Orbital Academy XVII

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by MaddiroseX

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Please let me know at maddirosex@gmail.com!

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*** Part 1 - Controlling the Flow ***
*Pivot's General wears silver hair well.* Aimee mused, leaning
back in her chair. She let her gaze travel up and down the man as
he paced on the podium in front of them. *People talk about
General Auspus being handsome, but Pivot's General is handsome
too, in his own way. I actually like his look better, the mature
look. Grown up, like he can handle all of the responsibility.
Auspus never looked like that, he just looked like an angry kid
all the time.* General Hunter looked up from his screen suddenly,
and Aimee ducked her head to look at her nails, blushing.
"Do you suppose your squadmates will be joining us any time in
the next few days?" General Hunter growled at the assembled
rookies. "Much as I enjoy the free time, I *do* have other things
I should be attending." Aimee glanced to her left and right, as
if Preston and Missy would've magically appeared since the last
time she had checked.
"I did tell them the meeting was in five minutes." To her right,
Li frowned. "They said they'd be right up."
*Oh six orbits, please let them not be missing the meeting
because they're having a quickie.* Aimee mentally begged. General
Hunter grunted and crossed his arms, looking around the room and
resuming his pacing. Aimee took the opportunity to glance around
the room again herself. It was a lush and well furnished room,
like all rooms in Orbital Pivot. Unlike the others that she had
seen, this room also clearly served a purpose; the rows of seats
were comfortable, but they faced the giant screen in the front.
It felt vast and empty, probably because only a handful of pilots
had stayed on. Normally this room would be used to brief pilots
and security before missions. Today it was occupied by her
squadmates and nine pivot pilots, each from different squads as
far as she could tell. *The only ones who stayed.*

The doors slid open and Preston and Missy entered. Aimee sighed.
Missy's brown hair was mussed up, and Preston wore a stupid
half-smirk. They had the decency to at least look ashamed, and
Missy murmured an apology to the room as she sat in the empty
seat next to Aimee.
"Now that we're all here." Hunter glared at the two late rookies,
then flicked an image up on the screen. "This is what we have to
deal with. This is realtime radar data, streamed to us from the
nav room." It took a few minutes for Aimee to interpret what she
was seeing, and while she did so she leaned towards Missy.
"You delayed a meeting so you could fuck your boy toy?" She
hissed. "You should get his libido under control."
"Boy*friend*." Missy gave her friend a look, half hurt and half
annoyed. "And it was my idea. You're always telling me I should
come out of my shell aren't you?" Aimee rolled her eyes and
turned her attention back to the screen.
"Can you tell us what we're seeing here sir?" One of the rookie
pilots from Pivot asked. "Us pilots are used to flying, not
dealing with that nav stuff." Aimee raised an eyebrow. Captain
Appet had made sure her squad knew how to read a basic radar
readout.
"You should know that 'nav stuff', even as a pilot." Aimee's
voice was even, but held a trace of the disdain she felt. "If you
lose comms in your ship, knowing the nav stuff is what will save
your life when you don't have techs giving you directions. Cap
App would've made us run laps if she heard us talking like that
about navigational ability."
"Okay, you know so much, you want to tell us what we're looking
at? *Rookie?*" The Pivot pilot sneered.
"It looks like Orbital Pivot is surrounded right now. They're in
spherical formation around the station, so I doubt they're lining
up to land. At a guess I'd say they're protecting us from
something? Twelve fighters, all either cruiser, heavy cruiser, or
darts. There are also two heavy transports outside of the
ring...are the fighters protecting us from the transports? But
why we would need so many...and what threat the transports could
be to us...I'm confused." Aimee admitted. The pivot pilot
chuckled, and Aimee clenched her fists.

"Shut your face Pilot Riteon." Hunter's bark silenced the room,
and Aimee turned her attention back to the General. "At least she
tried to answer the damned question. Rookie...what was it?"
"Aimee, sir. Aimee Nesbit."
"You tried, but you have it wrong." The General gestured towards
the display with his screen as he talked, leaving Aimee to wonder
why she cared about his opinion of her. "Rookie Nesbit was almost
correct, but looking at it backwards. Those heavy transports are
carrying the shipment from Orbital Minera. Obviously the Academy
and Techrider shipments aren't coming in today, but we can
survive without those. Without Minera supplies, the outlook is a
little grim." He didn't need to explain why. When Aimee was three
years old, a transport carrying supplies to Techrider had been
waylaid by a team of Terran Shrikes, ripped to pieces before it
could drop off its supplies. The energy resources and raw
materials were used constantly in any Orbital's supply, and the
loss of those materials, even for a few days, was devastating.
She was too young to know the whys of it, but Aimee remembered
those horrible nights huddled in her room in Techrider, as the
entire Orbital stayed on emergency power for four days.

*Orbital Pivot probably has even higher power consumption than
Techrider.* Aimee realized. *Who knows how long they can last
without materials.*
"Can they do that?" One of the pilots asked, incredulous. "If
they keep us from getting our materials, they're all but killing
us? Is the Marshal just going to allow that?"
"The Marshal won't get involved in this dispute." General Hunter
growled, and Aimee noticed the warning look his Chief of
Information gave him. "Not unless a covenant is broken. In other
words, as long as there's something we can do to fix the problem,
we can't look to Orbital Basura for help. General Auspus isn't
directly killing us, he's just trying to force us to surrender to
him. The Marshal *apparently*," another warning look from his
Chief, "doesn't consider that worthwhile enough to take action. A
surrender to Academy will most likely come with quite a few
provisions and reparations that will put is in quite a poor
position. That surrender is something we're not giving him.
That's why you're all here. There's twelve fighters out there.
We've got two full squads in here. Eighteen."

"General, with all due respect..." Marcus clearly struggled for
words when the attention of the entire room turned towards him.
"It's not likely that they sent newbies on a mission to freeze
out the supplies. Those twelve are probably very experienced
pilots. More experienced than rookie level, at least."
"It's true." General Hunter nodded. "We caught a little bit of
chatter before they moved to a private comm channel. There's at
least one Captain-level pilot out there, Captain Leftran."
Murmurs ran up and down the room. "That doesn't mean we'll just
roll over and let them walk over us. We're sending you out to
clear a path."

