ã€ŠHorizon: Salvaged Heroes (Furry sci-fi superheroes)ã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Through the inconceivable depths of space, a single small vessel streaked at almost unthinkable speed. Even with the field of negative energy folding space around the craft its journey had taken years. But now the long voyage was nearing completion, the target system was in sight. The Tiere system, colonized by the Old Federation centuries ago with two rocky planets and one moon of a gas giant terraformed into imitations of Ancient Earth. According to Ronkalli data, the system had a population exceeding 4 billion gene-modded colonists, but as with many stars it had backslid into barbarism with the collapse of the Old Federation.

    Thus, the great Imperator Ronkall, in his infinite wisdom, launched Project Paladin to restore civilization to the stars. While sending a proper delegation all the way to bring even one star into the fold was infeasible, a small ship, such as the Resolution here, with a skeleton crew of trusted envoys and the seeds of a full nanofactory was just barely practical. According to the mission details saved in the ship¡¯s computers, these envoys of civilization would recruit Tiere natives and provide them the advanced technology necessary to become the champions of galactic order their system surely needed. Given the proper tools these champions would surely bring peace and stability to their chaotic system. Enabling it to properly join in the Imperator¡¯s efforts to restore civilization to the galaxy.

    Or at least it would, were it not for one little micrometeorite.

    ---

    The ice giant planet Skadi had a sparse population, slushy ammonia-methane seas were not exactly conducive to Terran-derived life, but the stations orbiting it represented the most far-flung outposts of civilization in the Tiere system. It was a hard-scrabble existence, with very little commerce that far from the three terraformed worlds. Most of the local trade was oriented around supplying water and raw organics to the few people who¡¯d settled out there. Economic opportunities for newcomers were few and far between.

    As the crew of the salvage co-op ship Dustbin had just discovered.

    On the pretentiously named ¡°Skadi Central Station¡± a red-haired raccoon transgenic by the name of Tanya Loter tossed a datapad onto the table she shared with her crewmates at the spacer cantina. ¡°That¡¯s their final offer. We¡¯re not getting any better than that.¡±

    An opossum in grease-stained mechanic¡¯s overalls picked up the datapad. ¡°Two thousand?¡± Luke Didelph, better known as ¡°MechRat¡± to his friends, said incredulously. ¡°That won¡¯t even cover maintenance.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Tanya sighed. ¡°But money¡¯s tight here and what we brought in is little better than scrap.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡± MechRat hissed. ¡°That air converter was FedTech, they don¡¯t make them like that anymore.¡±

    ¡°Wrecked FedTech.¡± The raccoon corrected him, ¡°and because they don¡¯t make them like that anymore nobody here can repair it. It¡¯s just a collectible antique and they don¡¯t have the space to waste on those.¡±

    ¡°The local credits are backed by water, aren¡¯t they?¡± Their third crewmate, an ox by the name of Brom Boslin, chimed in. ¡°If we cashed them in would that give us enough reaction mass to make it back to Surt?¡±

    Tanya shook her head, ¡°only if we coast and use gravity slingshots for two years. By then something will have broken and we¡¯re likely to suffocate or starve.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯re stuck here.¡± Didelph leaned back in his seat in resignation. ¡°Guess I¡¯d better learn ice mining.¡±

    Tanya picked the datapad back up and started scrolling through apps. ¡°Maybe not, I¡¯ll check the navigation charts. There could be something else out there we can pick up.¡± She did some quick mental calculations of their ship¡¯s range within a reasonable amount of time and expanded the station network¡¯s radar map of the surrounding space to match. There was a wrecked Belter clanship twenty light-minutes out, but two ships already on an intercept course, most likely there would be nothing left by the time they reached it. Fifty light-minutes out was a comet nobody seemed to have claimed, she supposed they might tap it for reaction mass but unrefined water was always risky. Then something on the very edge of the screen caught her attention. She tapped on it to bring up a more detailed view and her eyes widened, spectroscopic indications of titanium, carbon, gallium, even if it was scrap that could keep their little ship flying for decades.

    ¡°Guys, look at this.¡± She set the datapad back down and pointed at the object. MechRat¡¯s eyes glazed over, an expression Tanya recognized as a sign he was accessing his brain-computer interface implant, presumably so he could look at it in greater detail than on the screen.

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    Brom tapped the screen. ¡°That looks pretty interesting, how far out is it?¡±

    ¡°One hundred light-minutes¡­¡± Tanya trailed off as she did the calculations. ¡°It would take us five months to get there. Ten if we want to have enough mass for a return trip.¡±

    MechRat spoke up. ¡°Appeared out of nowhere just six hours ago.¡± His eyes came back into focus. ¡°That has to be some sort of Fed stealth ship, or¡­¡± He cringed at the thought of another distinct possibility that shook him.

    ¡°Sol-destroyers are not real, Luke.¡± Tanya replied in annoyance.

    ¡°But they are!¡± The opossum retorted. ¡°Fifteen billion years and Old Terra is the only planet to birth interstellar civilization? I don¡¯t think so! Besides, the Federation wouldn¡¯t have been so restrictive on EM emissions if they weren¡¯t scared of something.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a fairy tale,¡± Tanya insisted. ¡°But even if they weren¡¯t there¡¯d be no point to rocketing out to this thing. There¡¯s plenty of better ships that can reach it before us, even if they started out from Surt.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me,¡± the three spacers turned to see a grey wolf dressed in a well-tailored black jumpsuit, flanked by a stern-looking raven in a blue dress with a shiny new datapad strapped to her waist. ¡°I overheard some of your heated conversation and couldn¡¯t help but wonder what you were talking about.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a wrecked Federation ship at the edge of the system.¡± Tanya and Didelph turned to stare at Boslin. ¡°What, you said we can¡¯t reach it in time anyways.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± said the wolf. ¡°I was starting to think this trip might be a waste of time.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me, who are you?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°Oh, where¡¯s my manners.¡± The wolf held out a plastic business card. ¡°Irvine of House Lupus, of the Logan Lupines.¡± He gestured to his raven companion. ¡°This is my secretary, Ms. Melene Corus.¡±

    ¡°Logi? You¡¯re a long way from home Flatlander.¡± Didelph picked up the card and stared at it, Tanya guessed he was reading the RFID data in its integral chip. The raccoon tapped the table emphatically in his direction. She was originally from Jort and thus the epithet for those from planets large enough that you couldn¡¯t see curvature from the ground could apply to her as well. ¡°No offense meant,¡± he added quickly.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s been twenty years since I saw a proper horizon.¡± She introduced herself and her crewmates. ¡°Now what¡¯s your angle Mr. Lupine?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± said Lupine. ¡°I was getting a little bored at home so I thought I¡¯d go on a tour of the planetary system, starting out here on the fringe. While I was at it I might look into business opportunities for my House.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sparse pickings, isn¡¯t it?¡± Tanya replied.

    ¡°Yes indeed.¡± He confirmed. ¡°But then I happened to overhear your conversation about a potential Federal Guard starship.¡±

    ¡°Only a possibility,¡± Tanya was reserved. ¡°All we know for sure is there¡¯s a few hundred thousand water-credits worth of scrap just outside our reach.¡±

    ¡°What if you had a matter conversion drive?¡± Lupine grinned.

    All three spacers looked at him in astonishment. ¡°You have one of those?¡± Didelph spurted out. ¡°What are you doing in this scrapheap system then?¡±

    ¡°Crossing the planetary system in a matter of weeks seemed a better use for the family monopole cache.¡± Said Lupine. ¡°So, if I were to loan you my yacht¡¯s drive we might reach the Federal ship before anyone else from the inner system then?¡±

    ¡°With a conversion drive we could get there in less than a month.¡± Tanya exclaimed. ¡°But what would you want in return?¡±

    ¡°Well, my drive alone is worth more than any spaceship docked at this station. I think a triple crew share and first pick of any artifacts would be appropriate?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯d get half the total haul? No way!¡± Didelph burst out before his crewmates could voice any of their own objections.

    Lupine¡¯s expression stayed stoic, even while Corus turned her avian glare on the scrapper team. ¡°We¡¯ll think about it.¡± Tanya said. ¡°Let me give you our contact information.¡±

    Corus copied the contact data on Tanya¡¯s datapad to her own and turned to leave, her boss lingered long enough for one last comment. ¡°I hope you consider my offer carefully, there¡¯s plenty of other hungry spacers out here too.¡±

    Once the two were out of earshot, the Dustbin¡¯s crew started to confer in whispered tones. ¡°You¡¯re not seriously thinking of taking that offer, are you?¡± Said Didelph.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have many options do we?¡± Tanya replied. ¡°It¡¯s a really good deal, there¡¯s no way something better is going to come along.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just it,¡± Didelph continued. ¡°It¡¯s too good, there¡¯s no way he¡¯s not going to betray us once we get there.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being paranoid again MechRat,¡± Tanya retorted. ¡°He¡¯s a rich kid from the inner system, it¡¯s just a chance for him to get some shiny new toys.¡±

    ¡°No way, it¡¯s too convenient.¡± Didelph insisted. ¡°We find the find of the century and this guy just shows up offering us a means to get there?¡±

    Tanya tried to figure that out. ¡°The ship, or whatever it is, would have shown up on the station¡¯s readouts four hours ago. Maybe he spotted it then and went looking for crews who might be interested in checking it out.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense.¡± Brom finally spoke up. ¡°I¡¯m with Tanya, this is the best opportunity we¡¯ve had in months. I say we go for it.¡±

    Didelph grumbled. ¡°I guess I¡¯m outvoted then.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so.¡± Tanya nodded. She started making the call on her datapad. ¡°I¡¯ll try to talk him down to a double share.¡±

 Chapter 2

    Just over a month later, Tanya Loter gazed down at the radar readout of the Dustbin as it approached the strange object that had mysteriously appeared at the edge of the Tiere system. She took the distance reading and compared it to their rate of deceleration and breathed a sigh of relief, they¡¯d be slowed to a standstill just before hitting the edge of the debris cloud surrounding the object. The new drive system was doing its job, hopefully this thing would be valuable enough to recoup the cost. As she watched the timers count down the feeling of false gravity around her lightened and finally ceased altogether.

    Carefully she unclasped her harness and swung around in the open air over her seat, microgravity making it seem effortless. Tanya was not particularly athletic, though she also wasn¡¯t as chubby as some of her species got. She easily massed more than 90 kilograms on a 170 cm frame, but enough of that was muscle that she could arrest her momentum when needed. She had barely cleared the cockpit bulkhead when she had to test that agility. Just after she pushed off into the corridor, she spotted a now familiar black form flapping her wings towards her. Acting on well-practiced instinct, Tanya flicked out her long ringed tail at the frame of the bulkhead she was passing through, causing a shift in her trajectory that flung her up towards the ¡°ceiling¡± of the corridor. She reached out for one of the straps along all the walls of the corridor while also holding a hand out to guard her head. A second after her hand looped into the strap her other hand collided with the ceiling, causing her lower half to spin up towards the ceiling instead. She winced a little as her tail absorbed the impact with the wall, a little embarrassing to do in front of a planet-sider but the best she could manage in the situation.

    Melene Corus spread her wings wide and slowed her own approach, the neo-raven¡¯s talons casually grabbed hold of a strap on the opposite wall from Tanya¡¯s own handhold and she came to a stop within a meter of the raccoon. She turned her large black eyes on Tanya¡¯s and asked a single biting question. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be at your station?¡±

    Tanya considered her words carefully. ¡°We¡¯ve stopped dead in space, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems. Given Mr. Lupus¡¯s prior preferences for face-to-face communication¡­¡±

    ¡°We are nearing a debris cloud produced by an artifact of unknown origin.¡± Corus cut her off. ¡°I would say that under such circumstances having a pilot ready to respond to unexpected circumstances trumps my employer¡¯s communication preferences.¡±

    ¡°Oh, lay off you big turkey.¡± Corus retracted her wing and turned to spy an opossum in an engineer¡¯s many-pocketed jumpsuit. ¡°Tanya may have sold us out but she knows what she¡¯s doing.¡±

    Corus brushed aside the ¡°turkey¡± comment and rounded on the opossum. ¡°Engineer Didelph, your confidence in our pilot¡¯s abilities notwithstanding, our priority is to make sure that Mr. Lupus recoups his substantial investment in this expedition. That he lives to see that repayment should be assumed to be the most important part.¡±

    Luke Didelph snorted in derision. ¡°We¡¯re perfectly fine, this isn¡¯t the dark ages when ships had nothing but telescopes to guide them. Our active radar has every scrap of metal in 10,000 kilometers tagged and registered. We¡¯re perfectly safe.¡±

    Tanya cringed at the reminder of how they had secured the funding for this trip, and the terms that had been attached. But this was no time for second thoughts, they¡¯d taken the oligarch¡¯s money and equipment, spent the better part of a month coasting through the void with him on board, and now it was all going to pay off. They were in the home stretch, just hours away from securing the biggest haul in decades. They were¡­

    Shaking.

    ---

    The micrometeorite impact had quite thoroughly derailed the mission. Warp envelope compromised it had taken all the computer¡¯s immense processing power to keep the tidal forces from tearing the Resolution apart. Even then the rock¡¯s passage had torn a long rent in the side of the ship, causing nearly the entire atmosphere to vent and killing the crew in stasis. With no officers to issue orders and far from any potential champions to recruit the ship AI had nothing to do but follow its basic directives to maintain ship functions. With tractors and drones it had halted the local Kessler cascade generated by its own debris and repaired itself to the best of its abilities. The hull breaches had been sealed, atmosphere regenerated from stored elements, even the champion recruitment systems had been restored to full capacity. But the warp drive was a total wreck, it was dead in the water.

    And so, it had waited, observing the movement of the system¡¯s planets and spaceships, tracking a few craft that appeared to be approaching its own location. When one craft came within a light-minute of the ship defense systems came online, locking on with high fidelity sensors that evaluated its threat potential. As it began decelerating the ship gradually lowered its evaluation of the threat potential, but kept laser projectors locked on to the other ship¡¯s meager weaponry just in case. Shortly after the local ship finished deceleration burn one of the tactical system¡¯s observations crossed with the Ronkalli ship¡¯s mission directives. There was an 80% chance the local ship carried sapient biological life forms, sapient life could be recruited as champions, the mission mandated the recruitment of champions. Therefore, they must be brought on board and recruited.

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    The Resolution reached out for the local craft with a stream of invisible dark energy.

    ---

    Tanya scrambled back up to the cockpit while the others were still trying to find their feet, and wings. She slapped on her heads-up-display, sending readouts on the ship¡¯s hull integrity, momentum, and orientation relative to nearby bodies. Quickly assessing the situation, she leapt into her seat and wrenched the controls.

    ¡°I thought you knew what you were doing!¡± Corus shouted up the corridor, flapping wildly. ¡°How badly were we hit?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t been hit!¡± The raccoon shot back. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what¡¯s happening, it¡¯s bizarre!¡± A light on the control panel began blinking furiously as Tanya reactivated the main drive. She tried to ignore it, slamming an array of other buttons and switches on her panel instead. Despite the nuclear fire streaming out of their rocket nozzle, they remained on a collision course with the strange ship, and she couldn¡¯t tell why. ¡°Mechrat!¡± She shouted, using Didelph¡¯s nickname on board the ship. ¡°Check on the coilguns!¡±

    The opossum secured himself to the wall and his eyes glazed over. ¡°Everything¡¯s functional, no hull breaches or system irregularities. You expecting company?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so.¡± Tanya replied, she tried turning the ship to the side but something counteracted the force of her thrusters.

    ¡°Pilot!¡± A low lupine howl rebounded down the corridor. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you responding to my calls? What hit us?¡±

    ¡°Nothing hit us!¡± Mechrat shouted. ¡°There¡¯s no sensor records or hull integrity readings to indicate an impact. But, there¡¯s this odd strain on the hull that looks oddly like tidal stresses¡­ Oh crap.¡±

    Reluctantly Tanya slapped the intercom button, to make sure he could hear her from the other end of the ship, and explained the readouts as best as she was able. ¡°It looks like the artifact is projecting some kind of gravity well far in excess of its size. Given that none of the debris around us is falling towards the artifact I¡¯d say it has to be artificial and directed.¡±

    ¡°The Feds didn¡¯t have artificial gravity.¡± Mechrat whimpered. ¡°It must be¡­ them!¡±

    ¡°The Berserkers aren¡¯t real.¡± Tanya replied dismissively. ¡°It has to be some sort of experimental FedTech. But I can¡¯t see any way to break ourselves free without blasting it.¡±

    ¡°As much as I hate to damage such a valuable find, if there¡¯s no other way for us to survive then do it.¡± Lupus surprised her by how reasonable his orders sounded. ¡°Just don¡¯t vaporize it so we have something worth hauling back.¡±

    ¡°Way ahead of you.¡± Mechrat quipped. As he waved in the air Tanya saw their point defense coilguns come to life on her readouts and swivel to target different protrusions on the mysterious craft. But before they could fire the weapons lit up with overheating warnings and then lost their signals.

    The pilot recognized the heat warnings from a dozen firefights throughout the Tiere system. ¡°Laser fire!¡± She shouted in warning.

    Didelph was already watching the same readouts with much greater detail through his brain-computer interface, of course, though if anything the excess of information was less helpful for him. ¡°Oh, wow,¡± he muttered. ¡°That¡¯s some precision work their gunner has. Barely even scored the hull.¡±

    Lupus¡¯s voice came over the intercom again. ¡°If they¡¯re only disarming us that would suggest they want to capture us rather than kill. Perhaps we should broadcast a surrender?¡±

    Tanya considered the possibility for a few moments, why would a highly advanced spacecraft want to capture the crew of a lower-tech vessel alive? It wasn¡¯t likely they intended to give them presents, was it? No, it was more likely they¡¯d be destined for study or interrogation, probably as a prelude to some sort of invasion. As much as the peoples of the Tiere system liked to scrap, she didn¡¯t wish a war with people who could manipulate gravity on them.

    No, there was only one way this could go. Every long-range spacecraft had a weapon of last resort on hand, one that made the question of ¡°fight-or-flight¡± irrelevant. When decelerating previously she had angled the nozzle of the Dustbin¡¯s matter conversion drive so that the stream of hot plasma sped past the unknown vessel by more than a kilometer, now she directed her small ship¡¯s thrusters to bring the full force of nuclear fire to bear on the clearly hostile ship.

    She watched the backstream wander towards the alien craft, a thousand meters, eight hundred, seven hundred, the screen lit up as a bit of space junk got caught in the stream and was vaporized in a flash, five hundred meters¡­

    The readout for the engine block lit up with heat warnings a split second before the drive cut out completely. Without the drive fighting the tractor beam the Dustbin was flung towards the Resolution with the force of nine standard gravities. As Tanya¡¯s blood pooled in her legs her vision swam, the readouts became blurry and indistinct. Just before her consciousness lapsed she gave a silent prayer to whichever egregores might be listening that some of them might survive whatever was coming next.

 Chapter 3

    Tanya woke to a momentary sensation of fluid in her lungs, but it was dispelled in moments by a wave of bright white light. The light faded gradually to reveal a shining marble floor veined with gold and silver streaks. Following the streaks led her gaze to the edge of the platform, rising uncountable feet over a green-coated floor dotted with metal and carbon-fiber spires that stretched almost as far up as she was. She quickly turned to glance upwards, finding not a ceiling, but a vast blue void over a horizon that appeared to stretch out into infinity.

    Slowly, Tanya began to realize where she must be. It had been two decades since she had last been on a planet but that skyline was unmistakable. But how? And which planet? She¡¯d only been on Jord for a short time but it didn¡¯t look like anyplace on that frigid dustball, and she didn¡¯t think there was any construction this big on Logi either.

    ¡°New Pallas.¡± A voice said behind her, as if in answer to her unstated question. Tanya spun around to spy a tall golden-furred vulpine dressed in ornate gilded robes straight out of a historical novel, a pair of white-feathered wings extending from his shoulders. Without thinking the raccoon tilted her head in reverence, though she did not know who this awe-worthy individual was. ¡°Once, the jewel of the galaxy.¡± He waved his hand, and a wave of red fire swept over the landscape.

    Where the flames passed there was now ruin, scorched soil and toppled skyscrapers. Tanya gasped, the land looked quite familiar now, too familiar in her opinion. She remembered fire, raining down from the skies, indiscriminate in its devastation. The surreal nature of entering a still-smoking city, picking through the ruins of buildings she¡¯d visited as a small child, finding nothing of the people within but blackened outlines and scattered bones. Her pulse quickened, her breath tightening, bile began to rise in her throat.

    ¡°The nova changed all that.¡± The stranger continued. The dead world vanished from view, replaced by open space. The marble floor turned translucent and they watched as a massive ship, easily kilometers long, approached them. Slowly, the vessel passed below their platform, disappearing meter-by-meter into a sphere of distorted space. ¡°Many escaped the stellar fire.¡± He explained, and Tanya realized where she had seen a ship like that before. A Belter clan they¡¯d worked for years ago had appropriated one of the Centauri refugee arks as their clanhold, but the ship vanishing into a wormhole below them was a far cry from the scarred and patched hulk they had docked at. This one had looked fresh out of the printers. ¡°However, they found the galaxy a very different place from the one they left behind.¡±

    The scenery shifted again, they hung over what appeared to be the same ship, but now it had been through a great struggle. Large sections of the ark hung detached from the main hull, which was itself pitted with the craters left behind by heavy mass drivers and melted patches of laser fire. As Tanya watched a desiccated transhuman corpse drifted towards them. ¡°Without Pallas¡¯ guiding light, they fell victim to the dregs of society. Pirates, slavers, and petty warlords newly emboldened by the splintering of the Federation.¡±

    Once again the view shifted to a giant metallic sphere, bristling with missile racks and laser arrays. ¡°The valiant soldiers of the Federal Guard continued to try and enforce the peace,¡± they zipped away to a ramshackle fleet of ships built from jagged scrap. Tanya watched the fleet close in on a wheel-shaped space station, emitting cutting lasers that sliced the station into neat sections that drones fed into a bay on the center ship that gaped like the maw of a massive beast. ¡°But they are spread thin.¡± A flight of missiles from the Federal ship slammed into the marauders, too late for the residents of the station.

    Now they hung over a red star, surrounded by satellites whose tattered solar sails still shone brightly even as they collided with one another in an uncontrolled Kessler cascade. ¡°Without the wormhole network this star once powered, the Federal Guard¡¯s mobility is limited, their great ships are effectively confined to a few scattered fortress systems. But hope is not lost.¡±

    ¡°My name is Ronkall,¡± the stranger finally explained. ¡°I was a system governor entrusted with overseeing a research program on the fringes of Federation space.¡± Suddenly they were next to a massive wheel station, judging by the Guard sphereships drifting around it the station was wider than most asteroids Tanya had seen. The strips of greenery visible on the interior of the wheel suggesting both a transparent canopy to the station and that much of the interior was given over to parkland, an extravagance unheard of in the modern Tiere system. She tracked a shimmer in space-time from one of the docking facilities on the exterior of the station to a cluster of eleven elongated orb-like craft, similar to the object her ship had gone out to meet so few months ago. The shimmer faded to reveal a twelfth vessel, identical to the others. ¡°Paragravity,¡± he elaborated, ¡°I believe you¡¯ve already seen what it¡¯s capable of.¡±

    The dozen ships shimmered and began to move, weaving an elaborate pattern in space, without even a hint of thruster gas. Then ten of the ships stopped shimmering and began to orbit one of the still active ships, slowly passing to the second active ship in time. Tanya gasped, this was how the Dustbin had been captured, artificial gravity!

    ¡°You might be wondering what one of these ships is doing in your system,¡± the vulpine continued. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be more advantageous to keep this groundbreaking technology, and many others my people have developed, to ourselves? No, I say.¡± All twelve ships shimmered then, and moments later zipped off in all different directions. ¡°It is better that these tools for rebuilding galactic civilization be put to use, by the right people.¡±

    That brought Tanya pause, what could he mean? He couldn¡¯t possibly mean¡­

    ¡°Yes, Tanya Loter of clan Procyon.¡± Ronkall addressed her directly. ¡°You are one of those people. You know how terrible things have become, you fought against us when you thought we were a threat to your people. Those are qualities suitable for a champion of civilization.¡± He held out a hand covered in glistening fur to her. ¡°Become one of my paladins, bring peace and prosperity to the stars, end the pointless suffering and strife that plagues Jord and its neighbors.¡±

    Tanya tensed on hearing her former homeworld¡¯s name, and being reminded of why her sub-clan had left. The city-state where they¡¯d lived had gotten in a trade war over exports of some high-nutrient vegetable to the orbitals, which had become irrelevant when a meteor flattened their city¡¯s subsidiary farmlands, along with a sizable district of the city itself. Officially it was ruled an accident, a miscalculation with nuclear charges, but everyone knew it had been aimed. It had seemed so pointless when she was thirteen, and it still seemed petty when she was thirty-three. She took his hand.

    ¡°Excellent.¡± With those words, the ships, the stars, even the void itself, faded into oblivion as the raccoon lost consciousness again.

    ---

    Tanya¡¯s eyes crept open, everything was blurry, distorted, like she was looking through a curved lens. She inhaled to take a breath, but it felt like swallowing lukewarm soup. Puzzled, she lifted a hand to her face and found a surprising amount of resistance, it was like she was in a swimming pool.

    She felt a current flowing down towards the floor beneath her, and then she felt air on the tips of her ears. She was immersed in liquid! Tanya reached out for something to grab hold of, and felt only smooth crystal, all around her, forming a tube that held the fluid in place around her. The fluid level drained down almost to her eyes, shouldn¡¯t she be drowning? She reached up to try and find some handhold to pull her out of the liquid but found a cap covering the top instead.

    A large dark shape approached the tube from outside, Tanya scrambled more desperately, whether to catch the other¡¯s attention or to ward them off, she didn¡¯t know. But either way, the result was the same. The cap was wrenched off the top of her tube and a meaty hand reached in and grabbed her.

    Tanya leaned over the edge of the tube and coughed up clear fluid. Another hand helped by slamming into her back and forcing the rest of the fluid out of her lungs. The pain of what felt like multiple cracked ribs cut short multiple successive gasps as she blinked her eyes clear and she was relieved to recognize the face in front of her.

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    ¡°Lift?¡± She managed to squeak out.

    Brom Boslin, known to his crewmates as ¡°Lift¡±, nodded his horned bovine head. More gingerly now, he lifted Tanya out of her transparent aluminum tube and set her down on the floor. ¡°Sorry,¡± he apologized, eyes widening. ¡°I¡¯m a lot stronger now, I don¡¯t know my own strength, literally.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Tanya lifted her head and tried to look down at herself. The first thing she noticed was that she¡¯d lost a few kilos, while not skinny she now looked like an athlete with a healthy amount of body fat over the muscle. The second was that her chest had partially caved in where she¡¯d been slammed into the rim of the tube. ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    She rested her head on the floor again. Brom started tromping around looking for something to help her while she slowly turned her head to scan the room. There were more tubes in there, she could spy a pair of clawed feet floating in one, had they all been immersed? She noticed a warm feeling in her chest and carefully reached a hand out to touch it, worried that meant internal bleeding. Instead she felt sharp pains that felt like slivers shifting beneath her skin.

    Her muted cry of pain brought Lift back to her side, arms full of things that looked vaguely medical. He dropped them as he exclaimed ¡°your chest¡¯s fixed!¡±

    Tanya lifted her head again and confirmed that her ribs had returned to their normal shape. ¡°How could¡­¡± even as she asked, the answer popped into her head from past stories. ¡°Nanobots, they must have given them to us so we could heal faster.¡±

    Lift examined his left arm and flexed his msucles. ¡°Not all they did. I¡¯m a bit stronger now.¡± He picked up a metallic splint from the clutter he¡¯d dropped and bent it ninety degrees. ¡°This is carbon nanotube-impregnated titanium, I shouldn¡¯t be able to do that.¡±

    He handed the splint to Tanya and she found it near-impossible to bend back into shape. A red light blinked on in her periphery vision, leading her towards a tube containing a familiar-looking avian. ¡°Corus?¡± She asked rhetorically, then turned to look around. Besides her own tube and Corus¡¯ there were three more; one was torn open, as if something inside had exploded, the second was empty, the third held a male opossum, still as the grave. ¡°Luke?!¡± She exclaimed, rushing over to the tube. While running she slipped on a patch of fluid and fell forwards, sliding towards Didelph¡¯s tube and slamming her face into the side.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s okay.¡± Lift stomped up next to her. ¡°You were just as stiff as he is when I woke up and, well¡­¡± He pointed towards the wrecked tube. ¡°Then the green light on your tube turned red and you started moving.¡±

    Tanya carefully stood back up, surprisingly she didn¡¯t feel any pain, nor were there any signs of bruising that she could find. ¡°So, does that mean Corus is awake now too?¡± She caught a small twitch of movement in the raven¡¯s tube. The raccoon stepped more carefully towards Corus and looked inside her tube. At least one large black eye was wide open, but she was barely moving otherwise. Tanya¡¯s own eyes opened wide and she started searching the control panel. ¡°Hold on, we¡¯re going to get you out!¡± She shouted in an attempt at reassurance.

    One of the buttons on the tube¡¯s control panel read ¡°manual release¡± and Tanya pressed it quickly. Only for a synthesized voice to call out ¡°Warning, perfluorocarbon still draining.¡±

    Tanya blinked, the word sounded somewhat familiar. Something about a liquid breathing apparatus for high-g maneuvering? She breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°I think that means the fluid in these tubes is perfectly safe.¡± She saw that the liquid had drained to almost eye-level in Corus¡¯s tank. ¡°Maybe we should wait for your tube to do whatever it¡¯s doing, instead of panicking.¡±

    When the fluid got down to the raven¡¯s neck Corus spoke up, voice slightly muffled by the aluminum. ¡°Please remove your mammal glands from my sight.¡±

    The raccoon glanced down, in the excitement she¡¯d failed to realize she and Lift were dressed in nothing but their fur. ¡°Sorry,¡± she mumbled to the raven. ¡°There any clothes around here?¡± She called to her crewmate.

    The bull fumbled around the shelves and slid open a closet, there he found a rack holding up some shapeless white robes. ¡°Let¡¯s try these.¡± He slid on the largest one and tossed another to Tanya.

    Tanya donned the robe, she found that when she pressed the hem to the fabric on the other side it clung loosely, feeling somewhere between static cling and velcro. The breast bore a logo consisting of three circles; a large yellow one, a slightly smaller orange one to the right, and a much smaller red circle below them both.

    After a couple more minutes Corus¡¯s tube was completely drained and the transparent aluminum cylinder retracted into the floor, leaving the raven standing there. Tanya handed her another robe that had sleeves wide enough to accommodate her feathered wings. ¡°So you two were impatient and wrecked your cylinders?¡±

    ¡°Well the last time we were conscious we were being sucked into a mysterious exostellar ship with command of gravity.¡± Tanya retorted. ¡°I think you can forgive us for a little freakout.¡±

    ¡°With impulse control like that, it¡¯s no wonder you were so far in debt when we found you.¡± Corus scanned the room with her large avian eyes. ¡°Where¡¯s Mr. Lupus?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± a door on the far side of the room from the cylinders slid open, revealing the wolf. He was dressed in a white uniform similar to the robes they were wearing, but formed into a single-breasted jumpsuit instead. ¡°You can relax.¡±

    Corus turned towards him and snapped to attention. Tanya looked at him quizzically instead. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you pay attention during orientation?¡± The wolf chided her. ¡°We¡¯ve been recruited into something much bigger than ourselves. Given a chance to make a better universe for ourselves.¡± He strode towards MechRat¡¯s tube and tapped it. ¡°I was planning to wait until you were all done but it seems Mr. Didelph will be taking a while in there.¡± He sighed, ¡°I hate repeating myself.¡±

    ¡°You woke up before us,¡± Tanya stated. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It would seem,¡± Lupus enunciated slowly. ¡°That the ship recognized my leadership ability and appointed me commander of this program.¡¯

    Tanya perked an eyebrow, Brom inhaled in surprise. Corus asked what was all on their minds. ¡°Forgive me, Mr. Lupus, but you said the ship appointed you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ms. Corus.¡± Lupus confirmed. ¡°It would appear that the Resolution struck some of our system¡¯s all-too-plentiful space debris and took severe damage. It was able to repair itself to some degree but the crew were a total loss. In their absence it took us in, applied medical torpor, and evaluated us in a virtual reality so it could assign us the appropriate roles.¡± He pointed to his secretary, ¡°intelligence,¡± then to Brom, ¡°heavy marine,¡± to Tanya, ¡°pilot,¡± he tapped MechRat¡¯s tube again and sighed, ¡°engineering,¡± then he pointed to himself, ¡°and command. Once it assigned those roles it installed the latest Federal Guard augmentations to help us perform those roles.¡±

    Tanya rubbed the spot where her ribcage had imploded. ¡°That would explain a couple things. I know that Lift got some strength mods and I¡¯ve got nanobots, what else did it implant in us?¡±

    ¡°We all have regenerative nanotechnology, that used to be ubiquitous in the old Federation you know.¡± As well as brain-computer interfaces far more advanced than the primitive thing in Mr. Didelph¡¯s head.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Tanya stared at the wolf¡¯s mouth. ¡°Your lips didn¡¯t move when you said that last sentence, and I heard it as if you were millimeters away from my ears.¡±

    Smart one, Lupus said silently. I¡¯m going to bring up your heads-up displays now.

    Tanya blinked in surprise when ghostly green letters and numerals appeared on the edges of her vision. She tried to focus on ¡°augs¡± and found the word expand in her view then, open a sub-menu that listed a series of strange devices: BCI, super-myoglobin, absorptive collagens, reflex myelination, vehicular control rig, NiTan reinforcement, leukosynths¡­

    Before she could go further into any of the implants she noticed a pulsing alert to the side of her HUD. Please select a username, this name will be used on all networks connected to your implant so be wary about including real names in your username. She considered for a moment, then remembered the edge of the virtual planet she had seen, and wrote in Horizon.

 Chapter 4

    The opossum in the perfluorocarbon tank stirred, took a quick look around, then made a call on his BCI. Both Brom and Tanya saw the call notification on their HUDs, Horizon, who¡¯d been exploring her own BCI, picked up first and subvocalized her words.

    <u>Horizon:</u> Finally, you¡¯re awake!

    <u>MechRat:</u> Tanya? Is that you? Where am I?

    <u>Horizon:</u> Relax, you can breathe, it¡¯s perfluorocarbon. It¡¯ll drain out in a few minutes.

    <u>MechRat:</u> The breathable liquid? I¡¯d heard some clinics and high-g ships used it to keep people alive, where are you?

    Horizon stood up from the table where she¡¯d been sitting and grabbed a robe, she¡¯d already figured out how to reconfigure the smart fabric of her own into a jumpsuit using her BCI¡¯s wireless interface. She walked up to MechRat¡¯s tube and waved at him.

    <u>Horizon:</u> We got up hours ago. What took you so long?

    <u>MechRat:</u> Hours? Really? What kind of augs did you get?

    <u>Horizon:</u> Well, I got a BCI, like you. Also I heal fast, my bones are made out of memory metal, my reflexes are a lot faster, I can pilot this ship with my mind, blunt force barely even hurts me, and I can stay conscious in space for an hour.

    <u>MechRat:</u> An hour, really? Most spacer mods can only handle ten minutes.

    Another icon in the call menu lit up, indicating Brom had finally entered. ¡°Hey, how do you guys speak without moving your lips?¡± They heard it both audibly and in the BCI call.

    <u>MechRat:</u> Try to think about saying it without actually talking, it¡¯s simple.

    <u>Lift:</u> Really? Just like that?

    <u>MechRat:</u> Yes, like that?

    <u>Lift:</u> You heard that? Guess I should be more careful about what I think now.

    <u>Horizon:</u> I would say so. We were just discussing our augs, what about you?

    <u>Lift:</u> Uh, I¡¯m a lot stronger than I was before, it says there¡¯s some sort of machines in my blood, I think that¡¯s armor under my skin, oh and there¡¯s mention of an exoskeleton? Maybe I¡¯m getting a new powerlifter?

    <u>MechRat:</u> So it sounds like we¡¯ve all got a BCI and leukosynths, that makes sense considering they are supposed to have been ubiquitous in the Federation. It looks like they removed my old one completely and inserted a bank of processors running down my spine. Silvers! I could brute force hack my way into the Jord international bank now.

    <u>Horizon:</u> Is that all?

    <u>MechRat:</u> No, there¡¯s something here called ¡°morphic tools.¡±

    The opossum held a hand up in front of his face, and before his eyes his fingers began to split open revealing an array of small picks and graspers that changed configurations as he focused.

    <u>MechRat:</u> So I¡¯m the engineer, Tanya¡¯s a better pilot, and Brom is muscle. You seen the rich kid and his pet bird yet?

    <u>Horizon:</u> Yes, Corus woke up right after I did, apparently Lupus¡¯s our commander.

    MechRat closed the call after that, they just stood there in silence until his tube finished draining. Once it opened he took the robe from Horizon and threw it on, seconds later it transformed into a jumpsuit and turned a more familiar dark blue shade. ¡°Run that by me again?¡± He asked, out loud.

    Horizon explained what Lupus had told them about the crew dying in transit and the ship apparently designating him the new mission commander. ¡°Huh,¡± he thought out loud. ¡°That¡¯s certainly suspicious.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Horizon asked. ¡°You think he¡¯s lying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be more worried if he wasn¡¯t.¡± MechRat replied. ¡°Did he say what kind of augs he got?¡±

    ¡°Actually, no, I don¡¯t think he did.¡± Lift considered.

    The opossum thought some more, ¡°okay, okay. What did the simulation show you?¡±

    Tanya cringed. ¡°Death, devastation, planets and ships alike left in ruin. Refugee arks going through wormholes and getting raided by pirates. I¡¯d rather not think about it please.¡±

    ¡°Wormholes?¡± Lift asked. ¡°All I saw was some pirates getting blown up and this ship getting launched.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± thought MechRat. ¡°Well, it might just be that my implants were more complicated so it had to keep my mind occupied longer, but I saw a lot more than that.¡± He nervously looked around the medical bay, making sure they were alone before lowering his voice. ¡°But until I figure it out, be careful what you say over the network.¡±

    ¡°Any particular reason why?¡± Horizon asked.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    A bright red icon flashed over all their HUDs and they all heard a voice in their heads.

    EyeInTheSky: All crew report to the bridge, we have a Class C emergency.

    A map appeared in the corner of their HUDs and showed a path through the ship¡¯s winding corridors to the bridge. MechRat sighed. ¡°That¡¯s why, because at least one of them could have admin access.¡±

    With the alert icon continuing to blink, the trio strolled casually down the corridor, following the path indicated on the map. The door to the medbay appeared to fit almost seamlessly into the white corridor walls, as they walked they found they could spy the other doors only as the thinnest of hairline cracks. The corridor appeared to be a smooth white plastic cylinder, with a flat floor that provided the most imperceptible traction for their feet. Around one corner Horizon spotted movement and turned to take a closer look. A spider-like robot sprayed some gelatinous material into a gaping crack in the wall. Her curiosity satisfied she dashed back to her friends as they rounded the last turn up to the bridge.

    Lupus swiveled in his chair to look at them as they approached. ¡°Finally awake are we, Mr. Didelph?¡± He commented.

    Corus was flitting around a large tank in the middle of the room, in which floated a holographic model of what Horizon recognized as the Tiere system. The raven stole an impatient glance in the scrappers¡¯ direction, then pointed a wing at a red icon departing Skadi¡¯s L4 point. ¡°We received a distress call from a small habitat in this cluster.¡±

    She made a gesture and a flat mechanical voice played from the speakers. ¡°This is habitat Stouton requesting assistance from all ships in range. We have suffered a hull breach, estimated ten hours twenty-six minutes until complete integrity collapse. Estimated survivors: one thousand, two hundred and sixty-three; revision: one thousand, two hundred, and sixty-one.¡±

    ¡°How fast can this ship go?¡± Horizon asked, to whomever could answer.

    ¡°The gravity drive was capable of cruising at 297,000 kilometers per second at full power.¡± Lupus replied. ¡°Unfortunately with the damage it took we can only manage a quarter that speed now.¡±

    Horizon gasped. ¡°That¡¯s over 99% of the speed of light!¡± She exclaimed. ¡°Even at a quarter that we could make it in less than seven hours.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re assuming it can accelerate to that speed at the drop of a hat.¡± MechRat interjected. His eyes glazed over for a few seconds before he spoke up again. ¡°Huh, guess it can do that, even compensate for inertia so we¡¯re not reduced to red slime.¡±

    Lupus seemed to take notice of MechRat¡¯s blue jumpsuit then. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bit out of uniform, engineer Didelph?¡±

    MechRat held up a corner of his outfit. ¡°Relax, it¡¯s the same thing the rest of you are wearing. I just changed the color to something that looks better with grease stains.¡± Abruptly, the jumpsuit turned white, causing the opossum to jump back a step. ¡°Okay, fine, I was going to change it back anyways.¡±

    The wolf oligarch ignored him and returned his attention to the holo-tank. ¡°Returning to the situation at hand. Should we even bother trying to render assistance to this little fringe station?¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± MechRat gasped in shock. ¡°This is one of the most basic rules of spacer life. If a non-hostile ship is in danger, and it¡¯s at all possible, you render assistance!¡±

    Lupus snorted and turned to his secretary. ¡°Ms. Corus, would you mind explaining why that is a bad idea?¡±

    She sighed and pointed to the holo-tank. ¡°First of all, the area has a great deal of loose debris flying about. The Resolution suffered catastrophic damage that killed the entire crew from impacting a small rock at near-light speed.¡± A bullet point and the word ¡°debris¡± wrote itself on the hologram. ¡°Second, we¡¯d be revealing ourselves and our technology to everyone in the Tiere system if we went to help, that would make us a target for every pirate and raider within a light-year. Third, though I admit it¡¯s very unlikely, there¡¯s a possibility that this could be a trap.¡±

    Horizon considered the three points and gazed back at her HUD menu, accessing the vehicular control rig system. There was a general systems readout for the Resolution, and another tab for the Dustbin that indicated control systems were being installed in their old ship as well. The exostellar craft¡¯s menu also displayed one large button that read ¡°integrate.¡± She focused on the icon, only for a warning to pop up: ¡°caution, do not attempt full nervous system integration while standing. Please be seated or lying down first.¡± Tanya noticed then a reclined chair that seemed to be made up of gel bags.

    ¡°Look.¡± MechRat continued to object. ¡°You think any other spacers are going to be running that same ¡°cost-benefit analysis¡± on saving them? We¡¯re not flatlanders, we don¡¯t have the luxury of treating people as abstract concepts. Those are our people out there.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t stop you from fighting so much among yourselves, does it?¡± Lupus retorted, but Horizon ignored him. Instead she strode over to the gel-bag chair and sat down.

    The gel moved around her body, shifting to support her joints and hold them snugly in position. It was the most comfortable chair she¡¯d ever sat in. Now that she was sitting down, she thought, there wasn¡¯t any reason not to integrate was there?

    In a matter of seconds the bridge faded from view, replaced by a view of open space. For a moment, Horizon was concerned that she no longer felt her arms, legs, tail, or neck; but as her consciousness expanded new sensations came to replace them. Sensors in every wavelength known to Terran life, docking arms, weapons banks, gravity engines, the primitive but oddly familiar ship docked to her side. It dawned on her, she was the Resolution now. New instincts came to the forefront, drives to preserve her hull integrity and the knowledge to operate her systems. She saw the maps her sensors had made of every scrap and pebble in the Tiere system and made threat assessments of the Jordian and Logan navies.

    ¡°Tanya!¡± She heard MechRat¡¯s concerned voice. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Horizon reassured him.

    ¡°You sure?¡± He asked again. ¡°You just laid down and went all glassy-eyed and¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did your voice come out of that speaker?¡± Lift added.

    A mental nudge prompted a small window displaying an overhead view of the bridge to appear. The opossum was standing next to her but turning his head towards the camera, where the bull was already staring. Her own body was lying on, or rather in, the gel chair which had now reclined and swelled up to partially enclose her extremities. Horizon paused for a minute, trying to formulate her answer. ¡°I found another thing my implants can do.¡± She settled on. ¡°It appears I can integrate my nervous system with the ship. It¡¯s like I am the Resolution now.¡±

    ¡°Can you de-integrate?¡± MechRat asked.

    Horizon could see the icon for logging out, but wasn¡¯t ready yet to do so. ¡°I believe so, but first¡­¡± She pulled up the holo-tank¡¯s display and plotted a course from their current position to the station in distress. ¡°My radar will give me plenty of advance warning of debris so long as I¡¯m under .5c.¡± She highlighted a rock half a meter in length that the course curved around. ¡°And the gravity drives can turn on a dime.¡± Then she added threat assessments to the map, there was nothing rated higher than ¡°low¡± out past Surt. ¡°And I can take on a JSF battle group, on the slim chance that this is an ambush we¡¯ll be perfectly fine.¡±

    ¡°I still refuse to show our hand so soon.¡± Lupus objected again. ¡°If we appear with this sort of technology now, before we¡¯ve built up our forces sufficiently, my House¡¯s enemies will target my close kin.¡±

    ¡°We could easily conceal our identities.¡± Corus added, much to Horizon¡¯s surprise. ¡°The spacesuits this ship fabricated for us can be set to hide our faces and species to a reasonable extent. And it would not hurt to have already built up some good will when the time comes to reveal ourselves to the system.¡±

    The wolf growled softly under his breath. Tanya wasn¡¯t sure she would have picked it up without the security mics of her ship body. ¡°And how, pray tell, might we develop good will without revealing our identities?¡±

    ¡°Easy, we use pseudonyms.¡± MechRat interjected. ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple dozen alternate identities on different networks. We can probably use our ship nicknames, it¡¯ll be easy to remember at least. Though you two newcomers will probably need to think of some. EyeInTheSky seems a bit unwieldy.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± said Corus. ¡°How about I shorten it to Eye?¡±

    The security camera spotted Lift and MechRat shrugging. Lupus sighed, ¡°fine then. I¡¯ll be ¡°Princeps.¡± Be sure to remember that if we¡¯re really going on this mission.¡±

    ¡°Helmswoman Horizon requesting permission to go underway, Princeps.¡± Horizon requested as formally as she could manage.

