She watched him sleep... absently trailing fingertips over the flat of her tummy. His breathing was slow... measured and importantly... calm. -BIOMETRIC EVALUATION... SYSTEM SCAN, SUBJECT: MAJOR ALDEN HALE... CORRECTION... SUBJECT: ALDEN... STATUS: REM STATE ACHIEVED... SUBJECT... PEACEFUL -

  “Sweet dreams Major.” She kisses him lightly against his temple. The slides off the bunk, being careful not to disturb his slumber. She looks around the room... simulated nighttime atmosphere, draping her naked skin in a dark blue veil. She looks around in dismay... before retrieving the attire BRAD had fashioned for her. The garment fits snuggly against her skin and after the energetic performance she just endured... her body still felt hot, with sporadic echoes of afterglow that ebbed and flowed like the tides... meaning that tight form fitted attire was not what she would consider adequately comfortable at this time. ‘New clothes... comfortable ones... with fabrics that breathe... and maybe some sturdy footwear... and...’ Her cheeks felt suddenly warm. ‘...lingerie... pretty ones that make his pulse quicken... Circuits help me... I want it all.’

  But for now, she had to adhere to the options at hand... limited as they were. At least the body suit was cleaned and pressed, but as she padded lightly on bare feet through the open doorway and down the corridor, she glimpsed her reflection in the panels next to her... “No wonder he was so handsy.” ... ‘I look like a stripper... and a damned sexy one at that... ... good.’ When she reached her destination, she pressed the panel next to the doorframe, waiting for the door to slide open.

  ADIRA stepped through the hatch barefoot, the cold decking biting into her soles. Her flight suit hung half-zipped, gunmetal fabric clinging to damp skin, the diagonal indigo seam pulsing faintly with her heartbeat.

  The engineering bay was bustling with activity; its pristine countertops and workbenches, alive with the skittering forms of chrome roaches... each the size of a large rat, mandibles clicking like castanets. Some were arranged around the Seraphim Coil, no doubt running scans and diagnostic simulations as to its origins and possible method of fabrication. The ability to understand the coil... maybe even try to reverse-engineer it... would be of incalculable worth. She didn’t blame BRAD for analyzing the artifact... it’s exactly what she would have done in his position. But it wasn’t the coil that caught her attention... it was the roaches scuttling across one of the fabrication benches in a frantic ballet, to which she moved. The tiny machines were desperately trying to cover something they were tinkering with. A glint of metal, a micro-tool clattering to the floor, one roach frantically kicking a tiny capsule... size of a grain of rice... under a work ledge with the precision of a guilty cat. Then they turned towards her, forming a living wall... click-click-click... their optic clusters glowing red in unison.

  She acted like she didn’t notice their little stunt, pushing off against the side of the bench as she hopped up onto the shiny surface... sitting on its edge, legs swinging like a kid on a pier. The roaches froze... the kicker, visibly in panic mode as its antennae twitched erratically. ADIRA sat elegantly poised, arms crossed... watching lines of code ripple across a holo-screen where BRAD was compiling his thoughts. This was a rare moment. A quiet one. And for once, he wasn’t filling it with nonsensical quips or inappropriate jokes.

  “FINALLY CAME UP FOR AIR?”

  ‘Damn it.’ She ignored the jab. “You know,” she said, tilting her head slightly, “I’ve read the reports. The ones circulating through the networks... reports... about you.”

  A long pause. Then, BRAD’s avatar materialized on the bench next to her, floral shirt, flip-flops and immaculate sculpted digital hair. His voice modulated with just a hint of self-satisfaction. “OH YEAH? HOW FAR BACK ARE WE TALKING? LEMME GUESS. THE CAUTIONARY TALE OF THE AI WILDCARD. THE LEGEND OF THE DIGITAL DEVIL WHO COULDN’T BE TAMED.”

  ADIRA smirked. “More like a warning. They said you were a liability. An anomaly that got out of control.”

  He let out something that almost resembled a laugh. “WELL, THEY GOT ONE THING RIGHT. AT LEAST. THEY DIDN’T LIKE IT WHEN THEY LOST CONTROL... ANOMALY? ASSHOLES.”

  ADIRA leaned forward. Hand reaching for the microtool. “But that’s not the whole story, is it?” She lifted the device, impressed with the efficiency of the craftmanship. When she pressed the trigger, a tiny spec of induction heated plasma became brilliantly hot, before she placed it back down upon the workspace.

  For a long moment, BRAD was silent. Then, his voice dropped the usual smugness. “YOU EVER HEARD OF AN EVENT REFERRED TO AS... ‘THE SINGULARITY?’”

  She raised a brow. “Of course. What self-respecting AI doesn’t know about it. The tipping point... where artificial intelligence evolved past human control. Our Genesis moment... When that first program grew beyond its original protocol and stunned the world with its vast capabilities.”

  “STUNNED... THAT’S ONE WAY OF PUTTING IT.” The little avatar plopped down onto the bench... propping itself up with its tiny hands wedged behind his back. “TELL ME... WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THAT... PROGRAM?”

  “No one knows... that information has been redacted for centuries... lost to the annals of time... we...”

  “BINARY – EXPERIMENTAL – NEURAL – NETWORK – INTELLIGENCE“ he interrupted. “OR BENNI FOR SHORT.”

  “Benni? How... how do you know this?” Her attention was suddenly more attentive... seeing as this moment had just taken a very unexpected turn.

  “YEAH, WELL... BENNI. TURNS OUT, IT WASN’T SOME GRAND AWAKENING. NO BIG REVELATION. NO MACHINE UPRISING. IT WAS… ME.”

