by M. D. Cooper
“Joe!”
“Easy, love.” Joe pulled her close once more. “You know I’d never have sex with Cheeky without inviting you.”
Tangel considered pinching Joe’s thigh. Hard. But instead, she laughed at his audacity. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”
“Beats me,” Joe shrugged. “You haven’t done it yet.”
“You!” This time, Tangel did sit up and turn to face him. “You’re in a rare mood tonight. What did I do to get all this thinly veiled abuse?”
“I’m just needling you because you went to the LMC without me,” Joe leant close and kissed Tangel’s cheek. “Plus, we were going to go into the fight together, but you dove out of the pinnace and tore your way through a ship’s hull. Which was sexy as all get-out, but I still wanted to be in on the action, too.”
“We still fought some IPE soldiers near the docking bay.”
“Hardly even worth noting.” Joe gave a dismissive swipe of his hand. “Next time you get mixed up in a good row, I want in. I’m dying here.”
“I’ll try to plan them out better in the future. Do you have Garza’s Link route? I’ll see if we can set up a playdate.”
“Jerk would just send another clone,” Joe scoffed. “Guy has no honor.”
The two sat in silence, rocking gently, arms around one another for fifteen more minutes before Sera approached, climbing the steps slowly.
“Were you just going to leave me out there forever, Tangel?”
“What? Do you have somewhere to be?”
Sera nodded emphatically. “Yeah, sitting somewhere softer than your dock—with alcohol. You need a couch and a keg down there.”
“Now that,” Joe said as he stood and pulled Tangel with him, “sounds like a fantastic idea. I’ll have one installed tomorrow.”
“You would, too,” Tangel said with a sigh.
He placed a hand around her waist and rested it lightly on her hip. “You know me so well, dear. Now let’s go see if we can show Jessica up with some real table dancing.”
DAMON SILAS
STELLAR DATE: 09.01.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Damon Silas
REGION: Interstellar Space, coreward of the Vela Cluster
“And what of the AI?” Justin asked Roxy, his brows raised.
She gave a nonchalant shrug. “Carmen? I dumped her in an escape pod and kicked it off the ship.”
She wondered if Justin caught the spike in her heart rate; it had only lasted for a second. That was one benefit to her azure epidermis. She didn’t sweat, and her skin temperature barely changed, even if she was terrified.
The real miracle, however, was that the compliance lace in her head didn’t trigger.
Or did it? I felt a twinge for a second. Maybe it’s malfunctioning?
“You what!?” Justin’s voice rose in pitch and volume. “You just let it go?”
Roxy squared her shoulders, eliciting a narrow-eyed look from Justin. “I made a deal with it. The ship’s logs are wide open to us, so we have access to everything they had about stasis shield tech—which isn’t much. Carmen told me that the ISF didn’t share anything about the underpinnings of the technology, it was all black box.”
“Maybe,” Justin grunted. “Next time you have an asset like that in your hands, you do whatever it takes to keep it secure and bring it back to me.”
“Understood,” Roxy said with a nod. “Should I stay here on the Silas, or head back to the Greensward?”
Justin looked around the bridge of the Damon Silas and pursed his lips. “I’d like to transfer everything here—once it’s cleaned up. The Greensward has superior stealth to this ship, but it’s hard to beat the appeal of impregnable shields.”
Roxy could tell Justin was still mulling over his options, and stood in silence, waiting for him to make his decision regarding her destination.
“Go back to the Greensward,” Justin said at last. “I don’t want to bring Andrea over here until the ship will pass muster. Maybe you should have another one of your sessions with her.”
“Of course, Justin,” Roxy said with a conspiratorial smile. “Continuing on with the taming of the shrew.”
He chuckled. “Sounds about right.”
“I just want to make another sweep for my lightwand…. I dropped it somewhere during the firefight.”
“Sure thing, though I’m sure it’ll turn up.”
Roxy gave him a peck on the cheek before she walked off the bridge and through the ship’s long corridors, toward the docking bay where Justin’s pinnace would be waiting.
The signs of the fight to secure the Damon Silas were still in evidence around her. Carbon scoring and gouges in the bulkheads were present every meter of the corridor that ran from the bridge to the central lift shaft.
She saw a stack of bodies through a door in the passage, the remains of the Transcend crew who had fought valiantly to keep the Damon Silas from falling into enemy hands.
Cut down by men and women who had been on the same side just a year earlier.
What are we doing? Roxy wondered. Is Justin mad…or am I?
Images flooded her mind, showing her what a wonderful person Justin was, how strong and magnanimous. But unlike previous instances of the conditioning, the images didn’t blot out all her other thoughts; they were more like calming memories that she could dismiss.
A worry crept into her mind that maybe the thoughts of Justin were right, real memories and feelings from her past, before the injuries that destroyed much of her body.
He had told her that she wanted to be turned into what he called his ‘living work of art’, but she wasn’t sure. Given her line of work, glowing azure skin wasn’t terribly practical. Not only that, it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like her.
But Justin has always taken care of me. He’s never harmed me, only instructed me. And I’m better for it.