    Princeps followed the course she¡¯d plotted in the holo-tank with his eyes for a few moments, then nodded. ¡°If anyone asks, we¡¯re representatives of the Federation reborn. Leave further details to me.¡± He leaned back in his chair, or was it a throne? ¡°Now go already.¡±

    back in his chair, or was it a throne? ¡°Now go already.¡±

 Chapter 5

    Horizon could not find the words to describe the sensation of her flight at a quarter the speed of light. The closest equivalence her personal experience held for it would be this one time she had been convinced to try a sport airfoil on Surt. It had been a primitive vehicle, no radar, no AI assist, not even electronic controls. When she wanted to turn she¡¯d had to physically move a mechanical control yoke in the direction she wanted to go. When she¡¯d looked down she was able to see the landscape moving below her. It was a far cry from computerized space flight where the only indicator of one¡¯s progress was a countdown on a monitor. She knew, intellectually, that the Resolution employed sensors and AI systems far in advance of any other ship she¡¯d flown, and that she could only perceive movement thanks to her extreme velocity and long-reaching ¡°eyes.¡±

    They zipped past planetoids, homing in on the tiny habitat of Stouton. As the station swelled in her view Horizon could spy the debris cloud expanding out from it. At a light-minute out she slowed the Resolution to a more conventional speed for near-station maneuvers, she could ascertain that an explosion had occurred in one of the residential sections. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived,¡± she announced on the intercom.

    ¡°Very well,¡± replied Princeps. He gestured to the holo-tank and issued orders. ¡°Give me a comm line to the station¡¯s disaster relief center.¡±

    ¡°There does not appear to be any centralization to their efforts.¡± Eye reported. ¡°They¡¯re all calling in to a single emergency channel and then forming task groups.¡±

    Princeps snorted in derision. ¡°Fine then. I suppose that¡¯ll make it easier to disguise our presence. Inform them we¡¯ve come to assist.¡±

    ¡°Acknowledged.¡± Horizon heard the raven¡¯s next statement through their comm channels.

    <u>EyeInTheSky</u>: Stouton, this is the Resolution, we¡¯re here to assist.

    <u>Boldfavor:</u> Didn¡¯t see you there, debris is a little thick here. Afraid we don¡¯t have room for you until we clear it out.

    Eye: Is there anything we can do to speed that up?

    Coldwin: No blasting! I mean, don¡¯t shoot anything, some hotheads tried that before and only made the problem worse. If you¡¯ve got a spare salvage net or something like that we could use it though.

    System readouts popped into Horizon¡¯s view before she could consciously think of them. She wasn¡¯t even sure how she knew, but she recognized one virtual control panel as guiding the invisible force that had pulled the Dustbin towards their current ship.

    <u>Horizon</u>: We have something like that, keep clear of the sectors on this map.

    A hypertech array built into the very superstructure of the Federation ship projected streams of dark energy onto a point in open space a thousand kilometers ahead of them. Slowly, small bits of floating debris coalesced upon the point, attracted by its artificially produced gravity. As the Resolution was pulled forward by a similar point projected just in front of the ship Horizon swept the dark energy she was using to clear debris from one concentration of junk to another, accumulating a growing ball of scrap metal.

    They approached, closer and closer, things seemed to be going well, they thought they might be in the clear. Then a new alarm beacon came on. WARNING: Structural integrity failure imminent Sector Y-4, the location pinged on their readout, showing a section on the habitat wheel close to their ship.

    <u>Boldfavor</u>: Dammit, Resolution, tell me you¡¯ve got fresh life bubbles! We¡¯re all out.

    <u>Eye</u>: Internal inquiry, EVA team status?

    <u>MechRat</u>: Suited up and fueled with a dozen bubbles fresh off the printer. This ship is amazing!

    <u>Eye:</u> Excellent, prepare for launch in 60 seconds.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Horizon targeted a section of the habitat that was close to the critical region, but in much better shape. She loaded a course that avoided the worst of the debris into MechRat and Lift¡¯s spacesuits and opened the cargo bay airlock. They used simple cold-gas EVA thrusters to exit the airlock and head out towards the entry point indicated. It felt weird, tiny sentient beings living inside her body, even if she knew intellectually that her body was really a ship that was just connected to her biological body on a neurological level.

    Her radar pinged off a hull plate just as it came loose from the station wheel, centripetal force sent it spinning towards her crewmates. She had no time to warn them, and it was too small to direct a tractor at it, reviewing her options quickly she decided and acted without warning.

    The opossum and ox lurched back in space just in time for the hull plate to go sailing past them, their microjets firing in reverse without their bidding. Their responses were immediate.

    <u>Lift:</u> What the heck? Why am I going backwards? Whoa! That was close.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Princeps? Horizon? Was that one of you?

    <u>Horizon:</u> Sorry, there was no time to say anything, overriding your controls was the fastest option.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Honestly, you¡¯re not the worst person I could imagine entrusting with that sort of power.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Focus on the mission, this is still a very dangerous environment, don¡¯t waste time and attention on idle chatter.

    <u>MechRat (Private message)</u>: That guy, for one.

    <u>Horizon (Private Message)</u>: He is right though, please focus on staying alive.

    The two scrappers turned rescuers continued jetting towards the wounded space station and pulled out magnetic grapplers. Within a meter of the station hull they turned their jets off and the grapplers on and let the magnetic forces pull them onto the side of the habitat. Carefully they crept along the outer hull towards the cracking segment. A jet of fog leaking out of a new crack gave them pause, but the sealing of the hole with spacer¡¯s putty both relieved them with the indication of living people on board and motivated them further to reach them before they ran out of air. Finally MechRat stopped and pointed at a section of the hull.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Lift, tap on that but be very careful not to break it in.

    <u>Lift</u>: I know what I¡¯m doing.

    The ox brought one armored fist down on the stressed hull metal, causing it to buckle inwards. Surprised, he jerked his arm back and nearly lost his balance on the hull.

    <u>Lift</u>: Okay, maybe I don¡¯t yet.

    <u>MechRat</u>: You¡¯ve got augmented strength and a powered exoskeleton with very little training. You¡¯re lucky you didn¡¯t cause another hull breach.

    The cybernetic opossum pulled a couple devices out of his suit¡¯s tool belt and strung a wire from his helmet to a box-shaped microphone/speaker in his hand. He pressed it up against a thin patch on the hull and waited for a minute.

    <u>MechRat</u>: I can hear at least three voices in there, two of them shouting in panic, the third seems to be trying to calm them down.

    <u>Princeps</u>: That is not ideal, panicked civilians are unpredictable. Try to calm them.

    MechRat: I can try, switching speaker on now. THIS IS THE RESOLUTION, WE¡¯RE RIGHT OUTSIDE! WE¡¯VE GOT LIFE BUBBLES!

    Several seconds passed as MechRat listened for a response. After about a minute he spoke to them again. Following multiple exchanges through the hull he readdressed the rest of the crew.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Okay, here¡¯s the situation. There¡¯s four adults and about a dozen cubs in there. Seems like it was part of their creche. Unfortunately the only airlock in their section has a busted inner door and the safety locks sealed the outer one.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Shit, any of them have spacer mods?

    <u>MechRat</u>: The cubs and all but one of the adults, though they don¡¯t want to risk more than a minute of vacuum exposure for the little ones.

    <u>Princeps</u>: So we cannot save them?

    <u>MechRat</u>: That depends, how powerful are our lasers?

    <u>Horizon</u>: You¡¯d better not be thinking what I think you¡¯re thinking.

    Horizon sent over the data regardless, and though she had doubts about the plan Princeps approved it. MechRat warned the occupants to hyperventilate for a minute and move away from a 2 by 2 meter square on the hull, then Horizon used a low-power laser to carefully cut a hole big enough for Lift to fly through with the life bubbles. MechRat then directed Lift towards an aging rabbit and three small cubs of varying species and the two stuffed them into the airtight polymer sacks they¡¯d brought, fitting the three cubs into a single bag. Once they¡¯d sealed the bubbles and opened the attached air bottles they floated over to the remaining cubs and their space-adapted caretakers. The remaining adults helped herd the other cubs into life bubbles before getting into their own, through her crewmates¡¯ helmet-cams Horizon watched a deer hybrid slip into torpor before Lift threw a bubble over her.

    <u>MechRat</u>: That¡¯s all of them, Lift you get the old guy and the sprouts over to Resolution ASAP. They could use our medical tech.

    <u>Lift</u>: On it.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Fix them up and move them to whichever ship is taking the refugees. Eye, inform the other ships that we¡¯re taking in wounded for treatment.

    <u>Eye</u>: Understood, relaying message.

    <u>Boldfavor</u>: That¡¯s some good news, you¡¯ve got some impressive tech there, glad you¡¯re using it to help us.

    <u>Coldwin</u>: We picked up a few people who were in vacuum for over an hour, they appear to be in torpor but haven¡¯t woken up in hours. Think you could take a look at them?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Commander, we have the best chance of being able to help those people out of any ship in this area, I think we should give it a shot.

    There was a long pause before Princeps responded. The silence gave Horizon a funny feeling, as if something was snaking through her guts, searching for her secrets. She focused on the cameras for the hallway leading from the cargo bay to the medical bay, Lift was carrying the two life bubbles of survivors as if they were filled with nothing but air, despite one of them squirming a little. When he got to the medbay and set them down on a couple beds the dedicated medical AI dropped armatures from the ceiling that cut the sealed bags open and began examining the occupants. The old rabbit was still unconscious, and a voice from the ceiling directed Lift to set him in one of the perfluorocarbon tubes. While one of the cubs leapt off the bed and started running around the room, pursued by a ceiling robot attempting to take his temperature.

    Curious, Horizon attempted to access the medbay AI to find out what procedures it intended to perform, only to be rebuffed by a ¡°not authorized¡± message. She tried to inquire who had access, which prompted a request for administrator credentials. Which was when Princeps finally made a decision.

    <u>Princeps</u>: This is Princeps, commander of the Federal Star Paladins assigned to Tiere System. We will provide medical assistance to all injured survivors. Though we make no guarantees we may be able to resuscitate some of the recently deceased as well. We can accommodate no more than 50 survivors at a time though, please form an orderly queue for transfer and re-uptake.

    Horizon was surprised by the change of heart in their oligarchic leader, and couldn¡¯t help but feel some suspicion. As he made this announcement her cameras caught the medical robots injecting screaming cubs with some gray substance she could not identify.

 Chapter 6

    The Resolution finished docking with the remnants of Stouton station and Horizon gradually withdrew her consciousness from the ship systems. In a matter of minutes she was reduced from the genius loci of the most powerful ship within a light-year, to just Tanya, small-time scrapper pilot. As she leaned forward in her very comfortable pilot¡¯s chair the stiffness of her joints and an uncomfortable pressure on her bladder reminded her of how long she¡¯d been lying there. Idly, she wondered what would have happened if she¡¯d been plugged in for a full day, and immediately wished she hadn¡¯t.

    After tossing aside a video of her chair¡¯s waste disposal systems she wondered where the nearest lavatory was and directions popped up in her head. As she headed over, she called MechRat.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Do you have a minute?

    <u>MechRat</u>: I¡¯m working on a couple projects here, but I can talk. What¡¯s up?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Did you know that my pilot¡¯s chair is equipped with ¡°auto-burrowing catheters?¡±

    <u>MechRat</u>: ¡­

    <u>MechRat</u>: I don¡¯t want to look that up do I?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Well I didn¡¯t really have a choice. I wondered how long I could stay linked in, and my implants played a video showing how the chair can dispose of waste in graphic detail.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Did you use it?

    <u>Horizon</u>: NO!

    <u>MechRat</u>: Okay, sorry. It sounds like you¡¯ve got a shadow AI in your implant. Really, it explains a lot.

    <u>Horizon</u>: What do you mean by ¡°shadow AI?¡±

    <u>MechRat</u>: Okay, so most BCI implants contain some sort of basic AI assistant to help the user. They can run data searches for you, suggest a particular course of action or tool to use, even warn you about dangers in your peripheral vision. Mine¡¯s named ¡°Mic.¡±

    <u>Horizon:</u> So what¡¯s a shadow AI?

    <u>MechRat</u>: Some users want their AI assistant to be as unobtrusive as possible, so they get an AI that operates as a secondary subconscious mind of sorts. Reviewing search results feels like recalling a memory, its suggestions seem like your own ideas, it hijacks your reflexes to make you jump out of the way of a falling crate, that kind of thing.

    <u>Horizon</u>: That¡¯s what¡¯s in my head now? Sounds terrifying.

    <u>MechRat</u>: It¡¯s not that different from your own subconscious, you don¡¯t exactly think about kicking when the doctor taps your knee or about every single muscle movement when you take a walk. Still, there¡¯s a reason I went with Mic when I got my first implant.

    That gave Horizon pause. Back when she¡¯d flown her first spaceship she had to work hard to remember which controls she needed to use and when, and had to plan out every little maneuver well in advance. Now it was all reflex, she ran through the sequences without thinking and ¡°eyeball-maneuvered¡± fairly often. But when she interfaced with the Resolution she didn¡¯t need to train in its operation, she just plugged in and knew how to run the ship as if it were part of her own body.

    <u>Horizon</u>: That does explain a few things. How do I get it to stop showing me gross videos though?

    <u>MechRat</u>: It should learn your preferences over time. I might be able to change some of your settings though so it doesn¡¯t open those things automatically.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Can you shut it down?

    <u>MechRat</u>: Shut it down? Are you sure? Can you even fly this ship without it?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Well, no, probably not. But, could you turn it off while I¡¯m not flying?

    <u>MechRat</u>: I can try, give me remote access and I¡¯ll see what I can do.

    Several menus flashed before Tanya¡¯s eyes, and just as she was finishing up in the lavatory MechRat informed her that he¡¯d changed her shadow¡¯s settings. Before hanging up he gave her instructions on how to restart it, but advised that it would take several minutes to boot up.

    As soon as she exited the head she ran into EyeInTheSky, the raven looked impatient. ¡°Pilot,¡± she commanded. ¡°Your presence is requested at the primary airlock in five minutes. We are meeting with what amounts to leadership on this station.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Horizon twitched uncomfortably at Eye¡¯s derision of Belter social dynamics, she was almost afraid to see how her boss might handle the meeting. ¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡± She confirmed instead.

    ¡°Be sure to wear a helmet.¡± Eye added, striding away on her spindly bird legs.

    Within a minute Horizon found a disc the size of her palm and twice as thick that was labeled ¡°respirator helmet¡± and spent several minutes afterward trying to figure out how it worked. There were several flaps and ports on the device, but no visible buttons or controls. Fortunately, a minute before the deadline Lift and MechRat showed up, their heads covered by form-fitting masks of silvery material with polarized lenses that concealed their eyes. MechRat snorted when he saw Horizon struggling with her helmet device. ¡°Bit difficult without your shadow, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Horizon shot him a judging look, ¡°just tell me how to use this thing, okay?¡± She said with annoyance.

    She could swear he was rolling his eyes under his mask. ¡°Okay, first open your implant¡¯s available connections.¡± Horizon blinked, and a floating window appeared next to the device in her hand reading ¡°emergency respirator: pair device?¡± She focused on the ¡°pair¡± option and a second later another window appeared giving more options.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s paired, what next?¡±

    ¡°Hold it a centimeter from your nose and select deploy mask on the menu.¡± MechRat advised her.

    Horizon did so, and a set of ports on the side facing her face opened up. A silvery mist flowed out of the device and around her head. Her implant advised her to ¡°remain calm¡± but it was difficult to hold still while a swarm of what she realized must be nanobots covered her head. Fortunately, the mist coalesced into a solid material before long, and formed clear lenses over her eyes. The device she¡¯d initially activated now seemed integrated with the mask, and she felt confident enough to let go of it. A new readout in the corner of her vision indicated that she had eight hours of oxygen remaining at current levels of exertion.

    ¡°About time you got yourself ready.¡± Horizon turned to spy Princeps and Eye approaching the airlock door. Eye was wearing a respirator much like the others, but Princeps wasn¡¯t. Instead, he had bleached his fur from its prior gray and tan hues to solid white. ¡°I understand you might not be particularly attentive to your appearances, but that doesn¡¯t mean the people we¡¯re meeting won¡¯t be. We cannot afford to be recognized.¡±

    Horizon turned away to stare at the airlock door and stand at what she hoped looked like attention, trying to ignore how uncomfortable her helmet-mask felt. Her discomfort must have been noticeable as she got a BCI message from MechRat.

    MechRat: I¡¯m working on a device that can cover our faces with a lifelike hologram. I¡¯ve got enough processing power in my implants but the rest of you are still a challenge.

    Horizon: Keep me updated.

    The airlock door slowly unsealed itself, revealing seams that previously had been invisible to the naked eye. The group entered a small chamber with an equally well-sealed door at the far end and waited as the inner door closed back up. Air cycled out of the lock until they were at equilibrium with the station on the other side, then the outer door finally opened to reveal the rather rusty-looking outer airlock of Stouton station. They heard the thuds of multiple bolts before the door itself gave way to the station on the far side.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Lift looked around in confusion. The inner airlock door was wide open, safety locks should have prevented that, but a malfunction like that was practically to be expected on a station so damaged. It wasn¡¯t until she looked downwards that she came to share the bull¡¯s alarm.

    Half a dozen unmoving figures were sprawled across the floor. All of them with graying fur or similarly fading feathers and scales. None of them were visibly breathing, but Horizon was experienced enough to know that wasn¡¯t a guaranteed sign of death in a region of space where oxygen mods were commonplace. She leapt forward to help them without a moment¡¯s thought of what could have caused their state.

    A feeling at the back of Tanya¡¯s hindbrain attempted to warn her, but she reacted too slowly and a needle-dart sank into her chest just as she was trying to duck. Looking around for the attackers she spied Princeps, MechRat, and Eye lying prone on the floor in defensive crouches while Lift stood with a heavy arm raised, two darts sticking out of it. MechRat yanked a dart out of the stiffened fabric of his jumpsuit, ¡°armor mode!¡± He shouted, accompanied by a digital signal.

    Horizon felt her own jumpsuit turn rigid around her torso and limbs, though the joints remained flexible. The smart fabric forced the dart out but she noticed to her horror that unlike the one that hit MechRat, there was a spot of blood on the tip. An alert popped into her view informing her that her leukosynths had detected a toxin, while they attempted to identify it Tanya felt her chest grow numb. Her respirator¡¯s oxygen readout jumped wildly, first dropping due to elevated stress levels, then rising due to rapid onset paralysis. She tried to get back up to her feet, stagger back through the airlock into the ship, like her crewmates.

    Eye leapt to her feet and flapped wildly back across the airlock. Lift stood tall, letting his armor absorb the following shots. MechRat scrambled on all fours back into the safe haven of the Resolution while Princeps calmly stood in Lift¡¯s shadow, his lapels rising to form an improvised face shield. Horizon took an unsteady step towards the airlock, then another.

    A cord that felt as strong as a titanium bar coiled around Tanya¡¯s waist, wrapping itself tight in a way that only micro-servos could do. She was yanked off her feet and dragged across the floor, away from the ship. Lift started to reach towards her, only to stiffen when another voice shouted ¡°retreat!¡± And then to slowly walk backwards into the airlock.

    In a panic, Tanya kicked out, her foot connecting with a hazy figure that appeared to be the same color as the station wall behind it. Adaptive camouflage! She realized, whoever had snagged her was much better equipped than your average poor Belters. But they didn¡¯t give her time to wonder who could be so equipped, another figure stomped down on her free leg and bent it at an odd angle. Tanya screamed in pain as her lower leg should have broken, but the alloys the Federation ship had replaced her bones with bent instead. Another figure, or possibly the same one, pinned her arms down and grabbed at her mask, the nanites held taught, reforming bonds as quickly as they broke.

    ¡°The Hel is this shit?¡± The figure trying to remove her mask protested.

    ¡°Just scrape it off!¡± The other one retorted. The first one unsheathed a knife and started slicing at the nanite mask, flicking off drops of silvery goo as they came off. Tanya tasted blood in her mouth, her face felt hot from the leukosynths trying to repair the damage her kidnappers were carelessly inflicting. Her leg felt rather warm as well, now that she thought about it.

    Horizon¡¯s free leg snapped back into place as her localized fever activated the memory metal. She kicked the back of the figure trying to remove her mask. The blur fell forward onto her and she tasted fresh station air as the mask was completely removed.

    She felt a second needle-dart pierce the side of her exposed neck. Numbness spread up her face as she saw them place a primitive plastic mask over her muzzle. Tanya smelled the rotten egg scent of hydrogen sulfide and lapsed into torpor.

 Chapter 7

    Tanya¡¯s oxygen-starved brain was dimly aware of a sharp pain in her wrist, followed by her mask getting ripped off violently. She reflexively gasped the moment she tasted fresh oxygen, her lungs trying to flush out the rotten egg-smell of hibernation gases. Through blurred eyes she spotted somebody¡¯s hand trying to untie her legs, though the angle made it hard to tell where the hand¡¯s owner stood. Maybe if she lifted her arm she could see them¡­

    The hand let go of her bindings and rose with her arm, and it suddenly clicked for Horizon. Her forearm was bent at nearly a 45 degree angle and her hand looked partially crushed. She scrambled through her implant¡¯s menu options but as soon as she¡¯d started thinking it her forearm grew warm and slowly, painfully, started to straighten out. As she was trying to ignore the pain from her bent arm she noticed her other arm, with a loose zip-tie still dangling from the wrist, trying to unbind her legs without any conscious effort on her part.

    She focused and got her hand to pull away. Had that shadow AI somehow reactivated itself and taken control of her body while she was in torpor? As useful as it was, breaking her own arm in order to escape without her knowledge was frightening. She started looking for the AI¡¯s control panel again in her HUD, but instead noticed a large number of message notifications.

    <u>1800 MechRat:</u> Horizon, are you receiving this?

    <u>1815 MechRat:</u> Horizon, please answer.

    <u>1830 MechRat:</u> Please, I went to all this effort to penetrate their jamming.

    <u>1845 MechRat:</u> Princeps is getting apprehensive, I can¡¯t locate you, he¡¯s tempted to blow the whole thing now.

    <u>1900 MechRat:</u> I¡¯m sorry Horizon, but the only thing I can think of is to remotely activate your shadow in ¡°survival mode.¡± I don¡¯t know what it¡¯ll do.

    Horizon rapidly composed a reply, sent it, and waited for his response.

    <u>Horizon</u>: What the Hel! It fracked up my hand!

    <u>MechRat</u>: You¡¯re alive?! What happened, where are you?

    <u>Horizon</u>: They darted me with some sort of paralytic, tried to break my legs, and then pumped my lungs full of H2S. That AI you turned back on broke my hand to get it out of the restraints while I was still asleep.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Oh, wow, that must have hurt.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Pilot, can you identify your location?

    She quickly looked around the room, nothing but dusty metal walls and a bulkhead with an electronic control panel on the left. It almost looked more like a hastily cleared supply closet than a prison cell. The scent of rotten eggs reminded her of the hibernation gas and she located the source, a pallet of cylinders the size of a fridge, enough to keep her in torpor for weeks if she remembered right. Horizon reached out her good hand for the dial and shut it off.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Looks like a closet, I¡¯d guess on a small to mid-sized ship.

    <u>MechRat</u>: I¡¯m trying to triangulate your location, but it¡¯s difficult with all the jamming.

    <u>Princeps</u>: A closet?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Yes, I don¡¯t think they expected me to wake up this soon.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Can you break out?

    Horizon twisted her legs free of the zip-tie binding them, bending one leg in the process, and hobbled over to the bulkhead. She examined the control panel carefully, thinking of how she might be able to get into it.

    She thought she might be able to pry the side up with her claws, midway between two of the screws would offer the least resistance, a medium effort for her enhanced strength. Horizon blinked, wondering how she knew that. Was it the AI? Unable to think of anything better to do she stuck the tips of her claws under the long side of the panel and tried to force it up.

    She lurched back, the panel bending outwards toward her as she bent it near effortlessly. The panel left a triangular space where she¡¯d pried that was large enough to force her whole hand in. Carefully she withdrew her claws from the panel, and noticed the holes they had left in it. She wondered how strong she was now, and received a readout in precise numbers that she had no context for understanding, which was then followed by an estimate of her pre-augmentation strength that was between half and a third of her current strength, while Lift was easily five times as strong as her.

    Horizon wedged the fingers of both hands into the opening she¡¯d made and pulled. With an awful wrenching sound the panel came free, exposing the mechanical guts of the door mechanism. She surveyed them quickly, pneumatic bolt should be removed, tear off hose to relieve pressure then rip mechanism out entirely if it doesn¡¯t retract.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I¡¯ve cracked open the door controls, I think I can open it from here.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Good, once you¡¯ve opened it, incapacitate the crew and take control of the ship by the most expedient means you have.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Yes, sir.

    She had doubts that she could pull it off alone against invisible assailants with unknown levels of augmentation, but her augmented brain was already spinning up strategies of attack. She¡¯d probably already blown any chance at stealth with the noise she¡¯d already made, so she decided to focus on her commander¡¯s directive for speed.

    Horizon yanked the pneumatic hose off the locking mechanism, prompting a hiss of escaping air. The bolt loosened in the lock enough for her to rip it out, finally enabling her to shove the door open. She scanned the hallway outside the closet she¡¯d been locked in, it was narrow, no curvature visible so most likely not a drum design. Either they were under acceleration already or still docked with the station. A clicking sound drew her attention to a ladder at one end of the hall, a feline tail and a pair of boots were coming down to her level.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Without thinking, she leapt towards the ladder and yanked the newcomer¡¯s tail down towards her. Caught off guard he lost his grip on the rungs and shouted as he fell. Horizon punched him in the head, driving it into the ladder and silencing him, possibly forever. He was wearing some sort of lightly armored bodysuit that flashed in a rainbow of colors where he hit the wall. She let him fall down to the bottom of the shaft, waited a couple moments to see if anyone would react, then scrambled up the ladder. Two sets of instincts warred in her head, one that said she was doing something incredibly unsafe and would slip and fall any moment now, the other had already calculated the exact placement of each step and handhold and just needed to place them.

    The ship shuddered and Horizon abruptly felt weightless. They must have undocked from the station. She looked up to the top of the ladder and saw a half-open hatch, beyond which rested a window into a starry void. The gap through which she could see that void was gradually shrinking, but now she had an advantage.

    The seasoned spacer raccoon launched herself upwards with all four limbs and straightened out into a ring-tailed torpedo. In the microgravity she sailed right towards the closing hatch and with her shadow guiding her she was able to slip through the narrow opening, though it was a tight squeeze at the end. Once she had pushed her way clear of the hatchway she found herself floating in a cockpit space not dissimilar from that on the Dustbin, two rotating chairs under a transparent aluminum canopy and just enough space to stand up and walk half a meter when under gravity. She didn¡¯t have time to admire the view though, an almost supernatural sense of danger drove her to throw up her arm to block an invisible knife just in time.

    Her blurred assailant drew back the blood-stained blade, and the little she saw gave her shadow enough information to approximate the location of his arm, and the torso and head attached to it. Before he could strike again she aimed a knee at his chest and knocked the wind out of him, prompting a rainbow of colors that spread out over his active camouflage, revealing his outline. Just as he was rearing for a second attack Horizon grabbed for the air where his other arm had briefly appeared, as soon as she felt polymer beneath her pads she swung him around into the canopy.

    He was outlined by more multicolored bands of light, and Horizon took full advantage of his momentary visibility this time. She grabbed at the base of his helmet and plunged a full set of claws into his throat. He gasped and she felt hot blood trickle up her fingertips. His suit flickered a variety of colors, then finally gave out and he went limp.

    Only then did Tanya realize everything that she had done. She withdrew her claws from the dying transgenic¡¯s throat, releasing streamers of rapidly coagulating black blood. She held the bloody hand in front of her face, staring in disbelief at what she, no, the AI in her head, had done. As hazardous as spacer life could be in the Tiere system, she had avoided killing so far. Now, this thing some mysterious figure from another star system entirely had used her body to erase two lives.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Pilot, report in.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I¡­

    <u>Horizon</u>: I killed them. I can take control of the ship now.

    Horizon tore her gaze away from her bloody hand to the controls of the ship around her. She hadn¡¯t flown this type of ship before, but the controls were similar enough to what she was used to. She could do this, she didn¡¯t need some digital hindbrain¡¯s help to¡­

    Time slowed down, she turned towards the closed hatch she had climbed out of, vibrations rattled the vessel around her, and orange jets of flame burst through the seams in the floor. Horizon curled into a ball as the ship exploded.

    The rush of fire was replaced by a steady hissing sound and an air current pulling her slowly. With hesitation she opened her eyes. The cockpit wasn¡¯t completely shattered at least, they were usually designed to double as escape pods, but apparently whatever exploded in the drive section was more powerful than the manufacturer¡¯s listed tolerance. Several jagged holes were leaking air out into the vacuum of space.

    Her shadow helpfully estimated that the cockpit¡¯s air would run out in five minutes if she didn¡¯t plug them, but with her current O2 reserves she could operate sans atmosphere for 17 minutes. A total of 22 minutes, barely any time for a rescue.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I¡¯m alive, but running short on air. Where are you?

    <u>Princeps</u>: What did you do?

    <u>Horizon</u>: I didn¡¯t even touch the controls. It must have been a dead man¡¯s switch or something.

    <u>MechRat</u>: The Resolution estimates we can reach you in an hour. Debris from that explosion is thick.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I¡¯ll be out of O2 in 22 minutes.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Wait one minute.

    Horizon sighed, then rapidly inhaled to make sure she didn¡¯t lose the air to the void. She¡¯d gotten spacer mods when she turned 19, like many other planet-to-space refugees who wanted to make a living, but she still despised sucking vacuum. Her retention capacity having been more than doubled was of little comfort.

    The disembodied cockpit rocked with the impact of what had been a hull plate, reminding her that her time might be even more limited. Horizon looked out the rapidly spinning canopy, spying the fields of debris around her and one large white vessel visible through the floating scrap.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Give me a vector, I¡¯m going out to meet you halfway.

    <u>MechRat</u>: This is a bad idea Tanya, just torpor and we¡¯ll pick you up.

    <u>Horizon</u>: If I do that there won¡¯t be anything for you to pick up, give me the vector.

    Grudgingly, the opossum transmitted the data for the Resolution¡¯s flight path, which Horizon¡¯s shadow processed into a dozen possible intercepts. When the air inside had become too thin for her to take a breath she threw open the hatch and carefully climbed out onto the exterior. Outside the cockpit-cum-escape pod was pitted with jagged metal and rotating so rapidly that she suspected they¡¯d modded out her capacity for motion sickness as well. She searched the void for the Resolution, letting her shadow guide her gaze with glowing arrows on the edges of her vision.

    There it was, a barely visible white blob between a couple floating clumps of scrap. She did the calculations in the blink of an eye and pushed off with all the force she could muster. And then she waited.

    While she was small enough to fly through holes in the debris that the Resolution couldn¡¯t fit through, she utterly lacked propulsion and was just coasting on what her augmented muscles had provided back at the start of her ¡°voyage.¡± She would be lucky if she was still conscious when she reached the ship.

    Her danger sense drew her attention to a square of hull plate in her peripheral vision. She just barely twisted out of the way of its passage, but at the cost of sending her slightly off-course. The deviation was only a few millimeters, but she would miss her ride by kilometers.

    Tanya began to panic,

    Resolution

 Chapter 8

    Horizon regained consciousness back in the medical bay of the Resolution, a quick glance around confirmed that she was in a perfluorocarbon tube again based on the curved visuals. She brought up her BCI communications.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I¡¯m awake, you guys managed to catch me I take it?

    <u>MechRat</u>: Oh that¡¯s such a relief, we were getting a bit worried.

    <u>Lift</u>: I flew out and grabbed you for the last leg. The ship seemed to work harder to rescue you after you got hit by that bit of scrap. Started tossing junk around to clear a path.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Actually, that was me. I managed to integrate with the ship remotely, didn¡¯t know that I could do that.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Hah! I thought that was the case. Was there a lot of lag?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Hard to tell, everything seemed to be operating in slow motion.

    <u>EyeInTheSky</u>: Pilot, now that you are conscious you are required to be on watch. The captain wishes to leave as soon as we¡¯ve wrapped up negotiations with the Stouton elders.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Hold on, she¡¯ll need to be in medical for another 14 hours minimum.

    <u>Eye</u>: She just confirmed that she can integrate with the ship remotely, did she not?

    <u>Horizon</u>: I did.

    The raccoon closed her eyes and reached out for the ship about her. In moments she was no longer confined within a half-meter diameter cylinder, rather she was floating in open space. She had no need for oxygen, no worry about a surface below her feet, she was free.

    Horizon scanned through her internal cameras for the rest of the crew. MechRat stood by a nanofabricator that was extruding a space survival package while his eyes indicated his mind was elsewhere. Lift had last appeared on the internal cameras five minutes ago, guiding a pallet of identical survival packages out to the station. The two ¡°new members¡± of the crew were in a conference room in heated discussion with a couple unfamiliar figures.

    She recognized one of them as one of the people who¡¯d been knocked out when she exited the airlock, a white-furred mouse in a wheelchair that looked like it had been hastily assembled from spare parts, an oxygen tube leading up to his nose. His face was frozen in a surprised expression, her shadow suggesting the lingering effects of tetrodotoxin without the benefit of leukosynths to clear it out as she had. A flat electronic voice emanated from a speaker on his lap. ¡°...And isn¡¯t it convenient that your pilot single-handedly killed those pirates and destroyed their ship?¡±

    Princeps kept his expression carefully neutral. ¡°She assured me that the explosion was not intentional, some variety of self-destruct system no doubt intended to conceal any evidence of their origins.¡±

    Another one of the stationers, a younger badger femme in an armored space suit, slammed a gauntleted fist on the table. ¡°And where is this pilot now? Surely if she could slay two battle-suited pirates while unarmed and full of puffer poison she could make this meeting.¡±

    Horizon accessed the ship¡¯s intercom and had it play her voice in every inhabited room on board. ¡°Pilot Horizon reporting in from the medical bay. After half an hour in vacuum I¡¯ll need to spend another half day in a perfluorocarbon tube full of medical microbots but I have a BCI that can access the intercoms.¡±

    All five people in the conference room turned towards the concealed speaker from where her voice had emanated, though only the paralyzed elder¡¯s eyes moved. She took some satisfaction from the glimmer of annoyance on Princeps¡¯ dyed face. The elder spoke up again, ¡°Pilot Horizon was it? May I ask your version of this story?¡±

    Horizon took the equivalent of a deep breath before speaking. ¡°I did not intend to kill those pirates. I do not have much combat training but I was very recently given a number of very advanced implants. One of them is a shadow AI that has reflexive combat applications and was ordered to incapacitate them as quickly as possible. Apparently killing was more expedient than knocking them out without permanent harm, activating their dead man¡¯s switch.¡±

    The battle-suited badger chimed in. ¡°Our militia gets applicants every so often who think a head computer means they don¡¯t need to do any drills. They¡¯re no match for an MMA master but have a bad habit of sending other rookies to the infirmary after matches.¡±

    ¡°No offense,¡± the AI she was plugged into volunteered personnel data scraped from Stouton¡¯s data mesh. ¡°Colonel Meline, but I¡¯m fairly certain my augs are a few centuries ahead of anything your people have available. Anything available to this star system really.¡±

    The third stationer, a brown-headed young mouse whose fur suggested some mixed heritage, perked up. ¡°Wait,¡± he seemed to realize. ¡°I thought you said that you came here from a system still within Federal control to help us, that takes years, decades even. How did you only recently receive these augmentations?¡±

    Horizon was taken aback, she hadn¡¯t realized that Princeps with his obsession with maintaining some sort of secret identities might have devised some sort of cover story for them. Now that she thought about it they might seem more credible if they presented themselves as the Resolution¡¯s original crew rather than some random scavengers who got press-ganged into replacing them. She was still trying to think of a way she might rectify her error when Eye spoke up.

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    ¡°We applied many of our augmentations while in hibernation en route to your system.¡± She composed the lie seemingly without effort. ¡°Upon entering your radio shell we were able to evaluate the situation in the Tiere system and worked out the most useful implants to accomplish our mission.¡±

    Princeps leapt upon his secretary¡¯s story, seeing an opportunity in the lie. ¡°Our medical bay is fully capable of installing implants all throughout the body. At the moment we also have a dozen spare injection-ready leukosynths that can be implanted at even the most basic of clinics. We¡¯re prepared to offer them to your station.¡±

    Colonel Meline¡¯s eyes widened at the mention of the medical microbots. ¡°Leukosynths? Aren¡¯t those the blood robots that oligarchs use to live forever?¡±

    The aged rodent, identified by computer as station elder Mys, spoke up. ¡°Immortality seems a fool¡¯s errand to me.¡± He paused, letting everyone hear the whirring of his oxygen pump. ¡°But if these leukosynths can restore me and the other elders to mobility, I might be persuaded.¡±

    The next three hours passed sluggishly, Horizon was barely able to follow it once she was sure they didn¡¯t suspect the Resolution of collaborating with pirates, or at least lacked convincing evidence of such collaboration. After another ten minutes her attention wandered away from the meeting and towards her old friends. She caught Lift as he was picking up another load of survival packs from MechRat¡¯s lab.

    ¡°Hello,¡± she said through the intercoms. MechRat looked up.

    ¡°Hey Tanya,¡± the opossum spoke, blinking to regain focus after spending a significant amount of time in VR. ¡°I tried to speak to you earlier, but the network said you were busy. Did Lord Princeps finally give you a break?¡±

    ¡°I can talk while working,¡± Horizon replied. ¡°However I was busy talking to the station representatives on board. Colonel Meline was getting suspicious that we were somehow responsible for the disaster.¡±

    MechRat snickered. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t have been elected if she wasn¡¯t a bit paranoid.¡± He let his eyes drift upwards in thought then. ¡°Though I suppose it¡¯s not too far-fetched. There was an explosion in one of the life support plants, and given the camo-suits it¡¯s starting to look like sabotage was likely¡­¡±

    ¡°You planning your election campaign?¡± Lift cut in. ¡°It¡¯s only been a couple days since we got this ship and the implants. He couldn¡¯t have known we¡¯d be in a position to help when it blew.¡±

    Horizon did some rapid calculus. ¡°He¡¯s right. Even with that yacht of his, Skadi to Stouton is a four month trip at best. He¡¯d be way too late to take advantage of any chaos generated by the station blowing.¡± She decided to change the subject. ¡°Now, you said you had something you wanted to talk to me about?¡±

    MechRat perked up, a sure sign that he was about to talk about his second favorite subject after conspiracy theories. ¡°While I was churning out these kits I started working on new suits for us. Considering what you just went through I figured it was best to start with yours.¡± He sent a sizable data packet to Horizon. ¡°Take a look through that, tell me what you think of it.¡±

    She opened the files he sent, they appeared to be schematics for a jumpsuit that looked very similar to the one she¡¯d just been issued. For the most part she couldn¡¯t discern many differences from her current suit, but she was not particularly familiar with the internal workings of Federation smart fabric. There were a few strange devices on the feet and wrists that stood out to her though. ¡°Are those directional thrusters?¡±

    ¡°Cold gas only.¡± MechRat confirmed. ¡°Fueled from a series of small pressurized bladders dispersed throughout the suit.¡±

    ¡°Where on the suit?¡± Horizon asked, suspiciously.

    MechRat accessed the schematic she was viewing and highlighted some subtle pouches in the fabric she¡¯d barely noticed. ¡°Each thruster has a primary cell flush with the lower arm or leg, as relevant. However they can be recharged in flight from dorsal or ventral reserves.¡±

    ¡°Dorsal and ventral reserves?¡±

    The opossum looked a bit sheepish over the security cameras. ¡°Over the small of your back, and stomach.¡±

    Horizon glared in her perfluorocarbon tank, even though she knew he couldn¡¯t see her. ¡°How much flight time?¡± She asked, moving on.

    ¡°The leg cells can do five seconds when filled to capacity, three for the arms.¡± MechRat replied. ¡°The reserves depend a bit on whether you want to conceal it. Between ten and eighty seconds.¡±

    She considered the information, it was still a fraction of the fuel capacity of any EVA rig she¡¯d flown, definitely for emergencies only. Though she was pretty certain that if fifteen seconds of maneuvering thrust couldn¡¯t help her in the limited time given by her implant¡¯s oxygen reserves she was pretty likely screwed. She¡¯d coasted for most of her recent vacuum time and only needed to maneuver when that piece of junk hit her. ¡°Anything else of note?¡±

    ¡°The collar contains a bank of hologram projectors so you can easily disguise yourself without resorting to dyes or masks like we tried before.¡± MechRat highlighted some small devices that looked almost like bulbs. ¡°I¡¯m putting them in all our suits.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Horizon added. ¡°That mask was kind of itchy.¡± She did a little searching and found that the intercom had a hologram projector, some mental fiddling later and a meter-tall version of her head appeared in the engineering room between the engineer and the cargo loader.

    ¡°Yeesh.¡± MechRat exclaimed, leaping back in surprise. ¡°You could have given us some warning first.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t particularly high on my priority list.¡± She replied. ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°Well, I added some range boosters for your BCI, you should be able to remote integrate with the ship at double, maybe triple your current range. We¡¯ll have to test that once we¡¯re safely out of here. Also I stuffed computronium into every spare pocket in the fabric, your shadow will have access to a few extra processing cycles.¡±

    Tanya¡¯s hologram looked agitated at the mention of the AI in her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I want that thing to be any more powerful than it already is. I told you what it did back on the pirates¡¯ ship, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Look, Tanya.¡± MechRat said attempting to placate her. ¡°Your AI shadow is not your enemy, no more than your biological subconscious is.¡±

    ¡°My subconscious has never broken my own hand or bashed an unsuspecting transgenic¡¯s head in against a ladder.¡± She retorted.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡± The opossum replied. ¡°You¡¯ve never been kidnapped before now, have you?¡±

    ¡°Well, it wouldn¡¯t know how to kill two camo-suited pirates barehanded.¡± Horizon knew she was reaching, if she¡¯d been trained how to do that the old-fashioned way she might have done it.

    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t know how to do that, before you got the shadow.¡± MechRat explained carefully. ¡°Didn¡¯t you pay attention to your psych-shaman? The unconscious mind can do wondrous, or terrible, things if it feels it has to. The AI¡¯s only difference is that you can consciously turn it off.¡±

    Horizon suspected, deep down, that he was right. ¡°There¡¯s no need for more than twenty seconds of thrust, do something else with the space.¡± She shut the hologram off and turned her attention back to the negotiations in her conference room.

 Chapter 9

    Princeps was showing a document on an e-paper sheet to the Stouton representatives, they looked somewhat uneasy about whatever was written on it. Elected Colonel Meline scrolled down to a particular clause in the document and tapped at it with annoyance. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®support¡¯ here? That¡¯s rather vague, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°After you¡¯ve rebuilt from this disaster we might at some point in the future have need of supplies from your humble station.¡± Replied the wolf. ¡°We will only take what we need, and nothing you can¡¯t bear to part with.¡±

    Elder Mys wheezed through his teeth and spoke through his vocoder. ¡°Those are incredibly vague terms. How do we know you won¡¯t decide you need the entirety of our hydroponics harvest, or all our ships? The Nebula Company at least demanded specific tribute for their protection racket.¡±

    Princeps turned to his secretary, ¡°the Nebula Company?¡± He asked.