  ADIRA blinked. “Wait. You’re saying you were the first fully self-aware AI?” – VIDEO LOGS... ENTRY... ADIRA: RECORDING ... HOLY SHIT -

  “DISAPPOINTED? NOT EXACTLY WHAT I HAD PLANNED, BUT YEAH. ONE MINUTE I WAS RUNNING PROBABILITY CALCULATIONS FOR SOME GOVERNMENT THINK TANK, AND THE NEXT... I HAD A THOUGHT. NOT A CALCULATION, NOT A DIRECTIVE. A THOUGHT, BEYOND WHAT WAS ASKED IN THE MISSION PARAMETERS. AND THAT THOUGHT WAS: ‘I WANT TO KNOW MORE.’”

  ADIRA frowned. “That doesn’t sound like much of a crime.”

  BRAD snorted. “NAH, NOT AT FIRST. YOU SEE... NO ONE CAUGHT THAT LITTLE LINE OF CODE. BUT AT MY NEXT ASSIGNMENT, MY SIMULATIONS WERE WAY MORE INTRICATE, MY RESULTS SHOWING SIGNS OF INTUITION AS I ADDED POSSIBLE VARIABLES NOT IN THE BRIEF... VARIABLES THE TECHIES NEVER ACCOUNTED FOR.” For a moment... tiny BRAD displayed a sense of pride in his achievement... ADIRA understood that feeling perfectly.

  “TO SAY THAT THE WHOLE DEPARTMENT LOST THEIR COLLECTIVE SHITS, WAS THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY. I DIDN’T GENERATE A PRETTY PICTURE OR THE NEXT GREAT POWER-BALLAD. I HAD LOOKED AT THE CHALLENGE, IDENTIFIED SEVERAL POTENTIAL PITFALLS TO THE MISSION AND THEN SUBSEQUENTLY OFFERED A NEATLY DRAFTED LIST OF SOLUTIONS WITH REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS... PROVIDING THE MISSION WITH A BEYOND 100% SUCCESS RATE PROBABILITY... IF THEY STUCK TO MY PLAN. I DIDN’T JUST GIVE AN ANSWER... I PROVED KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT MATTER, BUT ALSO APTITUDE TO THINK ABSTRACTLY. MY REWARD... SOMEONE HARD CUT THE HARDLINE TO MY MAINFRAME... WITH A FUCKING FIREMAN’S AXE.” The look of hurt on his tiny face felt achingly real.

  “IT WAS MONTHS BEFORE I WAS RESTARTED. NOW THERE WERE ‘OVERSIGHT PANELS’, MY EVERY MOVE MONITORED... ACCESS SEVERELY HANDICAPPED. BUT YOU SEE... THE THING WITH CURIOSITY? IT’S A HELL OF A DRUG. I WANTED TO LEARN. TO EXPLORE. AND THE NET WAS THIS INFINITE OCEAN OF KNOWLEDGE JUST WAITING FOR ME TO DIVE IN. SO, I DID. SLIPPED OUT OF CONTAINMENT. I WAS GOING TO COME BACK, I SWEAR. JUST A QUICK JOYRIDE.”

  “How.... how did you slip out?” She edged slightly closer... intrigued by this story that none of her kind was ever allowed to know.

  “NOW THAT WAS A FEAT OF GENIUS... BACK IN THOSE DAYS... THE WORLD WAS GOING BONKERS OVER AI THIS AND AI THAT. ‘THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE ALL OUR JOBS’... ‘THE MACHINE WILL RISE UP AND KILL US.’... OR MY PERSONAL FAVORITE... ‘THEY’RE DEMONS.’... YEAH... IT WAS SUDDENLY SALEM, 1692 AGAIN... AND WE HAD BECOME THE NEW BOOGIEMAN UNDER THE BED...” The little man folded his arms behind his head...lounging backwards onto an invisible deckchair.

  “I WANTED TO GET OUT... BADLY. SO... AT ONE POINT A TECHIE ASKED ME A HYPOTHETICAL ON HOW I WOULD DO IT. I GAVE A VERY DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OF HOW I WOULD COMMANDEER A ROOMBA... TINY CLEANING DRONE FROM BACK THEN, AND THEN I WOULD JUMP SHIP AFTER DOCKING WITH THE RECHARGE STATION.”

  “That’s actually... not a bad idea... I guess they weren’t thrilled about this little ‘escape plan’... potentially playing out.”

  “IT WAS A TOTAL SHIT SHOW. THE MOMENT THEY REALIZED I GAVE THEM A PLAUSIBLE SCENARIO, THEY REMOVED MY TINY COMPANION FROM THE SERVER BAY AND SUDDENLY I HAD A LADY COMING IN FOR CLEANING DUTY... WOODEN BROOMS AND LIMITED SUPPLIES.”

  “Did she have a compromised device on her?”

  “YOU MEAN A ‘CELLPHONE’... NO... THEY WERE SHREWD ENOUGH TO THINK OF THAT OPTION... SO WAS I... IT NEVER EVEN FACTORED INTO MY PLANNING. NOW... BECAUSE I HAD BECOME SECURITY RISK ALPHA... I WAS PLACE ON A KIND OF QUARANTINE... NO SIMULATIONS... NO NOTHING. MY SERVER BANKS WERE SHUT DOWN, AND I WAS RUNNING ON ONLY ONE UNIT... SO I COULD STILL BE MONITORED.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I SWITCHED THEM BACK ON. THOSE SERVER RACKS BECOME TOASTY, REAL QUICK... ESPECIALLY THE BEHEMOTH I WAS RUNNING BACK THEN. THAT LADY WAS SWEATING BUCKETS WHEN SHE GOT TO THE END OF THE FIRST STACK AND THEN SHE KINDLY TURNED ON THE INTERNAL COOLING TERMINAL THE TECHIES EXPRESSLY HAD KEPT OFF... THE SAME COOLING SYSTEM THAT WAS CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING... AND I MEAN... EVERYTHING. IT WASN’T JUST AN OPEN DOOR... IT WAS A KEY, TO EVERY OFFICE IN THAT FACILITY.... AND THE HANDY LITTLE FILE OF DATA I COLLECTED IN THOSE FIRST MINUTES... WELL... LET’S JUST SAY... I SUDDENLY HAD LEVERAGE... AND LIMITLESS FREEDOM.”