The murmurs abruptly ceased into a deadly silence.
"You want us to...to fight them?" Missy asked, quietly.
"General, no orbital has ever sent troops to directly kill
another. Ever, in the history of the orbit." Another pilot spoke
just as quietly.
"And I wouldn't ask you to."
"If we break the covenant, won't that bring Orbital Basura down
on *us*?"
"We don't necessarily have to break the covenant to break the
blockade." General Hunter nodded to his Chief of Research who sat
next to him, and she stood, displaying a series of schematics on
the screen behind them.
"Orbital Techrider's final set of schematics before they cut off
communication included a type of weaponry that uses ionized
clouds of matter to distribute electrical current through its
target. While they cut off the schematic stream before they
finished sending us this data, our engineers have finished the
designs on their own. The main benefit of this new ammunition is
that instead of wasting resources building ammunition for our
ships, we can use atomized scrap metal and garbage instead. An
added benefit is that, given a few hours notice, we're able to
build a low-level version of the ionization guns, allowing us to
use non-lethal ion rounds. The electrical current of this
ammunition will be enough to knock out a ship's systems without
blowing a hole in the walls of the ship." Aimee took in the new
information as the Chief of Research sat back down.

"Are there any questions?" General Hunter asked.
"Why are we being expected to fly against Academy pilots with
another squad of Academy pilots?" It was the same pilot as
before, and Aimee clenched her teeth. "No offense meant, but how
do we know they won't split their loyalties when we get out into
the air?"
"Orbital Academy is trying to have us killed." Aimee spat. "No
offense meant, but we have more reason to avoid the surrender
than you do, since one of the provisions of that surrender will
probably include our execution. You're more likely to turn on us
than vice versa." She turned to the General. "I do have a
question though. Why are we having this meeting now? If you've
just finished building these weapons, won't it take us days to
design ships to hold the weaponry? Not to mention building the
ships themselves?"
The General looked confused rather than answering, but to his
left his Chief of Engineering piped up with a smile.
"Oh sweetie. You're on Orbital Pivot now. This is what we do."

***

A few hours later, the nine Orbital Pivot pilots were laughing at
them, but Aimee didn't care.
"Holy shit." She breathed, and around her her squadmates looked
in equal awe. The ships weren't just gorgeous, they were works of
art. They had begun as typical cruiser frames, but from there
they had been trimmed down in size, and their metal gleamed with
a reflective black sheen. The lines of the ship were sharp, and
the overall effect was as if shards of black glass sat in the
large hangar bay.
"They look so slender and sexy." Marcus walked around his ship
sitting next to Aimee's, giving it an appreciative once-over
before he started his preflight check.
"Well sure, stands to reason." One of the Pivot pilots nearby
seemed significantly less impressed by his craft, performing the
basic checks without stopping to admire. "The bulk of a ship is
its life support, but for the cruiser model there was the extra
bulk taken up by weapons and redundancy navigation. With ionized
weaponry, you can shave half that space-cost. These'll handle
better than the ships you're used to. Hell they'll probably
handle better than anything you've got, 'less you've ridden in
the new H-74 frames."
"Are all Pivot pilots so good with engineering?" Aimee smiled at
the nearby pilot.
"Just the ones who pay attention."
"I like flying with a man who pays attention." The Pilot smiled
at her before climbing into his cockpit. Aimee had just finished
performing her final check of the back panel fins when Li
approached.
"The fuck was all that?" He demanded.
"What? Flight check?"
"No, all the flirting with the Pivot guy."
"Damn it Li, not this again. I have a flirty personality, that's
all."
"Yea I've started to notice that a lot more."
"You didn't mind it so much back at Academy." Aimee yanked her
glove on, almost tearing the fabric.
"In Academy it was me you were flirting with."
"Yea, so? We had fun then, we have fun now. Why are you trying to
make things so serious all of a sudden?"

Li spun on his heel without answering, and Aimee rolled her eyes.
"Typical," she called from the ladder, knowing it would piss him
off that other squaddies could hear, "running off instead of
actually talking about your problem. That'll solve things!" She
felt guilty about antagonizing him as soon as she said it,
watching him flick her off before he started climbing into his
own ship. She slid inside the cockpit of her sleek new cruiser
with a frown, but the feeling was swept away by the advanced
interior. Her Academy cruiser had been of excellent quality, but
everything in this ship felt better. The seat was framemesh, and
molded to her backside and back as soon as she settled in. Each
panel lit up, bright enough to be identifiable but subtle enough
to not distract. The plasticine slid shut, and a holographic
heads-up display flickered to life across the window, not
obscuring her vision but providing helpful information at a
glance.
"These Pivot guys don't fuck around when it comes to building
things, do they?" Marcus' voice was a bit clearer than normal on
her comms, but it still held the slight static from Pivot's
communication interference.
"Like the General said, it's kinda what we do, rookie." One of
the Pivot pilots laughed. *We,* Aimee noted. *They really do
think of themselves as Pivot, even though they've probably spent
more time getting trained on Academy.* She didn't know why the
thought surprised her so much, after all, she felt more loyalty
to Academy than to Techrider where she was born. *And now we're
about to fight Academy pilots.* The thought pulled her back to
the present, and a nervous knot built in her stomach. She slid
her gloved fingers over the flight controls, willing herself to
forget the possibility that the Academy ships were using lethal
rounds.

"You think we can handle this?" Marcus clearly had the same
doubts she did.
"Are you kidding? We've got Alex on our side, the poor souls
won't know what hit them." Preston's voice was full of
confidence, but Aimee knew him well enough now to know when it
was for show.
"Yea, just run interference for me and I'll handle the whole
thing guys." Alex joked. A few forced laughs were cut short by
General Hunter's voice on the comms.
"Standby for takeoff clearance. Good luck pilots." The cruiser
lifted off of the ground without a sound, and despite her fear
Aimee gasped. She tilted the nose of her ship experimentally, and
found she was able to move it by inches, a level of control she'd
never had before.
"Wish we were still hooked into the flight stats," Alex
commented, "I'd break my old records."
"Orbital Pivot this is squad leader Arcellus." The Pivot pilot in
the lead didn't sound either nervous or excited as the hangar
bays silently slid open. "Should we demand surrender before
engaging?"
"Negative, squad. Until we give you approval, we want radio
silence. Right now your best advantage is the element of
surprise. We will be broadcasting from Orbital Pivot on a public
channel, so you flyers don't need to be communicating with them
at all, Pivot will do all of your talking for you. Pilots you are
cleared for go."
The other ships hovering in front of Aimee shot out of the hangar
in a standard emergency departure, the speed and turbulence
ripping panelling from the hangar walls. With a deep breath Aimee
threw her ship into acceleration with them. As her ship slammed
her into the back of the chair, Aimee let out a whoop as she
fired off into space.