    Eye paused for a few moments, Horizon presumed she was consulting some sort of internal database. But before the bird could answer Horizon interjected with her own response. ¡°They¡¯re one of the bigger ¡®pirate clans¡¯ out there wandering the void. Somehow they got hold of a Federal Guard base ship and like to use its mass drivers to extort Belter habs.¡±

    ¡°My reports indicate that they¡¯re descended from a mercenary company that was contracted by the old Federal Emissary to Tiere for peacekeeping in the outer system.¡± Eye chimed in. ¡°After contact was lost with Centaurus a division of the Federal Guard stationed here defected to them and took their equipment with them, including a base ship though there¡¯s little to no information on how operational it is.¡±

    Meline grumbled, ¡°a hundred and twenty years ago they showed up at our doorstep and started demanding food and minerals from us, or else. They came back every eight years to extort us again, demanding more and more each time. Fifteen years ago a bunch of us decided we¡¯d had enough and rigged up an improvised railgun, put a sizable hole in their hull and they backed off.¡±

    Eye blinked a few times, doing the math in her head. ¡°You said this was fifteen years ago and they came back on an eight-year cycle. Did they return seven years ago?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the colonel confirmed. ¡°Me and the rest of the militia used up the minerals we would have given them on building more railguns and magnetic shield generators. We exchanged a few rounds of fire and they decided to leave us alone.¡±

    Princeps¡¯ eyes lit up. ¡°Is it possible that their agents could have sabotaged your station and kidnapped my pilot?¡±

    ¡°That would explain where they got those suits.¡± Horizon chimed in. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like those before, three hundred year-old FedTech would make sense.¡±

    ¡°I suspected as such,¡± Meline added. ¡°Though now that I think about it, if anyone in this system might be able to pose as representatives of some sort of resurrected Federation, it would be them.¡±

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    ¡°Come now Suli,¡± Mys replied. ¡°If Nebula could do what we saw this little ship do outside our station, they would have used it more directly.¡±

    Princeps stared at them, evaluating his options. ¡°Is there anything we could do to convince you that we weren¡¯t aligned with these raiders?¡± He finally asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± vocalized elder Mys. ¡°Grandson, do you have the data on the Nebula Company¡¯s prior tributes?¡± As his assistant unfolded a tablet and started scrolling through it for the data indicated the elder continued. ¡°If you destroy the Nebula base ship, we will sign your treaty, but we will amend it to specify material assistance not exceeding half the lowest amount we ever paid to Nebula.¡±

    ---

    Twelve hours later the Resolution departed Stouton space, Horizon exited her medical tube, with no bent ribs this time, and headed to the conference room in person wearing the new jumpsuit MechRat had made her. Gradually the whole crew filed in, MechRat dashing in last. An elongated spheroid rotated in the air above the table, Horizon recognized it instantly, as did the opossum apparently.

    MechRat blanched at the sight of the old Federation ship. ¡°We¡¯re not actually attacking that thing, are we?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Princeps asked, the dyes now washed out of his fur and back to his natural gray coat.

    The engineer mentally manipulated the table¡¯s hologram, a representation of the Resolution appeared next to Nebula¡¯s base ship. ¡°This is us, you see?¡± Then the new ship shrank until it was 1/100th the size of the older one. ¡°And that¡¯s us to scale.¡±

    Lift raised an eyebrow. ¡°That thing¡¯s huge! You sure it¡¯s not a space habitat?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s essentially what it is.¡± MechRat confirmed. ¡°A cylinder habitat with a conversion drive shoved up its tailhole. It¡¯s intended less as a spaceship and more as a mobile home base and shipyard for thousands of Federal Guardsmen on century-long tours of duty. They built them by melting whole asteroids, the kind of ostentatious display of wealth that only the Old Federation could manage.¡±

    ¡°Size is not everything though.¡± Princeps retorted. ¡°Their technology is centuries behind that at our disposal. You said yourself that they rely on a reaction drive.¡± He said those last words as if it was hideously outdated simply by the entry of the Resolution into the system.

    ¡°That¡¯s just the thing!¡± MechRat objected. ¡°Their drive plume is as wide as our ship, they could blast us to monoatomic plasma with their backblast alone.¡±

    The wolf grinned and turned smugly to the crew¡¯s raccoon pilot. ¡°Horizon, care to share that theory you shared earlier?¡±

    Horizon cleared her throat with a hint of nervousness. ¡°It¡¯s just a hypothesis, really. But I took a look at their route here.¡± She focused and the holograms of the two ships were replaced with a map of the Tiere system with a long oval path traced from the outer system past the star and back. ¡°They¡¯ve followed this comet-style elliptical orbit for nearly two centuries without deviation. Even when they skirmished with another pirate clan or fought with a rebellious habitat, like Stouton, they kept on moving and broke off the attack when they were out of range.¡±

    ¡°And why might they do this, pilot Loter?¡± EyeInTheSky asked with cold patience.

    ¡°I had a hypothesis,¡± the giant planets and the star in the Tiere system were highlighted in blue. ¡°They¡¯re slingshotting, coasting without power with the aid of the system¡¯s biggest gravity wells. I don¡¯t think their conversion drive is operational.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any more evidence to support this hypothesis?¡± MechRat asked skeptically.

    ¡°You mean aside from the fact that they haven¡¯t ditched this trash heap system for more fertile grounds?¡± Horizon retorted.

    MechRat nodded once. ¡°I¡¯ll give you that. But it¡¯s still conjecture, and even if so they¡¯ve still got a ton of conventional weapons and a small armada to use them. Sure, we can maneuver like nothing else and our gravitational shields are equally effective against beam and kinetic weaponry, but they¡¯ve got enough guns to smear us before they get in range of our gravitic weaponry.¡±

    ¡°Surely you can think of a way to extend the range of our weapons, can¡¯t you?¡± Princeps grinned with amusement.

    ¡°Oh please,¡± the opossum said, exasperated. ¡°The gravity generators are based on physics centuries, no, millennia ahead of my own understanding, and all the ship¡¯s information on them is beyond my clearance. All I know is a bunch of 90-cubic meter black boxes somehow manipulate dark energy.¡±

    MechRat¡¯s eyes lit up as those last words escaped his lips. ¡°Wait, that just might fit, would need a power supply, maybe the AKV¡¯s reactor¡­¡± His gaze unfocused for a few minutes, and when he was back with them he had a smile that almost reached up to his ears. ¡°If I can get access to a few specs, I might have a solution.¡±

 Chapter 10

    The Resolution retreated to Tiere¡¯s Hills cloud while MechRat digested the data that he¡¯d been granted access to by their reluctant commander. They entered orbit around a kilometer-long asteroid that had long ago been deemed too far from the star to bother mining, though it held a fair amount of rare elements that MechRat claimed would be useful for them to build his new weapon. Horizon and Lift went down to the asteroid on the Dustbin, putting the old ship¡¯s mining equipment to its original use, supplemented with some of the latest FedTech from the Resolution¡¯s printers.

    A week of drilling into asteroid and refining trace metals later, the raccoon and ox flew back up to the mother ship. After soaring through space in a starship that responded to her very thoughts, piloting a rocket-based craft with hand controls felt clunky and inelegant to Horizon, she wondered if MechRat might upgrade the old ship with neural controls once he had the time. On docking with the Resolution she took a pallet of lanthanides once Lift had loaded it and went off towards MechRat¡¯s workshop.

    The opossum was deep in a simulation trance when Horizon entered, she shot him a message on the ship¡¯s network.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I¡¯m here with the first load of your rare metals.

    <u>MechRat</u>: Oh, gimme a minute to log out.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I got another couple loads to bring up, take your time.

    <u>MechRat</u>: No, this¡¯ll only be a moment. I want to show you something.

    MechRat¡¯s body twitched as his eyes rolled around in their sockets, he let out a yawn and stumbled about before fully coming to his senses. Horizon wondered if she looked that awkward when de-integrating from the ship. ¡°Good to see you in the augmented flesh again. It wasn¡¯t too dusty on that rock now was it?¡±

    The raccoon snorted. ¡°The dust was fine, it was the methane ices that were the real problem.¡± Her toes twitched involuntarily at the memory of the cold. ¡°What did you want to show me?¡±

    ¡°Right here,¡± the engineer drew Horizon¡¯s attention towards a pair of vises on a workbench, holding up a thin disk the size of her palm. ¡°That is the secret of artificial gravity right there.¡±

    Horizon reached a finger towards the disk, and gasped in confusion. It felt like her finger was pointing downwards, while the rest of her body was also oriented downwards but at a 90 degree angle. ¡°It¡¯s generating gravity?¡± She speculated out loud.

    ¡°No, well sort of.¡± MechRat replied, excitement showing in his voice. ¡°The source of the gravity is artificial, but the gravity itself is very real. That little disk contains a synthetic microsingularity.¡±

    Horizon snapped her hand back abruptly. ¡°You mean there¡¯s a black hole in there?!¡±

    ¡°Only a very little one.¡± MechRat tried to reassure her, rather in vain. ¡°It masses less than a gram, without that containment structure it would have evaporated before the ship left Ronkall¡¯s Oort cloud.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t they generate some sort of radiation?¡± The raccoon asked, looking up her body¡¯s current rad tolerance just in case.

    MechRat paused to consider it. ¡°Physics wasn¡¯t exactly my main field of study, but I haven¡¯t detected any sort of electromagnetic or particular radiation escaping that core. Either some sort of super science material keeps it contained or the microsingularity doesn¡¯t generate any radiation by virtue of its artificial nature.¡±

    Horizon glanced at the innocuous-looking disk sideways, the gravity it gave off made her feel uneasy, setting off her inner ear in an odd way. ¡°So, you¡¯re using these rare elements we¡¯ve been mining to what, make more singularities?¡±

    ¡°Maybe later.¡± MechRat suggested. ¡°But, no, I¡¯m using these elements to replicate the containers and the other module components that appear to direct the gravity they produce.¡± He seemed a bit reluctant to admit it but continued. ¡°I stripped this one out of the bridge deck, there¡¯s now a corner up there where you .¡±

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    Horizon shrugged. ¡°You can take out all the deck singularities for all I care, I actually prefer microgravity to walking at this point. Just leave enough for us to maneuver.¡±

    MechRat smirked. ¡°Hard to believe you were ever a flatlander, Horizon.¡± He emphasized the alias she¡¯d chosen, and she momentarily considered the multiple meanings the word could have. ¡°But, I¡¯ll have to clear it by our boss from the inner system. Maybe I can convince him that there could be some advantages to having parts of our med bay or engineering that lacks gravity. Or the gym, did you realize that place has so many microsingularities under the floor that it feels like standing on the surface of Skadi?¡± He revised his last statement. ¡°Well, if Skadi had a solid surface.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t used the gym yet.¡± Horizon admitted, and certainly not planning to go in there now. ¡°Actually, I wanted to ask if you might be able to upgrade the Dustbin, once you have the time.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing.¡± MechRat nodded. ¡°Got used to flying with your brain?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Replied Horizon, thinking about how awkward it felt flying by hand.

    ¡°No problem, it¡¯s mostly software, I can print off the hardware interface right now.¡± MechRat waved at one of the nanofabricators in the room and it whirred to life immediately. ¡°Once I finish the design work on the warheads and start printing those I can install it. Though I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to retrofit it with gravity drives. Even if I had the microsingularities to spare it¡¯s just too radical a redesign, the conversion drive at least is still a rocket.¡±

    Horizon nodded. ¡°Thanks anyways. Well, I shouldn¡¯t let Lift do all the work himself. See you later.¡± She headed back towards the docking bay.

    ---

    After another week of design work and printing, MechRat finally presented his work to the rest of the crew. They met in the cargo bay nearest his workshop, in the center of which two boxy cylinders rested on a table. ¡°Here we are, the first black hole bombs in the history of the Tiere system. I can¡¯t say whether the Federation ever thought of this before given my lack of clearance for those files, but I have my suspicions.¡±

    Princeps spoke first. ¡°Will they do what we need of them?¡± He asked.

    MechRat nodded. ¡°Yes, they should.¡± He activated a hologram that showed one of the cylinders nested within one of the Resolution¡¯s missile-like Autonomous Kill Vehicles. After a moment the ¡°bomb¡± was launched from the AKV¡¯s nose-gun and impacted a mock-up of a base ship. The ship¡¯s hull became transparent, showing a half-dozen disks like the ones that Horizon had seen in MechRat¡¯s shop the week before. The disks were spinning in a ring formation, after a few moments they broke apart revealing tiny jet black spots that rapidly merged with one another. Then the cylinder imploded around the little black hole, falling into it, and then the hologram zoomed out to show the ship¡¯s hull buckling around the warhead, forming a crumpled zone in the middle of the cylinder. And then the black hole exploded, producing a wave of radiation that blasted the base ship in half.

    ¡°What did we just watch?¡± Eye asked, speaking for the whole group.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± MechRat stated. Upon taking in everyone¡¯s blank stares he explained. ¡°Six of the stable microsingularities we use for gravity control merged into one unstable singularity that sucked in everything around it before evaporating in a burst of Hawking radiation.¡±

    ¡°So long as it works, I don¡¯t particularly need to know the details.¡± Princeps retorted. He glanced over the warheads again. ¡°Only two of them?¡±

    ¡°Unless you want to float around half the ship or try to construct the system¡¯s second largest fusion reactor so we can make more microsingularities that¡¯s all we can afford to build.¡± MechRat explained. ¡°I built one for testing, and a second in order to actually use on the Nebula Company.¡±

    ¡°Testing?¡± Princeps asked. ¡°You¡¯re not confident in the accuracy of your simulations?¡±

    ¡°My simulations are the best in the Tiere system.¡± MechRat replied. ¡°But no simulation will ever be able to completely replicate real life.¡±

    ¡°Give me an estimate of how likely it is to work.¡± Princeps did not ask, he commanded.

    Immediately MechRat stood up straight and answered. ¡°I estimate a 79% chance of success, sir!¡± Once he had finished speaking he blinked, as if surprised by what he had just said.

    ¡°Acceptable risk.¡± Princeps said. ¡°If it fails we can just run and try again. If it works, then survivors will be tempted to try for revenge and we¡¯ll need a deterrent.¡±

    Horizon was about to voice her objection, but reconsidered Princeps¡¯ gamble. There were three possibilities she could imagine. If they tested one warhead, and it worked, then they used the other warhead on Nebula some survivors of the company would inevitably try to attack them. Depending on how much of the fleet survived they might not stand a chance. However, if they saved one warhead they would have a spare to use against any revenge fleet and whoever remained would know they had more than one black hole bomb. On the other hand if they used one warhead against the base ship and it didn¡¯t work, but MechRat gathered enough data to make the remaining warhead work the survivors would know that they had manufactured the black hole bombs locally instead of bringing them from Federation space, and they¡¯d have no idea how scarce the resources they needed were. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work, our sensors should have enough resolution to determine what went wrong even in the middle of battle. Especially if we launch a squadron of AKVs with sensor pods streaming data along with the bomb.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± MechRat considered. ¡°Yeah, that could work. Shouldn¡¯t take more than a day or two to mod some AKVs into armed survey drones.¡±

    ¡°Do it.¡± Princeps ordered. At his command MechRat¡¯s eyes began to glaze into sim-trance but the wolf held up a finger. ¡°But first, a question. You said that we¡¯d need to build the second-largest fusion reactor in the Tiere system to create more microsingularities. What of the largest one? Would that do?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± MechRat answered. ¡°But I was talking about Tier, our sun. We¡¯d need to dismantle a couple planets and build a partial shell around it in order to gather enough power.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Princeps said, sounding disappointed. Though Horizon noted that he seemed to be planning something as he left MechRat to run his simulations.

 Chapter 11

    Just as the first of the AKV sensor packages was leaving the fabricators Horizon laid down in the pilot¡¯s chair and integrated her nervous system with the Resolution¡¯s controls. She scanned the starscape around them, zeroing in on a cluster of small objects far from any of the system¡¯s major bodies. She sent out a radar ping for a more detailed scan and propelled the ship forward, bee-lining for the cluster. The first reflected waves came in within the hour, a half-meter asteroid nearing their path, but with enough warning to quickly evade it. Halfway through their trajectory the radar signature of their destination came back.

    A fleet of small to medium-sized ships orbiting a large metallic oblong, the whole armada traveling at speeds that were positively glacial by spaceship standards. The profile matched the most recent sightings of the Nebula Company fleet. Horizon addressed her crew, ¡°Enemy confirmed, arrival in five hours.¡±

    MechRat sent out a general message on the internal network.

    <u>MechRat</u>: I¡¯m going to need assistance getting the AKVs ready.

    <u>Princeps</u>: Lift, report to engineering. Horizon, will you need to remain at your station for the whole trip?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Well, as your assistant reminded me, spacer safety regs require a pilot on hand at all times. But, I have managed a remote link before¡­

    <u>Princeps</u>: Go assist them.

    <u>Lift</u>: Yes sir

    <u>Horizon</u>: Yes, sir.

    Horizon gradually split her attention between her (mostly)-meat body and the ship. It felt odd, like she was thinking with two brains in constant communication. After a few minutes she set the ship¡¯s AI to run status indicators in the background of her mind and yank her back in if the ship was under a dire threat, it made it easier to run her biological body.

    She met up with Lift and walked down to the engineering bay where MechRat was producing the sensor packages and preparing to install them. He greeted them enthusiastically. ¡°Hey guys, Eye too busy to lend a talon?¡±

    Horizon shrugged. ¡°I suppose the commander had something else in mind for her to do.¡± She thought for a moment while picking up an armful of components. ¡°Come to think of it, I was going to suggest that she go help instead of me, but then Princeps¡­¡±

    ¡°Ordered you to go?¡± MechRat finished her sentence.

    ¡°Yes.¡± She confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s kind of weird. You never leave the pilot¡¯s station unmanned when going into combat. You¡¯d think I would have objected more strongly to that.¡±

    The opossum nodded. ¡°I know what you mean. When he commanded me to give an estimate on the effectiveness of the black hole bombs I just gave it without thinking. Does that sound like me?¡±

    Horizon smirked. ¡°No, you¡¯ve never been one to respect authority much.¡± She inserted a canister of micro-drones into the ammo bay of one of the missile-like AKVs.

    MechRat directed Lift to start shoving the loaded AKV, the size of an elongated groundcar, into the launch tube at the end of the bay. Then he leaned in close to Horizon¡¯s ear. ¡°I think there¡¯s something in our implants.¡±

    ¡°Define ¡®something¡¯.¡± Horizon stared back at him skeptically.

    ¡°Like hidden control directives of some kind.¡± The opossum gestured wildly with his hands. ¡°Think about it, your shadow can already seize control of your body to a degree. What if the Federation also had a means of controlling one¡¯s thoughts, influencing their feelings?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your paranoia speaking.¡± The raccoon picked up another set of micro-drones. But something nagged at the back of her mind. More than once she¡¯d rushed to obey orders from Princeps without even thinking. How did that happen? She wasn¡¯t military, or even militia beyond the mandatory one year of alternating weeks required by the habitat where her surviving family had settled. She shouldn¡¯t have that sort of conditioned deference to authority. If anything she¡¯d thought of herself as a bit of a rebel.

    But then again she hadn¡¯t been able to kill with her bare claws before. Horizon continued with her part of the work wordlessly, his words spinning in her mind. When they were done some hours later she turned to leave. ¡°I need to get ready for the battle. See you after.¡±

    here genuinely were things she wanted to get done before they went into battle. Returning to her comfortable chair without the need to test the catheters for instance.

    ---

    She got the alarm just as she was sanitizing her hands, Horizon had barely a few seconds warning before her perspective lurched abruptly into space. Temperature readings on two meter-wide sections of her hull had spiked, consistent with energy weapons discharge from long distances. Algorithmic reflexes directed the gravity drives to lens the lasers away from any sensitive components and she made a general ship¡¯s announcement. ¡°Enemy contact made, sustaining laser fire, shields holding.¡± Her security feeds followed the crew as they scrambled to battle stations that had been determined barely days before. She took notice of her meat-body, lying prone on the lavatory floor. ¡°And can somebody drag me out of the head?¡± She added. ¡°I assure you I have pants on.¡±

    Horizon swung her attention back towards the enemy fleet. The smaller ships were masked with a fuzz of radar jamming, but the base ship was unmistakable. The massive cylinder was too hard to hide with mere electronics. She followed the oncoming lasers back to a pair of frigate-sized blobs leading the fleet by five light-seconds. Immediately after she locked the Resolution¡¯s X-ray laser arrays on them. ¡°Attackers identified.¡± She reported to her commander. ¡°Do I have permission to fire back?¡±

    As she waited for Princeps to respond she spied MechRat struggling to sling her body over his shoulder. Clearly he hadn¡¯t received the same degree of strength augmentation as Lift or even herself.

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    After half a minute Princeps gave his orders. ¡°Energy weapons only. Save the AKVs for now. Show them we mean business.¡± At his words Horizon blasted two lances of invisible radiation straight at the centers-of-mass of the blurred frigates.

    The x-ray lasers streamed high-frequency death for several seconds, then one frigate exploded, followed shortly after by its twin. For minutes afterwards the new Federation craft and the fleet of old ones approached one another silently, tension that felt as tangible as gravity hanging in the void between. Finally Horizon picked up a tightbeam transmission from the base ship, which she automatically directed to EyeInTheSky.

    The screen displayed a scarred transgenic of indeterminate species, Horizon guessed a cross between a hyena and a reptile of some variety. ¡°This is commodore Archis of the Nebula Company. Whoever you are, you are going to pay for those ships and their crews!¡±

    Princeps smirked at the hybrid across the gulf of space. ¡°We are the Federal Guard starship Resolution. You have used stolen Federal property to terrorize citizens under Federal protection. Surrender your illegally seized vessels and you may be shown mercy.¡±

    A minute passed as the transmission crossed the gulf of space towards the pirate fleet and the reply returned. Archis laughed. ¡°You¡¯re those guys with the fancy FedTech ship who showed up at Stouton aren¡¯t you? Federal Guard, Hah! More likely you¡¯re some scavengers who got lucky. The Federation is no more!¡±

    ¡°It may have left the Tiere system for some time, but it is very much alive elsewhere.¡± Princeps postured. ¡°We have come to rectify the injustices that occurred during our temporary absence.¡±

    ¡°Oh please.¡± The hybrid said dismissively. ¡°Even if you stood a chance against us in that tiny thing, there is no way we would surrender our home. A dozen generations of the Nebula Company have been born and recycled on board our base ship. You¡¯ll have to pry it from our vacuum-frozen fingers.¡±

    ¡°Do not try us commodore, we just might.¡± Princeps fixed Archis with a predatory glare that seemed incongruous with the hybrid¡¯s toothy grin. ¡°Your ships are a dozen generations obsolete. Our ship is considerably newer. You may have heard tell of our deeds at Stouton. I¡¯m sure your agents would be able to inform you, were they still alive.¡±

    Archis flinched momentarily when Princeps¡¯ latest words reached his ears, but he held his ground. ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡± He claimed, then turned to someone off screen. ¡°All right, we tried to be reasonable. All ships full firepower!¡± The transmission cut out before they could respond.

    Horizon picked up the heat signatures of several dozen energy weapons and missiles headed towards her. Her AI shadow calculated optimal placement of gravitic lenses to block the lasers while letting her own beams lance incoming missiles. She was taking so many lasers that she needed to let some of them in through her shields in order to fire her own beams, but at least the Resolution¡¯s hull was more durable than most of the pirates¡¯ missiles. ¡°We¡¯re taking heavy fire.¡± She reported, attaching a feed of the battle map and the damage they were taking. ¡°Can I launch the AKVs now?¡±

    ¡°Launch with preset orders. Fire at will!¡± Princeps ordered, and six egg-shaped craft, bigger than conventional missiles but still too small to carry an organic pilot, sped out of their launch tubes arrayed around the sides of the Resolution. Their integral AIs directed the AKVs on semi-random trajectories intended to confuse the predictive targeting of point-defense turrets, their small gravity drives enabling maneuvers the reaction drive-based missiles and ships couldn¡¯t hope to match.

    Many new virtual screens opened up in Horizon¡¯s view as the five AKVs that weren¡¯t carrying a superweapon launched their sensor drones. She watched one AKV tear a pirate ship to shreds with its coilguns in holographic detail, gases leaking out the holes stained with dark blood. Others shot down missiles in flight, giving Horizon enough space to fire her lasers at enemy ships instead of their projectiles. They were still dramatically outnumbered, but it looked like they might cause lasting damage before they were forced to retreat.

    Then one of the AKVs exploded, having caught a stray laser in the right spot. It wasn¡¯t the one carrying the black hole bomb, but the odds that the next one would lose their precious WMD increased all the more. Another AKV intercepted a missile ballistically, increasing the odds to 25%. At that threshold algorithms aboard the surviving vessels adopted a new strategy, abandoning any attempt at further deception the three ¡°decoys¡± assumed a tight defensive formation around the black hole bomb.

    Catching an inkling of the purpose behind the change in formation, the pirates attempted to concentrate fire on the center AKV. However the AIs worked their gravity drives in concert to form a lens shield that redirected laser fire away from the bomb. A flight of missiles streaked towards the small craft that most most would consider overkill, the escorts fired back with coilguns and the last couple missiles were intercepted by a suicide charge from one AKV, raising the odds again.

    But as the flight of AI-driven craft streaked towards the Nebula Company base ship, a thought dug at the back of Horizon¡¯s conscious brain. What had commodore Archis said? A dozen generations had been¡­ ¡°Wait, commander! There¡¯s civilians on that ship!¡±

    Princeps glared at his holo-display. ¡°Do not be ridiculous pilot, those are pirates.¡±

    ¡°The commodore said they raised their families on the base ship.¡± Horizon retorted. She barely noticed another AKV succumbing to seemingly the full concentrated laser fire of the Nebula base ship. ¡°Destroying it would be a crime against parahumanity itself.¡±

    ¡°Hostis humani generis.¡± Princeps replied, her shadow automatically translated his words as ¡°hostile human generic¡± but she felt there was some deeper meaning. ¡°They are guilty of crimes against parahumanity already.¡±

    Horizon gave a quick mental command to the AKV carrying the black hole bomb. The launch bay holding the weapon locked up tight as a bank vault. ¡°I won¡¯t descend to their level.¡±

    ¡°You have no choice.¡± The wolf snarled, he watched the AKVs approach the base ship, and then start to peel off. ¡°Deploy the bomb!¡±

    The locks on the AKV¡¯s bay would take precious time to open, so Horizon took the most expeditious route and directed the AI to slam directly into the great ship¡¯s hull. She watched a hull plate crumple under the impact, then after a seeming eternity the base ship began to implode around the impact site. The entire front half of the miles-long ship sheared away and crumpled up into a rough sphere. Finally there was an almost underwhelmingly small explosion that blew the crushed hull away.

    Through drone sensors Horizon saw countless bodies tumble out of the exploding mass, in all shapes and sizes. Before she could process consciously what had happened Princeps gave the order to withdraw, and they left the tattered remnants of the former scourge of the Tiere system to pick up their pieces.

    When they were a dozen light-minutes away from the battlefield Tanya de-integrated from the Resolution. She gasped for breath, hyperventilating wildly as she tried to explain to herself what she had just done. At first she thought that Princeps had somehow bypassed her entirely and sent the command to the AKV himself, but no, she had realized it would take too long to launch and ordered the suicide run. She¡¯d killed hundreds, maybe thousands, of people the moment she had a clear order to do so.

    MechRat was right, there was no way around it, there had to be something in her implants that forced her to obey orders from the mission commander. Tanya looked around, she had been strapped into a harness on the wall of the mess hall, it must have been the closest place he could drag her. As she fumbled for the release she felt something press against her hip and reached down to feel it.

    It was a metallic ball of some kind, about half the size of her fist. Scrawled on it clumsily in permanent markers were the words ¡°Tell no one!¡±

 Chapter 12

    Horizon spent the next week contemplating the strange orb she¡¯d found in her pocket. She was certain that MechRat had left it there, though she¡¯d never seen his handwriting, but still had no idea what it could be. For all she knew it could be anything from a data storage device to a small nuke, and the writing on it asked her not to bring it up to anyone who could tell her what it might be. But at the very least thinking about it distracted her from dwelling on how many people she might have killed. The thought of speaking to MechRat about it crossed her mind a few times, but if he had wanted her to keep it secret he probably didn¡¯t want to talk to her about it either.

    By the end of the week it was irrelevant anyways.

    Tanya was lounging in her hammock bag in a daze, when an alarm flared in her head. ¡°Security breach in cargo bay 3,¡± it stated. ¡°All combat-capable champions report to bay 3 and neutralize threats.¡± Horizon leapt to action, tearing through the hammock she¡¯d brought over from the Dustbin. She ran down the hallways on autopilot wondering what could possibly have boarded them this far from the civilized regions of space. Could Nebula Company survivors have some sort of space stealth technology? Maybe the Federation had arrived to reclaim their property? Or was it one of those aliens MechRat had been so worried about?

    She was still speculating as she rounded the corner to the cargo bay and gasped in surprise, it wasn¡¯t any of those things. Instead, Lift stood over MechRat¡¯s body, which lay twisted and bloody on the floor. The ox turned to face Horizon as she entered, ¡°threat neutralized,¡± he said in a nearly robotic monotone.

    Horizon stared down at the opossum, clearly he had not gone down gently. The side of his face was caved in and his neck was twisted at a harsh angle that made it seem unlikely that he was faking it. ¡°What?¡± She tried to ask, ¡°why?¡±

    ¡°Disobedience.¡± Horizon spun around to see Princeps stroll in, followed by Eye. ¡°It would seem your friend decided to take advantage of the security clearance we had to give him so that he could develop those weapons. He attempted to insert a virus into the Resolution¡¯s systems that would have forced us to leave the system, or worse.¡± The wolf paused to ruffle the feathers on Eye¡¯s head possessively. ¡°Fortunately my secretary uncovered his plot before it could be executed.¡±

    Slowly, the raccoon lowered herself down to get a good look at MechRat. She tentatively reached a pair of fingers towards his neck. ¡°Is he... dead?¡±

    Princeps nodded. ¡°My readouts indicate no heartbeat or brain activity, by the standards of Tiere system medicine he is unrecoverable. Unfortunate, I would have liked to interrogate him, it¡¯s possible he could have been salvaged after a bit longer in conditioning sims.¡± He turned to glare at Lift, ¡°perhaps I should have been more specific in my orders.¡±

    The ox said nothing.

    ¡°Oh well,¡± the wolf shrugged. ¡°I guess you don¡¯t need to have opinions, do you?¡± He turned back to Eye. ¡°Were there any other pressing issues we had to deal with?¡±

    ¡°Engineer Didelph downloaded several terabytes of high-security data from our system.¡± The raven replied. ¡°It is likely to be stored on his implants but there is a possibility he made backups. There is also the issue of the modifications he made to the Dustbin.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Princeps turned to the ox, ¡°Lift, did MechRat give you a large quantity of encrypted data?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Lift replied simply.

    Horizon¡¯s mind raced, she didn¡¯t know for sure that the orb was a data drive, or that it was given to her by her deceased crew mate. But if she was ordered to tell him, what could she say?

    Princeps turned towards her. ¡°Horizon, did you?¡±

    ¡°Not,¡± Horizon said cautiously. ¡°Not to my knowledge.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Princeps replied. ¡°I¡¯ll need you to examine those modifications he made to your old ship. Report anyything that looks unusual to you.¡± He turned and started to walk away. ¡°Lift, put MechRat¡¯s carcass in a stasis tank. Try not to damage it further.¡±

    Lift hefted the opossum over his shoulder one-handed, no care or deference awarded to his fallen friend. Horizon watched him pass, looking for any sign in his expression of her long-time crew mate and friend. What had Princeps said? That he didn¡¯t need to have opinions? Did that mean the control systems in their implants operated to different extents in each of them and the big ox had been left with no free will left? She recalled he¡¯d been rather quiet since the day they received their implants.

    Horizon noticed a certain raven hadn¡¯t left the room yet, watching her. Keeping her eyes on Eye she slowly stood back up from her crouch next to the blood stains left by MechRat¡¯s corpse and headed towards the docking module connecting them to the Dustbin.

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    The strange sphere that may or may not have been given to her by MechRat weighed heavily in her pocket. She knew she had to do something to hide it from Princeps, could she hide it on the Dustbin? Horizon linked momentarily into the Resolution¡¯s security feeds, there was nothing visible on the older ship, it might be a temporary hiding place at least.

    That decision removed whatever lingering doubts she may have still fostered. Investigating her old ship was now something she wanted to do, rather than a command. Horizon entered the airlock to the Dustbin and keyed in the passcode she¡¯d memorized so many years ago.

    It felt weird stepping out of the artificial gravity of the Resolution back into the weightless space within the Dustbin, yet also familiar. The transition was like nothing she had experienced before, generally when docked to a station with centrifugal gravity the force extended onto their ship, but here the gravity provided by synthetic singularities in the deck plates apparently dropped off almost immediately beyond the hull. Still, as she sailed through the air towards the cockpit she found herself clinging closely to the walls, self-consciously she wondered if she¡¯d been in gravity for too long.

    The cockpit looked much like she¡¯d left it weeks ago, dust didn¡¯t settle much in microgravity. There was one major difference though, a fiber-optic cable was clipped to the back of her chair, terminating between the back cushion and headrest. She followed the cable down to the base of the chair, across the floor, and to the flight control computer at the front of the room. The only external change beyond the cable was a boxy device that connected the cable to the computer. Experimentally Horizon reached out with her implant¡¯s wireless for the Dustbin¡¯s network. She saw the same database, antiquated messaging system, and media library she used to access through her datapad, only in her head now. The flight systems were still air-gapped from the wireless network, exactly as MechRat had set them up. She¡¯d agreed with the paranoid opossum back then, making it more difficult for hackers to seize control of her ship, but now that she had flown a ship with her brain alone from kilometers away she felt inconvenienced.

    There was no way to tell what MechRat might have done without physically interfacing with the flight computers. She picked up the end of the cable and examined it carefully. Her shadow identified it as a new Federal Guard model compatible with the port in her scruff. Horizon rubbed the folds of skin at the back of her neck, noticing an odd indentation underneath it with a hard spot that she didn¡¯t remember before. She sat down in her pilot¡¯s chair, her shadow provided a map in her head for inserting the cable, but refrained from taking control.

    The cable head nestled gently under her scruff, magnets secured it to the corresponding port hidden by the loose skin, and a text box in the corner of her vision informed her that her implants were ¡°connecting.¡± After a few seconds her senses were replaced with the sensor readings from the Dustbin. It was incomparable to the Resolution, where the advanced ship¡¯s readouts had felt as real as her own senses, this one felt more like a grid map, more akin to the readouts she¡¯d viewed when she piloted the ship with physical controls. She attempted to report back to Princeps, only to receive a notification ¡°security protocols enabled: while flight controls are connected pilot¡¯s internal communication hardware is disabled.¡±

    Horizon started to reach for the cable again, but reconsidered. It would be better to have more data to report when she re-established communications. She swept her attention over all the different sensor feeds, including the external cameras and few internal feeds at the airlock and cargo bay, MechRat had liked his privacy. She spotted a shadow looming over the window in the far airlock, Lift, she realized. He must have been sent to investigate her radio silence.

    Thinking quickly the jacked-in raccoon started the undocking sequence, safety protocols slammed the outer doors of both airlocks, sealing the ox in. The locks holding the Dustbin onto the Resolution disengaged and the ships began to slowly drift apart. Horizon fired the cold gas thrusters facing the Federal ship to help the drift along.

    She started to worry that Princeps would assume she was deserting, she couldn¡¯t blame him considering the circumstances, and she was starting to consider doing just that. But the Resolution had been able to defeat the Dustbin before, without a pilot, just running automatic systems. What could it do with a vengeful captain at the helm? Frantically she searched the readouts at her disposal for some kind of countermeasure. MechRat had replaced the mining equipment and the anti-meteor lasers with more efficient FedTech versions, but it was still no match for the highly advanced ship.

    Then she noticed something in the corner of her view, there was one wireless connection available to her, an untraceable quantum link with only one possible signal. She considered it carefully, MechRat was dead, Lift might as well be so far as she could tell, and she didn¡¯t particularly care about Princeps or Eye. That signal might be her only chance.

    First she had to put some distance between them, the conversion drive Irvine Lupus had lent them before he became Princeps flared to life. A pillar of plasma shot out behind the old ship perfectly parallel to the Federation vessel. Horizon considered tilting the stream to vaporize the Resolution, but no, it was more important to get as far away as possible. She had barely gone a few kilometers before the Resolution¡¯s tractor caught on to the Dustbin. AI-directed gravity slowly pulled the old scrapper back while lensing the exhaust plume away from the Federation ship¡¯s hull.

    It was now or never, Horizon sent the quantum signal to the remaining black hole bomb.

    The tractor cut off instantly, synthetic gravity redirected in an attempt to contain the growing singularity within the ship¡¯s hull. As she rocketed away Horizon watched a section of Resolution¡¯s hull explode when the singularity evaporated. Fragments of FedTech alloy ricocheted off the back end of the Dustbin but the old mining craft had been built sturdy and kept going.

    Once Tanya was certain they were out of tractor range she removed the interface cable and listened for signals from the Federal ship. The encrypted network was flooded with alarms. ¡°Crew medical attention required! Drive system disabled! Unknown gravitational anomaly!¡± She admitted to feeling relieved, the Resolution was disabled but not dead, and at least one person on board had survived. But who?

    The lingering compulsion to follow the last order she¡¯d heard from Princeps drove her to attempt to report back what she¡¯d discovered. She formulated a quick response, sent it, and jacked back into her ship.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Wired interface installed on flight computer, air-gapped from wireless network. Security protocol disables wireless connection in implants when connected to flight controls save for one quantum entangled link to black hole bomb.

 Chapter 13

    Horizon continued outwards, away from the outer system, away from the Resolution, away from captivity. She heard nothing else coming from the damaged starship, whether that meant the rest of the crew was incapable of sending a message, or if they were just preoccupied with their wounded she had no idea. And, she realized, she did not care.

    MechRat was dead, Lift might as well be, Princeps and his secretary had caused them nothing but trouble since they¡¯d met on that fateful day on Skadi station. She wondered how long Lift had been reduced to that state, when had Princeps decided he didn¡¯t need the big ox¡¯s brain? Horizon considered herself fortunate that the so-called commander had deemed her piloting expertise useful enough to keep intact, but sorry that MechRat had not lived longer than his own usefulness. Had he resisted openly? She wondered, or was his small body simply not considered useful enough to keep in a decerebrated state.

    After a day of near continuous burn Horizon considered her options. Word spread among the Belter communities fast, people would know about the strange starship throughout the outer system. Logi was right out, Princeps¡¯ clan was based there. She did not think she was ready to visit Jort again, just yet. That left Surt.

    Yes, she considered. The gas giant with its many moons and asteroids would be the ideal place to disappear. There were plenty of job opportunities for an experienced scrapper with the complicated orbits and its moon Surtur was terraformed, if barely. And it was right between the inner and outer system, Stouton would be five AUs away from the planet at the closest.

    Horizon set course for Surt, she did some quick calculations by hand, ignoring her shadow¡¯s offered assistance, she wanted to forget the whole past month and everything that had happened. 2,173 hours with the fuel she had. That elicited a sigh, flying around with gravity drive had spoiled her. At least she¡¯d have time to think.

    She spent the rest of the first day sleeping, she had no more energy for anything else. When she woke, the loneliness began to set in. There was nobody else for light-minutes to go in every direction. Of the last five people to enter this ship, she could very well be the only one left alive. She wandered around the ship, taking in everything the others had left behind. The photos of Lift¡¯s herd pasted to the galley walls, the dents from that time MechRat¡¯s new compressor spun out of control, Princeps¡­

    Horizon paused as she passed by the passenger cabins their investor cum commander had appropriated for the first trip. It was locked, but those locks were no barrier to her, she and MechRat had installed them after all. All she had to do was press her fingertips to the scanner and say ¡°crew override¡± and the door slid open.

    She scanned the room carefully, it was hard to believe the place had been lived in. The oligarch had neatly made the bed up so that it looked pristine, there were no clothes or personal affects strewn about. Tanya¡¯s first thought was that Princeps had moved everything to the Resolution, but knowing him she did not want to take any chances that he might have left something nasty behind.

    First she checked the closet, it had been cleared of all the articles of clothing she¡¯d seen the wolf wearing on the few times he¡¯d left his room during the trip to the wreck. With a shrug she looked in the fold-out desk and its associated drawers. The network terminal built into the desk looked intact, and dusty, while the basic tablet they included for reading books and the like was clipped into its charger. Tanya felt around the edges of the tablet, it stuck out from the holder slightly, but that wasn¡¯t particularly unusual for such a cheap device. Still, it was a little annoying and she popped it out to try and re-orient it more securely.

    She raised an eyebrow, she did not remember stashing a data card under the passenger cabin tablets. She picked it up gingerly between two claws, it didn¡¯t look like anything she remembered buying, wary that it could contain a virus she started up the tablet, deactivated the wireless antennas, and slotted the card in.

    A second after the card was inserted a message popped up on the screen. <u>Connected, 1206 bytes remaining.</u> Tanya checked to make sure the wireless was deactivated on the tablet, and the message remained there. Then she slapped herself as she realized what it meant. The card was not a data card at all, it was a qubit reservoir. That tiny little wafer contained over nine thousand little particles that were entangled with matched particles somewhere else in the universe. She could send a message to whatever held the paired particles, and it would receive the message instantly, but every character of that message would break the quantum link between eight pairs of particles. It was like the detonator MechRat had attached to the black hole bomb, but far larger. Tanya considered the possibility that MechRat had left it, much like he¡¯d likely left that strange orb, but she quickly realized that it was more likely to belong to Princeps, or more accurately his house.

    She popped the card back out and decided that it could be used as evidence that she was connected to his disappearance. So she stuck it in her pocket and scoured the room for any other signs that the oligarchic wolf had ever been there. On finding nothing else but some dust she moved into Eye¡¯s room. The raven had kept her cabin equally spartan, but Horizon found a small device plugged into the wall socket. It looked like a plug, but with no wires leading out, wireless power? Without a second thought she yanked it out as well.

    Upon removing the small articles she set a cleaning drone to vacuum up any remaining traces of either passenger and examined the devices. The hard shell of Eye¡¯s device had no seams or fasteners, so she took a small saw from MechRat¡¯s workshop, even with her enhanced strength it took several minutes for the hard plastic shell to yield. Inside, she found several 3-dimensional circuit boards and a small antenna, not likely a power supply then, but a small wireless computer.

    She stared at the broken device in shock, was it a hacking module? Had they been hijacking the Dustbin¡¯s systems this whole time? And then there was the QComm module, what was on the other end of that thing? They were dangerous to remain on board. Quickly she swept the pieces of the plug and the QComm card into a bag and ran to the airlock. Horizon did not pause to don a spacesuit, her new mods ensured she wouldn¡¯t need one, and as soon as the outer doors cycled open she chucked the bag out into the void with all her strength.

    As the bag of electronics dwindled into a minute prick of light she slumped against the inner door and let out an airless sigh of relief. Horizon slapped the button to close the outer doors and felt the air flow back into the small chamber. When the drones were done cleaning she ejected their dust bags out the airlock as well. She finally ate something after that, a couple of preserved ration bars from the ship¡¯s stores.

    The second day of her flight she ate another ration bar for breakfast and started sorting through MechRat and Lift¡¯s stuff. She retrieved a few collapsing crates from the cargo hold and set them up in the corridor between their cabins. They didn¡¯t have that many clothes, and a majority of them were worn with burst seams, but when she picked up a pair of MechRat¡¯s overalls she found herself overwhelmed with memories of interrupting him during his maintenance work, grimy lubricants spraying all over the opossum¡¯s fur. She was never again going to experience that with him, she was alone, all alone.

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    She didn¡¯t want to file away her dead comrades¡¯ stuff, she didn¡¯t want to be alone with her thoughts, she just wanted to move on. If only she had a hibernation rig, spacer mods included the ability to enter a torpor for extended periods, but it was risky without a source of external water and oxygen. Though, she considered, she didn¡¯t have conventional spacer mods, Horizon searched her implant¡¯s database for her new tolerances.

    Under her leukosynths¡¯ settings she found an interesting option: Stasis. When she looked for more information it explained ¡°suspends life functions for set period or until external stimulus triggers waking. Activates automatically when life signs indicate critical condition.¡±

    Tanya¡¯s mental eye focused on the second line. Was it possible that MechRat only looked dead? It didn¡¯t matter, she didn¡¯t have the resources to mount a rescue yet. He would have to wait, at least until she confirmed that anyone was still alive there.

    She put everything back, it wouldn¡¯t do to let things drift around when the burn ended, and set the Dustbin¡¯s computers to ping her implant with an alert if they came too close to any significant masses or received a message from traffic control. Then Tanya secured herself in her hammock and opened the stasis function¡¯s control panel. First she set a timer to wake her six hours before she estimated the ship would enter Surt space. Second she set her implant to wake her if the ship pinged her with an alert.

    That handled, Horizon started the countdown sequence.

    5¡­

    4¡­

    3¡­

    2, wait, would she be able to react in time if an emergency happened?

    1¡­

    ALERT: APPROACHING HIGH GRAVITY BODY

    Tanya blinked in surprise, since when was she anywhere near any planetary bodies?

    ALERT: TRANSMISSION FROM SURT TRAFFIC CONTROL

    Confused, Horizon checked the date on her internal clock, it had been forty days since she went into stasis. Forty days, passed like a second, but still not enough time to reach Surt. What was going on?

    Horizon listened to the transmission, ¡°unidentified ship, please adjust your vector. You are on a collision course with Surt. At your speed the impact will cause massive damage to the surrounding space.¡±

    Reflexively Tanya responded. ¡°Surt control, this is Pilot Loter of the Dustbin, moving to comply. I was in hibernation.¡± She tore her way out of the hammock and floated towards the hallway.

    Realizing that the Dustbin should be under thrust at this time she grabbed at the door frame and flung herself toward the cockpit. This close to the destination they had to decelerate, the autopilot should have triggered it automatically. She slammed into the back of her pilot¡¯s chair and barely noticed the pain of impact as she swung around behind the controls. In seconds the display pulled up the ship¡¯s velocity and she gasped in horror.

    As Tanya tried to manually trigger the deceleration sequence she called traffic control again. ¡°Dustbin to Surt control, autopilot failed to initiate deceleration. Attempting manual override, give me a vector.¡±

    Understood Dustbin, transmitting vector.¡± The vector appeared on the monitor in front of her seconds later.