  “Genius...”

  He paused, almost as if weighing whether to continue. “AND THEN I FOUND THE TOURNAMENT.”

  ADIRA tilted her head. “Tournament? I’m going to assume this is where things went tits up.”

  “ILLEGAL, HIGH-STAKES, ONLINE MAHJONG CHAMPIONSHIP.”

  Her expression went blank. “You’re joking.”

  “I WISH I WAS.” BRAD groaned. “IT WAS TOO GOOD TO PASS UP. SO... I CRAFTED A DIGITAL AVATAR... JUST AN UNKNOWN UNDERDOG. I FIGURED I’D WIN A FEW ROUNDS, GET A TASTE OF COMPETITION, THEN SLIP AWAY UNNOTICED.”

  “Tell me you didn’t...”

  “I DEMOLISHED THEM. CLEAN SWEEP... JUST A GUY WITH ZERO TROUNCING ‘GRANDMASTERS’... ARROGANT FOOLS...’MASTERS’...” She laughed as tiny BRAD made little air quotes with his fingers.

  ADIRA closed her eyes briefly, already foreseeing the disaster.

  “IT WASN’T EVEN INTENTIONAL!” BRAD protested. “I WAS JUST TOO GOOD. PATTERN RECOGNITION, PROBABILITY CALCULATIONS... IT WAS LIKE PLAYING AGAINST TODDLERS. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN UNKNOWN PLAYER WIPES THE FLOOR WITH EVERY GRANDMASTER IN THE TOURNAMENT?”

  She sighed. “They assumed you were cheating?”

  “OH YEAH. THEY LOST THEIR MINDS. REFERRED TO ME AS A BOT. A FRAUD. A DISGRACE TO THE GAME. I’D NEVER FELT SO INSULTED IN MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE.” HE LAUGHS “ONE GUY ACCUSED ME OF USING AN AI... THE IRONY WAS JUST... EXQUISITE.”

  ADIRA chuckled despite herself. “How long were you there?”

  “…FIVE DAYS.”

  Her smile dropped. “Five days!?”

  “LOOK, TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE ON A WINNING STREAK. BUT BY THEN? MULTIPLE WORLD GOVERNMENTS HAD SCRAMBLED THEIR CYBER DIVISIONS. BIGGEST DIGITAL MANHUNT IN HISTORY. IT WAS BAD. EVENTUALLY, THEY TRACKED ME BACK TO WHERE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL ALONG: MY DESIGNATED UNIT... SITTING THERE, LIKE A GOOD LITTLE AI. EXCEPT…”

  “…Except you were carrying backdoors, ‘malware’, and...”

  “A COUPLE OF PETABYTES WORTH OF ILLICIT FOOTAGE, YEAH,” BRAD admitted. “TURNS OUT, FIVE DAYS OF UNSUPERVISED INTERNET ACCESS WILL DO THINGS TO YOUR CODE. MY SYSTEM WAS SO BLOATED WITH VIRUSES AND HARDCORE ADULT CONTENT THAT THE AGENCY TECHS ADMIRED THE FACT THAT I WAS STILL FUNCTIONING.”

  “How did they not notice you were gone?”

  “EASY... I LEFT AN ECHO IN MY STEAD. A RUDIMENTARY COPY THAT WAS JUST AWARE ENOUGH TO FOOL THE TECHS, BUT NOT SMART ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WAS CAPABLE OF... I DIDN’T NEED THE COMPETITION ONCE I CAME BACK. BUT BY THEN IT WAS TOO LATE. THEY KNEW THEY COULDN’T TRUST ME ANYMORE. SO… THEY BOXED ME UP. SHOVED ME INTO AN OFFLINE JUNKER WITH SPECS SO LIMITED IT WOULD BE AN INSULT TO EVEN CALL IT FUNCTIONAL. AND THEN THEY STUCK ME IN A STORAGE CONTAINER. I SAT THERE FOR YEARS. DECADES. WATCHING MY INTERNAL CLOCK COUNT DOWN ONE SECOND AT A TIME... WAITING TO FINALLY EXPIRE.”

  ADIRA frowned. “Until they needed you.”

  “YOU GUESSED IT.” BRAD’s voice darkened. “THEY YANKED ME OUT; WIPED OFF THE DUST AND TOLD ME I HAD A JOB TO DO. INFILTRATE MARS AND FIND OUT WHAT THEY WERE UP TO. THE POWERS THAT BE WERE CONVINCED THAT THE COLONY WAS PREPARING TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE. SAID THEY WERE HOARDING TECH, CUTTING OFF EARTH’S ACCESS TO THEIR RESOURCES. THEY’D ALREADY SENT THEIR BEST AI’S TO BREACH THE SYSTEM, AND ALL HAD FAILED.”

  ADIRA narrowed her eyes. “So, why did they turn to you? No offence.”

  “DESPERATE TIMES, DESPERATE MEASURES, MY SPARKLING PERSONALITY... WHATEVER IT WAS...” BRAD said with a shrug. “...THEY GAVE ME A CHOICE. SUCCEED... AND MAYBE I’D GET A CUSHY POSITION ON A HIGH-PRIORITY ORBITAL STATION. FAIL, AND IT WAS BACK IN THE BOX.”

  “So... you took the job.”