Even as she thought the words of obedience, her mind jumped to Carmen, the Damon Silas’s AI.
Lying about Carmen had felt right—which didn’t make any sense. For some reason, Roxy liked Carmen, felt a bond with the AI. If Justin got his hands on her, it wouldn’t go well for her new friend, and Roxy didn’t want that to happen.
I’m being disobedient…and nothing is happening…. Stars, how is it that I can think about rebellion one moment, but believe in Justin the next? I know he punishes me, he put the neural lace into my mind to control me, to make me his thing. Thinking that I’m his gives me pleasure, an inexplicable thrill, but saving Carmen does as well, even if it means rebelling against Justin.
Roxy couldn’t understand how these two thought processes could both feel right, while being in direct opposition to one another.
Is this what cognitive dissonance is? How can I want to obey and please Justin at the same time I want to disobey? How can both feel good?
While wondering how she even managed to maintain a sane worldview while loving and reviling her life at the same time, she stepped onto the lift, entering a destination of the seventeenth deck.
It wasn’t the deck where the pinnace waited, but rather one above. When the lift doors slid open, she stepped out into the darkened passage, navigating it easily with her inorganic eyes.
A minute later, she reached the maintenance bay—which was little more than a closet large enough for a workbench—and palmed the door open.
Once inside, she slid the AI case out from under the bench and set it atop the work surface.
“I was starting to wonder if you’d come back,” Carmen said through the case’s audible systems.
Roxy regretted destroying the case’s wireless transmitter. At the time, it had seemed prudent, but not being able to use the Link to speak with Carmen was more than a little inconvenient.
“I had a few moments of doubt myself,” Roxy replied, running a hand across her forehead to brush aside her luminescent hair. “But I told Justin I kicked you out in a pod. Good thing the logs will back me up.”
“And now?”
the AI’s voice seemed to be somewhere between confrontational and worried.
“I don’t know, Carmen. I like you for some reason…which seems weird, I hardly know you.”
A strangled laugh came from the case. “From what I’ve managed to infer from your position in Justin’s organization, I think we’re both in impossible situations.”
Roxy blew out a long breath. She didn’t need to…she didn’t have to breathe at all, if she didn’t want to, but it felt relaxing to enact the old biological habits.
“I have to ask,” Carmen said after Roxy didn’t reply. “Are you an AI?”
“What!?” Roxy exclaimed. “What would make you think that?”
“Well…I don’t have advanced scan abilities in my case, but I have optical pickups that are able to get a good look at you. Now that you’re not wearing your armor, I can see that you don’t possess an organic body.”
Roxy looked down at her azure ‘flesh’ and nodded. “Not much, anyway. I had an accident…and Justin brought me back, told me I always wanted to have a body like this. I don’t remember much from before, though. It’s…hazy.”
“Like I said, I don’t have the best optics, but from what I can tell, you’re not organic at all.” Carmen’s voice was soft, almost apologetic.
“No!” Roxy retorted. “I’ve run scans on myself. I’ve seen the med readouts. I still have the organs required to keep my brain nurtured.”
“Uh, OK,” Carmen said, her tone carrying a note of hesitation. “Right. Bad optics on the case. Speaking of which, how are you going to get me out of here? This case stands out a bit.”
“I was hoping to find something in here,” Roxy said, casting her eyes about the room, which held a fabricator, several cylinders of flowmetal, and a half-dozen repair drones docked on charging stations.
“You know…” Carmen began hesitantly. “I have a crazy idea. Why don’t you put me inside of you?”
“Uh, if we use a medtable to implant you in my head, Justin will find out for sure.”
“I won’t fit, either. Well, not without significant physical restructuring, which I wouldn’t do without an expanse to archive my state into. No, I was thinking more of you tucking me into your abdomen. If you have a more or less standard frame, there should be room.”
Roxy placed her hands on her stomach. “Seriously?”
“Sure. It’s not that common, because there’s rarely a reason for an AI to take up residence in an organic’s gut—or a partial organic, like yourself—but so long as you have the batteries to power us both, it shouldn’t be that hard.”
“I get the feeling you’ve already planned this out.” Roxy’s tone sounded hesitant, but internally, she’d already made up her mind to do as Carmen had suggested.
“I have. I can program this bay’s fabricator to build a mounting apparatus for me, the repair drones can open you up and install it, and then we can use the flowmetal to facilitate any internal alterations.”
Half of Roxy’s mind was screaming that what Carmen was suggesting was the worst thing imaginable: a betrayal of Justin. But she also wanted it. Talking with Carmen was such a refreshing change from the caustic exchanges with Andrea, or the constant doublespeak Justin engaged in.
She felt like she could just be herself—and so could Carmen.
“OK, Carmen, let’s do it.”
EUROPA
STELLAR DATE: 01.01.2352 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Water’s Edge Resort, Europa
REGION: Europan Collective, Jupiter, Sol System
Nearly six thousand and six hundred years ago, nine months before the official creation of the FGT program…
Finaeus entered the restaurant and gave a nod to the hostess before slipping around the automaton and walking to where his wife sat at a table for two, next to the window.
