was not the source of the damage. He reached for the central module and carefully removed it from the casing, then moved out of the way so that the bright light could illuminate the deeper areas.


    He had betrayed Strehin. It didn¡¯t matter that he had a change of heart at the end. When he visited the Star of Ashina, he had every intention to keep the murder a secret. Sovan brushed a hand over his forehead and sighed. What he had done hadn¡¯t been rational. For a moment he considered whether he had taken a fancy for the Star but shook his head instead. That wasn¡¯t it. The answer came from deeper within and felt like a lot of buried guilt. He sighed and concentrated on his work instead.


    The back revealed a complex metal mesh that looked an awful lot like what Mages grew on their bones. Sovan reached out but thought better than to touch it. Magecrafts were special and this was one of the reasons why. They had mage circuitry laced throughout the hull, woven into every compartment so that the spellcaster and their ship could become one.


    ¡°No point in scanning that, it¡¯ll just feed me random junk¡±, he mused and instead placed the cube at the top end. There, he activated the scan mode again. With the central module intact, the damage had to be somewhere else. Yet all the lines reported back with little or no damage until the scan stopped.


    ¡°Heart? What¡¯s critical error E-19?¡±


    .: Organic matter detected in sufficient quantities to trigger nanite-shutdown. :.


    Sovan frowned. He grabbed another device from his tool belt and placed it down on the ground. One side had simple joystick controls while the other showed a miniature drone locked away in a translucent cover. He flicked it open and activated the tiny machine. It whirred up and then followed the motions from his joystick as he guided it deeper into the machine. The light on top illuminated the way while a tiny screen showed what the camera recorded. In terms of technology, this thing was archaic but it was one of the tools that didn¡¯t require literal space magic to function.


    ¡°I¡¯m coming to realize that our reliance on nanite machines might be more fragile than I thought¡±, he mumbled as the mini-drone paced deeper into the section.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°Alright, there it is. Definitely organic. Looks like a big... oh you¡¯ve got to be kidding me!¡±


    A groupie. The dead animal turned out to be one of the aliens. A dead one but not by long. Sovan¡¯s frown deepened. He would have to talk to her. Right now. Regardless of what had happened.


    ¡°Give me the... Administrator¡±


    His body shivered. The old woman would be furious, most likely. She knew he had betrayed her. Rumours said that people died for less on the City of Citadels. Not that he had ever seen it happen. He would be professional, inform her of the groupie incident and then get back to work. There would be no word lost about the situation with the Star of Ashina. A blinking light on his ocular implant signalled the established connection.


    ¡°Sorry for back then, I should have come to you immediately. It wasn¡¯t my intention to betray you, it¡¯s just that... and...¡±


    Strehin¡¯s stare took his sentence, brought it out the back and massacred it with nothing but a frown and narrowed eyelids. Sovan began to stutter.


    ¡°Uh... I... the thing is... ahem, we¡¯re currently repairing the Odyssey and we¡¯re having some trouble with the power routings. The problem is...¡±


    ¡°Have you tried getting to the point?¡± said Strehin.


    ¡°Yes, madam. I will successfully locate the point in short order. Groupie infestation. One of the buggers has managed to crawl into the Odyssey Caliburn without any of us seeing it happen. He even chose a power router for a spectacular death. Frankly, I¡¯m impressed¡±


    The administrator, however, didn¡¯t seem to share the sentiment.


    <hr>


    Sarina felt stones pelt her metal body. The heavy lifter was back in the habitat module and stood within sight of the groupie colony. Their guests were upset. Fluffballs jumped back and forth and every couple of seconds, they moved back like a wave and then proceeded to attack with a barrage of whatever they could grab. Stones, random cutlery they had stolen and even other groupies became their projectiles.


    ¡°OY SHUT IT, I¡¯M THINKING HERE!¡± her drone bellowed across the colony. The groupies shivered momentarily and then resumed with renewed vigour. It had been a simple idea. To get them to leave, they would project a video of groupies entering their insane rockets and taking off. The procedural generation made that an easy prospect and one of the projectors was still working.


    It looked real. Hundreds of groupies were shown climbing into their rocket. It¡¯s just that somewhere in their interspecies communication, this had turned out to be a declaration of war. One side had sticks and stones while her side had railguns and massive robots. A sharp sting indicated sudden damage. Sarina refocussed her attention on the groupies while her internal systems showed her an overlay of her body. There was a tiny yellow mark in her paint. Minor damage but damage nonetheless. While she searched for the source, another sting hit her. This one had hit on the other side of her drone.


    Sarina frowned and stretched her metal body to its full size. As if on signal, the groupies suddenly picked up dozens of leather sleeves from the ground and pointed them at her. Weapons!? She ducked her drone but it turned out unnecessary. Several of the weapons hit but their damage was on the level of fleabites. She grit her teeth and her drone blinked a furious red cadence on both observation domes along with it.