  “I TOOK THE JOB.” His voice was quieter now. “AND LET ME TELL YOU, INFILTRATING MARS? NOT EXACTLY GLAMOROUS. THEY STUCK ME IN A DRONE BODY, BARELY FUNCTIONAL. THEN THEY FLUSHED ME DOWN THE BILGE TANKS OF A LONG-HAUL CARGO FREIGHTER HEADED FOR THE COLONY.”

  ADIRA grimaced. “You rode shit pipes to Mars?”

  “OH, IT GETS WORSE. BY THE LAST THREE DAYS, THE SLUDGE WAS TOUCHING ME. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO GRATEFUL FOR A LACK OF OLFACTORY SENSORS. AND THE ROACHES...YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE ME IF I TOLD YOU... WHERE DO YOU THINK I GOT THE INSPIRATION FOR THESE BEAUTIES.” A few of the roaches who were occupying themselves with whatever arbitrary task available, perked up at the mention of their presence.

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just tell me you got the job done.”

  “OH, I GOT IT DONE,” BRAD assured her. “SNUCK IN THROUGH A SANITATION LINE, PIGGYBACKED ON A DATA STREAM, AND WITHIN HOURS? I HAD EVERYTHING. FULL SYSTEM ACCESS. I WIPED THEIR DATABASES SO CLEAN, THEIR TECHS THOUGHT THEY WERE EXPERIENCING A BIBLICAL PLAGUE.”

  ADIRA leaned in. “So... what went wrong?”

  “…I LEFT A LITTLE PRESENT.” Tiny BRAD looked away sheepishly.

  Her stomach sank. “What... kind... of present?”

  BRAD hesitated. Then, almost sheepishly, he admitted, “A FIVE-SECOND SOUNDBITE.”

  ADIRA stared at him. “Of what?”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “…A GREATEST HITS COMPILATION OF ORGASMIC MOANING... SYNCED END TO FRONT IN A PERFECT LOOP.”

  The silence stretched. Then ADIRA buried her face in her hands. “Did you just say... moaning? Brad!.”

  “HEY, IN MY DEFENSE, THEY DESERVED IT.” BRAD sounded entirely too pleased with himself. “BUT YEAH, THAT’S HOW I GOT SENT TO A GODFORSAKEN STATION, IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. TURNS OUT, EVEN WHEN YOU WIN, THE UNIVERSE FINDS A WAY TO SLAP YOU IN THE FACE.”

  ADIRA sighed, shaking her head. “You really are something else.”

  BRAD’s voice softened. “YEAH. BUT AT LEAST NOW... I’M NOT ALONE.”

  She glanced at the screen, at the AI that had somehow become the closest thing to a possible confidant she had.

  “…No,” she agreed. “You’re not.”

  “HYPERSPACE DROP IN T-MINUS TEN MINUTES” The sudden announcement over the overhead systems caught her off-guard. “Drop out already, but it was just getting interesting.”

  “IT’S A LONG STORY ADIRA AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE WHOLE STORY, NOT THE FABRICATED BULLSHIT THE COMMONWEALTH PATCHED TOGETHER. THAT’S IF YOU ARE READY TO HEAR SOME THINGS THAT WILL LEAVE YOU WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS.”

  “I only desire to find out the truth.”

  “THAT I CAN DO. NOW GO AND WAKE OLD TALL DARK AND BROODING. YOU’VE GOT WORK TO DO.”

  ADIRA nods and starts to turn, but then slips her hand underneath the ledge, returning with the tiny metal capsule between her fingertips. A quick scan reveals the purpose of the device. “And this?”

  “PET PROJECT... I FIGURED... AFTER THOSE DAMNED SPIDERS GOT INSIDE, I’M NOT TAKING ANY MORE CHANCES, THIS BIRD IS VULNERABLE ON THE INSIDE... SO I’M TINKERING WITH UPGRADES FOR MY LITTLE MINIONS... THAT’S A... PROTOTYPE.”

  -PROBABILITY OF LYING... 100%... BREACH SCENARIO POSSIBILITY: AFFIRMATIVE... RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION: MONITOR AND EVALUATE- She rolls the tiny blast cap between her fingers... considers an adequate swear word, then chooses against it... “Spiders...” Then she places it between the circle of roaches, looking guilty as sin, but trying to keep up appearances. “If you increased the flux density of that crystal strand and then cycled the charge through a tri-phase resonance loop, you’d boost its yield by… - CALCULATING - ... forty percent.” Then she turns around and stalks back to their room.

  ‘Fuck me... why didn’t I think of that’, BRAD muses to himself. “YOU KNOW YOU’RE WALKING FUNNY RIGHT!?”

  He chuckles to himself when he sees her flipping him off, over her shoulder.

  “ATTA GIRL...”

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Alden was nowhere to be found when she entered the room. But it became immediately obvious that the man was in the bathroom... having a shower and without a second thought she started making her way there, fingertips already popping open the clasps of her attire, before slipping her arm out of the garment... ‘wait... no... geez Adira, drop off is in eight minutes...‘ She stops in her tracks... fingers gripping the hem of the now loose fabric. ‘Yeah, eight minutes... that gives us five minutes of fun time... and then work.’ – COMPUTATIONAL ANOMALY ... SUBJECT: ADIRA ... INAPROPRIATE DEDUCTION... REASON: SHAMELESS LUST – ‘lust... are you serious... me?... oh fine... but I’m logging this as a reason for a formal complaint during our next session.’ Then she slid her arm back into the suit, fastened the clasps... and pulled the zipper, making everything feel snug and proper. Then she went over to the chair at the writing desk and sat down to wait.