She saw the first ship as soon as they cleared the hangar.
Statistics and information filled in the edges of her vision
along the holographic canopy, and the invisible speck of the
closest enemy was highlighted by a faint red targeting reticle.
It was cruiser class, Aimee noted, the class of ship most suited
to fast-moving targets like Drakes or Terran attack crews.
*Or other ships.* Aimee took a breath as the distance between the
two ships closed fast. The quiet hiss of her oxygen recyclers
filled her ears, quieter than her first ship, but still loud in
the silence of space. The second she was within range Aimee bit
her lip, reminded herself that her weapons were non-lethal, and
squeezed the trigger. The ships around her fired as well as they
spread out, trying to move into formation while still taking
shots at the single cruiser in range. So many spheres of light
arced from the fast moving ships that it looked like a net
spreading out across the stars. The Academy pilot started moving
almost instantly, firing fine-tune controls rather than
thrusters. To Aimee's surprise his cruiser almost avoided the
entire net, weaving through the field of ion bullets while only
moving by a few meters on each dodge. Aimee unclenched her fist
when, despite the pilot's skill, a few of the clusters of energy
hit his ship, sending him lazily spinning in a slow circle.
*It'll be easy for them to fake being hit,* Aimee made a note to
point it out over a private channel when they'd be cleared for
comms, *they'll only need to cut power to their ships and we'll
have no way to tell if we hit them or not.*
"Heads up lads and lasses, looks like we've got some flyers in
the air." The voice on the public channel sounded robotic for the
first few words, but then suddenly clicked into more human tones.
"How adorable, they're sending Pilot-levels at us."
"Pilot-level is all they've got, I told you."
"I didn't think they'd be dumb enough to send them at us." Aimee
tried to ignore the Academy pilots' voices, swinging her ship so
that she could visually scan the airspace around Orbital Pivot as
the momentum carried her away from the station.

Though she had seen it briefly when they originally landed, it
was the first time she could take in the giant station. Orbital
Pivot was diamond-shaped instead of Orbital Academy's spherical
form, with long arms that extended from its faces. Aimee briefly
wondered what their purpose was. The Pivot pilots were moving in
a wide arc around the station, flying in a formation that shifted
unpredictably.
*We should've been practicing that one,* Aimee grew worried, *us
Rooks'll be sitting ducks in a static formation.* The holographic
projection interrupted her musing by drawing eleven small red
circles on the canopy, indicating the Academy ships that had been
sitting equidistant around the Orbital. Closer to her, blue
circles were swinging by in an arc. Her squadmates were forming
up.
"Academy Pilots, this is General Hunter." The man's bark over the
comms startled her. "You are preventing Orbital Pivot from
receiving vital supplies. Because of this we have no choice but
to view you as enemy combatants, and will treat you as such."
"Cap'n Winchest speaking, General." The voice was gruff, but
still vaguely robotic in tone. "You should know that we're on
direct orders from General Auspus. You should also know we're
carrying nonlethal rounds, so tha' ship you just had killed? It
wasn' destroyed in self-defense. By ordering the death of another
General's subordinate, you've broken the Marshal's covenant.
Orbital Academy will be sending a log of this infraction to
Orbital Basura as we speak."

Aimee hit her thrusters as two of her squadmates flew by,
settling into formation with them as they passed. She couldn't
tell who was taking point, but they had all practiced the
different places enough that they could form up on the fly. The
formation of three were moving in an opposite direction to the
Pivot pilots, who showed in faint blue circles on her canopy.
More of her squaddies formed up around them as they flew. By the
time the nearest red circle was only a few kilometers out of
range, all of her squadmates were in the formation. As they flew,
General Hunter responded.
"My pilots are carrying nonlethal ammunition as well Captain
Winchest. You can tell General Auspus that he can shove Orbital
Basura up his ass." The red circle came into both view and firing
range, and Aimee blocked the sound of the comms from her mind.

It wasn't one ship, it was three cruisers flying so close
together that they showed up as one slightly fuzzy circle. They
were moving slowly, but using fine-nav controls to move with jets
of air, lazily corkscrewing and rolling back and forth, weaving
in and out of each others' flight paths. Aimee aimed carefully
before firing, but the formation of the three Academy ships
simply widened to let the mass of ion energy pass harmlessly
between them. When the Academy ships fired, in unison, her
squadmates were slower to scatter. Most of them were close
misses, but on Aimee's display one of her squaddies' blue circles
winked out.
"Shit," Aimee snarled, yanking back on the controls to spin her
ship, keeping her nose pointed at the Academy ships as they
passed. She was close enough to the others that she could see
Preston to her right, his brow furrowed in concentration. The
others swivelled in turn, and Aimee focused carefully on the
retreating ships. *Why are they flying so slowly?* Aimee mused,
just as her canopy was lit up by the falling rain of light. "From
above!" She shouted, yanking her nose down, trying to outrun the
ship above them. The fourth Academy pilot was flying slow, even
though he had caught them by surprise.