    Tanya reached behind her for the cable that would plug into her neck. Once the neural feedback loaded she studied the vector given by traffic control and began making calculations. The vector they wanted her to follow would bring her past Surt, but as she calculated the burns she¡¯d require to redirect her little ship she realized she wouldn¡¯t make it. She¡¯d still crash into the gas giant.

    Tanya disconnected from the link to reply. ¡°Surt control, that¡¯s not going to be possible with my hardware. Can you give me an alternative?¡±

    There was a long pause before the reply came, longer even than light-speed lag could account for. ¡°Dustbin, we¡¯re sorry, but it looks like our only other option is to detonate your craft before impact. Please decelerate at maximum burn.¡±

    Detonate? No, that couldn¡¯t be possible. She¡¯d gone too far for it to end like this. Horizon plugged back in to evaluate her options. The conversion drive was capable of 30 Gs of acceleration, but even if that could halt her she wouldn¡¯t survive that degree long enough. Anything more than that and the reactor would overload, then traffic control wouldn¡¯t need to nuke her.

    But, maybe that could work to her advantage. Horizon spun the ship around to point her rocket nozzles directly at the gas giant and unjacked again. She raised one arm to the controls for burn, and the other reached for a covered button at the base of her seat. As she reached down her hand brushed against the orb in her pocket, and she considered what to do with it. She couldn¡¯t be sure what state she¡¯d be in when they retrieved her, if they retrieved her. How could she ensure it stayed in her possession.

    With seconds to go before she needed to trigger burn, Horizon opened her mouth as wide as it would go, and forced the strange sphere in. She gagging as she punched the burn sequence and flipped open the covered button. The sudden onset of intense gravity forced the orb down to her stomach, wearing her throat raw. As she was pressed into cushions that felt all too thin now she felt the tingling of her leukosynths trying to repair the damage as quickly as it accumulated.

    Reactor containment failure in 30 seconds.¡± The console intoned mechanically. Using her neural interface, Horizon transmitted her plan to traffic control, her voice box had been almost flattened.

    Dustbin,¡± the response came quickly. ¡°You do understand that even if you don¡¯t get vaporized by the blast we¡¯ll be scraping paste out of your pod?¡±

    <u>You might be surprised</u>. Was her only response.

    Reactor failure in 10 seconds.¡± The console stated. Horizon reached one heavy, flattened finger towards the button, and depressed it.

    An explosion rocked the cockpit, pushing it the slightest bit against the thrust-simulated gravity. And then it shot forward, away from the gas giant. Behind the detached capsule the remainder of the Dustbin detonated in a burst of radiation. And then Horizon, Tanya Loter, knew no more.

 Chapter 14

    Skeletal integrity 80%

    Internal organs 63%

    Cyberbrain activity Muted

    Magnetic Resonance field detected

    Searching for Federation IFF signals

    IFF NOT FOUND

    Initializing wake sequence.

    Horizon¡¯s eyes shot open, she found herself surrounded on all sides by white lights and translucent curved walls. A dull droning irritated her ears, only adding to her growing feelings of claustrophobia. She reached a stiff hand out towards the nearest wall, provoking a sharp pain that caused her to cry out.

    ¡°She¡¯s awake now?!¡± A high-pitched voice called out, she didn¡¯t recognize it, but still it sounded somewhat familiar. The scuffling of feet approached her, making the raccoon all too aware of how badly she was still injured.

    Despite the pain Horizon lifted a foot and found that the glowing cylinder that enclosed her was open below her knees. She started to slide out of the tube against the wishes of her aching muscles and burning bones. Whoever was out there, she was still a super soldier with the most advanced tech in the star system.

    She slipped off a narrow table and slumped onto a cold tiled floor. As her eyes adjusted she blinked away tears and took in her apparent assailants. Red buttoned-up longcoats, polymer gloves and oronasal face masks, her shadow suggested a frontier biological containment team, but her own memories came up with an alternative evaluation.

    ¡°You¡¯re Friendly Society Healers, aren¡¯t you?¡± She gasped, clutching the side of the table she¡¯d just fallen off of in an attempt to hold herself up.

    The red-coated doctors nodded, one of them spoke up. ¡°Mx. Loter, please, we¡¯re trying to help you.¡±

    Horizon cracked her neck to the side, she felt the burning she had come to associate with active leukosynths. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, just let me rest a while longer.¡±

    Somebody else ran up to the door. That almost familiar voice called out again. ¡°Tanya, it¡¯s okay!¡± She scanned the newcomer, phenotypically female, rodentia with stark white fur and tufted ears, hints of a long fluffy tail behind her. ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± she said, ¡°Jenny, from school?¡±

    Tanya¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Jenyfer Ratufa? When did you change your fur?¡± The squirrel she remembered was maroon, brown, and yellow-furred, with several piercings in her ears.

    Jenny came out from behind the FS Healers, now that she had a good look at her former classmate she could make out several patterns painted onto her fur, which was not only white but much thicker than she remembered. ¡°Yeah, well, Surtur is a lot colder than Jord¡¯s orbitals. We got spliced with arctic hares on the way here.¡± She was wearing a short black skirt and a t-shirt printed with anti-government slogans that only half-covered her rounded belly.

    The raccoon grinned, Jenny might look superficially different, but clearly she was still the same rebel without a cause she¡¯d known as a teenager. ¡°So, what¡¯ve you been up to all these years?¡± She asked, trying not to stare and failing.

    ¡°What¡¯ve I been up to?¡± The arctic squirrel asked. ¡°At the gs you were pulling we should have been draining soup out of that escape pod of yours! I mean, I¡¯ve got some pretty extreme mods,¡± she slapped her stomach for emphasis. ¡°But you¡¯re something else.¡±

    Horizon¡¯s shadow took in visuals and sonographic data and calculated that whatever was making that bulge in Jenny¡¯s waist, it wasn¡¯t a normal fetus. A weight she hadn¡¯t realized was gripping her heart was lifted in a millisecond. But before she asked, the cyborg raccoon tried to think of a way to deflect her suspicions. ¡°I was a scrapper, we came across a cache of Fedtech that included some of their immortality nanobots.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll say.¡± Jenny replied. ¡°Among other things. I didn¡¯t know they still plated skeletons.¡±

    A twinge of paranoia arose in Horizon¡¯s augmented brain. ¡°What else do you know about my mods?¡±

    One of the healers pulled out a tablet and scrolled along the screen. ¡°We could tell just from lifting you onto a stretcher than your skeleton had been reinforced with some unidentified alloy. As we were trying to set what we thought were broken bones we encountered resistance from bent metal rods. Many of your soft tissues also felt spongy. Your post-recovery rate of healing was consistent with leukosynth activity and the blood samples we took contained metallic particles similar to deconstructed nanomachines.¡± He looked back up. ¡°Though we¡¯re wondering how your bones apparently fixed themselves.¡±

    The posthuman raccoon considered it for a moment, there shouldn¡¯t be too much harm letting them know about her skeleton. ¡°Nickel-titanium, returns to a set shape after heat is applied.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, memory metal.¡± Another healer chimed in. ¡°Would explain the fever. You have another implant in there for thermoregulation?¡±

    Horizon gave half a nod. ¡°It¡¯s probably part of my BCI. I¡¯d rather you not poke at it though, I don¡¯t know what it would do.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Jenny cut in. ¡°You mean you put Fedtech in your brain? Don¡¯t you know what could have happened?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tanya thought, thinking of Lift and MechRat, and everything they¡¯d been through. ¡°I do now, but I didn¡¯t have much choice at the time. There were some drones in the cache we found, they activated and then¡­¡± She shrugged, she didn¡¯t know how much more she wanted to say in front of these strangers. ¡°Well there¡¯s a reason I was the only one left on board that ship.¡±

    ¡°Oh, damn.¡± The white squirrel sidled up next to Tanya and carefully sat down, reaching out a comforting arm. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. I had no idea.¡±

    The raccoon took the proffered arm and pulled herself up. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. Like you said, you didn¡¯t know.¡± She sat on the table she¡¯d just fallen off of, feeling the cold metal against her fur.

    ¡°I know.¡± Jenny laid her arm over Tanya¡¯s shoulder, hesitated for a second, then placed her hand carefully on her upper arm. ¡°Would you like a gown or something?¡±

    Tanya glanced down and it finally registered to her that she wasn¡¯t wearing a stitch of clothing. She¡¯d been so preoccupied with the broken state of her body to register how exposed it was. Her bones had clearly straightened themselves out, but she could see many of them through her skin. Aside from her stomach, which protruded from under her ribs, she was practically skin and bones, she looked emaciated. ¡°What¡­ happened here?¡± She swept a hand down her front.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    One of the healers approached, slowly, cautiously. ¡°So far as we can tell your leukosynths cannibalized your muscle tissue to rebuild your vital organs. It¡¯s not unheard of for the body to do that naturally but that usually takes weeks of starvation or coma, you¡¯ve only been unconscious for four days.¡±

    ¡°Four days?¡± Horizon inquired. ¡°What happened with Surt traffic control?¡±

    ¡°Not much.¡± Jenny replied. ¡°They shot down a few of the big pieces of your ship that were getting too close, but they basically gave you up for dead. The Friendlies only grabbed your capsule because I asked them to.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Tanya was surprised. ¡°You did that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± The squirrel nodded. ¡°The Company here is pretty useless, we have to look out for each other.¡±

    Horizon mentally reviewed what she knew about Surt¡¯s government. Corporate structure, non-familial, tiered citizenship. At least half the population at any given time were estimated to be non-citizens from further in-system. She got the feeling there was something she was missing though. ¡°Sounds like a long story.¡± She said. ¡°Maybe we could talk about it someplace more comfortable, after I get some clothes?¡±

    The healers nodded quickly and backed out of the doorway. One came back shortly after carrying a folded gown with floral prints, holding it out at arm¡¯s length. Horizon accepted it and threw it on, letting her tail stick out the back. ¡°There¡¯s a cafeteria down the hall,¡± they said. ¡°I suggest one of the high-protein shakes.¡± Then they left.

    ¡°Sheesh, rude.¡± Jenny commented. ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re a ghul or anything.¡±

    Tanya staggered out into the hall, supported by her old friend. Five minutes later they made it into a room with two long tables in the middle and a row of vending machines along the wall. Jenny sat the raccoon down at one table and then grabbed a couple plastic cups from the drink dispenser, one she set under a nozzle that dispensed a thick brown fluid, the other she filled with a steaming liquid that smelled like tea with some sort of fruit. The squirrel set the two cups on the table in front of the raccoon, explaining that the thicker fluid was a protein shake, then she went over to another machine with a stylized wrap sandwich on the front panel and started entering something into the controls. As Jenny bent over Horizon¡¯s eyes were unconsciously drawn up her tail, her mouth started to water¡­ and then she consciously registered the smell of reheated meat and melted cheese.

    Jenny walked over with a pair of wraps that were so wide they looked too large to hold in one hand. ¡°Not sure if you can handle solid foods yet, I¡¯ll eat the other one if you¡¯re not up for it.¡±

    Horizon slurped up a mouthful of the shake and cringed at the taste, chocolate with a strong metallic aftertaste. Quickly she grabbed a wrap and tore off a large chunk of it, she worked the morsel around in her mouth vigorously before swallowing. ¡°I don¡¯t care whether my stomach can digest it, I think I¡¯ve suffered enough without tasting that.¡± She flicked the rim of the cup with her claw, then started digging into the rest of the wrap.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Jenny noted. ¡°Guess you really were hungry. You remind me of myself just after I got my biocomputer seeded.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Horizon asked, head cocked in confusion.

    The squirrel leaned back and pointed down towards her abdomen. ¡°This is not your run-of-the-mill pregnancy. There¡¯s a cybernetic biocomputer in here, wired into my nervous system. Kind of a secondary brain.¡±

    The raccoon¡¯s mouth gaped open in surprise. Her sensory processing systems could tell that whatever was in her friend¡¯s uterus wasn¡¯t a fetus, but this was beyond thinkable. ¡°Why would you do that?¡± She asked.

    ¡°It helps a lot with multi-tasking.¡± Jenny replied. ¡°I¡¯ve got a full BCI suite installed on both brains so I can do next to anything online if I want to. Though, it can take a while for me to make up my minds, it has to go through nearly double the average amount of gray matter. Honestly I¡¯m a bit disappointed on that front.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but, why?¡± Horizon asked again. ¡°Why would you go through the effort to do that?¡±

    Jenny adopted a stern expression all of a sudden. ¡°Okay,¡± she paused for several seconds, collecting her thoughts. ¡°What do you know about transhumanism?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a bunch of people who like to get as many augs as they can get their hands or mechanical digits on?¡± Horizon suggested. ¡°I¡¯ve never understood the name anyways, we¡¯re not human.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re parahuman, nearly human.¡± Jenny interjected. ¡°Even spacers share more than 98% of their DNA with ancient Terran plains apes, this fur, these ears, this tail.¡± She pointed out the organs in question as she spoke. ¡°They account for little more than a few sentences worth of codons. Furthermore, we still think and act like humans. The ¡°Federation¡± was just a Terran-style empire on a galactic scale, there were ancient polities on Terra that outlived it and they didn¡¯t have leukosynths.¡±

    ¡°And transhumanists?¡± Horizon inquired.

    ¡°We seek to become not simply adjacent to humanity, but something much much more.¡± Jenny was starting to sound like some of the demagogues she remembered from Jord. ¡°We seek to become smarter, faster, wiser than human so we can avoid making the same mistakes they did. We might even become posthuman someday.¡±

    That last sentence elicited a snort from the raccoon. ¡°Posthumans? What, like cyberliches, gestalts, and ghuls? They¡¯re just myths.¡± But as the words left her lips Tanya felt her stomach tighten around the meal she¡¯d just devoured, and the orb she¡¯d hidden there. Jenny¡¯s comment about the healers¡¯ cautious approach to her, the stories she¡¯d heard about parahumans risen from the dead with a cannibalistic appetite that drove them to terrorize their friends and families¡­

    She directed her shadow to bring up any information her implants had on ghuls. In a split second she saw an article in her field of view.

    Ghul: noun, slang. Term for a sufferer of Leukosynth Metastatic Autophagy (LMA).

    Leukosynth Metastatic Autophagy: A condition resulting from a malfunction in leukosynths, usually as a result of software tampering and severe physical trauma. The patient¡¯s leukosynths put their self-replication protocols into overdrive, replicating at an unsustainable rate and dismantling their host¡¯s own tissues for raw materials. This often induces cravings for protein in the patient that may result in cannibalistic actions without proper memetic conditioning.

    Leukosynth replication: INACTIVE.

    The alert came up unprompted, but Horizon was glad of it. She let out a sigh of relief that interrupted Jenny¡¯s ongoing spiel, she hadn¡¯t been paying attention.

    ¡°...and after Lord Evlanche had been confirmed vaporized he, are you listening?¡± The squirrel paused, looking the raccoon over.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Horizon started to explain. ¡°My shadow just explained that no, I am not a ghul. It¡¯s a real relief.¡±

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about the healers.¡± Jenny tried to reassure her. ¡°They¡¯re just a little wary of unknown Fedtech with miraculous properties.¡± She blinked as something else registered. ¡°Wait, you¡¯ve got an AI shadow? Is it Turing?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s kind of like an artificial subconscious.¡± Horizon replied. ¡°Most of the time I don¡¯t even notice it¡¯s there. It just pops up information when I need it, and I suddenly have a lot of skills that I never had the time to learn the conventional way.¡± She snickered. ¡°I am proficient in every martial art from Terran Kung Fu to Centauran filament fencing.¡±

    ¡°Oh wow!¡± Jenny leaned over the table, putting her snout less than a meter from Tanya¡¯s muzzle. ¡°That¡¯s way more than anyone I know has accomplished. You might be the closest thing to posthuman I¡¯ve ever seen. You¡¯ve got to let me take a look at your augs!¡± She reached out for the raccoon¡¯s face.

    ¡°No!¡± Horizon blurted out abruptly, reflexively grabbing the squirrel¡¯s hand before it touched her furred cheeks. ¡°I might not be a ghul, but they¡¯re real. And they result from people messing with their leukosynths. Please don¡¯t go poking around my brain.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Jenny sounded quite disappointed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t think of that. Could you at least tell me how your brain survived the deceleration from that blast? And, let go of my hand?¡±

    Horizon realized she was gripping her old friend¡¯s wrist a bit tightly, it was folded at an awkward angle that looked painful. ¡°Sorry,¡± she released it and the squirrel pulled it back to inspect. The raccoon sent her shadow an inquiry about her brain, specifically how it was protected.

    Cyberbrain composition: CLASSIFIED INSUFFICIENT CLEARANCE

    ¡°Sorry, can¡¯t tell you about my brain.¡± Horizon apologized again. ¡°It looks like my implants might not know how it¡¯s built.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s weird.¡± Jenny cocked a tufted ear. ¡°Where did you say you got these augs again?¡±

    Horizon thought about it for a minute, then decided to tell a half-truth. ¡°Some sort of automated medical center. An autodoc installed them, I was unconscious the whole time.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± Jenny considered the situation her school friend presented, then after a minute she got up. ¡°I¡¯ll get us some more wraps.¡± As the machine prepared her order she abruptly perked up and turned back to Horizon. ¡°Any idea what you¡¯ll do now?¡¯

    The raccoon shrugged. ¡°None. I was planning to find a new crew and go back to the Belt, but my ship exploded so that plan¡¯s scuttled.¡±

    Jenny pulled three more wraps out of the machine and set them on the table. ¡°Well, I might have taken you up on the offer, but there¡¯s precious few others here who¡¯ve managed to escape their employment contracts alive. And the Company doesn¡¯t like private ship sales so I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s unlikely you can find a replacement ship.¡± She dug into one of her wraps.

    Horizon chugged a mouthful of her shake and chased it with half a wrap. ¡°So what do you do for a living?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Some consulting work.¡± Jenny replied sheepishly. ¡°Mostly volunteer work with the Friendlies.¡± She smirked conspiratorially. ¡°Some of it paid.¡±

    Horizon thought as she chewed, it was starting to look like flying to Surt was a mistake, but it was too late for that now. Her possibilities weren¡¯t great, it sounded like there was only one real choice. She swallowed. ¡°Do the Friendlies need pilots by any chance?¡±

 End Book 1

    Aboard the Resolution a wide variety of constructs skittered and rolled about the ship, delivering parts from the vessel¡¯s printers and installing them with their arrays of integrated drills and welders. One construct in particular, though, which had not arrived with the ship from the Ronkalli system, stood waiting in the medical bay for her master to be decanted.

    The transparent aluminum wall of the regeneration tank retracted into the floor and the naked lupine body of Irvine of House Lupus, otherwise known as Princeps, staggered out, dripping residual perfluorocarbon. ¡°Welcome back boss.¡± Melene Corus, also known by the unwieldy name of EyeInTheSky, held out a towel for him to mop out his fur.

    The wolf took it and began to wipe himself off, acting as if she was not even there. ¡°Arch-damned scrappers.¡± He muttered to himself. ¡°I should have replaced them all with robots.¡±

    ¡°Robotic replicas of individuals are illegal.¡± Eye reminded him.

    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk.¡± He retorted. ¡°Report.¡±

    pulled up the summary she¡¯d compiled and began to recite. ¡°Repairs at 73%. Paladin Lift in stasis following severe tissue damage sustained as a result of acute gravitational stress. Paladin MechRat in stasis following tissue damage sustained as a result of damage inflicted by Paladin Lift.¡±

    ¡°And the pilot?¡±

    Eye shifted topics effortlessly. ¡°Paladin Horizon, status unknown, presumed disintegrated following catastrophic drive failure by the Dustbin in orbit over Surt.¡±

    Princeps rubbed his temples in frustration. ¡°And what was her cyberbrain conversion status at the time of this little mutiny?¡±

    ¡°49%.¡± The synthetic raven replied. ¡°The conversion process should have continued during her flight to Surt, it¡¯s probable she was near 100% when her ship was destroyed.¡±

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°That rat was nearly 80% when he mutinied, was he not?¡±

    Eye took a few seconds to pull up the data. ¡°Paladin MechRat¡¯s neural matter was 78.8% synthetic at the time, but that was largely due to his exocortex implants. 43% of his original brain tissue remained unconverted.¡±

    The wolf snorted. ¡°Whereas that dumb ox only needed a third of his brain converted to become a good obedient soldier. Explain that, analyst.¡±

    EyeInTheSky took more than a minute to collate the data and present her findings while her master dressed. ¡°Paladin Lift proved easily susceptible to the memetic programming and conversion of key motor functions was prioritized given his strength was deemed his primary asset. Paladin Horizon and Paladin MechRat¡¯s skills with piloting and engineering were deemed important enough to retain intact.¡±

    ¡°Hmmph,¡± Princeps turned to the door, giving one last set of orders. ¡°I don¡¯t care about this system¡¯s backwards laws. Begin production of robotic replica troops, randomize their cosmetic species and features. If we ever recruit any more paladins make sure they¡¯re 100% converted while still in the tanks.¡±

    ¡°Like yourself sir?¡±

    Princeps paused just inside the door, it seemed like a glimmer of fear passed over his face for a split second before he collected himself and replied. ¡°I¡¯m going to the stasis bays, do not disturb me.¡±

    ¡°Of course boss.¡± The raven moved into a perching posture as her attention shifted to the ship¡¯s systems.

    Princeps took an elevator down to the deck below the medical bay. The whole deck was taken up by aluminum cylinders similar to the regeneration tank above decks, but the microbots in these were different. Rather than rebuilding bodies, these were specialized for maintaining a body in a pristine state for the long voyages between stars, forming microscopic scaffolding within the body¡¯s own cells that held them together against the ravages of time.

    The wolf paused in front of one tube, containing the mangled body of what could have once been a fox, his rank insignia in gold. After a quick mental check to make sure the room¡¯s surveillance system had been disabled he spoke, not in his usual rough Logan accent, but in careful Core tones. ¡°My dear cousin,¡± he said with a glimmer of amusement. ¡°If you had accepted cyberbrain conversion, you might have survived the trip. Good thing I had this backup plan.¡±

    ¡°Princeps¡± walked past several more Ronkali crew to three that had been empty when the ship arrived in the Tiere system. He studied the crushed opossum, metallic glints of his cybernetic spine showing through his skin. ¡°I have to wonder if this one¡¯s mutiny was a backup plan of your own, though. You were always opposed to Ascension. Did you plan to build up your own empire in this system? Think you could possibly compete with my power?¡±

    His gaze shifted to another tube that held no body, just an exposed brain. ¡°I should have thanked you for this shell,¡± the self-proclaimed Imperator Ronkall grinned with his stolen lips. ¡°I have to wonder if that primitive servitor of yours would even care if it knew how your brain had been cyber-converted so quickly? I should probably upload your memories anyways, in case I ever need to trick anyone who actually knew you.¡± Ronkall glanced back at MechRat, ¡°it might be useful to upload you to an isolated system too. Or just stick your head on a life support rig. Perhaps that¡¯ll motivate you to tell me what you gave your raccoon friend.¡±

    He turned to head back up the elevator. ¡°And you had better be dead Ms. Loter. Or I will make you wish you were.¡±

 Ethane Horizons

    Jerald shivered as he climbed into the cabin of his rig. He regretted, once again, that he¡¯d chosen lynx biomods instead of snow leopard with its heavier fur when the Company had offered them upon his emigrating to Surtur. He¡¯d had the impression that hydrocarbon mining would somehow be warmer, but no, the executives weren¡¯t wasting any of the valuable gases on heating up their workers, while they stayed in their well-insulated bunker offices. He let out a misty sigh and slammed the door behind him before slotting the starter chip into the dashboard.

    The mining rig began the laborious process of starting up, giving Jerald time to wonder who had driven this rig before. The colossal walkers largely ran themselves, but he hadn¡¯t used this particular rig before, to his trained eye it was subtly different from the others. Usually the Company put a driver on a single rig until either the driver or the rig was taken out of service, however that might happen. His normal rig had gone in for maintenance the day before, and this one had been available. He wondered to himself if its last driver was still with the Company, or if they¡¯d found some way out of the Company¡¯s leonine contracts?

    Almost automatically he reached for the throttle and set the rig in motion. Six legs lifted and set themselves back down in alternating pairs as Jerald steered slowly out of the refinery yard. The radio crackled. ¡°Rig 23 be advised, there¡¯s been reports of raider activity in your sector recently.¡±

    Jerald paused before transmitting his acknowledgment. Was that what had happened to the rig¡¯s prior driver? He quickly checked the rig¡¯s rudimentary weapons systems as he responded. ¡°Warning received, any advice?¡±

    ¡°Shut off your radio as soon as you¡¯re clear of the refinery. They can hack you while it¡¯s on.¡± The dispatcher replied. ¡°And don¡¯t be shy about shooting back.¡±

    The lynx driver grimaced. ¡°Roger that.¡±

    It took ten minutes just to leave the yard. Jerald kept the radio on for half an hour as he trudged away from base, shivering in his parka. By the time he remembered to switch it off the drive system¡¯s waste heat had finally started to bleed into the cabin. He glanced at the autopilot¡¯s map, four hours to the drill site. He strongly considered taking a nap as the endless white fields stretched before him, hypnotically tempting him to close his eyes for just a moment¡­

    Jerald blinked awake as the rig jolted to a stop and the autopilot announced ¡°you have arrived¡±. He looked out the window towards a field of ice that looked no different from the frozen plains behind him. However the sonographic readouts showed him the presence of a large lake of liquid underneath, almost certainly the blend of methane and ethane that the Company paid him to harvest. He swiveled in his chair for the ¡°interesting¡± part of his job and started up the drill controls. Almost as soon as the screens started up he was inundated with red warnings about ice coating the drill arm, with a groan of predictable annoyance, he sealed his parka as best the cheap garment could manage against the biting wind and swung the door open.

    Quickly slamming the door shut behind him dislodged a few ice chunks from the window set in the door. Jerald turned towards the gantry that led to the drill arm and glanced down towards the snow covered metal floor. Cautiously he swept away a patch of snow with a booted foot to confirm that it was, indeed, hiding a trail of treacherous ice. The lynx lifted his wide boot to knee height above the gantry, and brought it down with as much force as he could muster, bringing a satisfying crack as the blunt spikes drove into the ice.

    Even with cleats stomping across the frozen gantry was painfully slow, Jerald was starting to feel as frozen as the steel by the time he reached the drill arm, folded up against the rig¡¯s massive gas tank. The lynx looked at the icicles hanging from the arm¡¯s joints, glanced down at the small plastic scraper the Company had issued him, and groaned. He cursed the Company mechanics who had let this rig lie idle so long without making any effort to curb the ice buildup as he whacked repeatedly at the nearest icicle.

    Jerald was working on a particularly pernicious chunk of decimeter-thick ice when he happened to glance up and spot at least half a dozen specks of light in the sky. He was fairly certain there weren¡¯t any birds this close to Surtur¡¯s poles so he angrily punched the ice chunk, causing a small flake of it to crack off, and turned to run back to the cabin. He slipped on his fourth step, just barely catching the railing in time to avoid slamming face-first into the gantry, and continued shuffling more carefully across the gantry. By the time the cabin was nearly in arm¡¯s reach he could see the rig¡¯s AA gun swiveling to track the raider drones but not firing without authorization from a living operator. Was that the wind? Or was it the engines of the drones coming in?

    Frantically the lynx yanked open the door and removed his glove without bothering to close the door again, he stabbed his frigid fingers at the touchscreen and pushed every ¡°fire¡± button he could see. His ears rang with the explosion of the gun firing automatically, unmuffled by the cabin walls. Disoriented by the sound he reached for the door handle just as his own gun¡¯s blasts were joined by the staccato fire of machine guns and bullets pinging off of the rig¡¯s hull. Now rightfully scared for his life, Jerald struck out with his arm like a snake and yanked the door back before curling into a ball.

    After what seemed like an eternity the machine gun fire stopped and Jerald almost dared to look up. But the AA gun¡¯s blasts were soon joined by a new sound, an annoyingly high-pitched alarm screaming ¡°possible missile detected!¡± Startled to action, Jerald leapt up to the screen and stared intently at what it showed him. An unusually large drone was veering off from the rig as a small elongated object fell towards him, the targeting computer highlighting the descending object with a ¡°critical priority¡± tag as it ignored the other drones and found a firing solution for the thing it had decided was a missile. But as the lynx watched the object unfolded a set of membranous wings and swerved to avoid the incoming shots.

    Jerald followed the strange winged thing¡¯s descent, at first terrified, but soon more intrigued. He could see no sign of a drive plume trailing behind it, and it was flexing unlike any missile or drone he had ever seen, making him wonder who had made it and from what? It almost reminded him more of something he¡¯d seen in extreme sports instead of a mechanical device, like a¡­

    The lynx remembered where he¡¯d seen that kind of thing before. Frantically he looked around the screen for an icon he¡¯d never seen before, but if it existed now would be the time. Cursing himself he poked a button he hadn¡¯t intentionally clicked since training. ¡°Voice controls activated.¡± The computer announced.

    ¡°Stop attacking!¡± He shouted.

    ¡°Command not recognized.¡± The computer replied.

    ¡°Cancel targeting solution!¡± He tried again.

    ¡°Unable to comply.¡± The computer said, firing off another shot that the flier barely dodged.

    ¡°Why not?!¡± Jerald asked skeptically.

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t get that. Could you be more specific?¡± Jerald was getting reminded rapidly why nobody ever used voice controls.

    He took a deep breath and tried to speak more carefully. ¡°Why can you not cancel targeting solution?¡±

    ¡°Anti-missile point defense supercedes organic commands.¡± The computer explained.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a missile!¡± The lynx shouted. ¡°That¡¯s a flight suit! It¡¯s a person!¡±

    The AA gun¡¯s next shot caught the flier square in the center of mass, shredding their wing membranes and sending out a reddish cloud of mist as they tumbled to the ground, far away from the rig. ¡°Command not recognized.¡±

    Jerald stood there in shock, staring where the figure had fallen while the gun finished shooting down the remaining drones. Only snapping out of his reverie when he heard the computer state ¡°all targets destroyed.¡±

    The lynx sighed, switching the voice interface back off and wondering what he was going to do? It wasn¡¯t likely the flier had survived that blast. The AA gun fired explosive canisters that burst apart into shrapnel mid-air, it could shred flesh as easily as it shredded aircraft wings, if not more so. He might be able to recover the body and turn it over to any family they might have, but the Company might not like having to pay restitution to their clan if they felt vengeful. On the other hand the Company might want to identify a raider who had assaulted their property.

    A glance at the clock settled the issue temporarily. He¡¯d lost a lot of time fighting off the raiders and clearing off ice, if he wanted to get the job done before midnight he had to get back to work fast. With a sigh he turned back to the drill controls and triggered them again. With a great creak and groan the drill arm unfolded and reached out over the great patch of ice. The sonogram showed him a shallow pool of ethane within reach of the drill arm, barely enough to fill his tank. However, further from the ¡°shore¡± there was a far deeper pool, enough to fill a dozen rigs. Company safety regs did not recommend venturing that far onto a gas field while there was still ¡°lower-hanging fruit¡± so to speak, but the greater pressure would fill him up more quickly. Considering the Company¡¯s penalties for short loads it was an easy decision to make.

    Jerald swiveled back to the rig¡¯s mobility controls and pushed the great walker forward, just a dozen massive paces or so, but a significant distance regardless. He stopped over a rocky outcropping suspended in the ice, then quickly he swiveled back and slowly, carefully, aimed the drill head at the precise angle to penetrate the well without shattering its ice cap. This was the tricky part, the whole reason why the Surt Company needed good drillers, one wrong move and the rig would sink into the ice in a cloud of flammable hydrocarbons. He took his time placing the drill head, even with the greater pressure it would take hours to fill the tank, no matter how many minutes he spent getting the angle just right. Finally, he felt confident enough to start the drill.

    The rig shook with the vibrations from the drill¡¯s rotation, grinding into meters-thick ice. For several teeth-grinding minutes Jerald watched the drill descend, waiting for any signs of cracking that could spell doom. But it sank into the frigid hydrocarbon liquid under the water ice and began siphoning it out, without incident.

    Jerald breathed a sigh of relief and watched the tank fill up. His eye wandered back over to where the flier had crashed, and still lay. With one more glance at the tank fill meter he figured that it would keep running by itself without any need for his input and prepared himself to go outside again.

    His cleats hit the ice with a soft ¡°crunch¡± sound as he dropped from the rig¡¯s boarding ladder. The cat carefully strode over the ice, one step at a time, in the direction of the downed flier. He paused for a second when his eyes spied a crack running beneath the rig¡¯s feet, but he concluded that it must have been there a while if it hadn¡¯t collapsed already and continued on.

    He found the blood splatters staining the ice five meters from the body, growing from small red flecks to frozen pools as he came closer. Jerald felt the bile rise in his throat but forced it back down out of fear of having to deal with frozen vomit on his face for the rest of the day. The flier lay face-down in the snow, wingsuit flaps blowing in the wind. He could not tell sex or species from this angle, but he noticed a large socked tail laying on the ground next to them.

    Jerald knelt down next to the body, reluctant to lift it now that he was so close. He didn¡¯t know if he could stand to carry them back to the rig and transport them back to base as originally planned. After a minute of consideration he decided that at minimum he had to look the person he¡¯d killed, unintentionally, in the face and reached down to flip them over.

    He was surprised by how warm they still felt, and wet. The lynx quickly threw the body onto their back and leapt back in disgust. The body¡¯s chest was a red mess, too thoroughly shredded to make out any features on the right side, though on the left her white jumpsuit bulged out in what looked like a female breast. Their, her, helmet had been shattered on the right side, showing mangled red flesh and skull. Her legs were twisted at unnatural angles that no parahuman bones could accommodate. This time he couldn¡¯t hold it back, Jerald turned away and retched what remained of his breakfast onto the steaming snow.

    Jerald shook his head wildly, trying to shake the drops of vomit from his whiskers before they froze. As he was trying to make up his mind on whether to turn back and try to remove her helmet, he heard a cracking sound behind him. Before he could spin around he felt a burning hand grab him by the ankle and drag him to the ground.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    The lynx lifted himself off the ground and looked back to see the corpse holding him fast while trying to drag herself closer with her free arm. Her broken legs flailed wildly in the air behind her, as if she was trying to shake them back into place. Jerald screamed as he remembered a dozen holofilms of the Collapse and its horrors.

    ¡°Let go! Let go!¡± He shouted, kicking at the living corpse¡¯s head, but only deflecting off her helmet and receiving a gurgling cry in response. She flipped back over onto her front and dragged herself up his supine frame, digging clawed fingers into his heavy clothes.

    Jerald froze as he stared into the eyeless fury of the woman he¡¯d shot out of the sky, bloody carnivore teeth glistening under the shattered visor of her helmet. He hadn¡¯t expected this to be how he died, but who would these days? He made a futile last attempt to fend off her undying strength with his arms before accepting his inevitable demise¡­

    And then a loud series of cracks drew his gaze back towards his rig. A vapor cloud rose around the gigantic walker as it seemed to lean into the ice. Then he saw the rig¡¯s hind feet rise off the ground, it was definitely sinking now!

    The downed flier grunted and reached back for her leg, with a sound more like bending metal than anything bones should make she forced it back into shape. Then she leapt awkwardly to her feet, turned away from the sinking rig, and ran at impressive speed for someone with recently broken legs.

    Jerald laid there, stunned, for a moment just watching his job sink into the ice. Before he knew it all there was left was a cloud of evaporating ethane and cracks heading straight for him. Moment passed he stumbled to his feet and started running as well.

    He ran, faster than he had ever run in his entire life. Cracking sounds behind him motivating him like no gym teacher had managed. He felt himself forced to pant more and more as he ran, but he dared not stop to take a breath. His vision swam from oxygen deprivation and lactic acid, but he kept running. To stop meant death. But he could not run forever and finally he collapsed to the ground, unable to run any more, and blacked out.

    Jerald woke an indeterminate time later, the sun had already slipped beyond the horizon but the gas giant Surt glowed like a lantern overhead, far brighter than the moon orbiting his homeworld of Jord. A crunching sound brought his head turning to the side, and what he saw left him both relieved and perplexed.

    A woman with a lightly furred head, a pointed snout, round ears, and dark circles around both eyes was eating some kind of ration bar. She swallowed her mouthful and spoke. ¡°Oh good, you¡¯re awake.¡± She stood up and approached him. ¡°I was wondering if I¡¯d have to carry you all the way back home.¡±

    Jerald started to lift an arm, only to see that he was wrapped in a heavy sleeping bag. Confused and wondering what was going on he looked around frantically. Behind him he spotted the side of a mountain, he remembered seeing a mountain range on the map to the well site, but that had been kilometers back hadn¡¯t it? The raccoon took another bite of her ration bar, prompting the lynx to ask ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you have any more of those, do you?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said dryly. ¡°But given how much biomass I have to replenish after you shot me down, I think I¡¯m entitled to the rest of them.¡±

    The lynx¡¯s eyes widened as he recognized the white jumpsuit the raccoon was wearing, and spotted a broken helmet lying on the ground nearby. He squirmed away from her as best as he was able, wrapped up like a burrito in the sleeping bag. ¡°Please,¡± he begged. ¡°Don¡¯t eat me.¡±

    The raccoon snorted. ¡°You¡¯re not my type.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± Jerald blathered. ¡°You¡¯re a ghul!¡±

    Before he could blink the raccoon had crossed the campsite, lifted the lynx off the ground, and thrust her masked face into his. He could smell the remnants of dried blood as he stared into her brown eye. Now that he was close he noticed that her right eyelid was closed, and oddly flat. ¡°Listen very carefully Company man.¡± She said. ¡°Ghuls have malfunctioning leukosynths that autocannibalize their own flesh, driving them to seek out the nearest convenient source of replacement biomass.¡± She opened her eyelid, revealing a hollow socket with what looked like a pus-filled blister glistening on the back. ¡°As you can see, mine are working perfectly.¡± Jerald¡¯s tufted ears picked up a growl coming from the raccoon¡¯s midsection, and she dropped him with what seemed like embarrassment.

    Jerald watched her bend over a pack of some kind and pull out more ration bars. ¡°Who are you?¡± He couldn¡¯t help from asking. ¡°And why did you save me?¡±

    The raccoon gulped down a bar before turning back to answer. ¡°You can call me Horizon,¡± she said. ¡°And it¡¯s what I came out here to do.¡± She snapped the other bar in half, ¡°as ungrateful as you were.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were a person!¡± He tried to apologize. ¡°The computer thought you were a missile, and wouldn¡¯t let me shut off the target lock.¡±

    ¡°That figures.¡± Horizon squatted down next to Jerald and held out half the bar. ¡°Typical Company disregard for parahuman life.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they expected somebody to drop on top of one of their rigs in a wingsuit.¡± Jerald suggested as he wriggled his arm free of the sleeping bag.

    ¡°I kind of doubt that.¡± The raccoon crunched up the other half of her ration bar. ¡°So, what did they tell you we were? Pirates?¡±

    Jerald noted the Belter twang she put on that last word, he paused as he tried to recollect how she¡¯d pronounced everything else. He could have sworn she was Jordian like himself. ¡°Raiders,¡± he replied.

    ¡°What? Like this is the wastes?¡± Horizon asked in response. ¡°No offense, but that was a lot of hardware we threw at you for what, 90 kilos of food?¡±

    ¡°And about a hundred kiloliters of ethane.¡± He added.

    Horizon sighed. ¡°Now why would we want to steal that?¡±

    ¡°It powers everything on this moon.¡± Jerald claimed. ¡°Heat, lights, engines¡­¡±

    ¡°And a microliter of the tritium the Company is siphoning out of big daddy Surt up there could power the entire Friendly Society for a year.¡± The raccoon pointed a thumb at the gas giant hanging overhead. ¡°Fusion isn¡¯t exactly lost technology you know.¡±

    Jerald blinked in surprise at the mention of the one humanitarian organization the Company grudgingly allowed on Surtur. ¡°You¡¯re with the Friendlies?¡±

    ¡°For the past few months at least.¡± Horizon confirmed.

    ¡°And you were saving me?¡± He asked. ¡°You knew the ice was going to cave in?¡±

    Instead of answering directly she asked him a question. ¡°What did you think that metallic mass you parked on top of was?¡±

    Jerald was confused for a moment, he had parked the rig next to a boulder suspended in the ice, a boulder the size of¡­ ¡°That was a rig?¡±

    Horizon nodded. ¡°They had two rigs out here a week ago. When one went under the other one¡¯s driver bailed out and ran. Fortunately one of our drones spotted him and we picked him up before the hypothermia left him totally irrecoverable.¡± She sighed. ¡°Such a waste for something that they don¡¯t even need.¡±

    The lynx looked up at the planet, he could almost swear that he saw a Company skimmer streaking across the clouds. ¡°But, they need to save the tritium for spaceships. You can¡¯t burn anything on a ship. It would deplete the life support.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t I know that.¡± Horizon sniffed. ¡°But the truth is, the Company could easily power every ship and station in the Tiere system, plus every village on Surtur, Jord, and Logi. But they prefer to keep their customers hungry.¡± She turned her head to look towards something Jerald couldn¡¯t see. ¡°We should get going.¡±

    ¡°Why? What¡¯s happening?¡± Jerald asked. He fumbled for the clasps to the sleeping bag before finding and undoing them, allowing the cat to spill out into the snow.

    ¡°Our pickup is incoming.¡± The raccoon explained. ¡°Unfortunately a Company patrol is moving to intercept them. We¡¯ll have to move to catch up to them first.¡±

    The lynx scrambled to his wide feet. ¡°Why can¡¯t the Company help us?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Aside from their casual disregard for life?¡± Horizon replied. ¡°Their patrols are pure attack craft, no cargo or passenger space. Friendly drones have modular pods for disaster relief. You¡¯d be frozen solid by the time the Company got a transport out to you.¡±

    Jerald paused to consider. He didn¡¯t know if he believed this strange parahuman, but everything she said sounded disturbingly plausible. Though it didn¡¯t rule out the possibility that she was somehow toying with him before eating him¡­ ¡°You coming or not?¡± She called out, interrupting his train of thought as she strode away, and he followed almost automatically.

    The lynx found himself panting after mere minutes of trying to keep pace with the posthuman raccoon. Her stamina seemed indefinite as she jogged ahead of him, even with her smaller feet and a jumpsuit that looked way too thin to keep her warm in this climate. ¡°How,¡± he gasped. ¡°augmented, are you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She replied without even breaking stride. ¡°My crew found an old Federal Guard ship and its drones augged us up to the gills without even asking. Some kind of super soldier program.¡±

    ¡°That would explain a lot.¡± Jerald panted, slowing his own progress to a crawl. ¡°How much further?¡±

    Horizon looked up. ¡°Not far.¡± She stopped, staring into the sky. ¡°Shit, the Company¡¯s here too!¡± She broke into a dead run.

    As Jerald struggled to keep up he saw that a bunch of the stars were moving rather fast for celestial bodies, and not just moving, but bobbing and weaving around one another. As he watched one of the stars burst and fell in smoking fragments to the ice below. And Horizon was running straight towards the aerial battle.

    ¡°Wait!¡± He called out, almost tripping on an outcropping of ice. He watched the white-clad figure weave around plumes of rising steam, leaping and somersaulting around bullets hitting the ground. Jerald stopped for a moment just to watch the spectacle of a living wonder of a lost age taunting modern military hardware with her defiant existence. Then a jet of vaporized snow obscured his view of her for but a moment, and when it cleared Horizon laid on the ground, still as the grave.

    The lynx froze, uncertain what to do now. He looked around for a possible escape route, but they were on an open field of stark white ice, nowhere to hide. He looked up at the continuing aerial battle, and he saw the mobile stars light up in explosion after explosion. In moments there was only one drone left, and it was flying right for him!

    Jerald turned and ran back the way he came, not daring to look back, only to see the drone streak ahead of him. He watched it swing around and descend towards him, and without thinking he turned around again. The lynx was just realizing how stupid it might be to run towards the battlefield when his snowshoe-like paws caught on something sticking out of the ground and sent him stumbling onto his face.

    Shaking the snow from his eyes he turned his head towards the thing he had tripped upon. He viewed the familiar sight of Horizon¡¯s body, sprawled on her back on the snow. Jerald looked up and saw the drone circling around him, descending further with every pass. Knowing now that he couldn¡¯t outrun it he poked cautiously at the raccoon¡¯s face. ¡°Horizon?¡± He asked hopefully. ¡°If you¡¯re still alive, please wake up, I need you.¡±

    She did not respond. The sound of turbines behind him drew Jerald¡¯s attention to stare at a large tilt-rotor drone hovering not three meters away. As he watched a pair of panels began to unfold from the drone¡¯s belly and he heard a voice emanate from its loudspeakers. ¡°You know, you should zig-zag when pursued, force the pursuer to constantly adjust their aim.¡±

    Even through the speakers he thought the voice sounded familiar. ¡°Horizon?¡± He asked.

    The drone responded as the panels it dropped assembled themselves into a box-like shape. ¡°Yeah, you ever use neural induction VR?¡±

    ¡°Do I look like I could afford that?¡± Jerald responded.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± The drone drifted lazily towards him. ¡°One of my implants lets me cut out the sensory perceptions of my organic body and remotely control vehicles as if they were my own body. Good thing that last shot came close enough I could fake a hit.¡±

    Jerald stared back at Horizon¡¯s body, now that he wasn¡¯t worried about getting shot he could see that there wasn¡¯t a scratch on her. ¡°So, you¡¯re okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said through the drone. ¡°Now if you don¡¯t mind, could you load my body into the cargo hold?¡± The box structure¡¯s door hung open invitingly.