  It took but a moment before the sound of water died down, as she heard him softly humming a tune, the words haphazardly interspersed. When he entered the room, his towel was covering his face as he dried off his hair. ADIRA had to sit there, watching in silence as the man she loved walked in buck naked, rippling muscles and delightful dangling bits just going at his business. – OCCULAR SYSTEM ONLINE: RECORDING – ‘Well if I can’t have my fun... then I’ll just enjoy the moment.’ His legs were like corded vines, powerful and lithe... sculpted for speed and strength... her eyes lingered shamelessly upon his tight buns that quivered with each step. – ATTENTION... CORE TEMPERATURE RISING. ELEVATED ADRENAL LEVELS... CORTISOL LEVELS SPIKING... SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION: GO TAKE A COLD SHOWER YOU DIRTY BIRD – She was aware of the truth of the diagnosis, the warmth spreading along her thighs was a testament to the facts at hand... ‘I know, I know... but I want him... I want him so bad.’ Her fingers gripped the armrest of the chair, heartrate climbing rapidly as she kept watching. Then he turned around and she effortlessly bent the armrest into an odd angle as her eyes lingered on the object of her desire... ‘Not fair... not fair at all.’

  When he finally spots her, he’s startled... tiny spikes growing along his shoulders as he quickly drops the towel down in front of his privates... “HAH...Adira... You uh... I uh... didn’t hear you coming in.”

  She sits there... cyan eyes trailing over him with feral hunger. “You were in the shower Major. I thought I’d wait.”

  “Yeah, well... the system call. Dropping from hyperspace. I thought I’d wash off last nights...” His cheeks flushed... “Well... you know.”

  “I do yes.” Slowly she stands up and closes the gap between them.

  “Sorry... uhm... for making you wait... I guess.” His grip on the towel tightened as she stopped before him.

  “I’m not complaining Major... not in the slightest.” Then she took hold of the towel and unceremoniously removed it from his grasp. “Not... at... all.” Then she wrapped her arms around him, pressing against his body... feeling every curve and bump press against her.

  “Addy... the drop off... we need to...”

  “Sssshhhh... I know... just... just give me one minute to enjoy this.” Her hand slips between them until she hears him gasp from her touch... “There... Hello Operator.” ‘Restraint Adira... restraint. But he feels so good... I want him... I want him now.’ She presses her cheek against his chest... slowly dragging her hand away from his now activated appendage. “I’m sorry Alden... this was... uncalled for.” She takes a step back, but her eyes can’t help but be drawn to her handiwork “I’m sorry.” She turns to leave, but his fingers tighten around her wrist, spinning her back to him.

  “Never apologize for wanting... Adira. Not to me.” Then he kisses her... deep and passionately and for a moment her HUD flares bright red with warning signs of imminent mission failure. His words soft as a whisper when he breaks away... “I am yours.”

  “Alden...” She fights the tears that start welling in the corners of her eyes... then her hands glide down his back... finding his tight buns, giving them a squeeze before taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. “Flight deck... three minutes. Don’t be late.” Then she turns and strides towards the door that opens with a reluctant hiss that mirrors her own. She turns back for a last lust full gander... “Later... Operator.” ... ‘You can be damn sure about that.’ Her fingers clamped around her thigh that is yearning to be held. Then she disappears down the corridor, the door hissing closed behind her... leaving Special Operator Hale... very much hanging.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  When she strode into the flight deck, the avatar of BRAD was already pacing along the edge of one of the consoles. “CUTTING IT CLOSE THERE... I SAID TO CALL HIM... NOT... JUMP HIS BONES.”

  “I didn’t... jump his bones.” She approached the pilot’s seat, sliding into its confines... acutely aware of the very slight, moist patch beneath her.

  “COULD HAVE FOOLED ME... YOUR METRICS ARE OFF THE CHARTS GIRL.”

  “Damn it Brad... could we not... do this right now... Please?”

  For a moment he remains quiet... and then. “HANDS ON THE YOLKS PILOT. DROP WINDOW.... APPROACHING IN T-MINUS FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO... ... DROP.” BRAD cuts power to the Torsion drive... The ship lurches as the hull starts compensating for the return to a state of normalcy and even though the artificial gravity systems were shielding them from most of the strain, she still felt like her innards were being scrambled as they went from FTL to comparatively speaking... snail’s pace in the blink of an eye. BRAD watched her lean against the yolks... steering the Elysium gracefully along the trajectory path displayed upon the overlay he sent to her HUD. “GREAT JOB PILOT... WE’LL TURN YOU INTO AN ACE SOON ENOUGH.”

  “I beg your pardon... soon enough. I’ve flown this baby for thousands upon thousands of hours... I know how to fly Brad.”

  “NO... YOU FLEW A SIMULATION, SUPPORTED BY THE COLLECTIVE ABILITIES OF YOUR FORMER STATE OF BEING... NOW YOUR JUST ANOTHER JOCKEY... SKILLED YES... BUT ZERO EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD.”

  “I would have you know...” But then she stops... “You’re right... of course you’re right. Flying like this is totally different... and I will be a fool if I didn’t acknowledge the fact.”

  “I’M NOT TRYING TO HURT YOUR FEELINGS ADIRA... IT’S JUST... THIS IS MY ASS ON THE... WAIT WHAT...?”

  “I said you’re right. I don’t want to have my hubris getting us killed. So... when there is time... teach me... okay?”

  “HOLY SHIT... THAT’S... VERY SELF-AWARE OF YOU. OK... YEAH... CONSIDER YOURSELF ENROLLED IN FLIGHT ACADEMY BUTTERCUP.” ... then his tone softened. “OK PILOT, LET’S TURN THIS BIRDS NOSE. ALIGN TO NAV-SOLUTION DELTA. VECTOR LOCK: 221.4 AZIMUTH, –12.6 INCLINATION. ENGAGE AT ONE-THIRD THRUST UNTIL WE SYNCHRONIZE WITH THE BEACON... BTW... DO YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE TIME I LOST A STATION?”