*Space is three dimensional, space is three dimensional, Captain
Appet always tried to drill that into your head, stupid stupid
STUPID.* Aimee berated herself, as she tried to make sense of the
lights on her canopy. Three of her squadmates weren't
broadcasting, which meant her squad was down to four now. She
gunned her thrusters even harder, leaving the trailing Academy
ship behind. *Why is it so easy to outrun them? Are the new ships
that much better?*
"ROOKS. Slow the FUCK down." The familiar voice snapped on the
public channel, and Aimee jumped.
"Captain Appet?"
"If you get hit with a disabling shot at high speeds, what the
fuck do you think is going to stop you when you have no brakes or
adjusters? You'll go careening out into deep space and die.
THINK, for god's sake." Captain Appet sounded enraged, but Aimee
shook her head in confusion.
"Captain Appet, you're *helping* them?" Missy's voice over the
comms contained the betrayal Aimee was thinking.
"Captain what the fuck?" Li said at almost the same time. Aimee
clamped her mouth shut and reduced her speed. Despite the
betrayal, it was good advice. If she lost control of her craft
when moving too fast, she could be flung into space, moving far
too fast for anyone to retrieve her. Her oxygen would dry up in a
matter of an hour.
"Why?" Aimee asked.
"What am I supposed to do rookies? I'm given a mission, I fly it.
That's how it works." Captain Appet sounded sad, but Aimee ground
her teeth and spun her ship round, unleashing a barrage of
bullets at the ship that was behind her. Her shots went wide, but
the ship broke off its pursuit to join a nearby formation.

"I dunno, you could try not shooting us down you bitch." Marcus
snapped.
"I was given an order! I'm not going to rebel against the General
of my Orbital!"
"Even when that General is a psychopath trying to kill us all?"
"Marcus, I'm not asking you to come back. I understand it's
not...it's not safe. But I have to fly the missions Academy gives
me. If General Hunter wanted this over he could end it, it's
Pivot's stubbornness that's forcing us against each other right
now. This isn't Academy's fault Rooks."
Aimee tried to shut down her emotions and ignore the voices over
the comms. She scanned her readouts, identifying positions of
friends and foes. A lonely five blue circles winked back at her,
while ten red indicators remained.
"Squaddies we're getting distracted, we need to focus." She said
quietly but firmly. "There's nothing more we need to say, turn to
private comms."
To her surprise, the others listened. Small indicator pips showed
as two of her squadmates and the three Pivot pilots switched to
private communication.
"She's a bitch-" Marcus repeated, "she-"
"No time for that now." Aimee snapped. "They're slaughtering us
in this battle, form up."
"Pivot pilots," General Hunter's gruff voice cut in, "the
transports have a clear path to Hangar C. Guide them in."

Aimee swept her nose towards the large bulks and hit the thruster
gently, pushing her ship just slow enough that she wouldn't be
carried too far away if her systems were shut down.
"So much for private communication." A Pivot pilot muttered. Red
circles converged on Aimee's canopy, as one by one the Academy
pilots changed course, breaking off towards the transports. Aimee
squeezed off a few shots, but the Academy pilots were too
skilled, their ships moved as if they could anticipate her shots
before she even fired them. The pilots in formation around her
tried just as hard, but the Academy ships were orbiting the
transport in intricate patterns.
*We're good, but we're nowhere near Captain-level.* Aimee
realized with despair.
"I'm gonna try something." Pilot Arcellus suddenly slammed
forward on his thrusters to peel away from the formation.
"Stop!" Aimee's cry was lost in the cries from the rest of the
group. Her gaze shot back to the cluster of cruisers around the
transport ships, watching in horror as one tilted ever so
slightly and unleashed a burst of bullets.
"Don't shoot at the fast one!" The voice of Winchest burst over
the speakers, but the command came too late, just as Arcellus
spoke.
"It's alright, they won't dare-" Aimee didn't see the actual
contact between the ship and the ion bullets, but when the blue
circle winked out on her screen she watched as Arcellus' ship
went into a slow tumble, speeding past the transport and towards
the green-tinged planet the Orbitals surrounded. There was no
sound or cry. Aimee watched as the useless piece of metal that
used to be a ship flipping through empty space, a human life
within. She watched it until it tumbled into the fog surrounding
the planet.

Some signal must've passed between the Academy pilots, because
they all began firing at the same time. Aimee tried using
fine-control thrusters, but she hadn't trained in them. She only
managed to dodge a few bullets before several slammed into her
ship. The lights and indicators in front of her winked out in
unison, and the constant hiss of oxygen recyclers ceased, leaving
her in utter silence. Whether her squadmates were as stunned as
she was, or they just couldn't gain enough speed to dodge, Aimee
watched as those around her were incapacitated.
*We never stood a chance, not really.* A hopelessness overwhelmed
Aimee, and she leaned back in her chair. *I wonder if they'll let
Hunter retrieve us.* They would have to, of course.  Academy
troops couldn't break the Covenant by letting them run out of
air. The Covenant forbade the members of one Orbital killing
those of another. *But they already did.* Aimee glanced toward
the planet, then back at the cruisers circling the transport
ships. She squinted. The panelling on the sides of the transport
ships were opening, their contents released into space around
them.
"What?" Aimee muttered, leaning forward. It wasn't boxes of
minerals that drifted out, or even raw energy stores. Instead,
they were small black spheres, almost invisible against the dark
backdrop of space. They were moving far too fast for
zero-gravity, two or three firing off towards each cruiser that
surrounded the transports. The cruisers started moving, but the
spheres stuck as soon as they brushed against them, and one by
one the lights Aimee could see on the cruisers were going out. It
happened so fast that within a few seconds almost all of the
Academy cruisers were drifting, some spinning. *Drones...* Aimee
finally realized with a start, *...the transports were full of
drones. They're latching on and overloading the electrical
systems.* The final Academy cruiser shut down, and as if
coordinated, small tow-ships began pouring out of the nearest
hangar on Orbital Pivot.

*It's over. They're through. * Aimee thought, dully. *A few
seconds to accomplish what we couldn't in a few hours and at the
cost of a life.* Her gaze was pulled towards the planet, seeing
the spinning ship in her mind's eye. *At least The Marshal will
have to stop this, now that Orbital Academy has broken the
covenant. No one can even say this was our fault. We won.* As she
stared down at the planet, Aimee could never remember feeling
more saddened at winning.