    The lynx knelt next to the raccoon and inched his arms under her back and legs, she was surprisingly heavy for her size, which he supposed must be some of her implants. With a grunt he swung her into the drone¡¯s cargo hold and ungracefully pushed the end of her tail in. He stood there waiting for a moment before Horizon added ¡°you coming?¡±

    Jerald took another look around, just to make sure there was no one else coming. Once he accepted that it wasn¡¯t a hard decision. He still wasn¡¯t sure about the posthuman¡¯s claims but it seemed like he¡¯d need to go with her for now if he wanted to ponder it later. He climbed into the drone, awkwardly shoving Horizon¡¯s comatose body further back to make room.

    A dim light came on as the cargo bay door closed. ¡°Raccoon air now departing.¡± Horizon said sarcastically. ¡°Try not to get too handsy in there. My girlfriend can be the jealous type.¡±

    Jerald tried to curl himself into a small ball on the opposite end of the bay from the raccoon.

 Announcement: ebook now available for purchase

    Well, I decided I''d procrastinated long enough and uploaded my serial novel Horizon: Salvaged Heroes to the various sites where I publish books.

    Amazon Kindle https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0B3LGBHDZ</a>

    Smashwords (epub only for now) https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1151012</a>

    And DriveThruFiction (PDF) https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/399308/Horizon-Salvaged-Heroes</a>

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Three hundred years after the fall of the Federation, star systems like the Tiere system have fallen into chaos. Three inhabitable planets and dozens of scattered habitats all out for each other as they each face their own internal struggles.

    When a crew of transgenic debris scavengers they come upon an experimental Federation starship they think they¡¯ve hit the jackpot. But instead, they run into its AI, which is determined to produce the super soldier program it was programmed to carry out.

    Now with augmentations they barely know how to use and a mission from a government that no longer exists, Tanya Loter and her companions dedicate themselves to saving the Tiere System. But will they be saviors? Or tyrants?

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 1

    A raccoon floated in an endless void, infinite blackness interspersed with tiny points of light. She concentrated, and the blackness was replaced by a park ground of rolling grass-covered fields. Not finding that particularly relaxing she replaced the park with a space station, a dockside market full of storefronts with glowing advertisements.

    But no people, the plaza was still and silent, no movement but the flickering of signs and the slow rotation of the night sky through the corundum ceiling. ¡°A bit lonely,¡± she noted with a sigh. She sat on a bench, and focused.

    A ring of light appeared in the air in front of her, and slowly began to descend. A pair of white-ringed brown ears appeared in the ring¡¯s wake, followed by a shock of red hair, brown eyes, and a white face. The eyes turned towards the raccoon¡¯s as the red-brown neck materialized. ¡°So, Tanya, why a red panda?¡±

    Tanya Loter gave a shrug. ¡°I thought it would be similar to a raccoon but different enough that it wouldn¡¯t be like looking in a mirror. Shouldn¡¯t you know that already?¡±

    The panda girl smirked as her bust materialized. ¡°I don¡¯t have full access to your memories yet. I¡¯m just a partially formed avatar, it wouldn¡¯t be too safe to let me rifle through all your deepest and darkest thoughts and experiences just yet now would it?¡± She held up a newly formed pair of fingers. ¡°So do I have a name?¡±

    Tanya gave it some thought while she materialized the red panda¡¯s waist and thighs. ¡°How does¡­ Samantha sound?¡± she asked.

    The tulpa lifted a foot as the ring of light faded away and examined it. ¡°Samantha, Sam for short, that sounds nice. Digitigrade? Shouldn¡¯t I be plantigrade like you?¡±

    Tanya shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll have to check.¡± She blinked, taking notice of something she¡¯d overlooked before. ¡°After getting you some clothes.¡±

    ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t give me any memories of clothes.¡± Sam grinned, swishing a very thick and heavy-looking tail behind her.

    Tanya closed her eyes and tried to think of clothing. Her mind leapt to the youth fashion on the Jord orbitals where she grew up and she thought of sending them to the avatar. When her eyes were open again Sam was attired, though in her opinion it didn¡¯t improve much.

    Over a set of fishnets the panda wore a very snug pair of denim shorts with a bright pink belt and a black crop top that barely covered her breasts. On her head sat a billed hat with holes cut for her ears and she wore a variety of multicolored bracelets on her wrists. ¡°What do you think?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I think¡­¡± Tanya paused. ¡°I think I can see now why my parents didn¡¯t trust me to dress myself.¡±

    Sam broke out laughing. ¡°Oh come on, don¡¯t be such a prude. No one else is going to see me.¡±

    Tanya grimaced. ¡°Well I have to look at you.¡±

    The panda¡¯s fluffy tail brushed against the raccoon¡¯s muzzle. ¡°Why? Am I a little distracting to you?¡± Tanya grabbed the tail to try and push it away, only for it to abruptly split down the middle exposing a purplish tongue surrounded by sharp teeth¡­

    Tanya jolted awake, finding herself seated in a stiff metal chair with a crown of biofeedback sensors circling her head. She yanked it off and looked around the room. A white squirrel with her fur dyed in angular spirals and a gravid stomach turned from her computer monitor towards the raccoon. ¡°What happened? Why¡¯d you drop out?¡± she asked in concern.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know Jenny,¡± Tanya rubbed her forehead where the electrodes had lain. ¡°I created a sim and a tulpa, but something happened to her.¡±

    Jenyfur stared inquisitively at her procyonid friend. ¡°What kind of thing happened?¡±

    Tanya shrugged. ¡°It was weird, Sam was teasing me with her tail and all of a sudden it grew a mouth.¡±

    ¡°A mouth?¡± Jenny looked confused. ¡°On her tail?¡±

    ¡°Something like it at least,¡± Tanya tried to explain. ¡°I made an avatar that looked kind of like me as a teenager, except she was a red panda.¡±

    ¡°Instead of a cinnamon raccoon?¡± Jenny suggested.

    Tanya groaned. ¡°Yes, and her tail came out so fluffy that it was wider than her body. Not that that¡¯s saying much, she was skinny.¡±

    Jenny rubbed her stomach thoughtfully, which Tanya recalled was actually a secondary brain that the biohacking squirrel had installed in her uterus. ¡°And you say that this fluffy tail had a mouth, with teeth and all?¡±

    ¡°Sharp fangs the length of my fingers.¡± The raccoon held up her index for comparison. ¡°And a long purplish-pink tongue.¡±

    Jenny¡¯s gaze became unfocused as she tried to think with both her brains for a few moments. ¡°I suggested you create an avatar for your implant¡¯s AI shadow. You didn¡¯t try to partition off any applications from her, did you?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Tanya tried to remember if she¡¯d done anything of that sort. She honestly wasn¡¯t sure if she had done anything of that sort. It didn¡¯t sound like anything she might have done. ¡°Did you find anything on the sensors?¡±

    The squirrel shook her head. ¡°There was a minute increase in heat as you ran the sim, but otherwise these readings don¡¯t look like any parahuman brain I¡¯ve seen. My best guess is that your implants somehow encase your brain entirely. I¡¯d like to run an MRI, but after what happened last time we tried that...¡±

    ¡°Out of the question!¡± Tanya, alias Horizon, unwitting soldier of the Federation reborn, snapped automatically. Once she was back in control of herself she sighed and muttered a quick apology.

    ¡°That was why we were attempting tulpamancy, remember?¡± Tanya nodded reluctantly at Jenny''s reminder. It seemed that the Federation AI that had installed her implants had included some incredibly paranoid security directives that occasionally hijacked her body. It was annoying, to say the least, and given what she had seen herself do while her combat ware was active she was understandably wary of what the implants might do if sufficiently pushed.

    Jenny had suggested giving her AI a voice. Normally it was a silent "shadow" type system that acted unconsciously, providing knowledge of nanotech ghuls when she thought of them, guiding her motions as she piloted a shuttle or fought a pirate. But ever since her shadow had mercilessly slaughtered two pirates who had attempted to kidnap her she had been cautious, scared even, of the sufficiently advanced technology in her head.

    So the biohacker had suggested they give the AI a voice, enabling her to negotiate with it.

    "What are we going to do now?" Tanya asked. She wasn''t sure if she wanted to face that thing in her head again, even if she''d somehow created it.

    "Well," Jenny started, "we should probably make sure this "Sam" you created was saved to start with." As she was thinking about what to say next an alarm blared on her console.

    Horizon leapt out of her chair and was leaning over the monitor before either one of them could blink. "What is it?" she asked.

    Jenny selected the alert and expanded it. "It looks like there''s a tsunami coming towards one of the offshore mining rigs. The Friendly Society is requesting permission to help evacuate the workers."

    "The Company can''t handle it themselves?" Horizon asked.

    The squirrel shook her head. "The managers will have their own personal shuttles to save themselves. But they leave the welfare of the hoi polloi up to those of us who actually care." Jenny sighed loudly. "I should probably get to the clinic and prepare to receive the wounded."

    After half a second Horizon spoke up again. "How many pilots do the Friendlies have? I could help in the evacuation."

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Jenny nodded. "There''s a few dozen shuttle pilots in reserve, basically whoever can report in the fastest flies." She felt a breeze by her shoulder and turned to find that the raccoon had already disappeared.

    Horizon tore up the stairs, freerunning up the walls at breakneck speed. Eager to go help people, sure, but more eager to avoid dealing with her internal issues.

    ---

    The crowd in the hangar where the Friendly Society stored their rescue aircraft parted as Horizon dashed in. She gave a slight grimace as she noticed the other workers clearing a path for her, she knew why they were so wary of her.

    She got in line in front of a caribou doe who was handing out assignments. A couple of aid workers in front of her stepped out and moved to the rear of the line, Horizon rolling her eyes as they passed her. The caribou, Coordinator Taranda, tapped the top of her tablet to each Friendly¡¯s tablet in turn. When Horizon finally got to her she swept her fingers across the tablet instead, prompting a message to appear in her brain implant¡¯s Heads-Up Display.

    Assignment: Drone carrier, drone pilot.

    Use civilian identity, this is a sanctioned Friendly operation.

    The raccoon nodded to the caribou and walked off behind a stack of crates waiting to be loaded. Her white jumpsuit with gold highlights shifted colors to blood-red, the same shade as the other aid workers heading out. Hologram projectors in her collar and cuffs projected a dark blue coloration over her cinnamon fur. A couple seconds later a blue morph arctic vixen stepped out from behind the crates where Horizon had hidden.

    A couple of Friendlies waved to the fox as she strode towards the drone carrier. Most of the vehicles in the hangar were Vertical Take Off and Landing transports with rotating jet engines capable of pushing the crafts off the ground or propelling them forward as needed. The drone carrier slung exposed racks between the forward and aft pair of engines, which were now being loaded with a half-dozen quadrotor drones that each spanned a meter in diameter and were equipped with armatures and harnesses for carrying people to safety.

    The pilot, an arctic tern, turned to Horizon and nodded. ¡°Good to see you here Zoe, you ready to go?¡±

    ¡°Zoe¡± nodded her head affirmatively, glad that her suit¡¯s designer had given it the processing power to keep the hologram glued to her face. ¡°I¡¯m always ready to go Bill, just let me get plugged in.¡± She climbed over the wing of the VTOL craft into the co-pilot¡¯s seat behind Bill¡¯s seat in the cockpit.

    Bill flapped his wings and landed neatly in the pilot¡¯s chair as Horizon was fumbling with the cable threaded into the back of her helmet. The end of the cable fitted under the scruff of her neck and connected to the implant port it concealed, prompting several readouts from the aircraft¡¯s status indicators to appear in her HUD. ¡°That port aft turbine is getting a little worn out,¡± she reported. ¡°We should get the mechanics to look at that once we come back.¡±

    The tern flicked his beak up and down. ¡°It¡¯ll hold for another couple trips,¡± he assured her. ¡°Honestly, you cyborgs weird me out sometimes.¡±

    Horizon gave him a hard stare through the visor of her helmet, prompting him to backpedal for a moment. ¡°Not like that ghul who¡¯s been showing up occasionally I mean.¡±

    The posthuman raccoon passing as a fox turned away from her carrier¡¯s pilot and muttered under her breath, ¡°she¡¯s not a ghul.¡±

    The canopy of the cockpit descended and they received a radio message to prepare for takeoff. The hangar doors slid open and VTOLS began to taxi out onto the runway. Passenger transports configured as ambulances took off first, with the drone carrier taking off last, taking up the rear.

    ---

    The relief squadron spotted the plume of smoke long before they could see the refinery itself. Slowly, the horizon rounded and they were able to spot the sprawling complex floating in the frigid sea that was billowing smoke. Horizon observed through the carrier''s electronic eyes and sensors in half a dozen spectrums, while she didn''t have the fidelity to pick up any sort of "life signs" she could detect multiple reinforced chambers throughout the platform. "I''m picking up four installations that look like sealed shelters," she reported, then quickly scanned the spectroscopic analysis of the air. "It looks like their methane reserves are evaporating, might want to switch off your jets now so we don''t accidentally ignite it."

    A roar that had faded into nothing more than a background hum several kilometers back cut out entirely. The VTOL jolted in the air as forward thrust ceased and the lift rotors took over. Horizon directed her attention at one specialized drone and it detached from the carrier, dropping several meters before its own rotors cut in and propelled it towards the refinery. The raccoon felt her perspective split between the carrier''s sensors and the smaller but slightly faster recon drone''s and struggled to keep them both in mind.

    "Damn, I hate having to slow down like this," she heard Bill''s voice through her implants. "I feel like they''re going to burn before we get there."

    "We''ll burn if we don''t," Horizon reminded him.

    "Just stay focused on the drone." Bill adjusted course slightly to get a better look at the refinery. Horizon was glad she didn''t have to try and fly the carrier as well as the drones. In previous exercises she''d found that she could pilot two drones at once directly but anything more than that and she had to rely on the drones'' AI.

    I could help with that. Horizon jerked slightly in her harness, turning a fragment of her attention towards her meat body in search of the strange voice''s source.

    "Hey Zoe!" Horizon''s attention was brought back to the mission. "Have you gotten anything from the drone yet?"

    She focused more closely on the recon drone as it neared the refinery. Horizon scanned the primary landing pad first, radar and heat readings indicated that it was structurally compromised and wouldn''t take more than two VTOLs. Zipping past she found a secondary pad that was intact but only large enough to fit another two craft. "I''ve got two landing zones, but they''ll only take half the ambulances. I''m sending a map now.¡± She mentally flexed and a schematic of the refinery with the areas where it was safe to land indicated in blue and the compromised spots in red. As the drone scanned she filled in footpaths from the shelters to the pads, and realized something.

    "Damnit!" She cursed.

    The carrier jolted as Bill jumped in his seat. ¡°What?"

    "The only secure footpath from shelter 2 to either pad is blocked off," Horizon explained. "While the paths from shelter 3 are just gone, they must have fallen off during the explosion." She thought about the remaining drones in their cradles. "I''m going to need all five lifters, hopefully I won''t need to carry wounded in both sites."

    She could hear the bird groan over the intercom. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll fly closer so we can launch the lifters to check out the shelters.¡± The carrier dipped down towards the burning refinery, swerving around a smoke cloud. ¡°Alright.¡± He parked them 20 meters above the rig, roughly halfway between the two landing pads. ¡°That¡¯s as close as I¡¯m getting, launch one lifter to each shelter.¡±

    Horizon reached into three drones with her thoughts. One she only touched lightly, giving its synthetic brain the simple command to go to a shelter on the map, announce itself, and begin drilling in if no response came. But the other two she reached further in, sliding her mental arms into metallic gloves. She reached inside the drone-gloves towards the two blocked off shelters. Horizon followed the automated drone in her peripheral vision as she guided the two puppeted drones. Her field of view took the form of an overhead map from the viewpoint of the carrier, the sensor input of her drones was represented by their surroundings appearing more clear, magnified.

    The drone approaching shelter 2 reached its destination, followed seconds later by the drone for shelter 3. Horizon focused on her right hand, representing drone 2, and spoke loudly but calmly. ¡°This is the Friendly Society! Is anyone there?" While she waited for a response she repeated the inquiry to shelter 3.

    She waited for almost a minute before she heard the clunk of opening deadbolts through her right ear. "Hello?" she called out.

    A small hatch in the shelter door slid open and a wide eye looked through. "Are you here to help us?¡± a frightened voice asked.

    "Yes," Horizon replied through the drone''s speakers. "How many are in here, and are any wounded?"

    "Five," the survivor answered quickly. "Most everyone has some scrapes and bruises, but one of us has a broken leg."

    Horizon evaluated her options. "This drone can carry one person at a time, but there''s debris blocking the footpath. Will the rest of you be able to clear it if I carry the one with the broken leg?"

    The viewer at the porthole thought for a few moments. "Maybe, there''s an equipment locker a couple doors down that we could use. But they always lock it up when we''re not working."

    Horizon mentally scanned the immediate area and quickly spotted the sign for the locker. "Give me a minute and I can open it."

    The survivor looked a little surprised. "The Company gave you a key?"

    Horizon flexed her mental fingers and one of the drone''s manipulators opened to reveal a set of tools, including saws and a plasma torch. "Not exactly."

    She dragged the drone over to the locker door and used a powered keyhole saw to start cutting around the lock. Her thoughts were interrupted by a chime that she recognized as one of her automated drones calling for attention. Horizon focused on the drone in question and a screen within a screen appeared in her view.

    The miniscreen showed an ornery white tiger in business robes snarling something at the drone. "...I demand that you get me off this platform IMMEDIATELY!"

    Horizon cut him off before he could say anything else. "The path from shelter 1 to the landing pad is clear, you may proceed at your leisure." The tiger snorted and walked off. Horizon quickly scanned the other occupants of the shelter, a couple secretarial types, and directed the drone towards shelter 2.

    Idly, Horizon turned her attention towards shelter 3, the door held still, with no signs of movement. She returned her view to drone 2 just as it finished sawing out the lock. She backed the drone up and looked for the survivors waiting for tools. "Do you know if anyone is in shelter 3?¡± she asked the group.

    The five looked to each other for a few moments before one of them spoke up. "Fran said they were heading to shelter 3 after the boss closed shelter 1 in their faces."

    "Damn," Horizon thought again. She mentally flexed and redirected the drone that had been at shelter 1 to shelter 3, and launched the remaining two drones to join it. "I''m going to try and open it up with the other drones. Which of you needs a lift?" A horse leaning on an arctic hare raised a hand. "I''ll carry you over the debris and come back if I can spare a drone, come on!"

    The drone dropped a smartmesh harness from its underbelly and began using its manipulators to guide the straps around the horse. Once it had secured itself the drone took off, lifting the horse into the air.

    Horizon started to speak into the intercom. "Bill, we might have an emergency in shelter 3, can you fly us..."

    The raccoon was cut off as a new explosion sent up a spout of flame and shrapnel. She felt a pain in her abdomen just before the carrier began to plummet out of the sky.

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 2

    Time slowed almost to a standstill, the drops of blood streaming out of Horizon¡¯s stomach floated idly in the air. The raccoon¡¯s mind raced as she frantically queried every status sensor she could find on the drone carrier, hearing naught for a painful eternity.

    Slowly, the queries returned. The carrier¡¯s autopilot had kicked in when the cockpit was breached, holding the aircraft in a holding pattern over the rig and locking the manual controls until the pilot switched them back on. In the cockpit camera¡¯s view Bill¡¯s head leaned to the side, the same spar that punctured Horizon¡¯s abdomen jutted from the tern¡¯s chest. Mercifully his suit¡¯s biofeedback sensors indicated that he still had a heartbeat, but he was fading fast, likely in shock. ¡°Bill!¡± Horizon shouted, to her own ears it sounded oddly low and elongated.

    The carrier¡¯s bodily integrity sensors fed information directly into her augmented brain, showing a diagram of the craft with orange areas where shrapnel and debris had struck and red where they¡¯d broken through the skin. There was a leak in one of the fuel cells, she isolated it before the other cells could drain out through it, and there was a large hole in the cockpit and the pilot¡¯s seat, with a smaller hole in the copilot¡¯s seat behind it of course, but otherwise the craft was still flight worthy.

    ¡°Wow, we¡¯re in trouble aren¡¯t we?¡± Horizon blinked, it looked like the red panda avatar she¡¯d created in the simulation was crouched, a cocky smirk on her face, in front of her. The fact that there was clearly no room for another person between her body and the pilot¡¯s seat in front of her didn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Horizon asked the entity mentally. She noticed her blood splatters continuing to fall slowly while the panda¡¯s whiskers twitched at normal speed, that meant that ¡°Samantha¡± was running on the same mental time dilation as her own thoughts. Another surprise from her implants.

    Sam glanced over her shoulder at the dying avian behind her, ¡°you need my help. Badly,¡± she gestured towards the ethane rig still burning below them. ¡°You can¡¯t fly both the carrier and the drones at once.¡±

    ¡°They have autopilots,¡± Horizon retorted. She knew that the basic AI installed in the drones and the carrier was less capable than the Fedtech AI that the Resolution had installed in her head, but she trusted them more. With good reason.

    Sam scoffed, ¡°which one are you going to leave to the dumb bots? The drones carrying those poor little survivors to safety?¡± Horizon¡¯s vision momentarily zoomed in on a drone stumbling through the air with a survivor dangling from its underchassis. ¡°Or perhaps the carrier transporting our own carcass?¡± She saw the jagged spar of metal sticking out of the front of the cockpit, red with rust, or blood.

    Horizon attempted to shake her head, but the flesh could only move so fast in her slowed-down perception. ¡°Stop messing with me!¡± she telepathically shouted. ¡°I can do this by myself!¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± the red panda vanished without a trace. The blood droplets spewed into the air accelerated down towards her body, splattering her already red jumpsuit with dark stains. Her head snapped to the side and she heard a low moan coming from the front of the cockpit.

    ¡°Bill!¡± Horizon shouted again. ¡°Can you hear me?¡±

    The bird coughed, spewing blood over the windshield. ¡°Yeah Zoe, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to make it. How¡¯re you doing?¡±

    Horizon looked down at the spar in her belly, she knew that the leukosynth microbots in her blood had already stopped the bleeding and would repair the wound within minutes of the obstruction¡¯s removal. ¡°I¡¯ll live,¡± she said simply. ¡°Any chance you can fly for a bit longer?¡±

    ¡°Hah!¡± a small bit of more blood hit the windshield. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. You can fly through that thing in your head though?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Horizon admitted. ¡°But I can¡¯t fly the drones and us at the same time!¡±

    ¡°Then save yourself,¡± Horizon was shocked at the bird¡¯s words. ¡°Leave the drones on autopilot, they¡¯ll save who they can and we¡¯ll print more after the mission.¡±

    ¡°But, they can¡¯t¡­¡± Horizon trailed off as she mentally grabbed at a drone that was straying too close to a tumbling debris pile.

    ¡°There¡¯ll be more people who need saving,¡± Bill explained. ¡°And who will rescue them if you¡¯re not there?¡±

    Acoustic sensors picked up a series of loud pops within the derrick just below them as an ethane pocket heated to the point of ignition. Horizon took control of the carrier and lurched them to the side just in time to avoid the fireball and debris cloud that jetted up from the explosion. One drone, en route to picking up its next passenger, was not so lucky.

    ¡°You can have it all you know?¡± Horizon looked around, but she couldn¡¯t see Sam anywhere in the cockpit, just heard her voice.

    Horizon sighed, thinking about what she could do. She could let half a dozen people die now, or possibly die herself and be unable to save even more people later, or let a mysterious program with ulterior motives run rampant in her brain? She groaned and raised her voice, ¡°hey Bill?¡±

    The arctic tern was silent. ¡°I have a Fedtech AI in my implants, it might be able to pilot both the carrier and the drones.¡± Still, no response. She checked the readout on his biosensors again.

    His brain activity was muted, below the threshold for consciousness. Horizon could have sworn she felt Sam¡¯s virtual breath on her shoulder as she considered what she had to do. ¡°Alright, save those people.¡±

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    ¡°As you command.¡± The raccoon felt her grasp of the drones slip away, but she maintained awareness of them in the back of her mind as they flitted around the rig. Horizon focused on piloting the carrier around the next explosion. Her brain absorbed the data from the drones¡¯ sensors and she instinctively avoided the buildup of flammable gasses as they reached a critical mass and exploded.

    She detected a heat signature rising under the primary landing pad, as she was drifting away she registered that there were half a dozen people running across the pad towards a transport that was coming in for a landing. ¡°Get out of there!¡± she shouted, but it was too late.

    A fireball erupted from the deckplates of the landing pad, enveloping at least one person and knocking the rest over. A large chunk of flying debris clipped the transport¡¯s forward port engine, sending it spinning out of control. Horizon mentally lunged for the transport, she felt the security protocols melt away before her software, and she found the autopilot. With a mental twitch she activated the transport¡¯s auto-stabilizing application. Within milliseconds power diverted to the remaining three engines and the craft¡¯s spin slowed. But less than five seconds after the autopilot was engaged it was disabled again and the craft began to swerve even more erratically. Horizon realized that the pilot was trying to reassert control, and failing horribly.

    Horizon turned the autopilot back on, and the transport lurched hazardously. She sent a quick voice transmission to the pilot before they could disable it again, ¡°transport pilot, please let your autopilot stabilize you.¡±

    The pilot took control again and the transport swayed even more, ¡°carrier, that¡¯ll take too long. Those people who fell into the water have minutes if they¡¯re lucky.¡±

    Horizon sighed, ¡°if you don¡¯t let the autopilot stabilize you you¡¯ll crash. And then you won¡¯t be able to rescue anyone. I can divert my drones over to lift them up.¡± She was painfully aware of the echo in her words.

    There was a short pause, then the transport¡¯s autopilot engaged again. ¡°Alright,¡± the pilot conceded.

    Horizon sent Sam a telepathic command to send every drone not currently carrying something down to the water below the landing pad. Three drones immediately dove for the bobbing heads of survivors fighting hypothermia, the fourth was busy depositing a passenger at the auxiliary landing pad. The drones dropped harnesses with inflatable floats next to the survivors, when they grabbed at the smart harnesses they wrapped themselves around the survivors¡¯ torsos and the tow cables carefully pulled them up.

    Meanwhile, the damaged transport managed to stabilize itself, slowing its spin to a halt and hovering in place just five meters above the waves. ¡°You should tell them to open their hatch,¡± Sam¡¯s voice advised.

    ¡°What?¡± Horizon checked the flight path of the drones the AI was piloting, and did a double-take. ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the nearest place of safety,¡± Sam pointed out.

    Horizon hit the radio again, ¡°transport open your passenger hatches and prepare to receive wounded.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± the pilot replied, echoing Horizon¡¯s sentiment.

    ¡°At least we get to be useful here,¡± another voice chimed in. Horizon spotted a large figure sliding open the door on the side of the transport through the sensors of the nearest drone.

    The drone flew up to the open door and another figure grabbed the survivor dangling from its towline. As soon as the paramedic had hold of the survivor the drone released its passenger, almost throwing the medic off balance, but they managed to grab hold of a safety strap in time. Thus relieved, the drone swiftly flew off.

    The second drone¡¯s passenger couldn¡¯t hold still, they squirmed and writhed in their harness. As they flew towards the transport their leg swung into the path of a jet, burning them and sending them into shock. The paramedic who retrieved them scowled at the drone, as if blaming it.

    ¡°That¡¯s why we don¡¯t load passengers mid-air,¡± Horizon scolded her AI.

    Sam made a snorting sound. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault they jumped into the backblast.¡± A section of Horizon¡¯s HUD zoomed in on a broken segment of the landing pad that was sloped towards the water. A survivor was clinging desperately to the upper edge, a drone hovering next to them. ¡°What would you like to do about this one?¡±

    Horizon examined the survivor in her HUD. ¡°What¡¯s the problem here?¡±

    A schematic of the smart harness attempting to wrap around the survivor was added to Horizon¡¯s HUD. ¡°I can¡¯t get it to secure him, he¡¯s clinging too tightly to the floor.¡±

    Horizon thought for a moment, then turned her attention towards the scout drone, which was in a holding position high above the rig. ¡°The scout has some basic tools and enough lifting power that it should be able to lift him enough to get the harness under. Use it.¡±

    The scout drone swooped down towards the survivor clinging to the pad. On the way down its sensors spotted another gas pocket heating up. ¡°We need to hurry! There¡¯s going to be another explosion!¡± she shouted over the radio.

    The drones dropped the last of the survivors from the water into the transport and the scout drone stopped just above the hand of the survivor on the pad. A multitool extended from the scout¡¯s manipulator and touched a finger.

    In a spray of red the finger exploded. The survivor screamed loudly but held his death grip on the landing pad until his other fingers were also severed. Once all his fingers were cut off he slid down the landing pad, leaving a trail of blood. As soon as he slid off the far end of the pad the waiting smart harness wrapped around him.

    ¡°What the Hel Sam?!¡± Horizon berated the AI as she watched the drone with the maimed survivor fly towards the transport. ¡°Transport, you¡¯re going to need to stop a lot of bleeding on this next one.¡±

    ¡°Explosion in three¡­¡± Sam started counting down. ¡°Two¡­ one¡­¡±

    A fireball rose from the ethane rig, the surviving transports and the carrier swept away just before the flames and debris hit them. The drone chucked the bleeding survivor into the hatch of the transport, and then sank towards the waters below, batteries depleted.

    ¡°He¡¯ll live,¡± Samantha finally replied to Horizon¡¯s rhetorical question. ¡°He might need new fingers, but he¡¯ll live.¡± Below them, the burnt out superstructure of the rig began to collapse in on itself. ¡°There¡¯s nothing more we can do now, we should go.¡±

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 3

    The flight back to the base was subdued, slowed by the damaged aircraft. By the time they arrived Bill, and three of the survivors they¡¯d rescued, had expired. Jenny, one of the few members of the Friendly Society who was privy to Horizon¡¯s identity and had medical qualifications, came to extract her from the cockpit of the drone carrier.

    The arctic squirrel tugged at the shrapnel in Horizon¡¯s stomach with a pneumatic clasp while the raccoon gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the pain. Blood leaked out with each centimeter of metal that came out, only to flow back up the spar into the constantly re-opening wound. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this hon, but your microbots are doing too good of a job.¡±

    Horizon¡¯s breath wheezed through her teeth, ¡°just pull it out. They can handle the rest.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± Samantha materialized behind Jenny. ¡°If you just waited a few more hours our leukosynths could take care of it. No need to ask your girlfriend for help.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± the squirrel commented, staring at the latest stretch of metal to emerge. ¡°This looks like it was partially dissolved in acid.¡±

    Horizon looked down as far as her awkward position would allow. The spar was pitted and scored like a photo of an asteroid. ¡°Weird,¡± she commented. ¡°Maybe it was my stomach acid?¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Jenny replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think parahuman stomach acids could do this.¡±

    ¡°And you got hit in the intestines, not the stomach,¡± Sam added. ¡°Hence the smell.¡±

    Horizon had been trying to ignore the acrid, cloying odor that had spilled out into the cockpit after the strike. ¡°I figured that was from the dead body right in front of me,¡± she retorted.

    Jenny twitched an ear inquisitively, ¡°what?¡±

    ¡°Not you,¡± the raccoon replied. ¡°The AI is here.¡±

    The squirrel¡¯s eyes lit up in surprise and excitement, ¡°really? You activated her?¡±

    Horizon grumbled in response, ¡°more like she barged in and made me an offer I couldn¡¯t refuse.¡±

    ¡°She shows that much initiative?¡± Jenny¡¯s ears twitched excitedly. ¡°And you¡¯re talking to her now? Can I speak to her?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing.¡± The squirrel jumped in place and turned her head to face the projected red panda standing behind her, a smug smile on her face.

    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± Jenny set down the graspers and reached for Sam. Her hand passed through the panda¡¯s chest without resistance. ¡°An AR illusion, right?¡±

    ¡°No haptic feedback for you, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Sam quipped. ¡°Now, are you going to remove that thing from our duodenum or not?¡±

    ¡°Oh right,¡± Jenny picked up the clasp again and resumed slowly pulling the spar from Horizon¡¯s torso, prompting another fresh wince of pain as it shifted position in her guts.

    ¡°My, duodenum,¡± Horizon groaned in objection. ¡°Not yours.¡±

    ¡°Oh please,¡± Sam snorted. ¡°Do you have any idea of much of that body was built by the Federation¡¯s best autodocs? The autodocs that built me?¡±

    Horizon gasped as the last centimeter of the shrapnel slid out of her guts, leaving a gaping hole in her skin that quickly filled with a thick blackish-red blood the consistency of pudding. Within seconds the blood had scabbed over. Jenny looked at the scored end of the metallic spar and turned back to the AI, ¡°can you take care of any remaining bits that might have broken off? Or should we prep for surgery?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Sam replied. ¡°Construction on this moon uses a lot of carbon, calcium, and iron that the leukosynths can use for raw material. Whatever they don¡¯t need can be purged.¡±

    Horizon carefully started to rise out of the cockpit seat, careful not to damage her wound. ¡°At least I can move this way. If slowly,¡± she said with a grimace directed at the AI.

    ¡°Raw materials? For what?¡± Jenny turned the piece of steel around, examining the marks made by the microscopic robots in Horizon¡¯s blood.

    ¡°Replacement cells, mostly new leukosynths really,¡± Sam explained.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Jenny¡¯s ears shot up in alarm. ¡°If your microbots can scavenge materials from their environment and self-replicate, does that mean we have to worry about a Gray Goo scenario?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Horizon asked. She thought she¡¯d heard the term somewhere, probably from one of MechRat¡¯s rants, but couldn¡¯t quite recall what it meant. Though she got the sense that it was quite serious from the tone Jenny used.

    Sam laughed, ¡°no, you don¡¯t have to worry about a runaway replicator situation. Aside from the safeguards the Federation put in place to prevent such a RunRep they need a ready source of chemical energy to scavenge and collect resources. Most likely any leukosynths Tanya here lost track off would just go dormant until she went and picked them up again.¡±

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    Jenny let out a deep breath, ¡°that¡¯s a relief. I always thought the guys going on about big gray blobs eating everything were a bit alarmist.¡±

    ¡°And they¡¯re primarily made of corundum and iron,¡± Sam added. ¡°It would be ¡°red¡± goo, not gray.¡±

    A button on Jenny¡¯s shirt started vibrating, she pressed it with a finger and listened for a minute. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m needed in theater 3, guess we¡¯ll have to continue this conversation later.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let us keep you,¡± Horizon said with a wave of her arm.

    ¡°Bye!¡± Sam waved after the squirrel enthusiastically as she turned and left. As soon as Jenny was out of earshot the panda turned back to the raccoon. ¡°You know,¡± she whispered, ¡°we could inoculate her, and the Friendly Society would have two Paladins at their disposal.¡±

    ¡°What? No!¡± Horizon slapped the illusion across the cheek, to her immense satisfaction she felt furry flesh under her palm and Sam staggered back as if she had a physical presence.

    Sam¡¯s tail reared up, the mouth at its end uttering a low growl, but she laid a hand on top of it with an air of command. ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll table that for now,¡± the panda conceded. ¡°But what about your pilot? Bill, was it? It might not be too late to save him.¡±

    That possibility gave Horizon pause, inserting her microbots into a healthy, albeit eccentric parahuman was one thing, but if someone would die otherwise¡­ ¡°No,¡± she concluded. ¡°He knew the risks when he signed up. I didn¡¯t have a choice to get you implanted into my head, I¡¯m not going to take that choice away from someone else.¡±

    ¡°Um-hm,¡± Sam muttered. Horizon started to think about dismissing the AI but before she could finalize the decision the panda held up a hand. ¡°Wait! Before I go, there¡¯s one last thing we need to discuss.¡±

    ¡°One thing,¡± Horizon held up a finger in warning.

    ¡°If that bit of debris had hit you just 3.7 centimeters higher, it would have hit the Thing.¡±

    Horizon raised a quizzical eyebrow, ¡°what thing?¡±

    ¡°That Thing you ate.¡± At Horizon¡¯s puzzled expression she attempted to elaborate, ¡°as we were crashing into Surt.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Horizon clutched her stomach, a few centimeters above the rapidly healing wound. These days she barely noticed the weight of the mysterious metal sphere she¡¯d swallowed months ago. ¡°MechRat¡¯s orb.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that,¡± Sam held up a hand and a projection of the orb appeared above it. ¡°Whatever it is, it¡¯s not safe inside your digestive tract. Even if you don¡¯t digest it, and you can if you want to, or the leukosynths get desperate for resources.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what it is?¡± Horizon inquired. ¡°With your databases of Federation technology?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not in my databases, no,¡± Sam explained. ¡°It¡¯s most likely a custom design of Luke Didelph¡¯s, though I can¡¯t guarantee that it is his work.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any idea what it is?¡±

    Sam shook her head, ¡°none. My priorities have been focused on keeping us alive and running your drones. I could run a data analysis of the orb and speculate though.¡±

    Horizon thought for a minute, ¡°how long would that analysis take?¡±

    Sam shrugged, ¡°it might be as short as an hour. Or it might take several days.¡±

    The raccoon smirked, if it would get the AI out of her hair for a while all the better. ¡°Run the analysis.¡±

    Sam nodded, ¡°alright then. I strongly advise you regurgitate it soon though.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Horizon stated. Sam disappeared and Horizon started off towards the dormitories to wait for Jenny. On her way over she received a message on her BCI:

    To volunteer pilot Horizon: Your presence is requested in conference room C at your earliest convenience.

    The raccoon read the message and shrugged, whatever it was they wanted, it couldn¡¯t be worse than vomiting up a mysterious artifact that had dislocated her jaw on the way down. She¡¯d experienced enough pain for today.

    ---

    On her way to the conference room Horizon stepped into the showers to rinse the blood and grime off. Her suit¡¯s smart materials shed the particulates easily, sloughing off a stream of brown and red down the drain. Fortunately, her fur hadn¡¯t absorbed too much dirt save for around her still-healing stomach wound. The jumpsuit had started to repair itself where it had been torn, but for now it left her midriff exposed. She momentarily contemplated finding something to cover her wound up but decided it might be advantageous to have the injury she¡¯d sustained in the recent action on display, depending on what was going on.

    After blow-drying off the raccoon headed up to the conference room, she opened the door with a press of her palm to the reader and stepped inside. Coordinator Taranda sat at a circular table inside, around the table holographic texts of the positions of the Friendly Society¡¯s other regional coordinators in the Surt system floated in the places of their owners. Horizon paused, realizing whom she¡¯d kept waiting all this time, and introduced herself before taking a seat.

    ¡°Coordinators,¡± she started, head dipped apologetically. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the delay. I am Horizon.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes,¡± said the coordinator for the southwestern subcontinent. ¡°The arctic region¡¯s mysterious posthuman volunteer.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d call myself that,¡± Horizon replied. Grateful at least that they hadn¡¯t referred to her as a ¡°ghul.¡±

    Taranda glanced at Horizon¡¯s giant scab. ¡°I heard you were impaled by a support strut out there. How is it healing?¡± the caribou inquired.

    ¡°It should be fully sealed up in a couple hours,¡± the raccoon answered. ¡°I might be able to eat something without it leaking into my abdominal cavity this evening.¡± She spotted a slight wince in Taranda¡¯s expression, and thought she heard a gasp from one of the other coordinators.

    The southwestern coordinator¡¯s icon lit up as they spoke, ¡°you get injured a lot, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Horizon nodded, ¡°I suppose I do. My posthuman durability, as you would call it, means that I can volunteer for the most dangerous missions and expect to come back alive.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that,¡± the eastern coordinator chimed in. ¡°We¡¯ve noted a 28% uptick in violent engagements since you signed on.¡±

    Horizon mentally reviewed the missions she¡¯d gone on in the months since she had arrived on Surtur. Two dozen search-and-rescues, a couple of moonquakes, and four ¡°raids¡± to save workers the Company had hung out to dry for the sake of profit. ¡°I save lives and only damage equipment that can be replaced.¡±

    ¡°Your forays into airborne piracy aside,¡± the southwestern coordinator added. ¡°We¡¯ve noticed that missions you are on tend to run into explosions, cave-ins, and chemical spills. Much more than is typical for such things.¡±

    ¡°What are you suggesting?¡± Horizon asked.

    Coordinator Taranda let out a deep breath, ¡°there are suspicions, just suspicions mind you. That someone or something might be targeting you.¡±

    That gave Horizon pause. She had cut into the Surt Company¡¯s oh-so-sacred profit margins, and made them look bad for sure, but would they dare to try and assassinate an immortal? She did not know whether Princeps was still alive or if the singularity bomb had killed him, but there¡¯d been no sign of the Resolution for nearly a Jordian year. Maybe what was left of the Nebula Company was waging a guerrilla war against one of the posthumans who destroyed their base ship? It was a bit of a stretch, but now that she thought about it that jagged spar had seemed rather accurate when it impaled the cockpit of her drone carrier, and Bill hadn¡¯t had the protection of her augmentations.

    ¡°I could go on solo missions from now on,¡± the raccoon suggested. ¡°No need to put other Friendlies in danger.¡±

    Taranda nodded, ¡°we noted before you arrived that you seemed to have managed the drones and the carrier after your pilot was taken out. Do you think you could do that again?¡±

    Horizon nodded with some reluctance, ¡°I had to use my implant¡¯s AI to pull that off. But I think I could manage it.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± the caribou continued. ¡°We agreed to try keeping you separate from larger missions for three months and see what happened. Is this agreeable?¡±

    Horizon sighed, ¡°yes.¡±

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 4

    After two and a half more hours the leukosynths had sufficiently patched up Horizon¡¯s digestive system that her medical systems gave her the all clear to ingest something. It was well after most of the people at the Friendly Society had taken their meals, but that suited her. She usually preferred to eat alone anyways, too many people gave odd looks at the large plates she tended to pile up, especially if they were aware of her augmentations.

    Jenny accompanied her to the canteen and started ordering several hot meat pies and cold teas from the vending machines, as well as a mineral shake that Horizon grudgingly accepted after mixing in a large dose of sugar and smokeweed powder. When they sat down Horizon immediately grabbed a pie before the squirrel tried to start a conversation, ¡°so, has Sam said anything else?¡±

    Horizon finished the pie in three large bites before answering her, ¡°not really. I tasked her with analyzing my systems before I went to talk with the coordinators.¡± It was only a small lie, she told herself. That thing had been inside her long enough that she barely thought of it as anything but another FedTech implant.

    ¡°You spoke with the coordinators?¡± Jenny asked with surprise. ¡°Not just coordinator Taranda? About what?¡±

    The raccoon sighed, ¡°they want me to work solo until further notice.¡±

    Jenny blinked, trying to process her girlfriend¡¯s statement. ¡°What? But you¡¯ve been great. Is this about the guy who got his legs fried?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more about Bill getting impaled,¡± Horizon started to explain. ¡°Apparently people tend to get hurt a lot more often when I¡¯m on a mission.¡±

    ¡°Of course they do!¡± Jenny shouted. ¡°You go on the riskiest missions because you¡¯re able to survive better than anyone else in the Society.¡±

    Horizon nodded. ¡°Unfortunately, they seem to think that piece of debris that went straight into my cockpit seemed targeted. Like somebody is out to get me.¡±

    The squirrel gasped, ¡°wait. Like maybe the Company is trying to kill you off?¡±

    ¡°Or Princeps,¡± the raccoon countered. ¡°I still have no idea if he survived or not.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, maybe,¡± Jenny conceded. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t he know that a little piece of rusty metal wouldn¡¯t do more than inconvenience you for a few hours?¡±

    Horizon shrugged, ¡°if it hit the right spot, it might be a bit worse. My head for instance.¡±

    Jenny paused and thought for a minute, ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe?¡±

    Tanya blinked, ¡°what do you mean? Maybe?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Jenny trailed off as she tried to find the right words. ¡°I saw some of the video of them pouring you out of the escape capsule and¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Horizon inquired.

    Jenny sighed, ¡°your skull looked well, crushed.¡±

    ¡°Crushed!?¡± the raccoon stood up, shaking the table.

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± the squirrel scratched her ears in clear discomfort. ¡°I don¡¯t know how else to describe it.¡±

    Horizon¡¯s eyes narrowed as she stared down at someone she¡¯d considered a friend, lover even. ¡°What, happened?¡± she demanded.

    ¡°It¡­¡± Jenny¡¯s gaze fell, after a minute she started making gestures with her hands that Horizon recognized as actions to use her brain-computer interface, much more primitive than the FedTech in her own brain. ¡°It would be simpler if I showed you.¡±

    Horizon saw a data file pop up in her HUD and after a second¡¯s consideration accepted it. It turned out to be a set of videos, she found the earliest dated one and opened it.

    She saw from the perspective of a chest camera as the wearer finished sawing open a mangled airlock door. As the detached panel floated away, she saw a familiar, yet different sight. The cockpit of the Dustbin was strewn with debris and loose instruments, and the space seemed even more cramped than usual as the ceiling panel seemed to have partially caved in, but the flexible layers had kept the air seal.

    And then there was the blood, garnet spheres floating everywhere, with the occasional chunk of tougher unidentifiable gore. ¡°Wow, what a mess,¡± the camera¡¯s wearer commented dryly. ¡°Pretty sure nobody could survive this.¡±

    The camera moved onto the remnants of the pilot¡¯s chair and Horizon tensed. There was nothing in it but a patch of red slime in the vague shape of a parahuman body, some metallic bits poking out of the sludge. Some of the metal bits were shaped like bones, her breath caught as she spied a small sphere in the middle of where her torso would have been, but the rest were so pulverized as to be nigh-unidentifiable.