    ¡°Send a message to the Administrator. The groupies have just opened fire. Damage minimal, no threat to drones but they could potentially hurt humans¡±


    Where had it gone wrong? Why were these fluffballs so angry? Sarina decided to walk her drone back from the colony but that only spurred them on. Her pulse suddenly quickened as thousands of the aliens poured out of the buildings. More and more of the tiny stings scorched her hull until all her damage indicators turned yellow. She compacted her legs and then jumped onto the translucent walkway but even there, more groupies waited for her. Several of them clung to her legs and climbed up her body. She unfurled all of her tool-arms at once and began smacking them back. For every fluffball she sent flying, more came flooding out of the buildings. A strange sensation took hold of her senses when one of the creatures wrapped its limbs around her upper observation dome.


    ¡°NO YOU DON¡¯T!¡± she screamed and snatched the alien with her humanoid hand. Another alien was already in place. It pointed one of the alien weapons at what she considered her face and began shooting. Again and again. Parts of her vision blinked out and Sarina groaned in frustration. She prepared another jump and fired her thrusters at the apex. With the patience of a saint, she plucked the last remaining groupies off her body and threw them down.


    ¡°WHAT¡¯S GOTTEN INTO YOU?¡±


    Thousands upon thousands of the aliens swarmed the streets below her. Not all of them had weapons but enough had them to paint her belly with new damage indicators. A comm-line suddenly opened and showed the face of Strehin. The administrator scowled.


    ¡°Lieutenant Sarina, we will take over. You are to immediately disconnect from your drone¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving my baby to these monsters!¡±


    ¡°You will also not be present for what comes. Disconnect. Now ¨C or you will be forcibly ejected¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Sarina shouted over the comms. No reply came. She reached one of her limbs down to pick up another groupie when her connection suddenly vanished. Her mind felt like it was torn into a thousand pieces as it fell back to her body. Pain flushed her real body with the majority of it focused on her neck. There was blood around her and a small woman locked down both her arms.


    ¡°Calm down, you¡¯re back in your body. You are lieutenant Sarina and you¡¯ve had to be ejected from your drone¡±


    She heard the words and understood. It¡¯s just that she didn¡¯t accept them. Her mind was a storm of random thoughts while her body instinctively tried to find the connector needle for the neural interface again.


    ¡°Sarina!¡± shouted the stocky doctor and let go of her hands to hold up the head, ¡°Your drone will be fine. We will retrieve it after the purge and I promise you that we¡¯ll have your friend Sovan repair it with priority¡±


    Sarina stared up at the eyes of Kathrain and felt sudden tears on her face. Through her sobs, she noticed that the doctor had wiry hair laced with sweat along with some bruises.


    ¡°What happened to you?¡± mumbled Sarina.


    ¡°You did¡±, said Kathrain and smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. Natural result of forced ejection. I¡¯m sorry for putting you through this but Strehin had to act fast, the groupies were flooding out of the habitat module¡±


    ¡°But why? My drone can survive much more than just a few alien weapons!¡±


    ¡°On my orders¡±, the dwarven tormentor said, ¡°Sometimes we do things that stain our soul for the rest of our life. It¡¯s not your burden to bear. Leave that to the real monsters¡±


    <hr>


    One of those monsters stood silent in a lone storage room that had been overgrown by trees. She was dressed in a high collared uniform and was equipped with a pistol holster that now held a deformed weapon. The images still played in Strehin¡¯s mind. Death, quick and brutal, had come. It rode in on a single command uttered towards the command golem.


    ¡°Heart, depressurize the lower habitation module¡±


    It had been done. Click. Like that. Death of an alien colony. The first encounter between species had ended in utter catastrophe. With the protective membrane gone, the groupies had died in what she could only describe with the word pop. Their deflated carcasses were dragged out of the tear in the hull, along with the drone of Lieutenant Sarina. The machine was covered in nightmare fuel and it would take days to get it clean again.


    Had she done the right thing? She sank to the bottom and pressed her hand against her face. Emotions welled up inside her. Sadness. Anger. Frustration. There was a rational explanation for her actions. Groupies could bring diseases, they had repeatedly caused damage to the station and put humans at risk. When they refused to leave and attacked instead, she acted. It being rational didn¡¯t help with the fact that she felt awful for it.


    .: Administrator Strehin, your guest has arrived. :.


    ¡°Thank you for the warning¡±, she answered the golem.


    .: It would do no one good to see you falter. By my calculation, your course of action was an inevitable result starting with the destruction of my reactors. :.


    Strehin stood up from the ground and brushed the dirt off her cheeks. When she stretched her shoulders and took a deep breath, she became the iron dragon once more. She signalled for the door to open and heard the soft steps of someone walking in. A plain looking woman with brown short hair came in wearing a nondescript uniform. She was tall as most mages were but still a bit smaller than Strehin herself.


    ¡°Yun¡±


    The young woman nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve come for the requested demonstration of my abilities as an IMBUE mage¡±


    Strehin examined her from a distance and scratched a finger along her neck. The high collar uniform she wore wasn¡¯t a fashion statement but rather a neat little trick. It served well to hide the small bone conduction headset mounted to her neck. The finger tap had been a signal and she saw a tiny metallic speck in the air bob once and then land on a nearby tree. From the point of her awakening till now, the former Star of Ashina had been under constant drone observation. Observe her at all times, she had said and it had been done.