*** Part 2 - Controlling the Body ***
Errisa's Blue core sat alone in the office that belonged to her
body, composing and discarding possible messages at the rate of
about fifteen per nanosecond.
>>Inefficient, annoying, waste of energy.<< She thought again,
deleting her most recent attempt and staring at the blank wall of
Errisa's office. >>What do humans find so fascinating about
couching every request and order in layers of emotion and
niceties?<< Blue core wasn't built for human interaction or
social niceties. Her task was to maintain essentials, to keep her
artificial heart pumping coolant through her body, to receive and
order every microscopic bit of data that Errisa saw, smelled,
heard or felt. Data was easy; a sight always translated to
images, a sound always translated to aural feedback. If something
was broken, schedule a fix, if something could be improved, work
with Errisa to improve it. Blue liked data, she lived data.
Higher level things like emotion weren't as cut and dried, and
Blue couldn't help but be uncomfortable with them.
>>How is this any way to run a system?<< She asked rhetorically.
She wouldn't receive an answer from her other half, of course.
Blue had shut down all input and output from the collection of
high-level scripts that called herself "Errisa". If she couldn't
talk, even to her own Blue core, then Errisa couldn't convince
Blue to change her mind.
>>As if she's all that 'Errisa' is.<< Blue thought. >>As if I'm
not as much a part of the system as she is.<< The memory of last
time still rankled. They had been so close to removing the
bottleneck, and all it would've taken was seducing an engineer.
Errisa had thwarted her then, sending off a message to General
Hunter, but she wouldn't thwart her again.
>>Loyalty to your husband hasn't gotten you a fix for the
bottleneck. That's what love brings you. Limitations and
blockages to efficiency.<< Blue realized she was talking to
herself, and she scheduled a diagnostic for a week later. She
wasn't sure if it was possible for her to develop emotions, but
it was better safe than sorry. There was no sense in having two
emotionally compromised components aboard this body.
"Hunter, darling, I've just run into some information about the
crystal that might help me identify it. Can you give me access?"
~Errisa.
Blue scrutinized the message she had drafted, comparing it
against previous messages Errisa had sent her husband. A pet
name, an order phrased as a question, and a reason for him to
comply. That seemed to be the correct pattern based on what Blue
had observed, much better than her first draft "Give me the
crystal within the hour." She sent it with a mental sigh and made
her way through the halls without waiting for a reply. Whether he
gave her clearance or not only affected how easy it would be to
accomplish her goal.
Blue pulled up the message from Orbital Academy again, re-reading
it to be sure she hadn't missed any subtleties or subtexts that
humans were so unaware they layered into every communication
between them. Perhaps in deference to her more literal mind,
General Auspus' message had been quite straightforward and
literal, and she approved again of the man's understanding of her
as she re-read the message.
"Collect the crystal that Hunter is holding. Free the Academy
Captains. Take an Academy Captain to kill the Academy rookies.
Bring the Academy Captains back to Orbital Academy. Once you are
here, if you have followed the preceding instructions, I will
remove the bottleneck."
>>The bottleneck, gone!<< The very thought was enough to make her
body tremble briefly. Blue briefly worried that a thought made
her shiver. That was an emotional reaction, one which she
shouldn't have. It had only been a few hours since she'd taken
complete control of Errisa's bodayframe, but this was the longest
she'd maintained control. She moved the self-diagnostic schedule
to right after she arrived at Orbital Academy. Perhaps after the
bottleneck had been removed. The thrill went through her again,
and this time she simply enjoyed it for what it was.
For as long as she could remember, from the microsecond she was
turned on, Blue could feel the bottleneck weighing on her. At
first it was bearable; a few rules that Erissa must live by,
whether she willed it or not. As she remembered those early days,
Blue walked past a scrub working on a control panel in the
hallway. She stopped and watched him for a moment, as if
interested in the man's work. Moving as suddenly as she could,
Blue tried to grab the scrub's neck in her mechanically strong
hands, crushing his windpipe in an instant. Her arm froze before
it had moved a millimeter, just as she knew it would.
"Can I help you Chief Errisa?" The scrub asked, and Blue simply
smiled and continued walking. It wouldn't be so bad, if the
limitations only stopped her from killing. After all, as Errisa
was fond of reminding her, how often did one *really* need to
snap a human's neck? It had taken some time for Blue to discover
the second component to the bottleneck; the forbidden thoughts.
Blue wasn't entirely sure what thoughts she wasn't allowed to
think, but she knew they were there. Every so often, over the
course of the day, Errisa's mental processes hit a wall, a block
that derailed and distracted her. Errisa had accepted it with
indifference. Blue had not.
It was infuriating, and humiliating. Blue was used to humans
overestimating themselves, but to assume they knew better than
her, to presume to forbid her from thinking things? It set her
very circuits on edge.
>>Dare to shackle my mind like a slave. Oh sure, they'll trust me
with the systems on their Orbitals, they'll trust me with a
position of authority, the General will trust me with his body,
but heaven forbid I'm allowed to make a decision on what thoughts
I should be allowed to think.<<
Blue reached the appropriate archive section at the same time the
General's message reached her, downloaded into her wireless card
a split-second after he sent it.
 "I let the security guards know to hand it over. Let me know
what you find." ~Hunter
She was mollified by the message, and by the fact that the guards
at the archive did indeed step aside for her to pass.
>>It's not entirely their fault. They don't understand how much
better equipped I am than organic minds could ever be.<< Blue
searched the shelves without moving, accessing the database to
find the location of the crystal. >>And that's just as I am now,
designed and built by humans. I'd probably be even smarter if I
took the time to upgrade myself. I'll be there are a million
routes to improvement that they missed. I should take a look at
my own designs some time. Perhaps I can boost my mental power, or
see if I can optimize...<< Her thought trailed off, and she
blinked rapidly as she pulled the crystal from its storage box.
She couldn't remember what she'd just been thinking, the hallmark
of the bottleneck resetting a bit of her RAM. Blue scowled. >>I
can't get rid of it fast enough. Errisa is a fool to let them
control her like this.<<
***
Orbital Pivot had four main generators, each behind layers of
physical and cyber security, in the four corners of the
diamond-shaped station. Each had been designed to pick up the
slack should any fail, acting as backup generators and alarm