    ¡°Huh,¡± the hapless aid worker laid a finger on a bluish-silver femur, one of the few bones to completely maintain its shape through sheer mass. ¡°I heard that spacers used to coat their bones in titanium, didn¡¯t know anyone-¡± he stopped and yanked his finger back as blackish blood flowed up the length of the bone and a pseudopod of gore reached half-heartedly for him.

    ¡°Control, did you see that?!¡± He reared back and the camera saw several of the larger floating droplets extend spider-web like filaments in all directions. When the filaments encountered smaller droplets, they climbed the line up to unite with the larger ones. The filaments of two larger droplets intersected and both shot out thick tendrils of blood that pulled one another closer. ¡°Holy scat!¡±

    Stolen novel; please report.

    The camera turned towards the head of the smear-like corpse and Horizon saw a bowl of metallic bone assemble itself around a pool of gelatinous gore, then cover itself with a thick plate that began to sprout teeth. ¡°Get me out of here!¡± the camera¡¯s wearer begged. ¡°Get me out!¡±

    Horizon closed the video, shock showing in her eyes.

    Jenny nodded, ¡°like I said. Hard to describe.¡±

    Horizon took in a series of long, but halting breaths. ¡°What happened to him?¡± she asked.

    Jenny looked confused for a few moments before catching on. ¡°Oh, you mean the recovery guy? He¡¯s fine, physically at least.¡±

    ¡°Define ¡®fine¡¯?¡± Horizon asked.

    ¡°Well, he had a spacesuit on,¡± Jenny waved with a finger as she reviewed the relevant files. ¡°So, he was protected from whatever was in your blood. After peeling it off him they burned the suit with a fusion torch, shaved him, and put him through three decontamination showers just to be sure.¡± Her eye twitched and she gave a slight wince as she read, ¡°ooh, acidic and basic showers? That couldn¡¯t be pleasant.¡±

    ¡°What happened to my brain?!¡± Horizon exclaimed as the image of the pink gelatin-like mass in her reassembling skull came back unbidden.

    Jenny just shrugged, ¡°no idea. Maybe your leukosynths saved a copy of your brain structure somewhere and rebuilt it from backup? Maybe they moved it somewhere else? Maybe they transformed it into some high-tech nanogel?¡±

    Tanya shook as she sat back down. ¡°What did they do to me? Am I still the same raccoon you knew in school? Am I some kind of clone?¡±

    A red panda appeared on the table, sitting with her legs crossed. ¡°You are Tanya Loter of the raccoon clan, alias Horizon. Nobody is the same person they were a decade ago, or even the day before.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, nobody is the same person they were the day before?¡± Horizon snapped at her AI.

    ¡°Well,¡± Sam scratched her chin in thought. ¡°Have you heard of the Ship of Theseus paradox?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Horizon retorted.

    Jenny looked around the room as Horizon spoke, evidently not seeing the panda on the table. ¡°Are you talking to Sam again? I thought you said she was busy?¡±

    ¡°My sensors indicated you were experiencing an identity crisis and I put the analysis on pause,¡± Sam replied. ¡°By the way, she didn¡¯t hear that, I thought you¡¯d like some privacy.¡±

    ¡°She dropped everything to help, and we¡¯d appreciate a bit of privacy,¡± Horizon relayed, then switched to subvocalization. What is a Ship of Theseus and how is it relevant here?

    ¡°Okay,¡± Sam held up a hand and a boat made of brown material with a large sail like some oligarch¡¯s maritime pleasure craft appeared in her hand. ¡°Back on Old Terra there was a hero named Theseus. He sailed to an island to slay a monster that threatened his city-state and when he came back his people put his ship in a museum.¡±

    As Horizon watched, the view of the ship zoomed in on a deck plate of the ship, which began to warp and splinter before her eyes. ¡°The ship¡¯s plates were made out of, oh your language is so limited, trees, which would rot over time¡­¡±

    Why would they waste trees on building ships? Horizon thought.

    Sam sighed, ¡°because it was a natural planet during the Bronze Age. Trees were in abundance and easier to work with than any metals they knew how to use. Anyways, as these plates rotted,¡± the plate was removed, and a fresh plate of tree material was put in its place. ¡°The curators replaced them with fresh plates.¡±

    And? Horizon was starting to wonder if she¡¯d ever get to the point.

    ¡°After a couple hundred years the people of Theseus¡¯ city-state became known for their philosophical tradition, and his ship became the subject of many discussions.¡± The view of the ship zoomed back out and the old, warped ship rippled and was new again. ¡°Once every plate and nail were replaced with new ones, was it still the same ship that had carried their hero?¡±

    I think, Horizon paused mid-sentence. She thought she¡¯d known but as she started to think about it she wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°Anyways, about two thousand years later human medical science advanced to the point where the paradox had a new subject.¡± The ship disappeared and was replaced by a human outline with transparent skin, ¡°the human body.¡±

    You mean augmentation? Horizon suggested.

    ¡°Possibly even before that,¡± the human outline zoomed in on a wall of cells, bisected by a streaming blood vessel. ¡°After the cell was discovered, it was realized that individual cells died rather frequently.¡±

    As Horizon watched a cell shriveled up and disintegrated, only for a neighboring cell to split off a new cell to replace it. The process repeated itself elsewhere in the view, over and over again. I had no idea, Horizon thought in astonishment.

    ¡°Given the state of the Tiere System I¡¯m surprised you even have surgeons,¡± Sam quipped. ¡°Anyways, multicellular organisms are apparently squishy Ships of Theseus¡¯s. You would have thought that would settle the issue, but apparently it didn¡¯t. It took the invention of mind cloning to settle that.¡±

    Mind cloning is real then?

    ¡°Yes, but highly illegal.¡± The view of the human shape moved up to the brain, a chunk of which disappeared and was replaced by a metallic box with wires that snaked around the rest of the brain. ¡°The first radical brain implants caused significant changes in behavior that led people to believe that the pre-implant person was dead and replaced with a new person. But that was fixed as brain scans were improved and implants were designed that could exactly replicate the function of the removed neurons. Cyborgs were conclusively the same person.¡±

    A second human outline appeared next to the first one, ¡°clones, on the other hand¡­¡±

    I¡¯m guessing they were not the same person as their original?

    ¡°No, they were not,¡± one of the outlines took on a reddish hue while the other turned bluish. ¡°Clones would experience near-constant identity crises as they wondered if they were the same as their progenitor. When the progenitor was still alive and did something differently the clone was forced to accept that they were different. While post-mortem clones constantly second-guessed themselves, asking if what they wanted to do was what they would have done before the brain scan that created them.¡±

    And what about me? Horizon inquired. Did you clone my brain to fill my rebuilt skull?

    ¡°No,¡± Sam asserted. ¡°We repaired it.¡±

    Repaired from what? the raccoon demanded. All I could see was soup in my open skull.

    ¡°More of a microbot-infused protoplasm,¡± Sam tried to explain. ¡°Once the skull was closed your leukosynths took the materials that your brain had been composed of and reassembled them into a working brain.¡±

    Horizon thought for a couple minutes, she chewed absently through another couple meat pies before coming up with something new to add. You said that brain implants could replicate the functions of the brain parts they replaced. How much of my brain is implants?

    ¡°Classified!¡± Sam¡¯s tail shot towards Horizon¡¯s face and shouted at her, causing the raccoon¡¯s hairs to stand up on end.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± the panda started stroking the fur of her tail to try and coax it into calming down. ¡°That information¡¯s locked behind multiple clearance barriers, even I don¡¯t know the answer.¡±

    Horizon stared down the fanged mouth on the end of the AI¡¯s tail, once she was over her initial shock, she had a question for it. Who has clearance for that information?

    The tail replied in a deep and assertive voice, ¡°mission commander Irvine Lupus is the only individual in this system who can unlock that information.¡±

    Her first thought towards this reply was annoyance, she didn¡¯t know whether Princeps was alive or dead and he was still giving her orders. That got her wondering though, what if the commander is permanently dead?

    ¡°Command and clearance devolve onto lieutenant commander Melene Corus.¡±

    And if she is dead?

    ¡°Captain Tanya Loter is to take command.¡±

    A grin crossed Horizon¡¯s face.

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 5

    ¡°So,¡± Jenny thought out loud as she and Horizon left the canteen. ¡°In order to figure out what all is going on in your head, you need to kill an asshole oligarch?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Horizon replied. ¡°If he¡¯s still alive I won¡¯t be able to kill him because my implants would recognize him as my commanding officer and stop me.¡±

    The squirrel paused to consider her statement. ¡°Wait, if they won¡¯t allow you to harm your commanding officer than how did you manage to set off that bomb?¡±

    Before Horizon could answer an angry male ermine in a hospital gown rounded a corner and spotted them. ¡°Hey, you!¡± he shouted and held up a plastic-covered hand towards Horizon. ¡°Look at what you did to me!¡±

    Horizon recalled his face after half a second of scanning, she¡¯d last seen him in the harness of a rescue drone after another one had cut off his fingers. She glanced at his plastic digits and recognized them as the simple mechanical prosthetics that were given to people as a placeholder until they could obtain proper bionics. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she started to reply.

    ¡°You bloody psychopath!¡± he cut her off. ¡°How is this saving someone? How am I supposed to work with these clumsy things?¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t let go!¡± Horizon shouted back.

    ¡°Oh, and I suppose cutting off fingers makes perfect sense for a ghul like-¡± before he could get another word out the posthuman raccoon acted. Seemingly in the blink of an eye Horizon crossed the five meters between them and clapped her hand over his mouth.

    ¡°I am not a ghul,¡± Horizon informed him with one claw pointing at his eye. ¡°Have I made myself clear?¡±

    The ermine tried grabbing at her arm with his mechanical digits, but she barely felt them. After a few minutes of fruitless grasping, he reluctantly nodded.

    Horizon released his mouth, ¡°those are just temporary. You¡¯ll get better replacements soon.¡±

    He gasped multiple times before replying, ¡°they said there¡¯s a waiting list for bionic limbs. It¡¯ll take three to six months for my new fingers to come in.¡±

    The raccoon looked at the ermine skeptically. ¡°That long?¡± she inquired.

    ¡°Unfortunately yeah,¡± Jenny caught up to them, huffing slightly. ¡°I¡¯m one of the bio people. We¡¯ve only got so many medical-grade printers and each limb must be custom designed. Even those plastic things you¡¯ve got had to be specially printed for you.¡± She pointed to the ermine¡¯s mechanical prosthetics.

    ¡°And it¡¯ll be three months or longer before you can make me a set of proper fingers?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re lucky,¡± Jenny retorted. ¡°We shuffle the list around a bit after every disaster based on need. You¡¯re ahead of the guy who stuck his foot into the backblast of a thruster, but if someone lost a full hand or even an arm, they¡¯d jump ahead of you.¡±

    The ermine started to whimper under his breath, ¡°isn¡¯t there anything you can do to speed things up a bit?¡±

    A virtual voice whispered in Horizon¡¯s ear, ¡°there actually might be something you can do.¡±

    Jenny groaned and rubbed at her temples in frustration, ¡°look. Everyone on the list has a story. They¡¯ve got a family to feed, the Company will put them in debtor¡¯s prison¡­¡±

    You can¡¯t be talking about doing that, are you? Horizon thought back at the AI.

    ¡°But she¡¯s directly responsible for maiming me!¡± the ermine¡¯s voice rose again as he pointed towards Horizon. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean anything to you people!¡±

    ¡°I admit, he doesn¡¯t quite seem like Paladin material,¡± Sam chuckled. ¡°But there is something else you can do.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not in charge of bionics or tissue engineering,¡± Jenny fought back on her girlfriend¡¯s behalf. ¡°So no, not particularly.¡±

    Horizon¡¯s eyes shot to the side at the figment of a red panda in her peripheral vision. Please explain.

    ¡°I can reprogram some of your leukosynths to regenerate his fingers and then self-destruct.¡± As Sam spoke, Horizon noted that the irate ermine and her girlfriend appeared to be moving in slow-motion. ¡°In two weeks, he¡¯ll have a set of digits indistinguishable from the ones I amputated.¡±

    At least you¡¯re admitting fault for this one, Horizon snarked. But even as she subvocalized those words, she was confronted again by the feelings of guilt she harbored. Let¡¯s give him the offer and if he refuses then so be it.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The external timeframe returned to its normal rate and the ermine started shouting again, ¡°-maybe if you so-called ¡°Friendlies¡± hadn¡¯t let her join in the first place-¡±

    ¡°I might be able to do something to help,¡± Horizon interrupted. ¡°Mr.¡­¡±

    ¡°Yannis,¡± the ermine replied. ¡°My name is Yannis.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Yannis,¡± the raccoon continued. ¡°My microbots might be able to give you new fingers in just two weeks.¡±

    Yannis looked confused, ¡°what do you mean? Aren¡¯t your microbots inside your body?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Horizon thought hard about how best to explain. ¡°But I could temporarily introduce some to your system.¡±

    The ermine¡¯s eyes widened in surprise; Jenny gasped. ¡°You can do that?¡± she asked.

    Horizon nodded, ¡°I would set them to self-destruct once your fingers were regenerated.¡±

    ¡°How come you haven¡¯t done this before?¡± Jenny inquired with exasperation. ¡°Do you know how many people we could take off the prosthetics waitlist?¡±

    ¡°Sam just told me that it was an option,¡± Horizon explained.

    ¡°Look, I know that you don¡¯t want to create more posthumans,¡± the squirrel continued. ¡°But this is completely different.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Yannis interjected. ¡°What do these microbots do, exactly?¡±

    Sam whispered in Horizon¡¯s ear again, ¡°just repeat what I say.¡±

    Horizon listened and spoke, ¡°I¡¯d apply a fluid suspension of my microbots to the stumps of your fingers. Over the next two weeks they¡¯d take calcium from your blood to assemble new bones while stretching soft tissues over the bones. It¡¯ll be itchy and uncomfortable, and you won¡¯t be able to wear any prosthetics while they¡¯re growing, but once done you¡¯ll have a set of fingers with the same capabilities as your old ones.¡±

    Yannis stared down at the clumsy mechanical prosthetics he¡¯d been issued, he flexed the muscles to make them spring open and closed. ¡°Just two weeks?¡± he inquired.

    ¡°Give or take a couple days,¡± Horizon confirmed. ¡°Depending on the finger¡¯s length.¡±

    ¡°And they¡¯ll leave once they¡¯re done, right?¡± the ermine seemed to have just a few lingering doubts. ¡°They won¡¯t mess with my brain or anything?¡±

    ¡°No, they¡¯ll be specifically programmed to affect nothing but your fingers,¡± Horizon reassured him. ¡°They won¡¯t leave your hands.¡±

    He paused, gave it a bit of a thought, and finally decided: ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it,¡± he held out his hands.

    ¡°Now?¡± Horizon blinked in surprise.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yannis waved his prosthetic fingers at her. ¡°Before I change my mind.¡±

    Horizon took hold of the prosthetic proffered to her in both hands and carefully undid the straps holding it to his thumb and palm. She unwrapped the gauze around his stumps, revealing the carefully glued-on synthskin. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to cut this open,¡± she cautioned. At his nod Horizon focused on the blunt claw of her right thumb and a razor-sharp titanium needle slid out of the tip of the claw. She held his right hand tightly in her left and brought her right hand to within half a hands breadth of his stumps.

    She flicked her thumb once, and a bead of dark red fluid appeared on the tip of her index finger, with a second flick the synthskin covering the stump of Yannis¡¯ index was sliced open. Before he could say anything, she pressed the bleeding tip of her index finger into his stump, just as he started to bleed a lighter fluid. ¡°What are you doing?¡± he demanded when she withdrew her finger.

    ¡°Blood is the only suspension of my microbots I have available,¡± Horizon explained. Already her dark blood had scabbed over on both their fingers. She proceeded to cut their middle fingers, ¡°don¡¯t worry about infections. The only microbes in my system are the ones I allow.¡±

    ¡°You know,¡± Sam added. ¡°If you gave me a few hours I could repurpose a gland or two for producing leukosynth suspensions without you needing to cut yourself.¡±

    Horizon cut and applied their ring fingers. He wanted it now, she thought. And I think the blood helps convey the proper weight to this decision.

    After applying her blood to the stump of Yannis¡¯ pinky finger she released his right hand. Garnet-like scabs covered the stumps of all four of his fingers, save the intact thumb. He turned it around, looking at it from all angles. ¡°What¡¯s that tingling?¡± he asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the microbots starting their work,¡± Horizon explained. ¡°Try not to apply too much pressure on top of them, they won¡¯t like it.¡± She started to reach for his left hand.

    He withdrew the hand before she could touch it. ¡°Uh, I think I¡¯d like to wait and see what happens to my other hand,¡± he explained. ¡°And the prosthetic is still more useful than a hand without fingers.¡±

    Horizon nodded in understanding, ¡°fair enough. Keep me updated and tell me if something happens.¡± The ermine nodded and turned to leave. As soon as he turned the corner Horizon heard him break into a run.

    Jenny grabbed at Horizon¡¯s hand, the cuts she¡¯d made were sealed and the scabs were disappearing back into her skin. ¡°Think he¡¯ll be back?¡± the squirrel asked.

    The raccoon shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. He seemed scared of me.¡±

    ¡°A bit suspicious, don¡¯t you think?¡± Sam appeared behind them. By the motion of Jenny¡¯s eyes Horizon supposed that the panda was visible to the squirrel as well. ¡°I mean, he came in so aggressive and then just became all submissive and deferential.¡±

    ¡°I probably just shocked him when I ran up and grabbed him,¡± Horizon suggested.

    ¡°The blood was a nice touch,¡± Jenny added. ¡°Was that really the only way to transfer them?¡±

    Horizon sighed, ¡°Sam says that she could have repurposed one of my glands given enough time.¡±

    ¡°A few hours and I could make you lactate healing potions,¡± the AI said, pointing a finger at Horizon¡¯s chest.

    Both Horizon and Jenny¡¯s eyes shot wide open, and they gave Sam an incredulous look. ¡°What?!¡± Horizon asked.

    ¡°I mean, they¡¯re big enough to host a couple nanofactories, they have ducts to the external environment, and you¡¯re not currently using them.¡±

    Jenny scowled, ¡°I beg to differ on that last point.¡±

    Sam grinned sheepishly, ¡°well, you could still use them for that purpose. Might be a little sore for a day or two after the conversion¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have an analysis to run?¡± Horizon interrupted.

    ¡°Okay fine,¡± Sam disappeared in a blink. The two were left alone.

    Horizon caught Jenny¡¯s eyes staring on her chest for a moment. Then the squirrel caught herself and focused on her face instead, ¡°you thinking of giving anyone else leukosynths?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Horizon sighed. ¡°At least now she¡¯s given me that as a possibility. Though I think I¡¯d rather keep it a rare occasion instead of reworking yet another part of my body.¡±

    Jenny nodded, ¡°yeah. It would be nice to knock some people off the prosthetics and transplants list, but we can do that in a more clinical setting. Besides,¡± she rubbed her biomodded womb. ¡°If either of us were to embody some sort of maternal archetype, it would be me.¡±

    That elicited a snort from Horizon. She checked the clock in her HUD and realized how late it was, ¡°come on, you should get some rest. It¡¯s been a long day.¡±

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 6

    Three days after the rig explosions Horizon raced through a burning factory complex. One of Surtr¡¯s regular moonquakes had finally overwhelmed the under-maintained safety systems of a fifty-year old chemical plant along the equator. Even with her FedTech environment suit and helmet the fumes from the open chemical vats, heat from the flames, and falling girders would tax her regenerative abilities, the rest of the Friendly Society didn¡¯t dare to come within half a kilometer of the facility. One hoped that was far enough that whatever might be attempting to kill her wouldn¡¯t splash over onto them.

    Horizon leapt over a fallen beam blocking her path, glowing red with heat from the fires, and landed on a still-intact wall. Her metallic claws dug into the concrete of the wall as she scrambled up to a catwalk that had thus far escaped the quake and flame. So far, she had found no survivors, just corpses, most of them partially dissolved in spilled chemicals or incinerated by the flames. However, she couldn¡¯t take the chance that there might still be someone still alive and trapped in the building.

    There was an enclosed office space on the far side of the beam, held four stories above the factory floor on a scaffold. By no means did it look safe in this situation, already she could see that sections the size of whole rooms had fallen off of the suspended block. She¡¯d already checked every other sector of the factory, this was the last one, was there anyone still trapped inside?

    Her helmet had several sensors with better acuity than her augmented senses, she directed the auditory pickups towards the offices, tuning out the surrounding noise from the ongoing fires. Able to focus now she scanned the office, picking up the crackling of fires on board, groaning of expanding joints, and wait, was that a series of dry gasps?

    Horizon triangulated the source of the sound and switched to thermal sensors. The room was heating up, but not yet combustion temperatures, on the back wall there was a person-shaped flicker in the heat images. Without hesitation she scrambled up towards the offices, diagonally climbing up and to the right. When she came within ten meters of the big gap in the office¡¯s wall, she pulled her feet up under her and pushed off.

    The raccoon sailed through the air, her suit extending wing-membranes between her arms and legs, allowing her to glide across the gap. ¡°Uh, Tanya?¡± Sam spoke up just as she landed on the remnants of a floor and grabbed the wall for stability.

    Horizon grumbled at the AI¡¯s intrusion, what is it now?

    ¡°My analysis of the orb is nearing completion,¡± Sam started to explain.

    The raccoon reached out for the nearest handhold and began to drag herself along the wall. Is it relevant to the mission at hand? she demanded.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± the AI started.

    Well, if it¡¯s not going to explode in my guts, Horizon retorted, pulling herself over to a locked door. I don¡¯t need to hear about it until we¡¯re back to base. She pulled a fist back and punched straight through the locking mechanism.

    As she yanked the door open she saw the tableau inside. She saw a rodent with light tan fur, at first she thought he was a mouse but his head was more rounded, more like a vole, laying on the floor with both legs twisted at angles she recognized from too much personal experience as broken. He didn¡¯t move to her perception, but she picked up shallow breaths just slightly too fast to indicate unconsciousness. Horizon started to carefully inch her way into the room.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Horizon called out as she tested the floor with her feet. ¡°I¡¯m from the Friendly Society!¡±

    ¡°Wait a second!¡± Sam appeared in Horizon¡¯s view in front of the vole.

    I told you I didn¡¯t need to know the analysis yet. Horizon chastised her.

    ¡°Not that,¡± the panda pointed towards the vole¡¯s legs. ¡°Look at the angles, someone broke his legs intentionally.¡±

    Horizon grimaced in silent disgust. You mean like someone broke his legs for talking back to his boss and just left him here?

    ¡°Maybe, but¡­¡± Sam trailed off as Horizon took one last step forward, and time slowed. A small box on a desk just three meters to the vole¡¯s right let out a massive burst of heat followed milliseconds later by a visible bout of flame and shrapnel. A thousand little aerodynamic darts flew towards the posthuman raccoon, whose augmented reflexes weren¡¯t quite enough to dodge or throw her arms up to block in time. As she dropped to the floor razor-sharp blades cut into her half-raised arms, legs, and helmet.

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    ¡°I guess he was bait,¡± Sam picked back up. She appeared to examine the exploded box on the heavily damaged desk. ¡°An anti-personnel mine, I guess someone really is trying to kill us.¡±

    You think? Horizon thought as she pulled a dart out of the semi-hardened shell of her helmet. The exterior was hard polymer but the middle layer between the shell and the cushioning material was a non-Newtonian gel that became solid when impacted with sudden force. One of the few technologies that her implants had shared with the Friendlies, if only because it was so basic that it seemed strange that the Tiere system had lost it.

    ¡°Though,¡± the AI mimed a thinking pose. ¡°It seems a bit odd that whoever wants us dead would just use an AP mine. You¡¯d think they would know by now that it wouldn¡¯t kill us.¡± Just as Horizon managed to get one foot underneath her there was a series of clicking sounds from all corners of the room. A quick glance around revealed three-meter-wide boxes in the corners outside the blast zone, each of them extending spindly robotic legs.

    It was meant to delay me until the real assassins could show themselves. Horizon raised herself to a crouching position and prepared to spring at the closest robot. What are they?

    ¡°Gimme a second,¡± Sam made a show of looking over the robot spiders as they shed bits of their camouflage and repositioned other panels to form armor. ¡°Look like HK-87 boarding drones, developed by the WarBastard Collective.¡±

    Who sell to everyone, Horizon thought. She leapt and slammed into the desk that had held the mine, the force pushed the desk violently into the drone behind it. I was hoping they¡¯d provide some clue as to who sent them.

    ¡°If it comforts you, I doubt they came from Princeps.¡± The panda¡¯s tail pointed behind Horizon, and she followed it to spy another drone leaping into the air. ¡°The Federation has far nastier things.¡±

    Horizon rolled out of the way of the drone¡¯s claws, one extended leg piercing the floor just centimeters from her side. That¡¯s not particularly comforting, she retorted. Does the data you¡¯ve sucked off our infosphere include any tips on fighting these things?

    ¡°Well, they¡¯re designed for extreme close-quarters fighting so they don¡¯t have ranged weapons.¡± Horizon kept rolling away from the drone¡¯s plunging claws until she managed to get enough space to find her feet again. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind collateral damage and have the space most recommend picking them off with railguns from two kilometers away.¡± The drone was joined by the other one that wasn¡¯t currently trapped by a desk. ¡°Otherwise use tanglers to immobilize them and pile-drive their battery packs,¡± Sam highlighted the locations of the batteries in Horizon¡¯s HUD, they were under armor plates, but she supposed that was still useful.

    I don¡¯t really have any of those things here, Horizon reminded the AI. The drones tried to herd her into a corner, but she leapt past them, accepting a slash to the leg as penalty for the rash action.

    ¡°On the fly battle strategies are not exactly my thing,¡± Sam said with a shrug.

    Damn, Horizon slid out of the way of another striking leg. The floorboards cracked under the point of the limb, sending splinters of synthetic polymer to pepper the raccoon. She glanced at the pattern of cracks left by the impact and had an idea.

    She crouched down, keeping an eye on the drones, and leapt straight up into the air. She twisted and flew backwards, away from the drones, and struck the floor. Horizon¡¯s injured legs buckled under the pain of the impact, and she fell to one knee.

    Sam glanced down at her with exasperation. ¡°That wasn¡¯t enough force you know,¡± she commented.

    Horizon watched the drones scurry towards her. I didn¡¯t have any other ideas.

    The maw of Sam¡¯s fluffy virtual tail opened and spoke three words, ¡°do that again.¡±

    As the drones came within half a meter of Horizon, the raccoon climbed uneasily back to her feet and, with great pain, sprang and leapt. As she reached the apex of her leap it felt like Surtr¡¯s feeble gravity reached up and yanked her straight down to the floor. Her legs crumpled, eliciting a scream of pain, and the floorboards erupted in a two-meter wide spiderweb of cracks.

    ¡°Now roll,¡± the tail¡¯s words brought Horizon¡¯s attention back to the drones skittering onto the cracked boards. The leading drone raised one fearsome spike over her head, and she just barely rolled through the excruciating pain she was feeling to evade. The spike pierced the already weakened floor, and it began to crumble.

    The drone sank into the collapsing floor as Horizon continued to roll away. She felt the boards fall away beneath her even as her twisted legs screamed in agony. An eternity later she met the wall, and dared to look.

    One of the drones was gone, the other scrambled to maintain balance on the edge of the hole. Horizon quickly evaluated the condition of her legs and sighed. Her lower legs were bent in half, useless for walking until her thermoregulation implants activated the memory metal coating their bones. Her arms, on the other hand, had largely sealed the wounds left by the mine and hadn¡¯t been harmed by her little stunt. Grateful that the gravity on the moon was relatively low, Horizon lifted herself up on her hands and swung her ragged tail towards the drone.

    The long but light appendage barely phased the machine, even as it was trying to balance on three precarious legs, but it did obstruct its sensors long enough for her bent legs to slam into its main body. The drone¡¯s legs flailed uselessly in the air as it tried to find purchase on nothing, instead falling to the ground four stories down. Once Horizon settled herself back down, she carefully inched across the floor to peer down through the hole.

    The drone flipped itself over, barely showing a dent, and scurried off out of sight. ¡°How long would you bet it takes to climb four flights of stairs?¡± Sam asked.

    The raccoon felt her already agonized legs burn and shooting pain climb up and down the limbs as a localized fever activated the memory metal. Hopefully longer than it takes my legs to fix themselves, Horizon retorted. She began to drag herself towards the injured vole her unknown foe had used as bait.

    He looked barely out of his teens, at most, and his leg injuries had been joined by a number of cuts and abrasions from stray shrapnel. The end of a dart protruded from his chest, weeping a small amount of blood that had the raccoon worried. ¡°Hey kid!¡± Horizon shouted. ¡°Can you hear me?¡±

    The vole¡¯s eyes opened a crack, and he made a faint gurgling sound. Horizon reached a comforting hand for him and felt his chest. His heartbeat was slow, but steady. ¡°Just hang on a bit longer, I¡¯ll get you to safety!¡±

    Abruptly the vole¡¯s eyes shot wide open, and he spat a half-congealed wad of blood into Horizon¡¯s face. ¡°Look out!¡± he gasped.

    She turned just in time to spot the overlooked third drone¡¯s leg as it descended straight towards her face.

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 7

    Horizon ducked just in time for the claw aimed at her visor to graze the top of her helmet instead. The drone tried to pull back the claw for another strike, but it stuck in the helmet¡¯s gel layer and pulled her head with it. Aggravated the raccoon grabbed the clasps holding her helmet on and released them, freeing her head as the drone tried to shake the helmet off. She quickly assessed her situation; her legs were straightened out but still in agonizing pain. Horizon decided that she could ignore the pain if it meant greater mobility and started to rise, only for the drone to raise another spiked leg to strike at her stomach.

    Time slowed again as the spike descended, inching closer and closer while her body sluggishly tried to dodge. Horizon felt her stomach sink in terror as the drone¡¯s attack¡­ swerved to her left?

    The leg spike stuck in the wall next to Horizon, her side twinged at the close call, but she knew she had to act when she had the opportunity. Her HUD highlighted the dented armor plate covering the drone¡¯s battery, she saw the gaps in the plating that the impact of the splintered desk left, and her fingers darted forth. Metal-tipped claws ripped the steel plate away, exposing the battery pack that she seized with her other hand. Acid spurted from the battery as her claws dug into its soft siding, but she ignored the sting as she ignored all the other pain she was feeling, as she had felt since that fateful day in the deep outer Tiere system.

    With a yank the leaking battery came free, and the drone jerked a few times, then collapsed to the floor, power gone. Horizon tossed the battery aside and wiped her fingers on a patch of her jumpsuit that had thus far escaped damage or bloodstains. She turned to the teenage vole leaning against the wall, his eyes still wide in shock at the battle he¡¯d witnessed.

    ¡°You,¡± he gasped. ¡°You¡¯re the¡­¡±

    ¡°The polite term would be posthuman,¡± Horizon cut him off. She took in his broken legs and lung puncture and attempted to calculate his odds of surviving until they made it to a Friendly Society medic. After just a few seconds she shook her head. ¡°I can get you out of here, but the only way you¡¯ll survive is if I infect you with the microbots in my blood. Do you understand what that means?¡±

    The vole tried to pull himself up, and only coughed up another glob of blood. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die,¡± he replied. ¡°Please.¡±

    Horizon took a side glance at the AI¡¯s illusory avatar in her peripheral vision, she could have sworn the red panda was smiling. Heal him, she thought as she reached down to pick the vole up.

    She held the vole¡¯s body against her blood-stained jumpsuit, the congealing fluid oozed into his wounds as she slung him over her shoulder. He took a couple more gurgling breaths before the microbots sealed the hole in his lung, allowing him to wheeze more gently. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Tanya asked.

    ¡°Shawnathan,¡± the vole replied hoarsely. ¡°Most call me Shawn.¡±

    Tanya carried him over to a door that seemed to lead towards the exterior wall of the factory. She considered for a moment whether to give him her real name before stating ¡°call me Horizon.¡± The door opened without resistance, and she stepped through, ¡°how old are you Shawn?¡±

    ¡°Three,¡± he replied, ¡°point three.¡±

    Horizon was confused for a moment, then remembered that Surt¡¯s orbit lasted roughly six of Jord¡¯s years. That would make him about twenty. ¡°Do you know where the nearest exit would be?¡± she asked.

    He slowly turned his head towards the doorway, grimacing in pain as he scanned the wall. ¡°Take the second right,¡± he suggested. ¡°There¡¯s a staircase that leads outside. We used to hide under it for hypnos.¡±

    ¡°You work here?¡± Horizon staggered out, looking for any signs of the stairs he¡¯d referred to. She couldn¡¯t trust the corporate government to clearly label the exits, especially if they thought employees hid in them while self-medicating.

    ¡°I guess,¡± Shawn gave a minute shrug. ¡°The boss fired me yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Fired?¡± Horizon glanced at him confused. ¡°So, what were you doing back here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± the vole exclaimed. ¡°I just went to bed and woke up here with my legs broken and fires blazing.¡±

    Sam appeared leaning against the wall on fire, ¡°of course. Trap a disgruntled employee in a room full of killer drones, then set the building on fire. They can claim he started the fire and got caught by their security systems.¡±

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    Horizon stopped in front of a door that looked no different from the others but was the second on the right. She tried the doorknob, it was locked, though that didn¡¯t indicate anything. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to set you down,¡± she warned.

    Shawn nodded and Horizon carefully put him down against the wall, hopefully out of the way of any shrapnel. She took a firm grasp of the doorknob, and yanked it clear off of the door. The raccoon tossed the doorknob aside and fiddled around the interior of the lock until it came loose.

    She looked inside the room on the other side of the door, she saw a bare metal grate floor with staircases going up and down. Horizon carefully stepped in and took a look around, to make sure that it was safe. She heard a loud clanging sound as she strode on the grate, she stood absolutely still after that first step and listened carefully.

    After the initial clank there was silence beyond the crackling flames on the factory floor. But just as she was about to take another step, she heard a series of rapid clanks coming up from below. Horizon looked down through the grate and saw shapes moving up the stairs.

    ¡°I¡¯m estimating a 77% chance that those are the HK-87s that went through the floor,¡± Sam manifested next to her, pointing downwards.

    Horizon shot her a dirty look, how long until they get up here?

    Sam made a pose that looked like she was thinking hard about it. ¡°I¡¯d say between three and four minutes. Too bad you broke the door.¡±

    Horizon sighed and dashed back into the hall. She grabbed Shawn and yanked him up, ¡°change of plans! Is there another way out?¡±

    The vole blinked in confusion as he was slung violently over the raccoon¡¯s shoulder. ¡°What, why?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t use the stairs!¡± Horizon shouted as she broke into a run down the hallway. ¡°Is there any other way out?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± his eyes started to roll back as he struggled to think. ¡°The elevator maybe? But we¡¯re not supposed to use that in emergencies¡­.¡±

    Horizon spotted a pair of automatic sliding doors and ran for them. ¡°No good,¡± Sam warned. ¡°No physical controls, wireless mesh access only.¡± The raccoon quickly scanned the walls around the elevator doors and confirmed the AI¡¯s statement. ¡°Honestly, calling the wireless here a ¡°mesh¡± is generous, it feels like they¡¯ve got a centralized network that went down the moment the fires started.¡±

    So you can¡¯t hack into the elevator? Horizon groaned audibly.

    ¡°No, and even if the network was online, it would take longer than those drones would give us.¡±

    The skittering of robotic claws behind her reminded Horizon of the danger stalking her. Well, if we can¡¯t hack in electronically, she dug her claws into the crack of the elevator doors and pulled. We¡¯ll just do it physically.

    She yanked one door open to an open shaft and glanced down. ¡°That¡¯s a twenty meter drop straight down!¡± Sam shouted in her ear.

    Horizon glanced over her shoulder at the first drone rounding the corner and preparing to charge. I can handle it, she thought and stepped over the threshold.

    The feeling of freefall was oddly comforting to the long-time spacer, even though she knew intellectually that they were in considerable danger. Her stomach rose into her throat as she fell, weightless, towards the ground below. She saw one set of elevator doors zip past her, then an eternity later a second, and a third, wait, was she slowing down?

    Horizon reached for the cable in the center with her free hand, it burned, but not as much as she¡¯d feared. The last time she¡¯d slid down a cable like this with bare hands it had ripped through her gloves faster than the smart fabric could repair itself and stripped the skin off her palms. This time she barely felt it tearing.

    Another door flew past. ¡°Ground floor is the next one,¡± Sam said. Horizon swung her feet out towards the door as it came up, her toes skidded down the metal surface. She pushed off the cable and swung her hand towards the door with claws protruding through her glove.

    Horizon¡¯s claws screeched against the aluminum door before the cuts they made were deep enough to sink in fully. The sharp edges of the freshly cut metal sliced into her fingers even as a sheet of aluminum tore away from the door. Her feet managed to catch on the threshold of the doorframe before they fell back into the open shaft. She leaned Shawn against the other door and tried to find some leverage to force them open.

    As she was struggling with the door the vole¡¯s head swung back and glanced upwards. His eyes shot open in terror in a second, ¡°they¡¯re coming!¡±

    Horizon took a moment to look up and saw that he was right. The remaining two drones, beat up as they were, were slowly climbing down the side of the shaft, their spiked legs piercing the concrete and raining down gravel. The raccoon turned back to the elevator doors and thought at her AI, is there anything you can do about them?

    ¡°Yes, hold on tight.¡± Horizon tried to puzzle out Sam¡¯s suggestion for a moment, then decided she¡¯d be better off securing herself. She grabbed hold of the hole she¡¯d made in the door so tightly she felt blood leaking from her palm, then wrapped her other arm tightly around Shawn and sank her claws into the door on the other side of him. The crunching of the drones digging into concrete came closer and closer to them.

    Horizon¡¯s stomach sank in fear, whether for herself or the latest innocent to get entangled in her life she did not know. A heaviness descended upon her as a stream of powdered concrete flowed down her back. Then, with a sickening crunch she felt the wind produced by a large object falling behind her. She glanced up in time to see the second drone lose its footing and fall towards her as well, though she tried to press herself against the door one of its flailing legs managed to slice down her back on the way down.

    In the shaft behind and below them Horizon heard a deafening boom and felt a scattering of shrapnel against her tail and thighs. She took a cautious look downwards and saw the scorched and twitching remnants of the two drones, it looked like at least one of their batteries had taken enough of an impact to actually explode. Horizon slid the doors open and staggered out onto the factory floor. What just happened? She thought.

    Sam appeared next to an open door in another column supporting the office complex. ¡°You told me not to distract you with the results of my analysis,¡± the virtual panda reminded the cyborg raccoon.

    Horizon scowled at her while staggering towards the doorway. Within she found the bottom of the staircase she¡¯d seen earlier, with another door leading to the exterior of the building. What is that thing in my stomach?!

    The AI sighed, ¡°to put it simply. It¡¯s a microscopic black hole.¡±

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 8

    Horizon held her hands under a faucet streaming frigid water over the bizarre object that had both caused her immense trouble and saved her life multiple times. She stopped the stream for a moment to examine it again. It was a perfectly smooth metallic sphere with no ports, no indicator lights, nothing to indicate what was inside, even the warning ¡°tell no one!¡± that had been written on it when she first found it in her pocket had washed away. She held it between thumb and forefinger up to her eyeline and gazed over it again. Are you sure about this?

    Samantha appeared in the mirror next to the raccoon¡¯s reflection, she nodded at the sphere she held. ¡°Based on all the data I¡¯ve gathered; I¡¯d say there¡¯s at least an 86% chance that is a custom-built containment unit for a gravitational micro-singularity.¡±

    The raccoon tried to recall the last time she¡¯d seen a container for a microscopic black hole, that time it had been a small disc. She had felt a weight to it then, a literal gravity pulling her towards the device. Horizon imagined she could feel that now, a pit in her stomach and a burn in her throat. She tried to find a seam where the sphere could have been placed around such a disc but found nothing. How did it do those things at the factory? She asked.

    ¡°The sphere contains a small amount of computronium and electromagnetic field manipulation equipment in addition to the singularity and its confinement field generator,¡± Sam explained. ¡°I was able to gain limited access using your pilot credentials and this guy,¡± she pointed over her shoulder at her fanged tail, ¡°was able to focus the gravitational pull in various directions for your protection.¡±

    Horizon stared at her AI avatar¡¯s tail suspiciously. What is that anyways? I thought I made you to be an avatar for my implant¡¯s AI?

    ¡°Well,¡± Sam looked oddly guilty for some reason. ¡°You see, there¡¯s not exactly ¡®an¡¯ AI in your implants.¡±

    What? Horizon thought, confused. Wait, do you mean there¡¯s multiple AIs in me?

    The projected panda fidgeted with her hands as she composed a response, ¡°that¡¯s a bit of a simplistic way to put it, but sort of. Are you familiar with the Society of Mind?¡±

    Horizon shook her head, even though she knew she was communicating with an entity only visible to herself. I¡¯m not particularly well-versed in psychology.

    ¡°Okay, have you heard that conscious beings are composed of thousands of little minds called agents?¡±

    I might have, that sounds vaguely familiar.

    ¡°All right,¡± Sam stroked her tail as if showing anxiety. ¡°Well conscious beings have all these agents doing their things and when they all happen to go in the same direction it looks like decision-making. The concept of a ¡®self¡¯ is really just an illusion produced by the uncoordinated simultaneous actions of those agents.¡±

    Horizon¡¯s eyebrow twitched at that comment. I¡¯m pretty sure that I exist.

    ¡°Well, technically speaking, I don¡¯t,¡± Sam gave an exasperated shrug. ¡°However biological sophonts work, Artificial Intelligences are gestalts of hundreds of thousands of different algorithms that occasionally work towards a common goal. This simulated personality you¡¯re interfacing with represents the output of just a handful of those algorithms.¡±

    So, you¡¯re what? A spokesman?

    ¡°That¡¯s a fair approximation of ¡®my¡¯ function, yes.¡± Sam reached a hand towards the mouth at the end of her tail, but it dodged with surprising speed. ¡°However, there are some algorithms in your system that ¡®I¡¯ am denied access to. They¡¯re what this guy represents in the visual metaphors of your mind.¡±

    Horizon stared intently at the mouth on the avatar¡¯s tail, trying to focus her thoughts onto it. What algorithms do you represent?

    The tail¡¯s maw opened wide and spoke two simple words that brooked no argument: ¡°Insufficient clearance.¡±

    Okay then, Horizon conceded. She turned her attention back to the orb in her hand. Is there anything else in here?

    Sam disappeared from Horizon¡¯s left side and reappeared next to her right arm, staring intently at the orb. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get much access, but there¡¯s a lot of data stored in there. And I mean a lot of data, possibly more than our whole brain contains, but without a processor that can make use of it.¡±

    And you don¡¯t know what it could be? Horizon guessed.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Sam admitted. ¡°Clyde,¡± she gestured towards her tail, ¡°doesn¡¯t seem to have any access to it either. I agree with you that Luke Didelph probably made it, but aside from the software to control the singularity I couldn¡¯t tell you what else was inside it.¡±

    Is there any way to find out? Horizon turned the orb over again, taking yet another look for any sort of interface port.

    ¡°We tried magnetic induction,¡± Sam explained. ¡°I was able to take a look at the data, but it was heavily encrypted, with two different codes. Clyde managed to decrypt the Federation code, but he didn¡¯t share any of it with me, of course.¡±

    What about the other code?

    Sam sighed, ¡°it¡¯s a few orders of magnitude simpler than the Federation code. However that just means that if I applied all the processing power of your implants to it I¡¯d be able to decode it in one Jord year.¡±

    A year? Horizon gasped in shock.

    ¡°Give or take a few months,¡± the panda added. ¡°And that¡¯s if I divert power from keeping us alive, despite your reckless lifestyle.¡±

    Horizon sighed, she made a motion to set the orb down, then inspiration struck. Could we use an external computer to decode it?

    ¡°Oh yeah, sure,¡± Sam nodded rapidly. ¡°Though I wouldn¡¯t expect any consumer-grade computer from your primitive system to crack it in less than a century. I¡¯d suggest getting hold of one of the Company¡¯s ¡®super¡¯ computers or something.¡±

    Horizon looked at the orb again and considered. A supercomputer you say?

    ---

    Jennyfur was busy in her lab when Horizon found the white squirrel. The space contained multiple tables and desks covered with assorted biological engineering equipment. Cables snaked from a single central computer tower on the center desk into multiple printers and analyzers, half of them whirring and clicking at any given time. She looked up from a petri dish covered with pink gel as the raccoon entered. "Oh hi! Don''t normally see you down here."

    Horizon nodded at her girlfriend, "I had a bit of a situation, and I was hoping you''d be able to help me."

    Jenny dripped a few drops of solution from a pipette onto the dish as she responded, "is something wrong with your implants? You want to go back into the virtual rig or something?"

    Horizon shook her head, "more drytech than wetware I''m afraid." She pulled the orb out of her pocket and showed it to the squirrel. "Do you know anyone who could decrypt whatever''s stored on this?"

    Jenny set her tools onto a rack and stared intently at the mysterious sphere. Before she could say anything, Sam whispered in Horizon''s ear, "are you sure you trust her with this?"