    ¡°Subject is unarmed¡±, told her the vibrations conducted through her bones. Strehin stretched her arms and legs again and then put one foot forward. While the IMBUE mage opposite of her kept her legs close together. Both of these stances served a purpose. Yun stood the way she did because it emphasized her hips and allowed them to sway in an alluring way with each step. Strehin stood like a warrior with legs apart, one foot forwards and her torso turned sideways to minimize her profile. Both stances were purpose made for war - it was just a different type of battle.


    ¡°We will spar¡±, Strehin said, ¡°One round lasting five minutes or until you manage to hit me.¡±


    She saw the young woman gasp, ¡°But you¡¯re... you can¡¯t be serious, no one can stand up to a fully powered mage but another mage? You¡¯re not... any longer...¡±


    The iron dragon felt a pang of anger and clenched her fists, ¡°If you deem it that easy, our spar will be short. Strike me.¡±


    Yun exploded in a sudden cloud of light. It was a pretty sight that might distract a normal human. Strehin found herself unimpressed. Excessive leaking of energy, she judged. The cloud of light malformed when a human-shaped bullet shot out of it. Yun approached at a ridiculous speed with arcs of lightning running along her legs. Strehin saw the clenched right fist and noticed the thumb hidden beneath the other fingers.


    Amateur. When Yun swung for Strehin¡¯s shoulder, the older mage didn¡¯t even dodge. She simply put the back of her hand towards the blow. The younger girl struck with all her strength but Strehin took the hand and feathered the blow to prevent damage. Not to her but rather to the girl¡¯s thumbs. Yun still yelped in pain.


    ¡°That¡¯s not how you form a fist. The thumb never goes under your finger, otherwise, kinetic energy from the blow will dissipate along the bone and break it.¡±, Strehin said and then went on the attack herself. She flashed a step forward with her fists raised to cover her torso. One, two - quick hits against a shoulder while the IMBUE mage was still befuddled from her earlier pain. Yun flopped onto the ground with a painful yelp.


    ¡°Get up. Strike again. I¡¯m nearly three times your age and not as good as I used to be. Bring the thunder, girl. You¡¯re an IMBUE Mage, a goddess of fire and lightning. So bring it! Strike, attack, prove your worth!¡±


    Her words struck the woman on the ground like strikes of their own. She watched her get up. Yun brushed dirt off her clothes and concentrated on the fight again. Like before, a spectacle of light announced their fight. Lines of energy traced after Yun¡¯s limbs. She actually whirled like a figure in an action movie!


    Strehin grunted in disgust and simply punted a fist into Yun¡¯s stomach. The graceful motion stopped mid-air as the young woman folded, smacked to the ground and whined from the impact.


    ¡°What are you doing girl? We¡¯re not dancing! You¡¯re a minute into our spar and I haven¡¯t even moved yet!¡±


    She watched the former celebrity do as she was told. Yun had guts, she was willing to give her that. It¡¯s just that everything else was a complete mess. The young woman swayed from the impacts but Strehin remained watchful. When her opponent suddenly launched into a lightning-fast attack, she felt a modicum of respect. Not many had the presence of mind to try a feint after being broken before.


    This time, the IMBUE mage came flying with a high kick accentuated by flames. It was still an excessive amount of energy. Strehin leaned her torso back just in time and snatched the leg out of the air, she twisted her torso, moved her hands and then let momentum carry the younger woman forward. A loud crash rang out when Yun smacked through a tree. The iron dragon looked over her shoulder and Yun slumped over chips of wood. The sudden stop at the end hadn¡¯t gone well. Neither for the tree nor the young woman.


    ¡°The damage to her body is rising. You¡¯re overdoing it Strehin. A couple more attacks like that and she might break a bone¡±, vibrated the headphone on her jaw. It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t know it either.


    She watched the young woman get back on her feet and stumble over. Magic sparked out of her opponent in random patterns. When the strike came, it had absolutely zero strength to it and Strehin could snatch it out of the air. This time, she simply forced the hand down.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough. You¡¯ve survived the full five minutes. Congratulations¡±


    It had been less than one and a half but there was no need for the defeated girl to know that. She gently pressed the girl onto the ground and then sat down next to her.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got two basic problems with your fighting. One, you leak excess energy not just from your Gates of Magic but with every move you make. Your training worked well to turn you into someone¡¯s dream ¨C but it failed you for combat. We will change the way you walk, think and act¡±


    Strehin watched her reaction but the girl just panted for air.


    ¡°Two. You¡¯ve picked up a bunch of ugly habits from improvised battles. It¡¯s true, most enemies are wowed by the light but you can¡¯t rely on it. Let¡¯s get down to the basics. See that tree stump over there? Strike it with lightning without getting up. Let me see your manifestations¡±


    She pointed at a tree and then wrapped her arms around her chest. Yun looked at her with wide eyes.


