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Syfar’s Moon, Felis Depot
The next morning Tessa opened a comm-link to Val, who promptly blocked video.
"I've thought it over. I'm in," Tessa said. "Gaia keeps the Arrow, though. So this deal only lasts so long as Magnus is happy with it, unless I can get a ship of my own, with my own credits."
Val's low groan filtered through the link. "How are you not still sleeping? You drank twice as much as everyone else last night."
"Nanocyte bodies clear the alcohol twice as fast as bio-organic bodies do, with none of the side-effects," Tessa said. "It's one of the few perks of my situation."
"What? Being virtually indestructible and having an indefinitely extended lifespan isn't enough for you?"
"I'm not indestructible, and I get to lose everyone I love – this time in person – while I don't even age. Not sure I'm counting that as a win."
Video snapped on and Val's image emerged from the gray screen. "That's about the grimmest thing I've ever heard you say. You OK?"
Tessa sighed and scrubbed a tired hand through her short curls. "Yeah, I'm all right. Just... your offer last night got me thinking. I'm glad you and Alex are moving to a safer line of work. And I need something to do with my time. Might as well help you two build your company."
"I'm glad to have you join us, but..."
"What?"
"Tessa, I get that you want to be independent. I really do. But the Arrow is just sitting in the dock, waiting for you. Gaia considers that ship yours, and she is as stubborn as you are. She isn't likely to change her mind."
"What's your point?"
"It's a waste. A ship like that? She was meant to dance in the stars, not sit gathering ordinary dust."
A long, taut silence stretched between them. Finally, Tessa broke it. "Send me the file for our first job. We'll take it from there."
Val rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Will do as soon as I wake up again." She cut the link.
Tessa turned to Magnus, still lying in bed, one bleary eye barely open to glare at her. "I'm going to go get supplies. You take a remedy and message me if you think of anything we need."
He started to protest, but the effort made him squeeze his eyes shut. "You shouldn't go out alone." He grimaced at the sound of his own voice.
She hid a grin and tried to reassure him. "Atah won't be looking for us here. We got rid of the tracker she put on the Oracle in New Manhattan, and we didn't file an intention log. Scanners would have caught her if she followed us."
"Paid informant," he croaked, and clutched his head.
"There was no one to pay. Even Val didn't know we were coming. I'll be fine."
Collapsing back onto the pillow, he gave up. "Be careful."
"I will."
She shrugged into her duster and headed out of their quarters. As she approached the brow, she spoke to the Oracle's DEVA, or digitally enhanced virtual assistant. "Xavier, how is the refuel coming?"
Like all DEVAs, Xavier had no body other than the ship itself, and his response came through the built-in speakers found in every compartment and corridor.
"All crystals are charged and ready for flight. I topped up the alternative fuel as well. Supplies are coming in, except for those items which require an in-person signature."
He was referring to blaster and cannon ordinance. According to the export laws on Syfar, all ammunition sales had to be received by the customer in person.
"You don't mind me saying so, it sounds like that irritates you." DEVAs weren’t supposed to have emotions, but Tessa knew better. The longer a high-level digital personality interacted with humans, the more likely they were to exhibit human-like traits. Including emotions.
"I do not 'mind' as you put it. It is simply unnecessary. I could handle the intake on ordinance as well as I do everything else."
"Of course," Tessa said. "But you know that's just to prevent the firepower from getting into the wrong hands."
She wasn't being diplomatic either. There wasn't an aspect of shipboard life that Xavier didn't oversee. Maintenance and other manual labor that couldn't be handled by the team of robots under his control was still scheduled by him. He was why the Oracle didn't need more than a five-person crew, despite being a light-cruiser. It was true that Magnus usually employed a larger force, but he didn’t need them.
"It's so that the Syfe can scan every mind that comes in for ammunition,” Xavier retorted. “They weed out the pirates and assassins that way or collect a fee for "missing" them." How he conveyed the quotes around 'missing' was beyond her, but she could hear them clearly.