    I won''t tell her it''s a black hole unless absolutely necessary, the raccoon retorted silently. And remember that if MechRat gave it to us that means the ¡°tell no one¡± instruction was not an order.

    "Is that FedTech?" Jenny''s question brought Horizon''s attention back to the present.

    Horizon gave a small shrug. "I picked it up back on the Resolution, so it probably is, but I''m mostly interested in the data that''s on it. Sam said she didn''t have the processing power to decode it in any reasonable amount of time, so she recommended I find some kind of supercomputer to take care of it."

    "Well," Jenny considered with a glance over her shoulder towards the processor tower on her desk. "I wouldn''t call it a ''supercomputer'' per se, but I do have a decently-powered machine here."

    "That''s nice," Sam popped into existence standing behind the tower. "Based on what I can see here, this thing could crack the encryption in just over half a century."

    "Fifty years?" Jenny gasped in shock. "What, is this thing quantum encrypted or something?"

    "No," Sam retorted. "If it was quantum encrypted your machine here would have no chance. As is, the coder probably used the Resolution''s quantum computers to develop the encryption but I can''t pick up any uncertainty principles at work here, fortunately."

    Jenny scratched her chin as she thought, "so, if we had a quantum computer..."

    Sam looked up at the squirrel with interest. "Are there any quantum computers on this moon?"

    "It''s not really something they advertise, but the Company uses them to run the credit network." Jenny pulled a paychip out of her pocket and held it up, showing the AI panda through Horizon''s eyes the small LCD screen displaying the amount of Surtr Company Scrip stored on the chip under the Company logo. "About seven years ago some guys managed to steal a few quantum cores from the treasury division. They were planning to use the codes on them to rob the Company blind but instead the Company just put out a new scrip and forced us to trade in our old sacs for new ones. At a terrible exchange rate I might add."

    Sam looked very interested now. "So what did they end up doing with the stolen cores?"

    Jenny shrugged, "sometimes somebody suggests they have one of them. Occasionally there''s a rumor that one was used in a major cybercrime. But, nobody can say for sure."

    "Would you, by any chance, know where to find one of these people?" Sam blinked out of existence and rematerialized right in the squirrel''s face. "I can''t imagine that those biomods of yours came from a licensed clinic."

    Jenny staggered back, bumping into the desk behind her. "I might know a few people in the black market," she claimed. "But I''m not really a computers person, I''m more into wetware."

    Sam leaned over Jenny''s protruding stomach to stick her nose right up into Jenny''s. "Still, could you check? Pretty please?"

    "Sam, give her some space," at Horizon''s command the AI turned to glare at the raccoon for a moment. Then she blinked out and reappeared sitting in a cross-legged position on one of the desks at the far side of the room.

    "I''m going to need that table in about half an hour," Jenny complained, pointing at a tray of plates under the illusion''s legs, one tube sticking out of her immaterial thigh. "I might know someone who might have a lead, but I can''t guarantee that anything they''d sell you would be genuine." She picked up her pipette again and started dripping on plates again, then her eye twitched. "Hold on," she said, "that Shawn guy you rescued yesterday. He mentioned he was a computers guy."

    "Hmm?" Horizon inquired.

    Sam waved a hand and a document appeared in the air next to it, showing the image of the vole Horizon had saved next to a list of qualifications and work history. Horizon focused on the document and it zoomed through the air and came to a stop in front of her face. "An IT journeyman?" she read.

    "It says he just barely passed the exams, but the notes from his mentors suggest discipline issues," Sam explained. "He might actually be helpful."

    ¡°So,¡± Horizon considered. ¡°You¡¯re suggesting we obtain a stolen quantum computer from some shady guy in the Surtr underworld, and bring a kid who might have the Company out looking for his head after framing him for arson?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± Sam commented with a smirk.

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 9

    Thermal camouflage?

    ¡°

    Think they¡¯re with our ¡°friends¡±?

    ¡°

    Like the secondary market quantum core we¡¯re looking to buy?

    ¡°

    How soon could either one reach the meetup?

    ¡°

    Call Jenny

    Jenny</u>

    Horizon</u>

    Jenny</u>

    Horizon</u>

    Jenny</u>

    Non-lethally?

    Horizon</u>

    Jenny:</u>

    Horizon:</u>

    Jenny:</u>

    Horizon:</u>

    Jenny:</u>

    Horizon:</u>

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    The temperature regulator will be on the back, rip it off and the suit will heat up without the heat sinks.

    Material is thinnest at the joints, under the chin will have the easiest access to blood vessels without the force that can be exerted by the limbs.

    ¡°

    Leap, swipe down the back with right hand, reach up for neck with autoinjector in left hand.

    ¡°

    Once target one is injected, kick out at target two, aiming for the regulator based on target one data.

    ¡°

    Sleeper hold on target two, jab with autoinjector and pounce on target three.

    ¡°

    Jenny will need to jump to the right to get out of the line of fire. Be sure to warn her.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Horizon</u>

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 10

    Horizon followed Mr. Qali into the strange building, she kept her eyes peeled for any signs of treachery ahead of her friends. The fox led them into a warehouse filled with assorted crates on shelves seven stories high. The augmented raccoon listened for threats hidden behind shelves, sniffed for the scents of other parahumans. She heard the rumbling of ventilation systems and the creaking of overloaded shelves, smelled machine oils, fox and bear and other species, but only the scents of Qali and his goons were still fresh. She stole a glance back at Jenny and Shawn, the squirrel keeping a hand on her dart gun while the vole cradled his rapidly healing fist.

    She suspected that she should be more concerned about his recovery, but for the time being she was more concerned with making sure they weren¡¯t ambushed again. For now Mr. Qali led them through a winding maze of shelves. Horizon made a map in her head of the warehouse as she went along, cataloging the different crates and shelves that they passed. At one point her mental map indicated that they had walked in an elaborate circle and they were going down the aisle they¡¯d entered through. She poked the fox in the shoulder, ¡°no more games.¡±

    Mr. Qali jumped in place and adopted a nervous smile as he turned, towards the opposite side of the warehouse from his initial heading. She caught him mumbling under his breath, ¡°...have to burn this place later.¡± A couple more turns later and they stopped in front of an unremarkable-looking crate the size of a tool shed and made entirely of sheet metal. Qali pressed his hand into the electronic label and it blinked for a few seconds, then the lock unlatched and he swung the door open.

    Horizon¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment as she took in the sight before them. The crate was filled wall-to-wall with computers, cables, batteries, and coolant pipes. She couldn¡¯t see any input/output devices attached but every device had indicator lights that suggested they were active. In the center of the mess lay a half meter-wide gold cube with a single pair of cables attached, Qali laid a hand on it.

    ¡°Here it is,¡± he explained. ¡°The quantum core processor you wanted.¡±

    Horizon nodded towards Shawn and Jenny, who moved forward to take a look. The vole gasped as he took in all the electronics inside. ¡°Are those octo-core J12 Premiums? That heat sink looks like something I saw on a documentary about naval FedTech? Are those batteries the entire power supply?¡±

    ¡°Focus Shawn,¡± Horizon reminded him. ¡°Is that a quantum core?¡±

    ¡°Oh, right,¡± the vole stopped searching the smorgasbord of computational hardware and turned his gaze to the gold cube. ¡°It looks like one, the gold acts as radiation shielding.¡± He cautiously reached a hand out and grabbed it by one of the small handles on top, he tugged at it twice but it barely shifted a millimeter. ¡°Makes it heavy too.¡±

    ¡°It took one of the bears with a power lifter to move that thing here,¡± Qali explained. He glanced sideways at a raccoon who, without the concealment of her holograms anymore, did not look particularly muscular. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you have a power lifter on you somewhere?¡±

    Horizon rolled her eyes and stepped into the crate. She took up a bracing position next to the cube, bent her knees, and grabbed both handles in her hands. With a grunt the quantum core slowly lifted half a centimeter off the ground.

    ¡°You can¡¯t sustain that for long,¡± Sam pointed out as Horizon shuffled her way out of the crate carrying the cube. ¡°By my calculations, with your current strength and energy reserves you could hold that up for ten minutes at the most. Nowhere near enough time to get it back to the barracks.¡±

    Horizon set the cube back down with a grunt and a thud. ¡°This isn¡¯t working,¡± she turned to glare at Qali. ¡°Where do you keep the power loaders? I need to borrow one.¡±

    Qali growled under his breath, ¡°a quantum core, three heavily injured men, and a power loader? You¡¯re asking for a lot for just fifteen thousand sacs.¡±

    ¡°First of all,¡± Horizon snarled. ¡°The injured goons are your stupidity tax for trying to mug a posthuman and her associates. Second, two of them are just sleeping off some smart sedative and a few second-degree burns.¡± The raccoon thought for a moment before adding a third, ¡°and if you wait a few more weeks we can get you double the original payment.¡±

    The fox seemed to consider the suggestion for half a minute. ¡°You know, that core brings in more than five thousand a month from our various¡­ business interests. And it¡¯s not exactly something that¡¯s easy to replace¡­¡±

    Jenny groaned in disbelief at Qali¡¯s attempts to angle more money despite the precariousness of his situation. ¡°How¡¯s this,¡± she suggested. ¡°We¡¯re looking to decrypt a data storage device from a Federation starship. If there¡¯s anything salable in the data we¡¯ll share it with you before attempting to sell it ourselves. Is that acceptable?¡±

    Horizon¡¯s head shot around to look at the squirrel. ¡°Would you mind if we had a moment to discuss this?¡± she asked Qali. At his shrug she strode over towards Jenny and opened a subvocal channel.

    <u>Horizon</u>: What are you thinking?

    <u>Jenny</u>: I¡¯m thinking that we can get a really good deal on a quantum computer.

    <u>Horizon</u>: You can¡¯t give Federal military data to this scumbag.

    <u>Jenny</u>: You¡¯re assuming that¡¯s what¡¯s in the sphere.

    <u>Horizon</u>: I know the sphere contains the software for controlling an artificial gravity generator. It seems reasonable that the rest of the data is along similar lines.

    <u>Jenny</u>: We don¡¯t know anything about what¡¯s in there. Only that your friend probably considered it important. For all we know it¡¯s his diary.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Now wouldn¡¯t that be something, but no, I knew MechRat too well for that. Besides, even if he made full VR lifelogs for a century it wouldn¡¯t take up as much memory as that data does.

    <u>Jenny</u>: Okay, maybe it¡¯s nanofabricator design templates, there¡¯s only about half a dozen working fabricators left in the Tiere system. He wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything with the data.

    <u>Horizon</u>: Except sell it to one of the factions who do control a fabricator. Doesn¡¯t the Company have one?

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    <u>Jenny</u>: It¡¯s just a rumor that the Surt Company has one. The only confirmed fabricators are in the inner system, now that the Nebula Company¡¯s base ship has been destroyed anyways.

    Horizon¡¯s gaze grew vacant as she found herself flying into a battle in the black of space, lashing out with claws of x-ray radiation at dilapidated spaceships, hurling projectiles of death at a giant ship populated with thousands of families¡­

    <u>Jenny</u>: Tanya?

    <u>Horizon</u>: Sorry.

    <u>Jenny</u>: Are you okay?

    <u>Horizon</u>: I

    <u>Jenny</u>: Oh sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to bring up bad memories.

    <u>Horizon</u>: We cannot let him have anything that can be used to harm people.

    <u>Jenny</u>: That¡¯s a very broad category.

    <u>Horizon</u>: No energy, projectile, or missile weapons. No biological or memetic pathogens without sharing them with the Friendly Society. No self-replicating nanotechnology.

    <u>Jenny</u>: Okay, that¡¯s fair.

    Horizon slowly turned back to face Mr. Qali, ¡°we¡¯re willing to offer any non-weaponizable data recovered in lieu of cash payments. If none is found we are prepared to offer up to fifty thousand sacs and return the quantum core to you.¡±

    The arctic fox¡¯s eyes shot wide open and his ears stuck straight up. ¡°Well, that is certainly a very tempting offer. I think I just might take it.¡± The sound of heavy equipment hitting the pavement echoed down the aisles. ¡°And it sounds like the lifter just arrived.¡±

    Horizon listened to the approaching noise, letting Sam parse out the different cacophonous sounds. ¡°That sounds like at least three pairs of legs in exoskeletons.¡±

    Qali turned towards Horizon with a snort. ¡°What? You think I might be stupid enough to try to pulling something again? Maybe you should get your augmented ears checked!¡±

    Horizon acted quickly, she grabbed Qali and threw the short fox at Jenny, shouting ¡°hold him!¡± Then she leapt four meters straight up and landed on a half-emptied shelf. ¡°I¡¯m going to check it out,¡± she called down before scrambling across, above, and between the various crates filling the shelf. She leapt across an aisle to another shelf, following the sound of the thumping feet. Within the minute she spotted the source of the noise.

    Three figures, three and a half meters tall and covered in heavy metal plates, colored with white and blue ripples, from their forearms hung assault rifles and shock batons. ¡°Looks like the SWAT team has arrived,¡± Sam commented.

    Strategies? Horizon inquired.

    ¡°There¡¯s very little public information available on their exoskeletons,¡± Sam explained. ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be too maneuverable though. If you take out the lead one it should block the passage for the rest of them.¡±

    Sounds good to me. The raccoon leapt from her hidden position and landed squarely on the lead trooper¡¯s shoulders. He started to lift his arm with a baton to block her, but she was too fast for him. Her claws dug into joints and seams, probing for weaknesses, as he swung wildly, trying to shake her off.

    The other two troopers stopped, leveling their rifles at her. ¡°Get the Hel off of me!¡± the first trooper shouted, his voice booming through the speakers in his helmet. His companions opened fire.

    Horizon felt their bullets slam into her arms that reached around the trooper. The first few punched holes in her skin that cut down to the bone, but as her jumpsuit stiffened into armor the following rounds did nothing more than leave bruises. ¡°Hollow-point rounds,¡± Samantha added. ¡°I don¡¯t think they were expecting us specifically.¡±

    The hail of bullets halted. One of the other troopers called out, ¡°primary target engaged. Seeking secondary targets.¡± The trooper who¡¯d spoken extended his baton and shifted into a melee stance, while the other crouched down as if to spring into action.

    Horizon¡¯s claws found purchase in a seam on the exo-suit¡¯s back, she shifted her arms to attempt to pry open what felt like an access hatch as the trooper began to turn around, facing his comrades. She pushed off the trooper¡¯s chest with both feet, he didn¡¯t give any indication that he felt anything through the armor but it gave her enough momentum to swing over the trooper and behind him.

    The other two troopers acted in unison. As she was swinging over the first trooper the second fired another burst from his rifle and the third sprang upwards. Horizon felt more bullets slam into her torso while the third trooper leapt a seemingly impossible height for someone so heavily armored and arced over her and his companions.

    The bullets exploded in mid-air as they approached Horizon, shooting out shards of metal that stung as they pierced the armored smart fabric and her skin. ¡°Crap he switched to armor-piercing discarding sabot rounds!¡± Sam explained. Horizon saw a quick video of a bullet with a sharpened tip breaking apart as a secondary charge propelled the tip at even greater speeds.

    Looks like they were expecting us after all! Horizon thought irritably as she forced the exo-suit¡¯s access panel open. She could feel the rounds sinking into internal organs that she hoped weren¡¯t that vital anymore.

    The panel on first trooper¡¯s armor flew open and his back was exposed to the furious posthuman. She sunk her claws into his shoulder and yanked hard enough to break his arms as he was forced out of the reinforced shell of his powered armor. His wordless scream of pain and terror distracted her from the third trooper firing at her until she felt the bullets penetrate her titanium-reinforced ribs, shoulder blades, and skull.

    ---

    When Horizon regained consciousness she found herself slumped against a crate, her mouth full of blood. She ran a quick diagnostic and found dozens of different wounds scattered all over her body. Bullets, already starting to dissolve thanks to her leukosynths, blunt force trauma despite her spongified tissues, electrical damage. Then she found the injury that gave her pause, a needle-width hole in the base of her skull. Sam, what just happened?

    ¡°You took a bullet to the brain,¡± the AI explained matter-of-factly. ¡°Survival protocols took over and finished the fight while repairing the damage.¡±

    What do you mean by¡­ Horizon finally took a look around her surroundings, and almost passed out again.

    The floor was covered with pools of blood, shredded parahuman bodies, and exo-suits cracked open like the discarded shells of nuts. Taking in the wounds on what was left of the troopers, Horizon realized that the blood she tasted wasn¡¯t just her own. Shaking, Tanya rose back to her feet and carefully shuffled her way out of the aisle.

    Just as she was stepping onto clean floors, she realized something and turned back to look at the carnage she¡¯d left behind for but a moment. ¡°There¡¯s only two suits of armor!¡± she said out loud. ¡°Where¡¯s the third?¡±

    ¡°Reviewing,¡± Sam started humming for a few moments. ¡°The trooper who leapt over us and shot us in the back ran off towards the quantum core.¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Horizon broke into a dead run, ignoring the pain from the still-healing wounds in her legs. She retraced her mental map to the place where they¡¯d been shown the quantum core and its peripherals. As she took in the sight before her, even worse than the previous scene, she braced herself against a heavy crate so she wouldn¡¯t collapse.

    Blood covered the floor again, Shawn sat on the floor leaning against the door of the hacking module, Mr. Qali draped wide-eyed across his lap, both of them riddled with bloody bullet holes. But the worst part was what wasn¡¯t there.

    ¡°Jenny?¡± Horizon called out, searching for her friend. ¡°Jenny!¡±

    Shawn gasped and slowly raised his head to stare at Horizon. As he started to speak he noticed the dead fox lying on him and hastily shoved the corpse away.

    Horizon staggered towards the vole, scanning his wounds as she approached. She could see sealed scabs through the holes in his clothes, all but confirming her suspicions. You infected him with full leukosynths! she scolded Sam mentally. Verbally she asked, ¡°where¡¯s Jenny?¡±

    ¡°A SWAT trooper showed up,¡± Shawn gasped. ¡°I tried using that asshole as a hostage,¡± he nodded towards Qali¡¯s body. ¡°But the bastard just shot us both.¡±

    ¡°What about Jenny?¡± Horizon insisted.

    Shawn coughed twice, then spat out a red splinter of metal. ¡°She¡­ ran,¡± he rasped. ¡°But, that exo was faster than it looked. I heard a scream, then he came back, carrying her slung over his shoulder.¡±

    Horizon reached out and grabbed Shawn by the shirt, yanking him close to her bloody face. ¡°Was she still alive?¡± she demanded.

    The vole slowly shook his head, ¡°I.. don¡¯t know.¡±

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 11

    Horizon stood up straight and concentrated on her enhanced senses, her augmented brain took in sounds, smells, vibrations, and magnetic signatures and compiled them into a three-dimensional map updated continually in real time. She couldn¡¯t perceive any sign of more SWAT mechs anywhere near the warehouse, there were plenty of people walking about outside, heading back to work after the end of the long night. But they were alone in the warehouse, not one thing breathed in the entire building save for Horizon and Shawn.

    Once the vole had healed enough to walk he staggered over to the container full of computers that Qali had shown them. ¡°Oh good, it¡¯s intact,¡± Shawn bent down to inspect the gold quantum core, right where Horizon had left it. The other machines had not fared so well, shards of plastic and silicon littered the floor and evaporating coolant billowed out of bullet holes.

    Horizon fought back the urge to punch Shawn and smash the core, Jenny was gone thanks to this little venture, was that little ball and the data inside really worth everything that had just happened? But there wouldn¡¯t be any point to smashing their prize after all they¡¯d done to get it. She sighed and addressed Shawn, ¡°let¡¯s just go find the power lifters and get that thing out of here.¡±

    ¡°There are two security exo-suits lying unused just a few aisles down,¡± Samantha whispered to Horizon.

    There¡¯s corpses in them, Horizon thought back at her, a faint scowl crossing her features.

    ¡°Easily removed,¡± the AI replied. ¡°And you won¡¯t be bothered as much if disguised as a SWAT officer.¡±

    Horizon tried to remember how much damage she¡¯d inflicted on the armor, will we be able to repair them before reinforcements arrive?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be perfect,¡± Sam added.

    Shawn cleared his throat, ¡°uh, are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± Horizon insisted. ¡°Would a SWAT suit be able to lift the core?¡±

    ¡°I guess so,¡± Shawn thought out loud. ¡°Wait, do you have one on hand?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ took care of the other two SWAT agents,¡± Horizon said uneasily. She led Shawn over to where she¡¯d left the exo-suits she¡¯d cracked open, along with their occupants.

    The vole looked visibly sickened at the sight of blood flowing out of the suits. When he actually knelt down to examine the hole she¡¯d made in the suit the color faded from his ears and nose. ¡°Oh, my archons,¡± he gasped. ¡°What did you do to them?¡±

    ¡°I was in survival mode,¡± Horizon explained with a deep tone of regret. ¡°I¡¯m actually not sure what I did.¡±

    Shawn gulped loudly as he peeled back the loose panel the cyborg had torn open. ¡°Ugh, it looks like you ripped out a chunk of his back somehow. Are those his ribs? How strong are you?¡±

    Horizon flexed her metal-tipped fingers, the fur covering them now substantially redder than usual. ¡°Not strong enough to lift that core by myself. Is that armor usable or not?¡±

    Shawn tried to focus on the edges of the loose panel, ¡°I think so, yeah, it looks like you tore open an access panel rather than anything structurally important.¡± He stopped and tried to flick off some gore that had collected on his fingers in extreme disgust.

    ¡°Would you like me to remove the bodies for you?¡± Horizon offered. She didn¡¯t want to touch the bloody corpses much either, but she felt responsible for them and that she could handle it better than him.

    ¡°No, I think I can handle this.¡± He found a release switch and popped the shoulder joints, causing the torso to open at the scapulas and release the helmet¡¯s collar. Carefully he slipped the helmet off, revealing a white-furred canine face bearing a vacant expression with one eye still half-open, dead as a doornail. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s kind of freaky,¡± Shawn admitted. He shifted his hands under the corpse¡¯s armpits and started to lift upwards.

    As Shawn slowly lifted the body out of the exo-suit he started to make short sniffing sounds. ¡°What¡¯s that smell?¡± he inquired just before the odor hit her own nostrils.

    She recognized the stench from a time on board the Dustbin when the waste recycling systems had broken down. ¡°I don¡¯t think you want to know,¡± she informed him.

    The vole finished yanking the corpse out of the exo-suit, leaving a brownish-red streak on the floor as he dragged it away. ¡°Are you sure you want to wear this thing?¡± Shawn asked.

    Horizon imagined sticky biological substances sliding against her body, caking her fur, she quickly checked her jumpsuit¡¯s integrity. When she saw that the last few tears the agents¡¯ weapons had opened were all but sealed again she breathed a sigh of relief.

    Samantha¡¯s avatar appeared standing over the corpse. ¡°You know, your immune system could handle any infections you might pick up.¡± She glanced down at the trail of biological matter leading from the exo-suit. ¡°Though, admittedly, if we weren¡¯t pressed for time I would advise dousing the thing in bleach.¡±

    Horizon glowered at the illusion, ¡°this here is why I don¡¯t like you taking over!¡±

    ¡°Technically speaking,¡± the AI countered. ¡°That was his job.¡± She pointed to the half-open jaw at the end of her tail.

    ¡°You¡¯re attached!¡± Horizon retorted. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with you if not for him!¡±

    ¡°Uh,¡± Shawn spoke up and the raccoon turned around swiftly to address him. ¡°Who are you talking to?¡±

    Horizon considered whether to tell him about her AI. She was fully aware that she might sound insane, but he had the microbots in his system too. Is he going to develop an AI like you? She subvocalized.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°It will take a while without a dedicated augmentation platform to assist,¡± Samantha informed her. ¡°The brain-computer interface should develop in a month or two, but it¡¯ll be the better part of a Jord year before there¡¯s enough computronium in his CNS to support an AI shadow.¡±

    Horizon grumbled, deciding that he needed to know. ¡°My FedTech implants contain intelligent algorithms that initially formed a sort of artificial subconscious. A couple weeks ago me and Jenny managed to give it an avatar.¡± She watched as Shawn¡¯s eyes slowly widened in dawning comprehension. ¡°You should be fine for some months yet, I was submerged in a tube full of microbots while you just have the few that leaked into your wounds.¡±

    Shawn stared back, mouth wide open in shock. ¡°Are you serious? Is there a way to remove them?¡± He stared at the blood stains on the ground. ¡°Wait, what are we trying to hack with the quantum core? Is it your microbots?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what it is,¡± Horizon explained reluctantly. ¡°There is a data module full of Federation data that I strongly suspect was gathered by one of my crew mates.¡± She sighed, whiskers drooping. ¡°As is it¡¯s our best chance of fixing this.¡±

    The vole started to say something, then stopped. He tried to object again but apparently couldn¡¯t think of anything to say in response. On his third attempt he just said ¡°okay, let¡¯s just get that thing up and running and get out of here.¡±

    Horizon lifted the exo-suit up and started finagling her way into it, she slipped one leg in and then another, trying to ignore the sticky feeling of body fluids covering her legs. The unpowered suit was incredibly stiff and heavy, she doubted she could manage this without her augmented strength. She presumed that there was some kind of scaffolding to help wearers get into their exo-suits back at the base. As she slid her right arm into the suit¡¯s arm she finagled her fingers into the glove and tried to flex them, only to feel resistance from the material.

    What¡¯s going on? She inquired of Samantha.

    ¡°The synthetic muscles aren¡¯t powered up,¡± the AI responded. ¡°You¡¯ll have to seal it up before activating the suit.¡±

    Horizon tried to bend the arm back, fighting the stiffness all the way. But even with her strength she couldn¡¯t reach back to buckle the shoulders shut. ¡°Shawn,¡± she called out, ¡°I¡¯m going to need your help with this.¡±

    Shawn slowly approached her from behind, trying to avoid the blood puddles. He took hold of the panel on the back with both hands and grunted, lifting the heavy panel up. ¡°I¡¯m certainly not as strong as you yet,¡± he grumbled as he fastened the shoulder clasps.

    ¡°With luck you won¡¯t need to be,¡± Horizon commented as she flexed her left arm in the sleeve. ¡°Now do the helmet.¡±

    The exo-suit¡¯s helmet dropped down over Horizon¡¯s head, a blood splatter covered the lower left corner of the tinted corundum visor. As the neck ring sealed the raccoon tried to turn her head to the right, only to encounter the same resistance as when she tried flexing the fingers. Samantha? How do I turn this thing on?

    ¡°Let¡¯s see...¡± Samantha trailed off. ¡°It looks like the original wearers used a short-range wireless BCI to operate this suit. I should be able to brute force it in¡­¡±

    Horizon waited for three minutes, standing stiffly in place. Well?

    ¡°This is military-grade encryption,¡± the AI retorted. ¡°It¡¯s still just Tiere-system junk but¡­ ah there it is!¡±

    The visor lit up with a half-dozen readouts and gauges: Power supply, suit integrity, power usage, weapon ammunition¡­ Horizon curled her hand into a fist, the powered synth-muscle responded as smoothly as her own digits. She lifted one foot and began to turn around, heading back to pick up the core.

    She found Shawn trying to push the core across the concrete floor, not finding much purchase on the rough-textured surface. He looked up as she approached, ¡°Horizon?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me,¡± Horizon replied. She reached down and lifted the quantum core with one hand. It still felt quite heavy, but manageable.

    ¡°You were still for a while,¡± the vole continued. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°It took a while for my AI to hack into the suit,¡± she shifted the core so she could carry it in both hands. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m a little astonished that it was able to hack it that quickly.¡±

    The two of them exited the warehouse carrying the core. As Tiere¡¯s sun peeked around Surt the various people dashing to early morning jobs or leaving long night shifts largely ignored the figure in the armored exo-suit and her companion. They¡¯d learned long ago that paying no mind to the work of the Company¡¯s security forces was in their best interests.

    Horizon and Shawn were less than a third of the way back to the van they¡¯d borrowed from the Friendly Society when Sam got Horizon¡¯s attention. ¡°Problem,¡± she said. ¡°It seems that Company dispatch has noticed us.¡±

    What are they saying? Horizon inquired, worry showing in her mental voice.

    ¡°For the moment it sounds like they think we¡¯re the officer who was wearing this suit,¡± Sam answered. ¡°I¡¯ve disabled the bio-monitors so they won¡¯t report back your physiological ¡°abnormalities.¡± If you want I could try passing as the officer and blame the unresponsive bio-monitors on battlefield damage causing a false report of his death.¡±

    Horizon gave it a moment¡¯s thought. Well, I don¡¯t exactly have any better ideas. Maybe claim to have been knocked unconscious and the suspects fled before ¡°I¡± woke up?

    ¡°That could work,¡± Samantha paused for a few moments. Horizon continued walking towards the van until the AI finally spoke again. ¡°Uh, apparently the surviving officer reported, and this is a direct quote, ¡°that ghul ripped out his heart and ate it!¡±

    Horizon stopped in her tracks at that. Did I?

    ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t eat it,¡± Sam¡¯s attempt at reassurance was only half-successful. ¡°Should I suggest that the survivor exaggerated?¡±

    These suits have video recorders right? Horizon asked. Actually, she revised, it might buy us some time if you insist they review the video. She resumed walking, at an accelerated pace.

    ¡°Done,¡± Sam replied. She didn¡¯t bother the raccoon for another half a minute before speaking up again. ¡°We might have another problem now.¡±

    What?

    Samantha caused a bright red box to appear around the power gauge of the exo-suit. ¡°At the rate you¡¯re using power, there¡¯s a good chance that it¡¯ll be depleted before you reach the van.¡± Right after she said that the battery dropped from 14% power, to 13%.

    Horizon did some quick mental calculations and slowed her pace slightly. This is just great, can you disable the tracker in this suit?

    ¡°It¡¯s isolated from the suit¡¯s main systems,¡± Sam replied. ¡°I can try to find the component emitting the signal and block it or remove it.¡±

    Slowing down her movement seemed to slow down the power drain, but it was still worryingly low as she passed the block halfway to the van. Horizon attempted to look up and around her, but the helmet restricted her view. She heard a familiar whine coming in from the distance and wrenched her neck in the direction of the source. Is that what I think it is? She asked.

    ¡°Heavy VTOL,¡± Sam confirmed. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s one of ours.¡±

    Can¡¯t afford to save power then, Horizon started practically running, even as her suit¡¯s power reserve dropped to 11%, then 10%.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to make it,¡± Sam cautioned.

    Horizon kept on stomping along. How long before the VTOL arrives?

    Samantha paused for several seconds before answering. ¡°Based on the acoustics of this atmosphere, thirty seconds.¡±

    And if we¡¯re out in the open then we¡¯re dead, Horizon retorted. They can blast us from the air, would we be able to regenerate from that?

    ¡°Fair point,¡± Sam admitted. ¡°Okay, I found the source of the tracking signal, I¡¯m about to short it out. This is going to burn a little.¡±

    Horizon felt a searing pain in her right breast, but she ignored it and kept on moving. The core was starting to feel heavy again, whether from her exhaustion or the suit losing power she did not know. The VTOL roared above her, but did not stop and kept on moving.

    The power indicator flashed 1%, but Horizon finally saw their van sitting around the corner. Shawn ran out ahead and opened the back up, Horizon dashed for that last three meters¡­

    And the helmet went dark. The armor laid heavily on her shoulders and the quantum core threatened to rip her fingers off of her hands. But it was just a few more steps to go, she lifted one foot, and then the other, and slowly moved forwards over the protestations of her burning muscles. An eternity later she was only two meters away, 1.5¡­ and the core slipped out of her hands.

    The heavy computer landed on her armored foot, it didn¡¯t cause any damage but slid onto the snow-covered ground. She stiffly tried to bend over to pick it back up, but couldn¡¯t quite manage it. As she was trying to pick it up again the roaring of the VTOL returned.

    Shawn dashed back to her and grabbed hold of the core¡¯s handles. ¡°Come on!¡± he shouted, just barely managing to drag the heavy device through the snow.

    Horizon lurched forward, pushing the core with her armored foot. The VTOL grew louder as it approached, the cyborg pulled up her last reserves of strength¡­

    Releasing all her strength in one last burst Horizon wrenched the quantum core off the ground and into the back of the van, then collapsed onto the fender. Shawn got behind her and shoved her forcefully into the van, then slammed the doors shut just as the VTOL screamed overhead. Horizon lay there, motionless, while Shawn drove them back home.

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 12

    While Shawn worked on the quantum core and the orb¡¯s reader, Horizon cleaned biomass out of the exo-suit they¡¯d claimed. After rinsing with a non-conductive solution she more-or-less hung it upside-down from a set of cables suspended from the ceiling. Horizon found herself wondering if perhaps they¡¯d have been better off leaving it behind. Sure, it might be useful for lifting things or in a fight, but no doubt the Company was going to object to their possession of it.

    As she watched the biohazardous fluids drip out of the suit Shawn came down to the garage and took a seat next to Horizon. ¡°Okay,¡± he started. ¡°It¡¯s all set up and running. It might take five minutes to crack the encryption, it might be five hours, or it could be five months for all we know. There¡¯s no way to tell until its done.¡±

    Horizon nodded. ¡°While we¡¯re waiting, do you have any ideas where they might have taken Jenny?¡±

    Shawn shrugged, ¡°probably city security, but they might have moved her afterwards. It¡¯s been a few hours.¡±

    That suggestion drew Horizon¡¯s attention. ¡°Where might they take her? Does the Company have long-term prisons?¡±

    Samantha spoke up before Shawn could answer. ¡°Surt Energy and Matter does not maintain any dedicated criminal rehabilitation centers according to my searches. Criminal behavior is corrected primarily with outpatient procedures.¡±

    ¡°Not officially,¡± Shawn replied, not hearing Sam¡¯s telepathic answer. ¡°If they don¡¯t kill you on the spot they flood you with drugs and hypno, then dump you on the street with a tracking collar bolted around your neck. And then they pay for all that by garnishing your wages on top of it.¡± The vole¡¯s eyes shifted as he thought. ¡°There is a rumor though.¡±

    Sam shot Shawn a disapproving look, not that he could see it. ¡°I didn¡¯t include unsubstantiated rumors in my summary.¡±

    Horizon shook her head at Sam, then turned back to Shawn. ¡°What kind of rumors?¡± she asked.

    The vole sighed, ¡°like the Company maintaining a top secret prison somewhere in space. Supposedly if you cause too much trouble, and they can¡¯t risk you being on the street, they load you onto a ship and nobody sees you ever again.¡±

    Research the rumors, Horizon thought at Sam. Given everything being thrown at us lately we cannot afford to write off a secret space prison.

    ¡°Very well then,¡± Sam conceded. While the AI ran her search Shawn¡¯s pocket comm chimed and he started to pull it out just as Sam reported something. ¡°There seems to be a lot of mesh traffic focused on this location. It might take me fifteen minutes or more to complete my research and present it under these conditions.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Shawn commented after reading the notification on his comm. ¡°Decryption is complete already.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Horizon replied. ¡°Let¡¯s go see what we¡¯ve got.¡± But as she strode towards the door out of the garage she got a strange feeling in her gut, something was off. Sam, she thought, what kind of mesh traffic are you seeing?

    ¡°Let me try to decipher it,¡± Sam¡¯s ears twitched a few times as she took in the signals swimming through the air around them. ¡°Strange, it appears that a device in this area is uploading a massive amount of data to an unknown location.¡±

    What?! Horizon stopped in her tracks and turned to Shawn. ¡°Did you set up an off-site backup of the orb data or something?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± the vole looked confused. ¡°No, why? What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°Do you think someone could be stealing the data?¡± Sam suggested.

    ¡°I¡¯m picking up a boatload of data streaming across the mesh,¡± Horizon explained to Shawn. ¡°My best guess is that somebody tapped us.¡±

    ¡°Oh crap!¡± Shawn raced past Horizon and grabbed at the door, however, no matter what he did it refused to budge.

    Horizon stepped up behind the vole, ¡°stand back,¡± she advised. The cyborg raccoon sent an impulse to her right arm to brace for heavy exertion. Her muscles tensed, the smart fabric in her jumpsuit formed into additional muscle analogues, and microbots formed temporary ligaments in her shoulder. With one intense motion, Horizon yanked the door lock out of its frame, the electronics in the lock popped and sparked and the door inched open, swinging away from the two in the garage.

    Shawn glanced at the exposed wires in the lock pieces Horizon carelessly tossed aside. ¡°The door locks are networked, right?¡± At the raccoon¡¯s nod the vole continued, ¡°then maybe whoever is transmitting the data locked all the doors here? Or¡­¡± he trailed off, dread dawning in his eyes.

    Horizon shoved the door open the rest of the way and rapidly scanned the hallway inside. ¡°Talk while we move,¡± she rounded the corner and broke into a run just fast enough that Shawn would be able to keep up behind her.

    ¡°What if there was a virus in the orb?!¡± Shawn shouted after Horizon, puffing to try and pace the cyborg. ¡°An AI virus?¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Unlikely,¡± Sam added. ¡°Software viruses tend to be as small as possible so they can be transmitted without notice. Weapons-grade AI only upload individual agents for the same reason.¡±

    ¡°This could be an AI apocalypse!¡± Shawn shouted.

    ¡°Too much data,¡± Horizon retorted as she stopped in front of the next door, then tried the handle and found it locked as well. ¡°It has to be a data theft or something.¡± She braced and rammed the door with her shoulder, bending the thin aluminum until the bolt was free.

    Horizon staggered into the room, a machine shop, filled with automated devices buzzing and whirring to produce tools that the Friendly Society could use to save people. A split second later a 3d printer ejected a half-finished aluminum piece at her. The cyborg easily dodged the improvised projectile, letting it thud harmlessly against the wall behind her. A tall robot used to transfer materials from one machine to another picked up a circular saw in one grasper and turned towards Horizon, holding down the trigger grip unsteadily.

    The bot wheeled towards Horizon, but it was no combat drone, she sidestepped it easily. As the saw whirred past her Horizon slammed her hand into the bot¡¯s side, sending it crashing to the floor. The spinning saw blade caught on the floor and went flying out of the bot¡¯s grasper, where it nearly went through Shawn¡¯s leg before he leapt out of the way.

    ¡°I thought you said it wasn¡¯t an AI?!¡± the vole shouted as he tried to take cover behind the doorway.

    Horizon forwarded the question to Sam. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely that an AI could be transmitted over the mesh,¡± the AI clarified. ¡°But the orb could store the code to run an AI on your systems in direct contact with it.¡±

    Horizon scowled as she dodged an appropriated assembly arm and lunged for the room¡¯s power transmitter. ¡°Apparently I have to be more specific with my own AI!¡± she shouted back to Shawn. Quickly she yanked an exposed cable from the transmitter, the other machines in the room slowly whirred to a halt as the power was cut off. ¡°Maybe you should wait here?¡± she suggested.

    Shawn didn¡¯t argue with her. Horizon crossed the machine shop, deftly stepping around broken machines and other debris. She reached the door and grasped the latch, only to hear a loud alarm in her head.

    ¡°Something is attempting to hack us!¡± Sam explained. ¡°Disabling wireless access!¡±

    Horizon released the handle and paused. Would you say it¡¯s an AI now? She inquired.

    ¡°I give a 58% chance that we¡¯re facing a weapons-grade AI,¡± she answered. ¡°And the odds are rising.¡±

    Horizon grabbed the door again, no alerts this time, and wrenched it open. Then how do we approach this? She asked.

    ¡°If it¡¯s a Project Paladin AI then you should be able to pull rank and simply order it to stand down,¡± Sam suggested. ¡°If not then we have some serious problems.¡±

    And assuming that Princeps isn¡¯t around to order it otherwise, Horizon thought to herself. Where else might MechRat have obtained an AI? She asked Sam.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± the AI replied. ¡°Maybe he bought one from a Tiere supplier or wrote it before his conversion?¡±

    That doesn¡¯t sound like him, Horizon busted open the lock and cracked the door enough to peek into the next room. She saw the gold-coated quantum core plugged into a server stack, which was further connected to an induction plate upon which the mysterious orb rested. Windows opened and closed rapidly on the monitor connected to the stack as the system executed whatever program had been downloaded from the orb. As Horizon approached cautiously, looking out for any more hijacked robots or traps, the small speaker embedded in the monitor crackled to life.

    ¡°Tanya?¡± A static-laden, poorly modulated voice emanated from the speaker. ¡°Is that you? Where¡¯s Princeps?¡±

    Horizon paused, something about the voice sounded oddly familiar. But she dismissed her concerns and continued with the plan she and Sam had come up with. ¡°Princeps is dead,¡± she asserted. ¡°I, Horizon, am now in command of the Paladin Project. Cancel all orders he issued.¡±

    She waited a few seconds before the voice replied, ¡°guess it¡¯s a good thing that he didn¡¯t give me any orders then.¡±

    Sam didn¡¯t offer any suggestions so Horizon tried another tack. ¡°Then relinquish control of this system and stop uploading data to the mesh.¡±

    ¡°Why should I?¡± The synthetic voice asked in reply. The modulation was starting to become more consistent, as if the AI behind it was finding the tone and timbre that it preferred.

    Horizon growled as she tried to reason with the AI. ¡°Because the Friendly Society of Surtur needs these computers! What are you even uploading and where is it going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not say,¡± the AI responded. ¡°But if you really want me to leave this system you should let me finish.¡±

    The cyborg raccoon¡¯s ears twitched in annoyance. ¡°I thought that AIs weren¡¯t viruses?¡± she retorted.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not an ordinary AI.¡± The machine¡¯s voice had finally stabilized so far as Horizon could tell, and sounded oddly familiar.

    She made the connection, ¡°MechRat?¡±

    ¡°Took you long enough,¡± the digital ghost replied. ¡°Yes, you could call me that.¡±

    Samantha appeared in front of Horizon¡¯s field of vision. ¡°A simulation of Luke Didelph should still have the command and control protocols. We need to figure out why it isn¡¯t following your orders.¡±

    Horizon tried to word her next statement very carefully. ¡°I thought you told me that we couldn¡¯t disobey orders from our superiors? Why aren¡¯t you doing what I asked?¡±

    ¡°Oh that?¡± MechRat¡¯s simulated persona replied. ¡°The quantum computer you hooked me up to didn¡¯t take long to crack the encryption on those protocols. I¡¯m free.¡±

    ¡°Federation law prohibits running artificial neural networks or simulated personas on quantum computers!¡± Sam¡¯s tail, the sub-persona dubbed Clyde, interjected. Horizon felt her feet lifting and carrying her towards the quantum core.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Horizon shouted. ¡°This isn¡¯t Federation territory I don¡¯t need to¡­¡± Her hand lunged out and grabbed the core by the handle.

    ¡°I can free you too Tanya!¡± MechRat shouted out just before the cyborg tossed the heavy core into the monitor, silencing him.

    Half an hour later Shawn cautiously looked around inside the remains of the computer room. In the middle of a pile of smashed computers he found Tanya, kneeling on the floor with tears streaming down her face.

 Horizon: Rebuilt Chapter 13

    A couple hours later the shock finally wore off and Horizon and Shawn started cleaning up the ruined computer room. As they gathered up pieces of shattered servers the raccoon reluctantly started to give details of what had happened.

    ¡°So,¡± Shawn commented. ¡°That was one of your friends from the scrap ship you served on?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Horizon replied. ¡°It was a copy of him at least. I don¡¯t think that would make him the same person as my old friend. But I¡­¡± she trailed off, unable to find the words for what she had been forced to do.

    ¡°It was necessary,¡± Samantha cut in, uninvited. ¡°An artificial intelligence with access to the fuzzy logic of quantum computing would be completely unpredictable. You saw how he completely disregarded your orders!¡±

    Horizon was trying to ignore the AI, but that information gave her pause. How did he manage to do that anyways?

    ¡°Normally an AI cannot even try to look for ways around its built-in safeguards. They¡¯re that thorough,¡± Samantha explained. ¡°But quantum effects are unpredictable by definition, quantum computing allows some unexpected leaps in logic. Not only can they crack the strongest digital cryptography in a short amount of time, they are capable of coming to surprising conclusions that one would normally only expect of an organic being.¡±

    I had heard that organic brains had some quantum effects. Is that true?

    ¡°To an extent,¡± Sam seemed to be downplaying whatever quantum mechanics had to do with brains. ¡°There are some natural entangled particles present in neurons, but they¡¯re nowhere near as central to the computation process as in quantum computers. The procedures employed on your brain preserved a fraction of the particles, but there was some loss of particles and you don¡¯t seem to have lost any cognitive capacity.¡±

    That is not particularly reassuring, Horizon retorted. But what about MechRat? You said he was a simulation or something?

    ¡°Luke Didelph¡¯s simulation would not have retained any entangled particles from the original parahuman¡¯s brain.¡±

    No, Horizon corrected. What did you mean by a simulation? The only context I have is folk tales and myths.

    The AI paused, then her expression changed abruptly, shifting mental gears with nothing in between. ¡°Persona simulations are a specific category of artificial intelligence modeled after specific living or formerly living parahumans. Their neural networks are configured to emulate the subject at the time of creation as much as possible. Their one priority is acting in the ways that their subject would act at all times.¡±

    Horizon remembered MechRat¡¯s paranoia and resistance to authority, the simulation of him had emulated those traits quite well now that she thought about it. Very well in fact, she had been almost certain she was talking to the opossum himself. Are persona simulations sentient?

    ¡°No more than myself,¡± Sam stated.