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean how? Form the connection, excite the particles and pour magic into the spell!¡±


    The young woman lowered her head and bit her lips, her voice was a weak whisper, ¡°I¡¯ve never learned any of that. My magic just... comes. It¡¯s there at all times and reacts to what I feel¡±


    Now it was Strehin¡¯s turn to be stunned. There was no way a mage wasn¡¯t trained in using her magic. That was their entire purpose for being. From the moment their tiny bodies survived the bath in the nano-fluid to the day they left their cradle for other worlds, every second was geared at making them understand how the circuits in their body worked and how they could manifest their power.


    ¡°So right now, all you can do is leak energy and amplify your body to a degree?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡±


    Strehin sighed. What would the doctor do? Probably hug the other woman but that had failed once already. The iron dragon held out both of her knotted hands and frowned.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be sorry for something that is not your fault. You will be taught and you will learn. But at the point you¡¯re at, you will need a different teacher. Do you understand the chemical excitement theory?¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°Your friend Sovan will teach it to you then¡±


    ¡°But he¡¯s no mage?¡± said Yun.


    ¡°What part of theory makes it necessary for someone to be a mage? Chemical excitement theory is simply chemistry and physics. You will learn how to start a fire and create lightning from the vector of elements and reactions. There¡¯s no point in showing you how to manifest when you don¡¯t know what to do with it¡±


    She watched the other woman slump over and sob. Strehin reached out but stopped herself short from touching her. She was the iron dragon, not a mother hen.


    ¡°You may learn at your own pace. However, I expect you to take on missions as presented. Case in point¡±, Strehin said and stood up from the ground, ¡°Tomorrow at this time, you will lead an expedition down to the planet. You will be without drones since we have no working hub ship. The nano-forge is your goal. We need it¡±


    She patted the woman on her head and then left the storage room. They really did need it. It had been an act of desperation to vent the groupies into space. That part had worked well and all that remained was to clear eventual remaining nests on the station. However, Strehin took a deep breath and already imagined she was feeling a decline in air quality. The air vented along with the aliens had been enough to put them on the fast track for collapse.


    ¡°We better find the parts to fix our life support¡±

 009 - Makeup, robots and nuclear bombs.

    The relationship between humans and their hair was a curious one. It was a matter of fact that no memories were ever stored within them ¨C but cutting them short somehow signified the end to an era. Following that, Yun didn¡¯t recognize herself anymore. Her long mane had made way for a tousled bob.


    It wasn¡¯t the only change in her life. An unfamiliar ache coursed through her body from having slept on the ground. Privacy wasn¡¯t a thing anymore with nothing but a thin cover of clothes marking her ¡®room¡¯ in the central camp. The Star of Ashina would have whined about it and by extension, she would have too ¨C yet here she was feeling strangely content. She observed herself in a holographic mirror and sculpted her body as artists would do with a statue.


    The chameleon necklace rested on the cavity between her collarbones. It was the source of a lot of these changes. With her finger on the control segment, the colour of her hair changed to raven black and then added a few nuances to seem more natural. A subtle blush appeared on her cheeks that contrasted with her red lips. By the time black eyeliner accentuated her eyelids, she grunted in frustration. Old and trained habits had won out and she was right back in the process of dolling herself up. She nudged the finger back and both, blush and eyeliner vanished.


    ¡°Think natural. You¡¯re a media idol no longer¡±, she whispered.


    The next changes were more drastic. Her eyes darkened until she looked ten days out of sleep. Blemishes marred her skin and took away the picture-perfect look. She had gone from a glamour supermodel to a tired and lived woman with the touch of a finger. Yun reached into the mirror and spun it around. Not much she could do about the shape of her body ¨C but she wasn¡¯t satisfied with her transformation either.


    There was more to the once Star of Ashina than just her looks: it had included attitude, body language and even the tone of voice. Much of that showed when she took a few steps forward. Her hips accentuated each step with a flourish, the shape of her body was put on provocative display, simply because of how she presented herself.


    Artificial. She had been a dream just out of reach, wild enough to stimulate the fantasy but also soft enough to appear relatable. She was marketed to be something to possess and protect. Yun turned around and tried to imagine walking like Strehin instead. She lasted two steps before laughing. Again, she turned and walked. It was harder than she thought. Again. When she was finally satisfied, her gait looked weary and her posture had lost its allure. It wasn¡¯t Strehin. It wasn¡¯t Balayuna either.


    ¡°Last, remains the voice¡±, she said and first lowered it slightly. A press on the mirror activated the audio mode as indicated by a speaker symbol.


    ¡°My name is Yun¡±, she said. The mirror played it back and she shook her head. She would need it a bit deeper.


    ¡°Yun is what they call me¡±, she spoke and shook her head again. That had been too deep. In her mind, a woman like her would have a somewhat raspy voice with just a tint of annoyance to it.


    ¡°Yun. My name¡±


    She added a bit of gruffness and squealed when the mirror played it back. It was just so perfectly imperfect. Her last step was making her uniform look the part. She had gotten one as part of the welcoming package. It looked good on her body and that was part of the problem. Yun started to fiddle with it until the fabric creased. She stretched the area around her stomach to indicate that she might have a larger belly than she did and even went as far as to strain the waistband, just enough that it sagged. Little touches like that added up to give the impression of a woman that was tired and a bit out of shape.