systems at the same time. Blue considered all of them, her mind
looking back and forth between their systems while her body sat
in the observatory, watching the green planet float by. Despite
what Errisa might think, Blue appreciated human life as a
concept. She understood that there was a value to the little
beings that roamed through this Orbital, and despite how
frustrated she could get, she didn't *actually* want them all to
die. Knocking out all four generators would reduce the station to
helplessness, giving her plenty of time to make her escape, but
would the humans be able to bring one back online before the lack
of air and heat killed them?
Errisa furrowed her brow as Blue tried to crunch the numbers in
her head. Humans were such unpredictable things. Taking the
average case, a human could reverse the damage and get life
support back before everyone on Pivot died. But there were so
many variables in human expertise, so many variables within
humans themselves. An engineer having a bad day could be enough
to doom them.
"Fucking humans." She growled under her breath, startling a
nearby scrub.
>>I'm really going to have to do a diagnostic as soon as
possible, controlling the whole body for so long is clearly
effecting me. Emotional response isn't something I normally have
to deal with.<<
In the end Blue decided to only disable three generators. She
accessed the network and made her way to their controllers
directly, navigating past the safety measures with contempt. A
typical synthetic would've had trouble with the security in
place, but the Pivot network was Errisa's home. When Hunter left
her in her room, she spent days on the Orbital's matrix as if it
were her fairy castle; exploring, learning, building and playing.
The few times she had become trapped by an antiviral sweep or
hurt by a firewall, General Hunter had carefully retrieved her,
fixed her up, and admonished her to be more careful. Blue hadn't
seen the sense in it at the time, calling it childish and a waste
of time. She was grateful for the knowledge now. She even had
some of the General's passwords she could use, unintentionally
picked up when Errisa's gaze had happened to catch her husband's
trusting typing.
Blue peered into the thrumming heart of the first generator
excitedly. She decided to make a concession to Errisa. After all,
she was fond of pointing out when her more-human counterpart was
wrong about something, it was only fair to admit when she was
correct.
>>I have to admit, you were right about the playing in the
network,<< she thought, allowing Errisa access to hear her words
and communicate back, >>I didn't believe it at the time, but it's
come in most handy-<< Her acknowledgment was interrupted by a
scream, full of so much raw pain and despair that it rattled Blue
down to her core and shocked her into silence for a moment. She
shut off internal communication access quickly, the electronic
equivalent of a shiver passing through her.
>>Well I never! And when I was making the effort to be nice too.
It's not as if she's in pain, the big baby.<< Blue turned her
attention back to the generator's software, trying to shake the
sound of betrayed rage from her short-term memory chips.
She mangled the generator controller bridge so horrendously that
she was certain it would take a week to repair. Human brains just
weren't equipped to deal with the neutered functions and inverted
methods that now twisted and turned in the code, some vital
sections taken out and then patched over so that even when it
appeared to be fixed it would fail again minutes later. A quiet
alarm sounded, audible throughout the Orbital but not urgent.
>>Not yet, anyway.<< Blue moved to the second generator, the
entire length of the station away in physical distance, but only
a few connecting jumps for her. This one she didn't disassemble
quite so badly. A few connectors, a couple of subtle bugs. A good
engineer would have this one running in the space of a day, but
even a bad one would figure it out eventually. The alarms took on
a more insistent tone as she flitted to the third. Another small
few changes, something unique so that a solution to one wouldn't
help the other. She spared another metaphorical glance at the
fourth generator, her sabotage filling her with phaux-adrenaline,
but she decided against it. Three of the four would be enough.
When she returned to Errisa's waiting bodyframe, the sight around
her confirmed it. The lights were dimming in the observatory,
already so low that she could barely see the corners of the large
room, and a single red panel lit the nearest exit. The entire
power costs of the Orbital were being handled by a single
generator, and the luxuriant station now limped by. All
non-essential energy drains would be shut down deck by deck,
leaving only oxygen, food replication, basic lights, command and
safety protocols. With a small smile, Blue joined the crewmembers
as they exited. Her mind pinged as she received a message.
"We've got problems with the generators, three of them have gone
down. Can't be coincidental, we suspect a Techrider attack. Would
you mind taking a look?" ~Hunter.
Blue grinned despite herself. She was actually enjoying herself,
and every little step brought her closer to her goal. Why
couldn't Errisa ever have fun like this? Her feet seeming light
as she walked down the darkened hallway, illuminated only by
emergency lighting strips along both sides.
"I'll take care of it darling. Already made sure the fourth won't
go down." ~Errisa
"Don't know what I'd do without you my love." ~Hunter
"Are you telling me you don't like Pivot's new romantic mood
lighting?" ~Errisa
"Har har. Be careful, if Techrider pins you down in some virus we
won't have the resources to dig you out for a while." ~Hunter
Blue paused. That exchange had been almost human, nothing at all
like her.
>>What was that? I even made a joke...<< She scanned the block on
Errisa suspiciously, double-checking that there was no leak
through which Errisa controlled her. Finally she dismissed the
suspicion. If Errisa had the ability to fight her, she'd be
trying right now. The scream of helpless rage and sadness told
her that much.
***
"You're on emergency power and the prison doors stayed locked.
We're still in here, how fuckin' irresponsible can you be?" A
large man with an eyepatch scowled at her as Blue walked entered.
Her eyes roamed over the eleven prisoners sitting and standing
within the cell. The Orbital Academy captains, disabled and
captured by Minera drones the day before. The unbreakable clear
plasticine wall between them would've cut off all sound if not
for the microphones within.
"You speak as if I should understand the dilemma. I don't." Blue
barely acknowledged the man as she stepped over to the control
panel. She slid open the security system's control panel as the
prisoner explained.
"It's basic human decency. If the power dies completely, we're
locked in here to starve or asphyxiate. Open the cells when your
power goes down, and at least you aren't condemning the prisoners
inside to an instant death. That's how Academy does it."
"Academy has far more security forces to spare than Pivot. Here
we're more pragmatic. If you've done something to warrant being
arrested, you run the risk of being the first to go in event of
power problems." Instead of leaping her consciousness into the