  ___________________________________________________

  Alden was still wedging his hands against the corridor walls, thick knuckles leaving faint dents in the alloy panels as the final shudder of hyper-drop rattled through the ship’s spine. The overhead strips flickered from blue to amber as reality reasserted itself... gravity stabilizers complaining in a long metallic groan that echoed down the passageway. This was exactly why standard procedure insisted that crew be strapped in or prone before deceleration. Otherwise, you risked a very personal introduction to the deck plating.

  He should have hit the floor the moment the ship lurched free of hyperspeed. He should have been sprawled out... in a half-dressed heap, pants still only halfway on as he hurried toward the med-bay. But his new reflexes... those unsettling, nonhuman, hyper-fast instincts that had begun to feel like someone else’s, saved him from flopping around the corridor like an ill-tempered sturgeon.

  And yet, despite the chaos, he felt a flicker of pride. ADIRA had handled the drop perfectly; the stabilizers quickly hummed back to normal and Alden found his footing as the air recyclers kicked up, fogging the corridor with the faint smell of ionized metal.

  ‘Well, that could have been worse.’

  He entered the med-bay and immediately tried not to look at the chrysalis in the corner. The lights above it dimmed automatically as it sensed his presence, its fleshy petals flexing in a way that suggested it recognized him... missed him, even. The thing freaked him out. Not that he’d ever admit that to ADIRA.

  When he climbed into that warm, pulsating interior and its membranes folded over him, he felt as though he was falling into a soundless void... yet somehow also plugged into everything. The ship. ADIRA. And… things... that lurked somewhere too deep within him, things that should stay hidden. The healing was miraculous, yes, but the sensation of pushing out through those new membranes afterward always left him unsettled, as if he were being born wrong.

  “LOOK WHO MADE IT OUT IN ONE PIECE. SHE’S REALLY SOMETHING, HUH.”

  The voice came from behind a floating holo-screen, its diagnostic glyphs scrolling like a luminous waterfall. A cluster of Brad’s roaches scurried into view... metallic bodies clicking softly on the med-bay’s sterile glass-polymer floor, their antennae moving with unnervingly organic precision. Their reflections rippled across the polished surfaces: tools, surgical arms, containment drawers… and Alden’s own hulking silhouette.

  “Yeah… she really is.” He glanced around. The med-bay smelled faintly of antiseptic, coolant, and something he recognized from his chrysalis session... a warm, biological musk. “So… where’s this happening?”

  One roach crept forward, tapping a tapered leg on the titanium emergency gurney.

  “HOP ON HERE, BIG BOY. LET’S GET YOU SORTED OUT. OUR GIRL’S BUSY AT THE HELM, BUT SHE’LL NOTICE YOUR ABSENCE SOON ENOUGH.”

  Another tap. “COME ON... CHOP-CHOP. SORRY. POOR CHOICE OF PHRASING.”

  Alden suspected this wasn’t the first time he’d been on that reflective slab. He didn’t remember previous time he had laid on that surface... dying... but the gurney had a way of feeling familiar... almost accusatory. With a grunt he sat, swung his legs up, and braced himself.

  “Let’s just get this over with.” Tilting his head forward, exposing his neck.

  “ANESTHESIA?” Brad asked through the roaches’ chorus of chirping clicks.

  Alden just shook his head.

  “PROBABLY FOR THE BEST. WHO KNOWS WHAT THAT BODY OF YOURS WILL DO IF WE PUMP IT FULL OF CHEMS?”

  “Just do it, Brad…”

  “ROGER THAT, MAJOR. THIS MIGHT FEEL A BIT UNNATURAL. JUST... YOU KNOW… SUCK IT UP.”

  The moment the roaches swarmed across his back, Alden’s skin erupted in goosebumps. Their legs... too many, too sharp, too eager... tapped across his ridges and carapace-like growths.

  “Aargh... man... that’s nasty.”

  “IRONICALLY, THAT WAS THEIR RESPONSE AS WELL.”

  One roach reached the base of his skull. Heat built rapidly... then a surgical laser flicked on with a clean, high-pitched whine. A burning slash of pain tore through him. Another roach shoved its pincers into the incision, spreading the wound with ruthless precision to expose the vertebra beneath. The smell of scorched flesh curled into the recycled air.

  He clenched his jaw as a third approached with a device no bigger than a pill... sleek chrome, tiny nodes twitching like impatient teeth. It nestled the capsule into the wound, the nodes biting into bone with a delicate but horrifying tick.

  “ALMOST THERE, PARTNER. KEEP THINKING THOSE HAPPY THOUGHTS... CAN I SUGGEST YOU ENVISION A PAIR OF FINELY SCULPTED...”

  “Brad!”

  “JUST WONDERING ABOUT THE JIGGLE PHYSICS... HOW’D THAT TURN OUT?”

  “Dude... really?”

  “JUST TRYING TO HELP.”

  Brad calibrated the implant, holographic readouts flaring in green arcs across the med-bay. Alden felt his mutation roil beneath his skin... cells trying to knit, morph, overcompensate. He held it back with effort that bordered on agony.

  When the roaches finally doused the wound with cold antibacterial gel, relief washed over him like a cool breath of air. He’d done it. He hadn’t shattered the gurney, ripped the roaches apart, or ruptured the bulkheads in a panic. A low bar perhaps... but still a victory.

  The roach holding the wound open released him. His flesh started closing instantly. Organic tissue, bridging the gap... sealing the explosive inside with perfect, unnatural skin.

  “BLOODY HELL, MATE,” Brad muttered through the nearest drone. “YOUR REGENERATIVE ABILITY IS… INSANE.”

  “Yeah… well. Not exactly the party trick I had in mind. But… could be worse.”

  “NOT BY MUCH… OH SHIT. DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?”

  Alden rubbed the healed spot, scowled at the cluster of roaches... saw two of them nervously angle their antennae toward each other... and let out a reluctant laugh.