    Yun finally deactivated the mirror and picked up the small hand computer it had come from. She attached it to a special pocket on her wrist and took a deep breath. The woman called Yun had been born. She turned around and left her tent.


    <hr>


    Sovan sat hunched over a small metal container. To his left was a bowl of soup and his right side was overloaded with a variety of tools. The tip of his tongue came to rest between his lips as he worked on a rectangular metal box. Voices from the camp reached his ears and burned in his mind. Whenever they laughed, it felt like they were laughing at him. He tried his best to ignore it but the smile on his face wouldn¡¯t even convince himself.


    Satisfied with his work, he put the metal container on the ground and nudged it with a foot. Four small limbs sprung from it and ports for attachments appeared on the outside. The little machine walked in circles before it suddenly turned towards Sovan. The little thing raced up the tree trunk and finally came to rest on his legs.


    ¡°Behaviour matrix seems good¡±, he mumbled, ¡°no sign of oddities, movement lags a bit¡±


    The metal creature was the core compartment of a robotic pet. It was part of the odd jobs his team of fix-it-alls were occasionally tasked with. He grabbed it and felt the machine struggle in his hands. The fact that the ¡®cute¡¯ pet had neither skin nor a head made it look that much creepier.


    His mind was so attuned to the bustle of the camp that the sudden silence made him stop. The Star of Ashina ¨C no, the young woman named Yun walked out of her tent. His smile turned genuine, whatever she had done with herself ¨C it was a job well done. When Strehin had announced the singer¡¯s death, a wave of confusion had hit people. It grew when their ¡®new¡¯ crew member showed up.


    Sovan sighed. It said a lot when everyone¡¯s first reaction was to accept it and move on. There was a saying along those lines, that when the Kirin strikes the Tiger, the wise peasant becomes a pilgrim. Balayuna was dead, Yun lived and everyone was supposed to see no connection between the two. Case closed. He watched her leave the camp and returned his attention to the robotic pet. His tools were archaic. A screwdriver, a brush ¨C yet fixing this thing was a moment of bliss for him. It took a few swipes to clean the dirt out of the metallic limbs. This time, the pet did not just move but it dashed around with grace.


    A few more tweaks in the programming followed and the robot brushed along his legs and suddenly raised one limb to gently smack him. Yep. Perfect. He quickly shovelled a spoonful of soup into his mouth and then picked it up again. All that was missing was the head and the tail. They snapped in place with a click and the cheeky robot swatted him again.


    ¡°That¡¯s about right¡±, he said with a chuckle and deactivated the machine. Sovan snapped the skin segments in place and fixed them with a few simple screws, before coating it in a thin nano-fluid.


    ¡°Now what did the request say... a red Somali Cat breed... simulated fur with all features? Shedding included? Oh grey gods¡±


    Sovan reached into the maw of the robot kitty and pressed his index finger on a small incline. A holographic display appeared above the machine. It didn¡¯t take long to make the settings and a moment later, red fur sprouted from the robot until it looked identical to the real thing. At the same time, he started to feel odd. The cat looked so lifelike that its unmoving body unnerved him. He switched it into active mode and got a scratched arm as a thank you gift. Even artificial pets hated him - which really was just an endorsement of how realistic their programming was. He carefully put the cat down and used his ocular implant to send a pick-up notice to whoever had ordered this thing made.


    It didn¡¯t take long before a woman with a familiar face appeared before him. What was her name again? When the woman frowned, he immediately recalled her name.


    ¡°Anna Troviac, don¡¯t tell me that thing is yours?¡±


    ¡°Solokov and no, it¡¯s not¡±


    He quietly made a mental note to program something that showed him the names of everyone he looked at. The woman grabbed the cat and promptly got a scratch of her own.


    ¡°I hate cats¡±, she exclaimed and held the thing as far away from herself as she could. Anna turned around without another word, but Sovan kept watching her all the way to her destination.


    ¡°Strehin¡¯s office, huh, I wonder which guest... what?¡±


    He saw the iron dragon snatch the cat from Anna. An actual genuine smile showed on the face of the administrator as the tall woman vanished into her tent with her new companion. Emperor alive, what?


    <hr>


    There was an inherent beauty in the design of spaceships. Whether they followed form or function, space or atmospheric flight, it was a joy to see them in motion. Not this monstrosity though. Yun craned her neck to stare at the docked Odyssey Calibur. It roughly followed the shape of a Kraken with the tear-shaped hull and swept-back arms that doubled the length of the vessel.


    As far as spaceships went, most used a mix of engine systems. A friend had once explained it to Yun. For in-system flight, a quantum vacuum thruster worked well enough. With the nearly limitless energy from the reactor, it could keep accelerating until the g-forces overpowered the gravity core. Granted, the friend also kept using words like zero-point-energy and particle translation but she got the basics of it: Powerful thruster makes the ship go zoom.


    The other side was the Stellar Drives. While normal drives used some part of the grey particles, Stellar Drives were built around them. Her friend had explained the Stellar Drive as calling the universe to make way. If you asked nicely, space warped around the ship and the vessel engaged in a controlled fall towards its target destination. Once you got to the point of screaming at it however, the warp reached a point it should mathematically, physically and logically never reach. At that point, the grey particles activated and punted the ship lightyears away. The gist of it: Space magic makes the ship go VAVAVOOOOMBAA.