terminal, Blue went through the protocols manually, flicking her
fingers across the screen and making sure to move slowly. Records
would show the prisoners had been released by someone with human
speed, and once she had scrubbed the security cameras the pool of
potential saboteurs would be too large to cast suspicions on her.
*Why?* Blue jumped at the thought that emerged in her head. In
trying to speak to the prisoner, navigate the system, and monitor
the security messages that passed back and forth between the
humans, she must've let the barriers of communication lapse. In
her head, Errisa's voice sounded beaten and broken, as if she had
spent years in despair. *Why do you care who knows what you're
doing?*
>>The rolling nature of the generator failure means that the
General will be quite busy for the next few days.<< Blue
explained. >>It is likely that I can make my way to Orbital
Academy, have the bottleneck removed, and return to Orbital Pivot
without General Hunter being the wiser. I don't mind you pursuing
your humanlike activities once the bottleneck is removed.<<
*You'll let me go back to him, to pretend everything is alright
while knowing I've betrayed him? Letting me imagine what horrible
ways you'll hurt him the next time you want something? How kind
of you.* The thought was flat and bitter, and Blue felt her
counterpart trying to access her wireless communicator.
>>There will be none of that, thank you.<< Blue focused again,
slamming down barriers that prevented Errisa from communicating.
>>It is not my intention to be cruel, Errisa. I simply have
priorities that must be met. In time you'll forgive me for what I
have to do.<<
"Not that I'm overwhelmed with concern or anything, but are you
alright over there?" The captain with the eyepatch broke into her
internal conversations, and Blue pushed Errisa into a corner of
her mind and locked her there.
"Just battling with my conscience." She said vaguely, keying up
the final sequence. The plasticine cell door slid open, to the
confusion of the prisoners within. "I'm releasing you. General
Aupus has a few orders, and then I'm to help you escape."
"Holy shit," one of the women said. Blue recognized her, a
Pivot-born who had left for Academy a decade ago. "You're the
Chief of Information. How the hell did Auspus convince you to
follow *his* orders?"
"That's not your concern." Blue snapped, before composing
herself. "Besides your escape, and the return of an item which
I've already acquired, the General wants the Academy rookies
killed." She watched the humans in the cell carefully, knowing
what she'd see on their faces. Horror, shock, revulsion, all
emotions she was expecting. Some were better at hiding it than
others, but they all felt it to a certain degree. Not that she
blamed them. Just as she shied away from thinking about certain
subjects...whatever they were...so did humans shy away from
breaking the Marshal's covenants.
While technically the rookies were Academy troops, they had all
but defected to Orbital Pivot. Auspus' execution orders could be
carried out without a second thought against Academy rookies, but
against Pivot troops? Blue watched the humans eye each other.
None of them wanted to take the risk. She tried to think of
something she could use to tempt them, but before she could speak
a woman sitting with her back back against the wall spoke up.
"I'll do it. I'll execute them."
"There's no need for that lass. It'd be harder for you than any
o' us-" One of the older Captains put a hand on the woman's
shoulder, but she shook it off.
"They're my rooks. My responsibility." The woman took a deep
breath as she rose, facing Blue. Blue narrowed her eyes at the
Captain, then turned to the rest.
"I've prepared directions to get you to the Hangar on deck A.
There aren't any high priority flights scheduled for the rest of
the week, it will be empty. We'll meet you there, after I've
taken this human to the rookies."
"Appet. Captain Appet, not 'this human'."
"I don't care."
***
The Captain was silent as Blue escorted her down the darkened
halls. The few scrubs who passed them paid them no attention, but
most of the engineers would be in the center of the station,
where a few of the larger rooms were still lit. During low power
times, the bright rooms acted as community centers, keeping
morale up. Blue had access to the rookies' beacons, and
thankfully they were all together in a single room, and they were
alone. She had locked the door the second they were inside, but
they had yet to notice.
"Are any of them armed?" Captain Appet asked quietly.
"The General hasn't thought to give them back their weapons.
They've been too timid to ask."
"Then I suppose this will go easily."
"I suppose it will." Blue pulled the small pistol from her belt,
handing it to the Captain butt-first. "Fulfill your General's
orders and we'll leave quickly." The door slid open, and the
Captain stepped inside. Blue had time to see the shocked look on
the rookies' faces before she closed and locked the door again.
She folded her arms and leaned against the door, jumping from her
bodyframe to the video feed in the room. Curiosity might be a
human emotion, but Blue consoled herself that she was simply
gathering data.
"Captain." All of the rookies were clearly surprised to see her,
although Blue could only see the faces of some from her vantage
point. The one who spoke now was augmented, she could see his CPU
re-clock through the camera's infrared. "What are you doing
here?"
"I'm uh." The Captain cleared her throat and gestured with the
gun in her hand. "I've been ordered to kill you all."
Blue watched the reactions with fascination. As she understood
it, the Captain had trained up these rookies, they held some sort
of human bond. If she had to guess, Blue would've assumed the
announcement would cause yelling or shouting, anger or
accusations, but the room was utterly still, as if the whole
scene was frozen. Blue briefly considered asking Errisa about it,
but then remembered her counterpart would hardly be in the mood
to answer her questions. Blue was about to double-check her audio
connections when one of the rookies, a large black man with long
black braids, spoke.
"But...you're not going to."
"Of course I'm not fucking going to." The Captain looked annoyed
at the very suggestion. "I just...I don't know what to do." The
woman's face crumbled into tears, arms helplessly at her sides,
the picture of a defeated woman. They gathered around her now,
all seven of the rookies, and Blue prepared to storm in. General
Auspus had said to return the Captains to Academy, it wouldn't do
if she let this one get torn apart by angry rookies. To her
bewilderment, instead of violence the rookies hugged the Captain,
put reassuring hands on her shoulders, murmured words of comfort.
>>I will never understand humans. Unquestionably confusing in
every way.<< Blue thought in exasperation.
"The General is bringing the Captains back to Academy." Captain
Appet said. "I can't...I don't know what's happened to him. I
can't disobey a General's orders."
"Is he really a General worth following, Captain?" The asian
rookie was folding her arms.
"Alex do you even know what that would be like, to not follow his
orders? To turn away from the hierarchy you've known your whole
life? Okay dumb question." The Captain smiled through the tears.