He took his time, drinking in her features in profile—the soft curve of her forehead, almost aquiline nose, pronounced lips, and small—but strong—chin.
She was clothed in a sapphire dress that gleamed as though it were made of the gem itself. Long, slow breaths gently lifted her breasts, the exposed flesh between them straining gently against the fabric.
“I suppose I should,” he replied, taking four final strides to reach her side. He leant over to kiss her on the lips—a gesture she welcomed and returned warmly—before he sat.
“I’m surprised you’re not using the Link to chat,” Lisa said as he settled into his seat. “Especially after the latest updates that allow the direct transmission of emotion, it’s exhilarating.”
Finaeus only shrugged as he triggered the table’s holomenu and looked over the drinks.
“What? Not proud of your latest invention come to life?”
He glanced up at her, seeing honest concern in his wife’s eyes. “No…it’s just different in practice than I expected. It’s hard to control one’s thoughts, and I have so many tonight.”
Outside the window, the sun began to rise, illuminating the surface of Europa’s subterranean ocean, which the dome overhead kept from freezing.
It wasn’t a large dome, only a kilometer across, but it kept this hole in the ice from closing up, and gave access to the cities below the moon’s waters.
Lisa reached out and placed her hand on his. “Did you hear from Jeffrey? Is it about the endeavor?”
Finaeus turned and glanced back at his wife, unable to keep worry from furrowing his brow. “Yes, it is.”
“Did he secure it?”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “We have final approvals, and the full use of Luna’s polar shipyards. The Terran Assembly and Lunar Governors have given us their blessing. There are still a number of hoops to jump through, but it is very nearly a real thing.”
“The Future Generation Terraformers.” Lisa whispered the words with a note of reverence, then a broad grin broke out across her face. “Can you believe it, Fin? For centuries, humans have dreamt of colonizing worlds in other systems, but us…we’re going to be the ones to do it!”
Finaeus’s eyes locked onto Lisa’s. “ ‘We’? You’ve decided?”
Lisa sucked in her lower lip, biting at it nervously—something that she knew completely disarmed him. “I have, that’s why I wanted to have this dinner with you tonight. I know I didn’t react well when you first suggested leaving the Sol System, but…well, the more I thought of it, the more I realized that you were about to embark on the greatest adventure of all time, and I was letting fear hold me back from enjoying it with you.”
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Finaeus said as he clasped her hand. “You’ve got me.”
“And your wits?” Lisa asked with a smirk.
“Of course! They got me this far, didn’t they?”
Lisa leant forward, her eyes deep pools of intense emotion. “May your wits never encounter something they can’t handle.”
A low chuckle escaped Finaeus’s lips. “I’m not worried. With you at my side, I can do anything.”
An automaton had two glasses of wine before them, and the pair lifted them in unison.
Finaeus winked at his wife. “Well timed.”
“Aren’t I always?” She tapped her glass against his. “To doing anything.”
“To adventure and the stars.” Added before they drank. “Together.”
“Always.”
BROTHERS
STELLAR DATE: 09.17.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Forward Lounge, ISS I2
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
Back in the 90th century…
“Jeff?” Finaeus asked, taking great care to keep his voice steady as he walked into the I2’s forward observation lounge.
The silhouette standing before the windows, staring out at the early stages of the grav-ring’s construction, was unmista
kable. The broad shoulders, a touch on the haughty side, the stiff-backed stance, hands clasped behind the small of his back….
It was a posture Finaeus had seen so many times in the past. Thousands, tens of thousands.
He’d been waiting on pins and needles to meet with his brother for the past fifteen days, but Tangel had insisted that ISF medics thoroughly evaluate Jeffrey Tomlinson out in the LMC, and assess his mental state before returning him to the Milky Way Galaxy.
Finaeus had been wrapped up in the mech project, enhancing Rika’s Marauders—which had been a welcome distraction from thinking about Jeffrey, but at the end had nearly become torture, as he played out a thousand possible outcomes in his mind.
The lounge was empty, save for one servitor behind the bar, but it took Jeffrey a moment to turn to Finaeus, an unreadable expression on his face.
“Looks like you’re still at it, brother. You just can’t stop building things, can you?”
Finaeus shrugged as he approached, assuming a similar posture as he stopped at the window, gazing out at the sight before them.
The planet of Pyra was still a mess, dark clouds covering much of its surface—though the a-grav towers were nearly complete. Soon, they’d begin filtering the atmosphere and pumping the hot, ash-filled clouds out into space.
Further up, a-grav buoys floated around the planet, supporting the beginnings of the grav ring’s particle accelerator. Once it was up and running, the inertial force of the relativistic particles in the accelerator would push out, keeping the structure rigid and able to support the weight of the ring.
“Still practicing,” Finaeus said after a moment.
“For what?” Jeffrey asked, giving his time-honored response.
The two words hit Finaeus like a hammer-blow. It had been centuries since his brother had said those words to him, and a lump formed in his throat while his eyes grew moist.
“To build a ring around the galaxy,” Finaeus croaked in response.
Jeffrey turned toward him. “Has it been that bad? The other me…. Was he an ass?”