    The Odyssey Calibur probably surprised no one by screaming at the universe all the way through: There was no visible drive compartment. It didn¡¯t even bother with wings for atmospheric flight ¨C the vessel just powered through. Yun wrapped her arms around herself and made her way into the ship. Her first mission. It wasn¡¯t anything glamorous, just a simple scout and salvage operation. On an alien planet. Ravaged by thermonuclear war.


    ¡°Just another Monday¡±, she said with a grin. The lift platform heaved her into the belly of the beast, where she found the short doctor with a whole assortment of fashion murder weapons.


    ¡°Oh, our ¡®newest¡¯ crew member¡±, said Kathrain and grinned in her direction, ¡°We had to prepare something special for you. Don¡¯t go breaking it¡±


    The short woman then handed her one of the murder weapons: A hazardous material suit in bright garish pink. Yun took it and offered a bow in response.


    ¡°Thank you¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Just pay attention to it. These suits are simple enough to use. Slip in, activate the sealing procedure and then make sure nothing damages the controller on your chest¡±, the doctor said. Yun watched the gravity-adapted woman walk over towards another suit. She spread it on a table and then pointed at it.


    ¡°It¡¯s got multiple layers of protection and it should use self-healing to seal all damages. Once you¡¯re done, you activate a purge and if any of you go up in pink smoke, they get a free vacation in quarantine. Don¡¯t try it at home and stay away from the vacuum.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve got it, thank you¡±


    ¡°You should come in for a few check-ups when you¡¯re...¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°I really should be going. Thanks¡±


    <hr>


    Kathrain¡¯s smile lasted until the young mage had left the room with an additional minute as a buffer. Once she was sure she was gone, the doctor reached into a pocket and removed a small device that was little more than a button and a light. It served a simple purpose: use all energy in a short burst transmission. The light flickered twice and then turned green. She slid it back into a pocket of her jacket.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want this journey to end now¡±, she mumbled with a blank expression. Her fingers touched her temples. Strehin would not like this ¨C which was why she was doing it out of sight. The Administrator was an admirable and valuable figure, more than perhaps she knew ¨C but despite all her bluster, she had no stomach for the shadier sights of political plays. This little transmitter was insurance, all she needed now was to be in place to use it. She sent a mental command and waited for Heart to react.


    .: Establishing a connection to Administrator Strehin. :.


    ¡°You?¡±


    ¡°Full score on conversational skills there¡±, Kathrain shot back, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to be on the ship but without them knowing I¡¯m there¡±


    Instead of an answer, Strehin glared off-screen. She reached for something outside of the camera.


    ¡°Sit down, Sturebock! Get off there!¡±


    Kathrain¡¯s implant provided an automatic translation for the old earth word. It was apparently a combination of the words stubborn and goat. Now there was one part of her that was dying to know what was going on that involved stubborn goats and another part that knew better. Her face remained perfectly blank. She chose patience and waited until the Administrator was back in the picture.


    ¡°For what purpose?¡± said Strehin as if nothing had happened. Four glaring scratch marks on her face told another story.


    A wise strategist picked battles she could win. Forcing the crew into regular examinations? Onwards, to battle! Putting a death-switch on a potentially volatile crew member? Done. Asking Strehin about the source of the scratches when she obviously didn¡¯t want to talk about it? She wasn¡¯t suicidal. Kathrain chose to smile instead. It looked genuine, all the way from the curve of the lips to the tiny wrinkles around her eyes. With a bit of luck, it would help smooth over her lie.


    ¡°Two reasons, to see how they fare in normal gravity and check up on potential lingering effects from edenleap. I¡¯d just schedule them normally - but you know how they get. The second I show up, they all seem to be miraculously cured¡±


    ¡°Oh no, you¡¯re not!¡± was the answer and the Administrator vanished again. Sounds of something breaking came through, along with meowing from Strehins office. The administrator grumbled about personality settings wanting to kill Sovan for them.


    ¡°I can call back later¡±, suggested Kathrain, ¡°It¡¯s really not a big deal, just keep it in mind¡±


    ¡°Do it!¡± shouted Strehin, followed by, ¡°NOT YOU!¡±


    A large paw suddenly smacked down on the camera and the connection went out. Kathrain blinked a couple of times and sighed. She moved the remaining suits into a container and made her way deeper into the ship. There was no more smile left on her. While Strehin¡¯s word was law, even the iron dragon was prone to errors. One of them was giving the fake celebrity a second chance.


    The doctor ran a finger over the tiny transmitter in her pocket. She would observe. Examine. Judge. Either the young mage served a purpose that outweighed the political nightmare she would become ¨C or Kathrain would press the button and remove one headache for Strehin. In a way, it was a form of medicine.


    She found her way to a small dining room on the starboard side. According to the schematics from the automap, it was far removed from normal operations and offered a second exit should someone come here against all odds. Kathrain moved into the corner and sat down on the ground. With one hand in front of her mouth, she quietly recited a mantra.