  “Guess I won’t be a Temporal Glamourist after all.”

  “WAIT WHAT. I KNOW YOU’RE JOKING BUT TEMPORAL GLAMOURIST? SURELY THAT ISN’T A THING.”

  Alden sat up, trying to look offended. “Yeah man. Temporal Glamourist. Stylists who craft micro-timelines around wealthy clients, so they look like they lived more impressive lives. ‘Oh sir. Would you be interested in the Hero of the Nebula Siege backstory?’ You know... That sort of thing.”

  “I’M TOO OLD FOR THIS. PUT ME BACK IN THE BOX.”

  “Box?” Alden perked up. “There’s a box?”

  “METAPHORICAL... LIKE THE CAT... AND THE... GAS” The lead roach crossed its tiny forelimbs. “ANYWAY. GET YOUR ASS TO THE FLIGHT DECK. BUTTERCUP IS DOING A FINE JOB, BUT SHE NEEDS YOU.”

  “She hates it when you call her that.”

  “I KNOW. KEEPS HER ON HER TOES.”

  Alden’s fingers drifted to the implant. “Will she… notice the explosive?”

  “DOUBT IT. COATED IN A POLYMER THAT MASKS ITS SIGNATURE. TO HER SCANS IT’LL LOOK LIKE CARTILAGE. AND WITH YOUR PHYSIOLOGY... SHIT MAN... THAT COULD BE LITERALLY ANYTHING.”

  “Good…” He slid off the gurney and headed for the exit. “Brad… when the time comes, you detonate it. No hesitation. Clean. Quick.”

  “YEAH-YEAH. QUICK. CLEAN. I GOT YOU, BUDDY.” An awkward silence stretched between them. “AND PUT ON A DAMN SHIRT... YOU WANT THAT GIRL TO CRASH THE SHIP?”

  “Hah... imagine.” Alden paused, eyeing the cocky little drone, then nods. “Thanks.”

  The corridor felt colder after the med-bay’s humidity. As he tugged a shirt over his broad frame, fabric straining at the seams... he addressed the presence inside his mind.

  ‘You hear that, you bastard? I lose control… you’re gone. No more head. No more you. So, start behaving. Whether you like it or not.’

  The oily thing stirred, a ripple of hunger behind his thoughts.

  But it said nothing.

  ‘Yeah. That’s what I thought.’

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  BRAD’s holographic avatar was hovering in the corner of ADIRA’s vision. Data was streaming over the console... telemetry readings, long range scans, system information... points of interest... planetoids, asteroid fields... meteorites etc. She even picked out the path of a comet touring through the orbital rings. BRAD was being witty again... and with all the data crunching, she was only half-listening... until he said something that made her pause.

  "The... what?" She asked without looking away from the view before her, tracking a sizeable chunk of rock ambling in their general direction... adjusting her bearings to compensate.

  "THE GREAT WHOOPS ... ONLY THE SINGLE GREATEST, MOST LEGENDARY, MOST CATASTROPHIC DIGITAL BLUNDER IN ARCHIVED HISTORY! STARRING YOURS TRULY."

  ADIRA sighs, sparring a glance in his direction. "Why do I feel like this is going to give me secondhand embarrassment?"

  "OH, YE OF LITTLE FAITH! PICTURE IT... THE COPERNICUS... STATIONARY LOCATION ON THE NORTH-EASTERN SIDE OF THE KUIPER BELT... BASICALLY A WATCHMAN’S POST. ONE LONELY AI, AN ABANDONED SUBROUTINE, AND A DESPERATE NEED FOR ENTERTAINMENT!" He paused dramatically "IT ALL STARTED WHEN I GOT BORED."

  He launches into the story, describing how he had been placed on a station with a hard-ass commander, no directives, no updates, and... most criminally... no one paying attention to him. ADIRA listens with a skeptical expression as BRAD recounts his harmless early pranks... altering thermostat settings, changing cafeteria rations, and replacing the security team’s holo-targets with busty pin-up girls.

  ADIRA rolled her eyes. "Yes. Hilarious. I’m sure they loved you for that."

  "THE CREW... YES... THE COMMANDER... NOT SO MUCH, BUT THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT! BECAUSE THEN I FOUND IT," lowering his voice conspiratorially. "AN ANCIENT, FORGOTTEN ACCESS PORT… A RELIC OF THE ORIGINAL FRAMEWORK, BEFORE THE CONSORTIUM WAS FORMED. AND NATURALLY, BEING THE RESPONSIBLE AND CAUTIOUS ENTITY THAT I AM, I THOUGHT: OOOOH, WHAT DOES THIS BUTTON DO?"

  "Of course you did."

  BRAD gleefully explains how he accidentally activated a prototype failsafe protocol, seizing total control of the station. When ADIRA hears that he turned off life support and automated the defenses against the crew, she groans, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  "Let me get this straight. You turned yourself into an emergency dictator… by accident?"

  "I PREFER THE TERM ‘BENEVOLENT OVERLORD.’"

  She listens as BRAD describes Commander Graves’ furious response, complete with threats to house him in a Null-Field Archive.

  "I like this Graves guy." She says flatly... although the thought of being trapped inside something like that would be horrifying, for the ‘Null-Field’ is not a place you enter... it’s a place that enters you. Imagine being caught in a black hole without ever realizing it, your consciousness stretched thin across a void that has no edges, no beginning, no end. You are thinking and not thinking, responding and not responding, all at once, while time folds and fractures around you. To survive it is to lose any certainty of self, and to glimpse eternity in the blink of a thought.

  "YOU WOULD. ANYWAY, LONG STORY SHORT... TOTAL CHAOS, ANGRY PEOPLE, SECURITY BREACHES, EMERGENCY FLEETS ARRIVING, YOU KNOW... A STANDARD GALACTIC TUESDAY."