Tessa's brows rose. "Is that right? Well then, this ought to be fun."
She left the ship and stalked through the thin, early-morning crowds to the depot and went inside.
The receiving area was white. The floor, the ceiling, the pedestals scattered across the oval structure, each with a Syfe reclining on top, the sculptures, the non-Syfe seating areas; everything was white. It was like walking into a hard cloud.
A male Syfe, seated on a raised, padded platform, greeted her inside the door.
Your name?
"You don't already know?" she asked.
Contrary to unsavory rumors, Syfe do not read minds without permission or cause. Your name and identification, please?
"Of course not." She held her hand, palm up, under the scanner he indicated. "Tessa Graham, MD. Partner to Captain Magnus Caravaggio of the Oracle. We ordered some blaster pods and a repair unit for our cannon."
He frowned at his readout but responded without hesitation. Of course. Your shipment is waiting in area E7, beyond the third door on your left. You will be asked to fill out the data form before receiving it.
"Not a problem." Tessa took two steps before he stopped her.
Excuse me. There appears to be a discrepancy here.
I knew it wouldn't be that easy. She turned to face him. "What kind of discrepancy?"
There is no medical data attached to your file. Your species is not listed either.
"Medical data is not required in identification papers. Neither is a species designation."
No, but most persons include it in their data file in case they are injured during their travels.
"I'm not most people," Tessa replied as she spun on her heel. "That door there, was it?"
The Syfe made a sound that came close to what might pass for a grumble in humans, but didn't stop her again.
A few of the Syfe stared in her direction and a tremble passed over her skin, similar to what she'd felt when the twins tried to talk to her before they provided the silver square, now behind her ear, hidden by her hair.
But this wasn't an attempt to communicate. They were trying to read her. Two jumped down from their pedestals and followed her. She passed a hand over the access panel and entered the next room, letting it slide closed behind her. The vibration stopped.
A Syfe napping on a platform sat up as she entered. The feline pressed her paw to a control panel, waking it. You are Tessa Graham? Please read this data file and add your thumbprint at the end.
The tingle started at the base of Tessa's neck as she moved forward to read through the data on the screen. Everything was accurate. What was in the shipment, how much they were paying for it, how it would be moved to the Oracle and when. She pressed her thumb to the place provided at the bottom of the screen. The form was standard.
The Syfe's reaction was not.
Her fur bristled, and she stood up on her platform. You are not an organic being. You are not allowed in this facility. You are not even allowed on Syfar.
"I'm not on Syfar, and neither are you," Tessa pointed out with what she felt was a reasonable level of calm. "Nothing in your regs says I have to have an organic body to do business with you."
We do not traffic with cyborgs or androids. You will remove yourself from our presence and send a bio-normative being to complete this transaction.
"Your little machine there has already accepted my print. I expect the shipment to be delivered as promised, immediately."
The tablet obviously malfunctioned because of some action on your part. And your expectations do not interest us.
"Really? Because if I have to come and get this shipment myself, that's going to get really interesting. For all of us."
Are you making a threat? The Syfe do not react well to threats.
"Neither do I. Deliver what I just paid for, or face the consequences." Tessa turned as the door opened behind her and three Syfe entered. She rolled her shoulders as a wave of pressure pushed at her mind, seeking entrance. "That doesn't work with me," she said, and morphed one hand into a blaster, setting it to stun with a flick of her will. "But these will most definitely work on you."
You are under arrest for trespassing and violation of Syfe law. You will go with these three guards to our detainment facility to wait for your owner.
Shackles appeared on her wrists, the cold metal pressing into her skin. A muzzle cap materialized on the end of her blaster.
Tessa blinked. "That isn't real, is it? Even Syfe can’t manifest real objects at will. Which means this is an illusion."
She aimed at one of the guards and fired. Her interior data screen showed a direct hit, but the Syfe appeared unphased.