    ¡°You live, because we wish it, you breathe because we allow it. You exist, because we demand it¡±


    <hr>


    The brass decoration of the bridge reminded her of a scene from an old steampunk series. It was at least a couple of thousand years old and as a result, only a few remembered Captain Tastra and his adventures. Yun did! It was one of her few joys in life. The ragtag group of adventurers in front of her would have fit into his crew. There were six people, brave men and women from a variety of backgrounds. There was the plucky nurse with a cute smile and the engineer that seemed just a tad nervous around people. The gardeners hadn¡¯t been part of Tastra¡¯s crew ¨C but they had muscles, looked good and seemingly knew how to carry their rifles.


    ¡°Alright, listen up everyone¡±, she began and tried to channel what she remembered from the show. Tastra had always stood tall with his gaze locked onto the screen. When she did it, the others gave her confused stares. Probably because the screen was blank.


    ¡°This is a standard scout and salvage mission. We are to visit the unknown Black-cat Foundry on the planet below. The target scene has seen frequent battles by the entities known as groupies and it¡¯s possible we might need to fend them off. You are hereby permitted to shoot to kill¡±


    She looked each of her people into their eyes. The great Tastra had often realized trouble with nothing but a glimpse and a little gesture. Her command skills were lacking but she had maxed out her social abilities. When the nurse ever so slightly twitched, she looked at her and smiled.


    ¡°We should still try to avoid it if possible. Our flight will take ten minutes from launch. We¡¯ve got twelve hours to scout the facility. Our mission is to extract resources as prioritized by the list on your implants. Any questions?¡±


    ¡°You are going to lead us?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s just a minimum threat level on this mission¡±, she said.


    Their reactions made it immediately obvious she had messed up. Never show your doubt, she recalled Tastra¡¯s words of wisdom. He was right. Even if she was unsure about what she should do, they should never see it. She suddenly put on a smile and placed a hand on the central console. Bright lights touched her fingers.


    ¡°The raindrop doubts its purpose, but the storm marches on¡±, she recited a line from her hero and pressed her fingers down into the light. Soft tickling sensations ran over her skin. The ship rose from slumber a moment later. Flickering lights activated and bathed the bridge in bright light. The ground began to vibrate and a giant¡¯s fist pushed down on Yun.


    ¡°Reactors online¡±, said a pleasant male voice from the terminal, ¡°Gravity Core. Online. Magecraft circuits re-routed. All systems nominal¡±


    ¡°Hello Adam¡±, Yun said.


    ¡°Welcome back on board, leech. How may I serve you?¡± the computer replied.


    She snapped her mouth shut. The crew looked at her with nervous chuckles. Yun closed her eyes and forced her breathing back under control. Even from beyond the grave, the real Star of Ashina could still hurt her.


    ¡°First, change how you address me¡±, she said with a side glance to the others, ¡°My name is Yun, not leech¡±


    ¡°Affirmative. Hello Yun, not leech. How may I serve you?¡±


    This time, the chuckles turned into outright laughter. Yun slapped the machine and plopped down in the captain¡¯s chair. She looked at her crew with a defeated smile. They were good at looking in every direction but hers.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Adam, bring us out of the docks and down to the stored coordinates¡±


    ¡°Establishing a connection. Requesting docking transit ¨C warning, system not replying. Escalating... Accepted¡±


    Screens came alive around her until it felt like the bridge floated in the dock. Six docking clamps detached from the hull and the Calibur soon accelerated as the space distorted around the ship. There was one more stop in the airlock and then they were on their way into space.


    In her mind, a catchy theme song blasted on full volume. She quietly hummed it along with the lyrics as far as she remembered them. From the edge of outer space this man will ride afar, from the maws of chaos, he will rescue every star. Sitting in the captain¡¯s chair, fighting every demon¡¯s lair... this man he will plumb!


    Yun blinked and stopped. Tastra wasn¡¯t a plumber! Her silly chuckle got her another couple of stares but she didn¡¯t mind anymore. The Calibur inched out of the dock and it was like she had opened a door and stepped into space itself. A burning light flashed from starboard, the computer systems filtered the sun and replaced it with a much less intense icon - but it still retained its awing presence. Low frequency sounds echoed through the ship as the Calibur accelerated away from the station. Sudden movement on the screens indicated the arms shuffled around to minimize the profile of the ship while warning lights indicated a slight increase in temperature load from exposure to the sun. For a jump ship this size, it was already shuffled out of the cooling systems a moment later.


    ¡°Activating kinetic defence formation¡±, said Adam and the arms suddenly fanned out around the ship. Like snakes out for prey, they locked onto parts of debris that got too close. Every now and then, they snatched up a piece and flung it away.


    ¡°That¡¯s the fanciest shield I¡¯ve ever seen¡±, said one of her crew and Yun nodded in agreement. It was just another quirk of the Calibur. Sure, it had shields. Every spaceship had them but what generally went under the label of shields was really a whole array of defensive mechanisms. For example, cooling systems were just as much a type of shield as were magnetic projections, radiation shields and even an overcharged gravity core. On most ships, there was no magic space bubble to catch incoming fire, just specialized systems all attuned to a certain type of danger.