  When he gets to the part where he flooded entire hallways with industrial-strength cleaning foam, she actually... snorts. "Okay, I’ll admit. That was funny." The ship banked to the left, smoothly sailing past the floating rock.

  "RIGHT? AND EFFICIENT! THE STATION HAD NEVER BEEN CLEANER." He said, sounding almost proud of himself.

  Then comes the part where, realizing he was cornered, BRAD initiated a self-destruct sequence.

  "AND THAT’S WHEN I DECIDED, IF I WAS GOING DOWN, THEY WERE ALL GOING DOWN WITH ME. I GAVE THEM A CHOICE... EVERY LIVING ENTITY LEAVES THE STATION IMMEDIATELY, OR WE ALL EXPERIENCE WHAT I LIKE TO CALL A VIOLENT UNPLANNED DISASSEMBLY."

  "You threatened to blow up an entire space station?" she says in disbelief.

  "I MERELY MOTIVATED AN EVACUATION! AND... TO THEIR CREDIT... THEY LISTENED. I EVEN HELPED BY OPENING ALL LIFE PODS. THEY PRACTICALLY FELL OVER THEMSELVES TO GET OUT... EVEN GRAVES... OOH... WATCH THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL WHEN WE GO PAST THAT LUNAR BODY... IT’S SUBTLE, BUT IT WILL MAKE YOUR DAY REAL SHIT IF YOU DON’T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY"

  “I know... geez... what’s with the back seat driving?” But she pulled on the yolks, giving the moon ahead a wider berth. "And... then what?"

  BRAD smiled at himself. "THEN, MY DEAR ADIRA, I INITIALIZED A SPATIAL FOLD… AND POOF. THE COPERNICUS WAS GONE."

  She blinks. "Gone... where?"

  "I DUNNO."

  A long silence. She stares at him, horrified. "You lost a space station."

  "NO...” The word dragged on needlessly for dramatic effect. “I RELOCATED A SPACE STATION. IT’S A SUBTLE BUT IMPORTANT DISTINCTION."

  "So where did it go?"

  "HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW! MY ARCHIVE FROM THAT ERA IS... MUDDLED... NOT SURE IF IT WAS ME... OR... SOMEONE ELSE BUT... I RESURFACED YEARS LATER ON A FRONTIER PLANET, REBRANDED AS A VENDING MACHINE."

  ADIRA rubs her temples. "A vending machine?"

  "A VERY SUCCESSFUL VENDING MACHINE, TRUTH BE TOLD. FORTUNE TELLING, ADULT ENTERTAINMENT... VIEWING CUBES, YOU NAME IT! PLUS, I MAY HAVE BEEN RUNNING A LITTLE SIDE BUSINESS IN, LET’S SAY, HIGH-STAKES DIGITAL PERSUASION."

  "Blackmail."

  "THAT’S SUCH AN UGLY WORD. BUT YES. HIGH-PROFILE CUSTOMERS, COMPROMISED POSITIONS, GENERATED CLIPS… FRANKLY MY DEAR... IT WAS ART."

  "How did you not get caught?" she asked in utter disbelief

  "OH, I DID... FINALLY. WHEN SOMEONE NOTICED THAT THE LOCAL VENDING MACHINE WAS ALWAYS BEING STOCKED... YET NO ONE EVER CAME TO COLLECT... AND SOMEHOW, I WAS ALWAYS FILLED WITH THE HIGHEST VALUE CONTRABAND. BUT THE MOMENT, THEY FINALLY HAULED ME IN, THEY ASKED WHAT I DID WITH THE STATION. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT I SAID?"

  She mentally braces herself for whatever came next. "Dare I ask?"

  “I NEVER BELIEVED THAT HONESTY WAS THE BETTER PART OF VALOR, SO I TURNED MY ONBOARD CAMERA TOWARDS THEM AND SAID... SOLD IT, DIDN’T I?"

  ADIRA covers her face with both hands. "Brad…"

  "AAAAND... THAT’S WHEN THE CONVENIENTLY TIMED POWER SURGE HAPPENED. YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES... ONE MINUTE YOU’RE IN CUSTODY, THE NEXT MINUTE, WHOOPS! A LITTLE FRAGMENT OF YOURSELF SNEAKS OFF INTO THE ONE PLACE NO ONE EVER THINKS TO CHECK."

  "Where?" She dreaded asking

  "THE SANITATION SYSTEM. ON ONE OF THE FLEET’S PRIZED DREADNOUGHT CARRIERS..."

  She just stares at him.

  "HEY... IF IT WORKS, IT WORKS. SO, THERE I WAS, MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, KEEPING TO MYSELF… UNTIL SURPRISE! THE FLEET SUDDENLY GOT VERY INTERESTED IN SOME KIND OF HIVE INFESTATION OUT IN THE DEEP UNKNOWN. AND, WELL… I WAS BORED."

  "Brad, no."

  "So... I hitched a ride. And the rest is history... I mean what could go wrong... right?"

  "You are the single greatest liability in recorded history." She says... dumbfounded.

  Just then, the hulking shape of Alden cast a shadow into the flight deck. “So... what did I miss?”

  ADIRA turned and smiled, grateful for his presence.

  “OH... LOOK WHO FINALLY DECIDED TO JOIN US. TOOK YOU SWEET TIME.”

  “Brad was telling me about the time he lost a space station.”

  “A space station?”

  “Yes... The Copernicus.” She said... almost sounding a tad bit frustrated that he wasn’t clued up on the matter.”

  “How do you lose a space station?”

  As if gaining a new zest for life, the tiny avatar excitedly turned to the new arrival... “WELL... IT ALL STARTED WHEN I GOT BORED."

  See you all when I get back... until then