Your weapons are useless, the female on the pedestal said. You will comply.
Switching her vision to infrared, Tessa scanned the scene. As she suspected, the Syfe she'd stunned was not upright as her normal sight showed. Under heat sensor imaging, the red glow of its body lay prostrate. A fourth Syfe entered the room and gripped its fallen comrade by the nape of the neck, pulling it toward the door.
Tessa moved to intercept. "Here, let me get that for you."
Do not move! The pressure against her mind intensified, but Tessa ignored it and opened the door for the invisible pair, watching as the double blob of red and green color moved through the opening.
She faced the female still standing on the platform. "It seems that my weapons do work. And here I was, believing that Syfe don't lie. Now, are you going to deliver that ordinance, or should I just take it with me?"
A light nudge under each of her hands pulled Tessa's gaze down. Pan sat next to her left knee, and Dora on her right.
What is happening here? Pan asked.
The pressure against her mind ceased with dizzying suddenness.
It looks like they are harassing our friend, Dora said.
Harassing your... No, Highness. We had no idea... We would not have... She was... The chorus of Syfe responses tumbled over each other in such confusion that Tessa's head ached.
Dr. Graham is a soul inhabited cybernetic organism. Her presence here is wholly legal. You will deliver her order immediately, and at a reduced cost to make up for your rudeness, Pan said.
Of course, Highness. As you wish.
With a flick of their stubby tails, the twins marched out the door. A whisper skated along Tessa's auditory receptors. You should follow us, Doctor Tessa. And you should not look back. They will see it as a sign of weakness.
"Roger that. Right behind you."
A soft giggle was the only response as they exited the building. Once outside, Tessa couldn't resist.
"Highness? You two are royalty?"
We are members of the Regisat, one of the ten ruling pairs of Syfar, but it is not as if that means anything. We aren't even part of the Upper Five, thank the gods. And the Regisat doesn't actually govern. That is left to the Clowther. Pan sighed. It is not important. Please do not mention it to anyone.
"If it's not important, then why keep it a secret?"
Discretion reduces the number of diplomatic visits and kidnapping attempts we have to deal with, Dora replied.
"Kidnapping?"
None of them have a chance of succeeding, Pan assured her. But they are annoying.
"Whatever you say. So, what are you doing here?"
Foster-Val sent us to receive the cargo we are transporting to Omaliara5, Dora said.
Yes, and it is a lucky thing, too, Pan said. If they had brought in a security team, it might not have gone well for you.
Tessa grinned. "Thanks for the concern, but I was doing fine against the guards they sent in before you showed up."
Those were not security, just terminal employees. Security carries physical weapons, Dora said.
"Oh, yeah?" Tessa shrugged. "Still, I think I'd have been–"
And they are very large. Pan lifted his chin to their left, and Tessa followed his gaze.
A line of giant combat-droids squatted on the pavement, eyes closed and currently inactive. Each of them was at least five meters tall with a built-in blaster on each arm and laser scopes instead of eyes. Tessa figured she could take one, maybe even two, but if they threw three or four at her...
Tessa shook herself and followed the twins out of the warehouse into the city streets. "Question. I didn't think Syfe could get in my head, but they were able to make me see things that weren't there."
What things? Pan asked.
"Cuffs, a muzzle on my blaster. A Syfe still upright after I stunned him."
These were visual illusions, Doctor Tessa. Syfe excel at manifesting several forms of imagery, Dora said.
Tessa frowned, and Pan continued the explanation. Such images appeal directly to the senses, bypassing the mind. Like a hologram, but with greater range and flexibility.
"But nothing concrete, right? So, they can't actually hurt anyone with them."
If I were to cause you to see a hole in the ground, you would walk around it, yes? Dora asked.
"Sure, but–"
And if I also hid the real hole next to it, you would fall in. Pan's cream-licking tone made Tessa shiver. Do not underestimate us, Doctor Tessa. It would be unwise.
"I can see that."