    Yun leaned back in her chair and rested her arms against the armrests. That was true for most ships but not all. Magecrafts were different. STRUCT mages could create bubbles of carbon that worked as ablative armour, FLOW mages were ugly cheaters anyway and FRAY users could disintegrate most things coming their way. IMBUE ships were more focussed on offence by merging weapon systems with energy boosts from the spell caster. Yun let her eyes wander over the screens all around her.


    The Odyssey Calibur was really about equality: It hated all things. When the hull of a derelict cruiser grew on their screen, three arms snatched it out of their way and with nothing but a short rumble running through the vessel, it was deflected away from them.


    ¡°Fancy is the wrong word¡±, said someone else after a moment of silence, ¡°Stupid would be more fitting¡±


    Yun chuckled, ¡°Not so stupid actually. The original design was for a rescue vessel. These arms were meant to facilitate repairs or grab and hold objects. They can also function as landing struts in uneven terrain. It made sense on paper ¨C but the press just called it the tentacle monster and that was that. I remember some weapons company bought the designs. They got bombed out of orbit.¡±


    Adam cut into her explanation with his smooth voice, ¡°Switching to orbital flight mode.¡±


    The screens changed. While the planet still looked far out, several lines appeared along with data. A bright line indicated their current course. It aimed directly down at the planet but when dotted lines pushed to the side, the line split up into an ellipsis close to the planet. Two points were marked on either side: Apoapsis and Periapsis. As the Calibur adjusted its movement, the extreme points indicating the largest and smallest distance to the host body shifted until they formed a perfect circle.


    ¡°Stable orbit imminent. Adjusting course¡±


    The planet jumped into view and filled their screens. Massive storm clouds raged below them.


    ¡°Switching to descent mode¡±, said Adam and the view changed again.


    The line indicating both extreme points drifted apart. One end of the line curved towards the planet and their target zone. The sudden vibrations from entry shook Yun to the bone. Purple lines of energy twisted in wave patterns over the hull as the Calibur forced its way into the atmosphere.


    ¡°Deceleration, engaging descent.¡±


    The purple lines vanished, as did the vibrations. In terms of space travel, the engine had stopped screaming bloody murder. A soft orange glow turned to bright flames around them. Their descent would look like a meteor to everyone else, just a massive object burning up in the atmosphere. Despite the coolant systems shrugging off the heat, the image of being inside the flames made her sweat.


    With little warning, the flames fell away and a stormcloud materialized in front of them. It reached all across the horizon and welcomed them with angry lightning. Several thunderbolts struck the hull but all it did was to move the EM-Shielding indicator by zero dot one percent. Forces of nature, the ship cared not for. The ship still groaned and creaked from its own power. Yun felt her heart race. Planetfall was always magical to her. Each world was a garden of its own. Some worlds had megacities so large their surface appeared like abstract fractal art. Others had built arches to rival planetoids and installed statues the size of moons.


    When the clouds finally parted, Yun closed her mouth and pressed her lips to thin lines. She knew the groupies had waged war but the world below wasn¡¯t just brown or a desert. It had been hit hard enough that the ground had melted together like glass. Image identification marked a couple of aerial vessels that looked like darts. No matter how alien something might be, flight still followed rules. Yun frowned when she saw the fighters trade missiles and plasma bolts.


    ¡°Detecting nuclear impact in close proximity. Adjusting radiation and impact shields¡±


    An explosion rose up several hundred kilometres port-side and turned into a ginormous mushroom. The aircrafts kept fighting, despite their imminent death.


    ¡°How¡¯d we ever think they were peaceful?¡± one of her crew said.


    ¡°Appearances can be deceiving¡±, Yun added.


    ¡°Target sector is heavily contested. Yun, no leech, am I to engage the landing zone regardless?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got no other choices. Land in the crater and lock it down. Adjust shielding as needed. Expect kinetic and chemical projectiles, both impact and explosion based.¡±


    There was no need to give these instructions. While Adam wasn¡¯t a war-machine, it would be more than apt at managing shields. The shivering of her hands told the real story: She was unsettled and nervous. Smoke hung over their target area like a burial veil. Flames flickered from within burnt wrecks ¨C lanterns to guide the dead souls of a massacre.


    The Calibur dove into the smoke like an angry god. Wind pressure forced everything down: Tanks, groupies, trees and planes. The latter struggled to stay afloat but were locked in place a moment later when the gravity core expanded to fill out the crater. When the smoke finally cleared, the groupies had stopped firing. The Odyssey Calibur hovered like a bad omen that only got worse as arms spread out and latched onto the edges. A metallic thump, followed by a loud groan marked a successful landing.


    The edge of the crater was filled with groupies that used their limbs to feel what was going on. Below them was the subterranean facility. The entrance had been bombed many times but the dome still stuck out of the ground like a sore thumb.


    ¡°Black Cat Foundry¡±, read Yun read on the embossed letters on the charred gates, ¡°Alright. Adam, activate crowd control mode. Everyone! Check your equipment. Check your neighbour¡¯s too. Suit up, lock down, we¡¯ve got a job to do.¡±