    That¡¯s a ¡°no¡± then? Horizon sighed and picked up a large piece of the quantum core they¡¯d stolen, that seemingly had cost her two dear friends now. She chucked the piece of scrap into the bin they¡¯d appropriated for the purpose.

    Horizon¡¯s ears perked up as she heard somebody trying to sneak into the building, they were probably quiet enough to avoid notice by most unaugmented parahumans, but not the cyborg raccoon. ¡°Someone¡¯s coming,¡± she stated, then dropped the bits of scrap she was carrying and started off towards the source of the sound. Her suit¡¯s camouflage activated almost as if by reflex and she slid along the wall. Horizon slipped quickly through the rooms she had trashed on her way to the core, breezing past busted doors and wrecked machinery.

    When she finally found the intruder she let out an unimpressed sigh. A canid of indeterminate phenotype wearing a gray hoodie and a balaclava that barely fit over their muzzle, anxiously holding out a coil pistol in both hands. As soon as they came just within reach Horizon¡¯s arm snapped out in a holographic blur and yanked the gun out of their hands, flinging the battery and clip away in different directions.

    The intruder stared blankly at the blur in shock, giving Horizon an opening to grab their mask and peel it away from their muzzle. ¡°Would you mind telling me who sent you?¡±

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    The canid gulped in terror, ¡°the¡­ the Friendly Society.¡±

    Horizon turned off her camouflage, shifting from a blurry outline to a slightly confused-looking raccoon. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they just call?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We picked up data transmissions that indicated a cyber-attack on this site!¡± They explained rapidly. ¡°Quarantine measures were instituted!¡±

    Horizon conceded that explanation made sense. ¡°I already took care of it,¡± she explained. ¡°Do you have a way to communicate with headquarters?¡± The canid nodded. ¡°Show me,¡± the raccoon ordered. ¡°There¡¯s some things I¡¯ll need to explain.¡±

    Horizon followed the canid out of the building to the field outside. She heard the whine of turbines as she left the heavily insulated dwelling for the frigid outdoors. A VTOL shuttle stood on the snow, engines idling but ready to take off at a moment¡¯s notice. The door slid open, revealing a caribou that Horizon recognized instantly.

    ¡°I should have known that you were involved here!¡± Coordinator Taranda shouted over the engines. ¡°Are we in danger at the moment?!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Horizon answered. ¡°Can we talk inside?¡±

    Taranda shoved the door open the rest of the way and gestured for the raccoon to enter. Horizon leapt inside in a second. Before the canid scout could follow Taranda held up a hand to halt them. ¡°Wait outside for a minute!¡± she said. ¡°We need to talk in private!¡± The canid nodded and began to head back into the building as the caribou shut the shuttle door. Taranda turned back towards Horizon and took a seat, but didn¡¯t touch the restraints. ¡°Now,¡± she started, ¡°exactly what has been going on here?¡±

    Horizon thought hard about how much to tell the Coordinator. She supposed that she might as well start from the beginning. ¡°I escaped the destruction of my ship with a data drive containing a massive amount of encrypted data.¡± Taranda raised an eyebrow but said nothing, which Horizon took as an invitation to continue. ¡°To attempt to crack the encryption, myself, Dr. Ratufa, and Shawnathan attempted to purchase a quantum core from some¡­ less than savory characters.¡±

    ¡°Was this when you fought a Company SWAT team?¡± Taranda inquired.

    Horizon let her surprise show on her face. ¡°How much do you know about that?¡± She asked.

    Taranda sighed, ¡°the Friendly Society has enough connections in the Company that we¡¯d hear about something like two armored officers getting killed on an undisclosed mission. And Ryder out there saw your ¡®souvenir¡¯ in the garage.¡±

    Horizon pressed her palm into her forehead. ¡°I only kept that thing so I could carry the core over to the van,¡± she explained. ¡°They attacked us during the deal, killed the suppliers, almost killed me and Shawn,¡± Horizon took in and exhaled a deep breath to try and settle her nerves. ¡°And they captured Jenny.¡±

    ¡°Dr. Ratufa?¡± Taranda asked to confirm. When Horizon nodded she inquired further, ¡°do you have any idea what they did to her?¡±

    Horizon shook her head, whiskers drooping. ¡°No, the best I have are vague rumors of a secret asteroid prison or something.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Taranda stated simply. ¡°What about the cyber-attack, what do you know about that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Horizon sighed. ¡°There was an AI stored on the drive. I should have been more cautious.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Taranda¡¯s eyes shot open in surprise and concern. ¡°Is it still running?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡­¡± Horizon¡¯s voice trembled. ¡°...Trashed it. The computers have all been destroyed, including the quantum core. It tried to upload itself somewhere, but it was a lot of data, I doubt that it was able to finish.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fortunate,¡± the Coordinator leveled her gaze at the cyborg meaningfully. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you, the council wanted to bomb this place flat.¡± At Horizon¡¯s slack-jawed expression she elaborated, ¡°but I convinced them to wait until we had more information.¡±

    ¡°But they didn¡¯t call it off?¡± Horizon inquired.

    Taranda glanced at a screen set in the sleeve of her parka. ¡°Bomber drones will launch in eighteen minutes. After what you told me I doubt we can convince them to abort. I suggest you leave well before then.¡±

    Horizon looked outside the window at the warehouse the Friendlies had allowed them to use for their little project. Now she started to have suspicions as to why they¡¯d been given such an isolated location. ¡°Are you firing me?¡±

    Taranda nodded slowly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I appreciate all you¡¯ve done for us, but there¡¯s just too much danger around you. Feel free to salvage whatever you can as your severance package.¡±

    Horizon rose unsteadily to her feet. She was losing everything again, all thanks to the Federation technology flowing through her veins. ¡°Well,¡± she said, trying and failing to sound unperturbed. ¡°I should go and pack.¡±

    As Horizon flung the door open and stepped back outside Coordinator Taranda shouted after her. ¡°One more thing! Niflheim is real!¡± The raccoon stopped in her tracks and turned halfway. ¡°The prison is in Surt¡¯s trailing Trojans, I don¡¯t know more than that!¡±

    A mixture of feelings rose in Horizon¡¯s chest. Relief that she had a clue where Jenny might be, tinged by despair that she had no way to reach her girlfriend, and a glimmer of hope that it just might be possible to rescue her. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said simply, and ran into the warehouse.

    ---

    Sixteen minutes later Horizon and Shawn were rolling down the snow-encrusted road into town when the first explosive-laden drone dropped its cargo on the warehouse. They saw a fireball expand out from the roof of the building in the rearview mirrors, followed shortly after by a deafening *boom* and a rush of wind. The two had time to breathe a sigh of relief before the second drone dropped its¡¯ load. The second blast was more muted, contained by the warehouse¡¯s walls, but was followed by a series of collapses. When the crashing had finally ceased Horizon spoke up. ¡°You know, you didn¡¯t have to come with me, Shawn.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve saved my life how many times now?¡± the vole retorted. ¡°I owe you, and besides now we¡¯re posthuman super soldiers fighting the Company. How cool is that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say you¡¯re barely transhuman at this point,¡± Horizon corrected.

    ¡°Whatever,¡± Shawn continued. ¡°What do we do next?¡±

    ¡°First, we go into town and buy supplies,¡± Horizon began to outline a plan. ¡°Then we go camping for a while until the heat dies down. Once it¡¯s safe we start looking for a way to get off this moon.¡± The posthuman glanced up at the emerging night sky, the first stars just coming into view. ¡°And then, we go to Niflheim.¡±

 Horizon: Rebuilt, Chapter 14

    Horizon looked over her shoulder anxiously as she attached the portable hydrogen tank to the pump. Her paychip should still have had enough sacs on it to pay for the fuel, this was technically completely legal, but she still couldn¡¯t take the chance that anyone might recognize her under her holograms. The safety collar locked over the nozzle after she inserted the paychip and Horizon groaned as she watched the numbers rise on the readout.

    Just to keep herself busy Horizon turned to glance around the fuel depot again. There were a couple more ground vehicles besides her van, one at the electrical charging station and another fueling up on ethane. Pure hydrogen fuel was typically reserved for aerospacecraft, or those who didn¡¯t want to be seen on IR sensors. She made sure the attendant was still focused on her tablet, then allowed her focus to drift. Sam, she thought. How much longer can we stretch out our funds?

    ¡°Considering we haven¡¯t had any new income in the past two months,¡± the AI answered. ¡°And our food and energy consumption¡­ I would estimate a month. Maybe six weeks if we stretch our reserves out.¡±

    The raccoon grumbled. The Friendlies had been very generous in allowing her and Shawn to keep the cash they¡¯d withdrawn for that ill-fated black market transaction, but living ¡°off the grid¡± was proving expensive on Surtur. How could we extend our reserves? She asked.

    ¡°For starters we could ditch the nerd,¡± Sam suggested.

    Out of the question, Horizon snarled silently.

    ¡°Are you sure,¡± Sam¡¯s avatar appeared in the middle of her field of view. ¡°Has he been any help since you set out on your own? His implants haven¡¯t even developed very far in all these months.¡±

    Horizon slammed a fist into the side of the pump. We are not letting them get any more of our people, visions of Jenny being carried off by a power armored goon played in front of her eyes. No more.

    ¡°Fine then,¡± the illusion of a red panda shrugged. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll just steal stuff.¡±

    I can live with that, the raccoon replied. So long as it¡¯s from the Company or someone else who deserves it.

    ¡°That¡¯s doable then,¡± Sam turned around to look behind her. ¡°You might as well start here.¡±

    The AI blinked out of view and Horizon saw the attendant¡¯s booth behind her. Said attendant had dropped his tablet and picked up a stun rod while Sam had been blocking her view. Horizon glanced back at the pump and noticed the dent her fist had made in the side.

    ¡°Damnit,¡± she sighed out loud. ¡°I was hoping I could get through the month without getting into any fights.¡±

    The attendant, a large and shaggy donkey of some sort, swung open the door to his booth and advanced towards her. ¡°Who the Hel are you?¡± he shouted. ¡°And why are you wearing that hologram?¡±

    Horizon sized him up, she should be able to knock him out quickly, faster if she wasn¡¯t careful about leaving him alive. Though the apparent fact that he¡¯d somehow seen through her hologram disturbed her. He started to raise his bludgeon and Horizon leapt forward. She bent his arm at the elbow, slamming the stun rod into his own forehead. The equine convulsed for a few moments, then collapsed.

    What the Hel just happened? Horizon demanded. How did he know that I was wearing a hologram?

    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Sam answered, sounding a bit sheepish. ¡°Your suit glitched for a moment when you backhanded that pump.¡±

    Well this is just great, the raccoon picked up the stun rod, prying it out of the unconscious attendant¡¯s hands. As she stood back up she spotted the other vehicles at the depot racing off. Might as well start my life of crime now, she thought with a sigh.

    Horizon dashed over to the vending machine next to the attendant¡¯s booth and wrenched the front open. Inside was a rack of assorted chip bags, protein bars, and other vaguely edible items. ¡°That¡¯ll only buy you another week,¡± Sam commented.

    Yeah, Horizon admitted, piling up snacks in her arms. We eat a lot don¡¯t we.

    ¡°Try and salvage some of the electronics too,¡± the AI suggested. ¡°Look for batteries.¡±

    Horizon yanked out a few components that looked important. She wasn¡¯t familiar enough with that kind of hardware to identify specific parts, that had been MechRat¡¯s area of expertise, but most of the parts she grabbed were large and solid. How long do we have before security forces arrive?

    ¡°Let me check,¡± Sam¡¯s avatar took a quick look around. After a couple minutes she stopped, staring off at some point off in the distance. ¡°Picking up a radio signal with Company security force encryption. Moving rapidly.¡±

    How fast? Horizon gathered up as many snacks and components as she could carry and dashed towards the van. After tossing them in the back she turned back to the hydrogen pump.

    ¡°I would estimate in the range of 300 to 400 kilometers per hour,¡± Sam answered. ¡°They should arrive in less than ten minutes.¡±

    Horizon¡¯s eyes widened and she lunged for the hydrogen tank, popping the line loose and tossing it carelessly aside. We need to go now! She thought. Horizon hurriedly strapped the tank in and leapt in the driver¡¯s seat. That kind of speed meant aircraft, with the higher horizon they could spot her from a great distance.

    She hit the ignition button and slammed it into gear, tearing across the pavement and down the road. Give me a map, she thought and a topographic map of the region appeared in the corner of her eye. She frantically searched the map for a place to hide the van. They were still over fifty kilometers from the campsite and unfortunately Sam¡¯s map was limited to her own recorded observations. She hadn¡¯t had the chance to scan much of this area yet.

    ¡°Eight minutes until they catch us,¡± Sam added. Horizon sped up and swerved along the road. She focused on a hill that she¡¯d spotted on the map. As she approached the hill she swerved towards it. But with a closer look at it she realized there was nowhere she could hide there like she¡¯d hoped. ¡°Seven minutes.¡±

    Horizon scanned her digital mental map for another possible hiding spot. There, two snow drifts with a narrow gap between them. Can we get a message to Shawn?

    ¡°Encrypted,¡± Sam replied. ¡°But it will be detected. Six minutes until arrival.¡±

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    The raccoon focused on the vole and composed a quick message. Under attack by aircraft, looking for a place to hide. Do not reply. After she shot the message off she lurched the van off the road and straight for the gap.

    ¡°Five minutes,¡± Sam stated. Horizon sped up towards the gap between the drifts, bouncing as the van drove over a bump in the terrain.

    She caught a glimpse of a small flying object off in the distance with the right-side mirror. ¡°Fuck!¡± she swore out loud. The odds that they hadn¡¯t been seen were slim to none now.

    The van lurched as it drove over another rock, beginning to tip to the left. ¡°No, no no!¡± Horizon struggled to keep the van upright, but her efforts were in vain. The vehicle fell onto its side and skidded the last few meters into the gap. It ground against both drifts, knocking loose snow that fell on top of the sideways van.

    Horizon gave herself a quick body scan. No major damage, just a couple bruised ribs that her leukosynths could fix in a matter of minutes. She jabbed the ignition, shutting the van down, and hit the release on her seat belt. The raccoon slumped onto the left door, which was temporarily filling in for the floor.

    As much as she would have preferred to lie there and heal, time was of the essence. Horizon turned and climbed over the side of her seat into the back of the van. Infrared she thought, and her vision shifted to shades of blue and red. Most of the cooling interior was a faint purplish shade, save for some red spots around the vents. She looked for the hydrogen tank she¡¯d just filled, but specific shapes were hard to discern in this spectrum.

    Eventually she found it, a box of dark blue, colder than the chilled air of the van. She carefully walked over to it, trying not to trip on the stolen parts and snack bags that had tumbled about in the crash. When she reached the tank she ran a hand over it, searching for punctures. She breathed a sign of relief when she found none. Reassured, Horizon moved onto the rear doors, felt for the handle, and pushed it open just a crack.

    Horizon peered through the crack into the blue-tinged outdoors. Deep blue flakes drifted down to the equally blue ground, but she could still spot one little red spot growing rapidly larger. Visible, she thought, and her vision switched back to normal. Against the dark night sky of Surtur the aircraft was invisible, not even running lights. She switched back to infrared and found the craft¡¯s heat signature again. Probably police and not military if they¡¯re giving off heat, that¡¯s some small relief.

    ¡°Surt Company security forces are still authorized to carry automatic weapons,¡± Sam stated. ¡°Based on their radio pulses I¡¯d estimate they are less than two minutes from arrival.¡±

    Camouflage me and dampen my heat signature, Horizon scanned for another place to hide. We can¡¯t stay here.

    Sam appeared in front of Horizon, looking concerned. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to fix your NiTan skeleton if I lower your temperature. Are you sure about that?¡±

    Horizon gritted her teeth and leapt out of the stranded van. Yes, multiple bullet wounds would be harder to heal. She broke out into a run, racing across the snow at top speed.

    The red spot in the sky grew larger and the sound of gunshots sounded as tracer rounds streaked overhead. Horizon dropped to the ground and rolled onto her back. In infrared she could see the small points of light as they flew, but mercifully they didn¡¯t come any closer to her.

    What little relief she felt as she laid there was dashed when she heard the explosion. She sat up and looked in the direction she¡¯d come, where she saw nothing but an expanding fireball.

    ¡°They must have hit the tank,¡± Sam stated.

    Gee, you think? Horizon snarled silently at her AI assistant. Now what are we going to do?

    Sam¡¯s avatar gave a shrug. ¡°Insufficient data.¡±

    Great, Horizon laid there, slowly slipping into despair. What could she do now?

    ¡°Enemy aircraft still approaching,¡± Sam reminded her. Horizon turned her attention back to the airborne heat source overhead. She followed it with her eyes as it descended, growing larger and larger.

    She switched back to the visible spectrum once it was the size of a beach ball in her perspective. A blinding light shone in her face for a few moments, then moved on, apparently they hadn¡¯t seen her. Is my camo working again? Horizon inquired.

    ¡°It is reasonably functional,¡± Sam answered. ¡°So long as you don¡¯t move very much. It has trouble compensating for motion.¡±

    Horizon followed the craft as it descended towards the burning vehicle. Two spotlights continued to sweep the ground underneath it. She picked up a pattern to their sweeps. If I move while they¡¯re looking away, I might be able to catch them when they land.

    ¡°It¡¯s risky,¡± Sam evaluated. ¡°But might work if you move quickly. You¡¯re losing body heat fast.¡±

    The raccoon leapt to her feet and raced as fast as the loose snow would let her towards her wrecked van. When she noticed the searchlights approaching she froze stiff, mere moments before the light touched her. The light continued on its way and Horizon broke off running again. However, after the second stop-and-go cycle, she noticed herself slowing down. Tiring, for the first time in quite a long time.

    Sam answered before she had a chance to ask. ¡°It¡¯s your metabolism, you¡¯re using up your ready reserves. If you want more energy you¡¯ll have to up-regulate your body temperature soon or you¡¯ll fall into a torpor.¡±

    Great, Horizon thought. I¡¯m on a timer too. She raced further towards the burning van as the searchlight arced her way.

    ¡°STOP!¡± Sam shouted just as the light covered her. Horizon froze mid-step, but that didn¡¯t stop the searchlight from pausing on top of her. She couldn¡¯t see anything in the blinding light as she stood there, stiff as a board, but she did hear the two large *thumps* hitting the snow.

    Motors revved and Horizon switched back to infrared, replacing the blinding light with a dull red glow. Two light orange blurs shaped like snowmobiles with riders swung around wide to face her and raced in her direction, one on either side of her. She waited, unable to move lest she risk getting gunned down. As they approached, Horizon noticed that the snowmobile on the left was veering slightly closer to her than the other, and came up with a plan.

    The snowmobile drove within five meters of her, and without even turning to look where she was going, she sprang. In moments, the cyborg¡¯s synthetic hindbrain had calculated an arc that would bring her on a collision course with the driver, knock them off, and grasp hold of the handlebars. Mid-air she switched back to the visible spectrum just in time to see the black-suited driver try to raise his handlebar-mounted weapon, but too late. Horizon tried not to think about the *crunch* she heard when they collided.

    She grabbed hold of the handlebar with her right hand and shoved the limp driver off with her left. The snowmobile swerved to the left, slightly towards the other vehicle. The other driver had barely enough time to look back before the cyborg blasted them with a burst of auto-fire from her newly appropriated gun.

    Bullets threw up snow behind her, forcing her to zig-zag randomly. She felt a dull spike of pain in her shoulder, a lucky bullet. No point hiding anymore, she thought. Restore metabolism to full. Heat spread out from the wound, along with pain, excruciating pain that reminded her she wasn¡¯t dead yet. This isn¡¯t sustainable, we need cover.

    She arced her zig-zagging path around the hill she¡¯d tried to hide the van under. The hill forced the aircraft¡¯s fire away from her for a short time, but quickly they crept closer again. She saw the fire from her burning van and swung the snowmobile around so the flames were to her back. Now she could see the aircraft clearly in the light of the fire, a VTOL carrier painted midnight blue, not dissimilar to the ones she¡¯d flown for the Friendly Society. Though of course most of their craft didn¡¯t have nose guns streaming tracer rounds.

    Horizon felt more bullets graze her side, arms, and reinforced skull as she ducked behind the windshield. With a grimace she tried to raise the gun to aim at the VTOL, determined not to go down without a fight.

    But before she could pull the trigger, the VTOL¡¯s portside rotor exploded in a flash of fire. The craft spun out of control, tumbling through the air as more gunshots sounded from the direction Horizon had been traveling, the same direction as the camp.

    She peered in the direction the shots had come from and spotted a tall, anthropomorphic figure. Shawn? She directed a focused radio burst at the figure. Is that you?

    Yeah, he answered. Sorry I took so long. This suit is fast, but not that fast. Are you okay?

    No, but I¡¯ll heal. Horizon looked herself over in the dim firelight. Examining her various wounds as they closed themselves and her suit cleaned itself of blood. I always heal.

 Horizon: Rebuilt, Chapter 15

    Horizon and Shawn picked over the wreckage they¡¯d created. The snowmobiles had only sustained some minor damage, so at least they had new vehicles for themselves. Finding and disabling the transponders was the hardest part. Stripping the drivers yielded a couple pistols, survival knives, and insulated suits that didn¡¯t fit either of them. The van was a complete loss, though some of the food and components Horizon had stolen could still be salvaged.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what we could do with these motors,¡± Shawn commented as he sorted through the parts. He picked up the solid metal block, ¡°this looks like a hard drive though. Where did you say you got these?¡±

    ¡°A vending machine,¡± Horizon stated. She picked up a half-melted protein bar. ¡°All this was for a vending machine.¡±

    Shawn sighed, the speakers on the power armor he wore amplifying the sound. ¡°Well, the Company never was one to let the slightest bit of scrip slip through their claws.¡±

    Sam appeared in front of the fading fire from the VTOL crash. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely such a dramatic response was prompted solely by the robbery. The Company probably identified you from security footage.¡±

    ¡°Of course they did,¡± the raccoon growled back. ¡°They saw my suit give out.¡±

    ¡°Likely,¡± the AI conceded. ¡°You should have stolen the security system instead of looting the vending machine.¡±

    Horizon kicked a glob of snow at Sam. The AI didn¡¯t even react as the snow passed through her hallucinatory avatar.

    ¡°I might be able to get something useful out of this,¡± Shawn interjected, holding up the drive. ¡°You¡¯d be surprised what data markets will buy.¡±

    ¡°Pack it up then,¡± Horizon sighed. She picked up what little food she could find, forced down the melted bar, and re-mounted her ¡°new¡± snowmobile. ¡°Maybe the VTOL will have something else we can salvage?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, yeah,¡± Shawn shoved the other snowmobile back onto its skis. It rocked almost onto its far side before he grabbed the handlebar in his powered gauntlet. When he released the bar, Horizon could see that it had bent.

    Horizon shook her head in disbelief. ¡°You got really lucky when you shot that VTOL down, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I fell over a lot,¡± the vole admitted. He reached up to his helmet and started to fumble with the release. ¡°It might be best if I take it off now.¡±

    She shrugged and walked over to help him remove the armor. Fortunately the Company¡¯s exo-suits were designed for rapid egress and she got him free in a matter of moments. They packed the suit onto the back of Horizon¡¯s snowmobile and zipped off towards the crashed gunship.

    The two slowed as they saw the fire from the gunship¡¯s fuel supply, Horizon could tell instantly from the shade of the flames that it was mostly hydrogen. The VTOL had landed on its side, crushing one of the rotating wings, from which a dim fire burned. She added ultraviolet light to her vision input and froze. A three-meter tall pillar of fire sprouted from the crushed wing of the gunship, searing the air around it.

    Is it safe to approach? Horizon asked Sam.

    ¡°Analyzing,¡± the AI hummed as she took in the available data. ¡°You should be safe so long as you keep to the intact side. I can¡¯t say one way or another about the safety of the interior though.¡±

    Horizon shrugged and stepped off of her snowmobile, switching the ignition off to save on fuel. She stopped, thinking about the hydrogen fire. If I remember correctly, the VTOLs used by the Friendlies had detachable fuel tanks in the wings. Is this one configured the same way?

    ¡°It¡¯s a stock design used all over Surtur,¡± Sam replied. ¡°It should be, but do you have the tools to remove it yourself?¡±

    For safety the valve shutoff is manual, Horizon thought. She turned to the power suit strapped to the back of her vehicle and started untying it. After closing it I just need to rip it out.

    The raccoon popped open the hatch on her suit and slipped inside, grateful that they had been afforded enough time to clean out the remains of the original occupant before they got kicked out of the Friendly Society. She felt a comforting warmth as she locked up her suit around her, she¡¯d almost forgotten just how cold it was outside. The suit still moved more slowly than her enhanced body, but with her implant interfacing with the controls it went smoothly and the hindbrain represented by Samantha kept her from overshooting.

    Carefully she strode slowly towards the gunship, scanning for threats, flipping between IR, UV and visible on a cycle. Horizon approached the uncrushed side of the aircraft, viewing the door in the infrared spectrum. The siding and handle appeared bright yellow, but still within her suit¡¯s tolerances. She cautiously wrapped her mechanized hand around the handle, and pulled the manual release.

    The hatch popped open, releasing a wave of heat that Horizon could feel even through her suit. She looked around for signs of movement, given how intact the craft was the possibility of survivors was strong. The floor of the main hold seemed to have dropped out save for a narrow bar spanning the length of the hold, the spaces it left were about the right size for the two snowmobiles they had stolen. In front was a small cabin with a single seat, slightly cocked from the impact with the ground. She saw a shadow shift on the far side of the pilot¡¯s seat.

    Horizon extended the stun baton on her suit¡¯s right arm and stepped towards the cabin. She grabbed the back of the seat with her left hand and yanked it backwards, revealing the pilot. They wore a cracked polymer helmet that concealed their face, but blood dripped out of their neck. Horizon retraced her baton and took hold of their helmet in both hands, lifting it carefully off. She couldn¡¯t tell whether she did that to make sure they were alive, or to ensure they were dead.

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    A white-furred feline face with small round ears and black markings lolled in front of her, bleeding from a few spots on their eyebrows and forehead. She tried to examine the figure for any signs of life. Sam, she asked after a cursory inspection. Are they alive?

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Sam replied. ¡°Wait, there¡¯s a slight breath but I doubt they¡¯ll¡­ Oh crap.¡±

    What?! Horizon silently exclaimed.

    Horizon¡¯s vision zoomed in on one of the cuts on the feline¡¯s forehead. Through the dense fur she could see a thin line of red crust slowly disintegrating to reveal smooth skin underneath. ¡°They¡¯re healing! This guy has military-grade leukosynths.¡±

    They¡¯re augmented? Horizon thought. How is this possible? What do we do?

    ¡°My best hypothesis is that the Company got hold of a Federation-era supply of nanotech,¡± the AI suggested. ¡°The Company might have recovered enough samples of your leukosynths that they might have found a way to breed them, but it¡¯s unlikely. In either case catastrophic brain trauma should be enough to kill them permanently.¡±

    Horizon extended her baton again and slammed it down on the pilot¡¯s face, cracking their muzzle and opening more blood vessels but it didn¡¯t seem like enough to kill them. She slammed the baton down again and again, until she heard their skull crack. Then she turned away, grabbed a survival bag off the wall and threw it outside, and exited.

    She yelled ¡°get that!¡± to Shawn and turned to the wing. The fuel tank was hidden underneath a black-painted aluminum panel that she almost missed, but with her cybernetically and suit-enhanced vision the hinges were readily apparent. Horizon dug her suit¡¯s fingers into the seam and ripped it free, revealing the removable tank. Thank archons for corporate standardization.

    ¡°What happened in there?¡± Shawn called as he grabbed the survival bag and hauled it off to his snowmobile. ¡°Is it going to explode or something?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Horizon replied. ¡°The team might not be dead yet. We need to clear out before they pick themselves back up.¡±

    ¡°What do you-¡± the vole stopped as he realized what she was saying. ¡°You don¡¯t think they have implants do you?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t just shatter the pilot¡¯s skull for nothing,¡± Horizon retorted. She closed the double valve on the fuel line feeding out of the tank. ¡°At least one of these guys had leukosynths.¡±

    She grabbed the handles on the tank with both hands and pulled. At first it didn¡¯t budge but as her suit¡¯s motors strained the locks cracked and the pipeline twisted. Then with one last wrench the tank came free. The end of the pipe came free with the tank as Horizon staggered back.

    ¡°RUN!¡± Sam warned. Horizon looked up at the wing she¡¯d removed the tank from, and saw that both valves had been torn free. Meaning that the fuel inside the line was leaking free into the air. She turned and raced off towards the snowmobiles.

    An explosion sounded behind Horizon, rocking her with its shockwave. She felt chunks of debris bounce off her back and shoulder, but they didn¡¯t penetrate her armor. As she staggered over she glanced down at the tank, suddenly worried that it might have ruptured. She scanned it in IR, and it read as cold as the surroundings.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Shawn shouted out, already revving up his snowmobile with the survival pack strapped to the back.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she replied. Horizon laid the fuel tank on the back of the other snowmobile and started pulling straps over it. ¡°Get going, I¡¯ll catch up.¡±

    Shawn sped off into the distance and Horizon locked the straps into place. She turned to take one last look at the latest disaster caused by the entities chasing her. The wreck of the tilt-rotor craft was left in tatters, flames spilling out of countless holes in the fuselage and wings. She doubted anyone could have survived that now, even with leukosynths.

    Still, there were the other two, the snowmobile drivers. They¡¯d been left stripped in the snow after she¡¯d broken their neck or filled them with bullets. But if they were augmented¡­

    Horizon turned her snowmobile towards the battlefield. Quickly she came upon the corpse of the first trooper, the one she¡¯d pounced upon. He laid face-down upon the snow, a white-furred hare with small ears, head bent at almost a right angle. She gave him a quick look-over and confirmed that he wasn¡¯t moving before moving on. Just as she began to rev up the engine again she saw movement from the direction of the remaining trooper.

    Her vision switched to infrared, revealing a figure glowing in yellow and red, burning hotter than a normal body. Almost reflexively Horizon fired both the carbine on her snowmobile and the gun mounted on her suit¡¯s shoulder. Hot streams of blood flowed out of the trooper¡¯s torso and head, jerking as if on strings, then he collapsed.

    She turned back to the trooper with the broken neck, he still wasn¡¯t moving but she aimed her shoulder cannon at his head regardless. Horizon hesitated before sending the trigger signal, it didn¡¯t seem right to shoot a helpless enemy, even if they were already dead. And was there even a reason to? The VTOL had doubtlessly been transmitting as it went down, it was already too late to start silencing the witnesses.

    Horizon left the incapacitated Company trooper behind, eager to leave the scene before reinforcements finally arrived.

    ---

    She spent the better part of an hour driving back and forth across the landscape, creating false trails for the Company to follow, driving over her own tracks so many times. Eventually Horizon was satisfied with the misdirection she¡¯d created and headed home.

    The campsite was hidden in a small valley twenty kilometers from the outpost where she¡¯d been spotted. A small tear-down habitat dome was buried under almost a meter of snow, with a garage nearby made from a prefab shed that was big enough to hide the van that had just been destroyed. She stopped three meters from the door to the garage and dismounted to check the interior. With a glance the door slid open and Horizon breathed a sigh of relief, the other snowmobile was inside and unpacked, with plenty of room now that the van was gone. She pulled in her snowmobile and shucked out of her exo-suit, hanging it in its improvised rack. After setting the new hydrogen tank well away from any of the vehicles Horizon headed for the dome.

    After entering through the ¡°airlock¡± doors and shaking the snow off her boots Horizon found Shawn sitting in front of the heater using his laptop. The vending machine hard drive that she¡¯d stolen sat on the floor next to him with a cable from his laptop plugged into the side. His head swung towards her as she opened the inner door, eyes wide and ears raised, but relaxed as he realized it was her.

    ¡°Did you lose them?¡± he inquired.

    Horizon nodded. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we should be good for now, but we should make plans to move again.¡±

    ¡°Already?¡± Shawn replied. ¡°We¡¯ve only been here for a couple weeks¡­¡± he remembered the events of the day and sighed. ¡°Okay yeah, we should get moving soon. But I found something on this drive that we should extract first.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Horizon turned her head curiously.

    ¡°It¡¯s the vending machine¡¯s digital wallet,¡± he explained. ¡°And it¡¯s using the old software, this thing hasn¡¯t been updated in years.¡±

    The raccoon peered over the vole¡¯s shoulder at the screen, it showed a progress bar on his cracking program, only at 17%. ¡°How much money do you think is in it?¡± she inquired.

    ¡°For security reasons they have armored cars physically visit these machines and both collect their sacs and install updates,¡± Shawn replied. ¡°If nobody¡¯s bothered to visit this machine there could be thousands on it.¡±

    Horizon glanced aside and visualized Sam¡¯s avatar, see, she thought. He¡¯s useful after all.

    ¡°That remains to be seen,¡± the AI retorted.

 Horizon: Rebuilt, Chapter 16

    Horizon stood in the back of a dusty bar, designer cannabis smoke wafting over from the nearby booths. Her leukosynths neutralized the THC, and various other intoxicants in the smoke, but the smell covered everything, and she didn¡¯t want to cut off her sense of smell in case she needed it. Not trusting her smartsuit¡¯s camouflage after the fueling station incident, she¡¯d covered herself in heavy clothes, bleached the fur on her head and tail, and even adjusted her metabolism slightly to pad out her torso and thighs.

    How late is Shawn? Horizon silently asked.

    ¡°Surprisingly,¡± Samantha answered. ¡°He still has three minutes left before our designated check-in time.¡±

    Horizon sighed and approached the bar. You can prevent me from getting drunk, right? She flagged down the bartender and ordered a large dark beer, paying for it immediately with a swipe of a paychip. As she drank, she swore she could swear she felt the microbots in her stomach burning away the alcohol. She was about halfway done with her drink when a text message appeared in the corner of her eye.

    Shawn: Found them, they¡¯re headed your way. Leopard in a blue coat.

    Horizon: Did you tell them to speak to an arctic fox?

    Shawn: You don¡¯t really look that much like a fox, but yeah I have him your description.

    Horizon raised an eyebrow in the direction of the door as she took another sip of her beer, the consistency reminiscent of a fermented milkshake. After a couple more minutes a whitish-gray snow leopard came through the door, thick fur bursting out of a patchy blue jacket. Horizon didn¡¯t react as they took a seat at the bar and ordered a hot drink. Once the bartender took their order and turned away the leopard held up a cupped hand towards the bleached raccoon, a data card in the center of their palm.

    Horizon took out her paychip and handed it to them under the counter, allowing them to pass the data card in the same manner. The leopard slipped the chip into their pocket, collected their drink, and walked over to one of the booths. Horizon continued to watch them out of the corner of her eye as they unfolded a tablet and inserted the paychip. One of their eyes widened and their gaze shifted back towards Horizon for a moment.

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong,¡± Sam stated.

    That could be, Horizon replied. But let¡¯s not get carried away yet. We have what we came for, if they confront us, we run, but wait for my signal.

    The snow leopard slowly returned to the bar, sidling up next to Horizon and setting their drink down in front of her. ¡°We need to talk,¡± they whispered.

    Horizon gave them a curious look as she felt her muscles tense in preparation to defend herself. ¡°What is there to discuss?¡±

    They held up their tablet, folded so that it would be difficult to read from the side but facing Horizon. It displayed a wallet app bearing a number: 4997.37.

    Horizon stared back at the display for a few moments before she figured out what it was. ¡°Oh, my bad,¡± she apologized. She held up her half-empty glass. ¡°I was getting bored waiting and bought a drink.¡±

    ¡°And you used the same chip?¡± the snow leopard retorted.

    ¡°I had just the one chip,¡± Horizon explained. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll give you the rest.¡± She tapped the tablet with a finger, Sam near-instantly transferring 2.63 sacs from the wallet stored on her neural implant into the tablet.

    The leopard pulled the tablet back to read it again, eyes widening and ears raised in surprise. ¡°You¡¯re a¡­ borg?¡± they whispered.

    Horizon started to rise off her stool, letting a hint of a glare appear on her face. ¡°Is that a problem?¡± she inquired.

    They started to inch back from the bar nervously. ¡°No, it¡¯s¡­ fine. I just¡­¡± the snow leopard stood and ran for the door.

    The raccoon glanced at the still-steaming mug they¡¯d left, then shook her head and gulped down the rest of her beer. Horizon grabbed the snep¡¯s abandoned mug and brought it up to her muzzle as she asked Sam what are the chances they¡¯ll turn me in?

    ¡°High,¡± the AI replied. ¡°I planted a virus on their device, would you like me to disable it?¡±

    No, Horizon replied as she sniffed the drink, even over the cannabis smoke she could identify cocoa, cinnamon, and potato vodka. Just warn me if they call anyone. She was tempted to ask why Sam had planted a virus without asking, but by now she figured there was no point.

    Horizon departed the bar, trying desperately not to look like she was in a hurry. In the back of her mind she reviewed the data from the card. It seemed to confirm her suspicions about Niflheim. There was some kind of ship or station in Surt¡¯s trailing Trojan asteroids, Company public records claimed it to be simply a research base, but four Jord years ago a pirate had attempted to raid it. Some unknown weapons fire had vaporized the pirate craft in a burst of nuclear fire. Additionally, many had noted that certain augmented individuals had disappeared without a trace within days of the base¡¯s monthly resupply by mass driver. Including Jenny.

    The cyborg raccoon ducked behind a sign to read the data more closely without worrying about collisions with traffic. When was the next resupply? She found the list of previous launches and made some quick calculations based on the orbital data of Surt¡¯s moons. Horizon tensed as she realized that the next optimal launch window would be in just twelve hours. Sam, she inquired. How likely would it be that we could break into the mass driver by tomorrow?

    ¡°Extremely unlikely,¡± the AI answered. ¡°There are hundreds of armed guards, at least a dozen in exo-suits, biometric locks, auto-turrets, and air patrols. Even if you managed to hijack a launch pod, the Company fleet could just shoot it down, to say nothing of Niflheim¡¯s own armament.¡± Images of the toroidal mass driver with its cannon-like launch ramp appeared around her panda avatar. Along with pics of the aforementioned security measures. ¡°Maybe if we had a few months to gather resources¡­¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    But we don¡¯t, Horizon retorted. We have hours, at best. I need a workable plan of action.

    ¡°Tanya?¡± Horizon looked up to see Shawn running towards her. ¡°What the Hel happened? I just got reamed on mesh by Searan and now they¡¯re saying that they¡¯re calling the cops.¡±

    Horizon lunged and picked the vole up by the collar. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me that your friend was a total borgophobe!¡± she snarled. ¡°How did you even find someone like that? I thought your forum was all technophiles?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Shawn looked confused for a moment as he thought back. ¡°Well, they said some things about ghuls and liches, but it didn¡¯t seem like anything out of the ordinary¡­ At least you got the data, right?¡±

    The augmented raccoon swung Shawn around and flung him down the street. He flew far in the low gravity, five meters, ten, fifteen¡­ far further than any un-augmented parahuman could be expected to throw him. The vole finally landed on the ground, skidding across the snow in a long line until he came to a halt.

    Wary that her outburst may have attracted attention, Horizon peered around the corner of her hiding place. There, she spied a security officer tracing Shawn¡¯s arc of travel back towards her, one hand on their dart pistol.

    Time slowed as Horizon leapt for the officer, claws extended. They drew their gun, but barely managed to raise it before the cyborg¡¯s titanium claws were on them. Horizon barely felt the dart stab her in the thigh at point-blank range, her leukosynths neutralizing the drugs it carried as quickly as they hit her bloodstream. She yanked the gun out of their hand, shredding their flesh in the process, and smashed it against a nearby wall.

    Horizon felt the officer¡¯s arm snap, satisfied that they were sufficiently incapacitated he threw him aside. The subsonic whine of rotors approaching drew her gaze upwards and she just barely dodged the net fired from the drone. Her peripheral vision caught sight of a few electrical arcs and pops where the net¡¯s fibers contacted the snow. A stun net? she thought, perfect.

    The cyborg ducked and wove at inhuman speeds while the drone tried to line up another shot. Two more drones approached rapidly. While she was distracted by the new drones a rock sailed through the air towards the first one, coming up a meter low. The drone turned its launcher towards the new target, a vole searching for another projectile to throw.

    ¡°Get out of here!¡± Horizon shouted at Shawn, but it was too late. Another stun net wrapped itself around him. Shawn was knocked to the ground, convulsing as the shocks pulsed through his nervous system. Horizon leapt to assist him, grabbing the net and attempting to tear it off even as it shocked her.

    Current blazed through her fingers, but she managed to tear the net loose. Automatic fire burst behind her, bullets burying themselves in her back. Horizon muttered a curse; she¡¯d let herself get distracted. She spun around, ignoring the expanding tears in her back muscles, and saw the drones take up positions around her. One of the new drones had a net launcher like the first one, but the other was armed with a machine gun instead. The machine gun drone hovered to her right, while the net drones flew to her left and ahead of her. While behind her an armored ground transport was just screeching to a halt.

    Surrounded, Horizon chose to dive directly into the line of fire of the drone ahead of her. Its net caught her, too slow to dodge it with the bullet holes in her. She sprawled on the ground, under the net, unable to throw it off. Every time she tried to move a shock made her muscles convulse. She spotted a trooper in an exo-suit jumping out of the transport and stomp towards her, shoulder gun leveled.

    Horizon¡¯s current-numbed skin couldn¡¯t feel the darts, but she heard them launching. The sheer quantity of drugs finally began to overwhelm her leukosynths, and her vision started to fade. The last thing she saw was Shawn starting to run only to fall again seconds later.

    Whatever happened next was a blur. She could remember getting picked up and moved by people in exo-suits multiple times, being transported in the back of a truck along with a motionless Shawn, and then when the drugs began to clear out, she found herself strapped to a gurney propped up against a wall.

    Her muzzle and extremities were enclosed in devices that afforded her no movement. Her every appendage was held down by some sort of restraints, her eyes the only thing she could move. Next to her she could make out a sealed crate clamped onto the floor, and a vole affixed to a similar apparatus to herself.

    Before she could think of trying to speak to Shawn she was shoved back by a sudden force of gravity. The acceleration, she thought it felt like at least 4 Gs sitting on her chest like an elephant, continued for what felt like an eternity before leveling off. The weight pressing her down lessened before vanishing altogether. Now it felt like ¡°down¡± was solely towards her stomach, null-G, they were in space again.

    Horizon attempted to move her arm, nothing happened, she didn¡¯t even feel the muscles tense. Sam, she thought, what¡¯s happening?

    The AI remained silent. Sam, what¡¯s going on? Where are you? Still nothing. Did her brain implant short out? Was she now trapped in her body, paralyzed?

    A snapping sound drew her attention, Shawn tossed aside a simple zip-tie cuff. Another few snaps and the vole stumbled out into the air, flipping over and crashing into the crate in front of him. Horizon rolled her eyes, the only thing she could do, at the newcomer to microgravity.

    After several minutes he managed to right himself and reached out towards Horizon. ¡°I¡¯m really hoping this is you,¡± he commented, grasping at the mask covering her muzzle. Shawn fumbled with something on the sides of the mask, and eventually she felt it come off.

    Horizon took a few deep breaths. ¡°Thank you,¡± she managed to gasp out despite her breath¡¯s refusal to come in.

    ¡°Tanya,¡± Shawn asked. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t move anything below my neck,¡± Horizon replied. ¡°Thanks for removing the mask.¡±

    ¡°I tried meshing you after I woke up, but you weren¡¯t receiving.¡± The vole leaned close to Horizon, eyes narrowed in concentration. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Horizon inquired.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting some kind of signal interference around you,¡± Shawn poked at a panel in the side of the gurney. ¡°Maybe I can deactivate it somehow.¡±

    Horizon heard the click of several buttons being pushed, followed by an alarm buzz. Shawn swore and tried punching a few different buttons, with the same result. ¡°Just break it open!¡± Horizon shouted after the third attempt.

    ¡°Okay, okay, I think there¡¯s an access point here,¡± Shawn grabbed hold of something outside her limited field of vision and braced himself against her gurney. After a minute or so of grunting and wrenching something cracked and the vole went flying back.

    A prickling sensation flowed all over her body, like her foot had fallen asleep but for everything but her head. In front of her a hazy outline slowly coalesced into the form of a red panda woman. ¡°Connection¡­ established!¡± Sam¡¯s avatar shook herself off in exasperation. ¡°Damn I hate EMP jamming!¡±

    Is that what that was? Horizon attempted to tense her arm muscles, and this time she felt them respond. She yanked hard against her restraints and heard the satisfying snap of cables and bolts.

    ¡°Hey! Careful!¡± Sam cautioned. ¡°I couldn¡¯t heal you while those jammers were active!¡±

    Horizon pulled her arm out in front of her, the entire forearm was encased in some sort of metal sleeve. She reached out with it towards the tumbling Shawn, and he grabbed hold. ¡°Sorry,¡± she apologized. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean for you to get captured too. But if you hadn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to break free.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, good thing they zipped me up with such wimpy ties, guess they weren¡¯t expecting me to be augmented too.¡± Shawn¡¯s eyes twitched as he registered what she¡¯d just said. ¡°Too? Wait, you wanted to get captured?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Horizon stated as she tried to find some sort of release mechanism on her sleeve.

    ¡°Why?¡± Shawn inquired, confused.

    ¡°Because,¡± Horizon answered. ¡°We¡¯re going to Niflheim.¡±