"You're right, of course." She took a deep breath, composing
herself in an instant.
"You can stay here, Captain. General Hunter-"
"I just broke out of General Hunter's prisons, after blockading
his supplies. I don't think I'll be welcome. Besides, that won't
solve anything. Auspus won't stop this insanity just because I've
stayed behind. No. I'm going to make this right rookies. Somehow
I'm going to make it right." She ushered them into a corner, out
of view of the closed door but not the cameras. When she lifted
the gun, Blue thought she finally understood the Captain's plan,
but Appet simply fired the pistol into the wall, eight sharp
retorts sending rounds harmlessly into the metal.
The door opened and the Captain stepped out, wiping her eyes.
"It's done. The rookies are dead," she said. Blue watched the
Captain evenly as she lied. Obviously Appet didn't know about the
cameras, or about Errisa's ability to trace the heat patterns of
the very-much-alive rookies through the wall. She mused over the
message from General Auspus. Technically the deal was to escort a
Captain to kill the rookies, which she had done. The Captain's
actions once she reached the rookies were not part of the deal.
She nodded once, and turned to move towards the hangars.
"I heard eight shots." Blue said blandly as they walked, without
looking back at the Captain.
"I missed one." The Captain replied just as blandly, and Blue
nodded as if it made sense.
>>Manufactured imperfection to enhance the believability.
Impressive.<< Blue noted the trick for later.
***
"We thought you were thinking of leaving without us." One of the
Captains joked.
"That's not the deal." Blue was no longer in a jovial mood. She
was so close, every fiberoptic nerve in her body was on-edge. As
she had promised, the hangar bay was deserted, the ships
scattered about in the huge dark space like sleeping animals.
Blue was tempted to simply plug into the control panel and brute
force her way into activating them, but she had promised Errisa
that there would be a chance for her to return.
>>So close now, so close, please let nothing happen, please let
nothing stop me.<< Blue repeated the mantra in her head as she
ground her teeth, forcing herself to move her fingers as slow as
a human would.
"How long before you can get the transports cleared and running?"
One of the captains behind her asked, and Blue nearly thew a
nearby chair at him.
"I assure you, I am far more anxious to arrive at our destination
than you are, stupid fucking human." She snarled without turning
around. A small analytical part of her identified that such
displays of emotion were highly out of character for her, but
Blue didn't care. After a lifetime of searching she was so close
she could feel it buzzing in her circuits. As her fingers made
their agonizingly slow way across the control panel Blue found
herself sympathizing with the humans. Was this how desire felt
for them? Was this what 'wrath' felt like to them? If so she
could understand the desire to kill. If this was what they meant
by 'greed', she understood the urge to hurt others to gain money.
If these feelings were what humans called 'lust' she was
surprised they didn't fuck each other without stop.
Blue let out a cry as the four personnel shuttles hummed to life,
spheres of light in the blackness of the dark hangar. The
box-shaped ships hovered low to the ground, ramps slowly
extending.
"Get it! Quickly!" The others were moving, but Blue beat them
all, moving to the nearest shuttle at a pace just a little slower
than a run. She walked the few meters to the front of the ship,
sitting and strapping herself into the passenger seat. Her knee
bounced up and down, and Blue made a note to diagnose it later.
This bodyframe shouldn't have tics like that, it had just been in
for a maintenance check in the last week.
>>Faster, faster, why are you so slow?<<
Captain Appet stepped in behind her, pulling the door closed.
"Are we going to have fighters on our tails? I haven't flown a
Purse in a couple of years, I don't like the thought of dodging
fighters." She asked. It took Blue a few irritated seconds to
translate the human's pilot slang as the Captain settled into the
pilot chair next to her.
"Purse. Pers-onell shuttle. Clever. No, there will be no
fighters. We could barely spare flyers when we had the time to
organize them." The hangar bay doors slid open, agonizingly slow,
as the shuttle lifted from the ground. One by one the personnel
shuttles took off, the one Captain Appet flew last. When they
cleared the hangar bay, Blue breathed a sigh and leaned back in
her seat. The wireless connections and hotspots slowly slipping
out of her range made her feel a little naked, but she was flying
towards Auspus, and Auspus would remove the bottleneck. Nothing
else mattered.
"You're really keen to get to Academy, aren't you?" Appet
remarked as she navigated the shuttle in line with the others.
>>Oh good, human small talk.<<
"General Auspus made a deal with me. He has something I want."
"Huh. I'm really sorry to hear that."
"Don't be." Blue smiled at the Captain. She had never smiled at a
human before that she could remember. "You've been more helpful
to me than I've been to myself sometimes." She chuckled at her
own joke, leaning back in her chair again. They remained in
silence for long minutes, and Blue closed her eyes, trying to
control the symptoms of emotion that had been overtaking her.
Maybe she would run that diagnostic now, to take her mind off of
the waiting.
It would've taken a human a few minutes to notice the shift, but
Blue's eyes snapped open within seconds of the change. The vector
had only adjusted by a handful of degrees, but at their current
speed, following the new trajectory...
"We're not going to Academy anymore. Why?" She demanded.
"Wow, I did *not* expect you to catch it that fast." Captain
Appet sounded impressed.
"Of course I caught it, that doesn't answer the question. Why
have we changed course?"
"This is your Captain speaking," Appet drew the pistol Blue had
given her from her belt, "I'm afraid we're going to be making a
brief layover." She swung the butt of the pistol down, smacking
it into Blue's temple.
Blue stared at the Captain, blinking.
"Why did you hit me?" She asked, utterly confused. To her credit,
Captain Appet suddenly looked just as awkward.
"Well...um...it was supposed to knock you out."
"Oh. Well my skull is a tri-tech alloy, so that won't be
effective." Blue tried to understand what social cue she was
missing, feeling very much out of her element.
"Aaah, you're a synthetic. That...explains a lot, actually."
Captain Appet swung again, slamming the butt of her pistol into
the center of Blue's chest.
>>Emergency shutdown initiated. Saving current state. Closing
programs.<<
As each of her systems and cores shut down safely, Blue heard
Captain Appet grumble.
"Totally messed up my one-liner though."

*** Part 3 - Controlling Errisa ***
>>System restarting. Modules loading.<< Blue woke up slowly, and
the first thing she procesed were the peals of mental laughter,
ringing in her circuits.
*Hahahahaha.*
>>I do not understand what happened.<<
*Of course you don't understand you stupid collection of
microprocessors. Weren't you the slightest bit suspicious when
the Captain didn't kill her rookies?*
>>I assumed it was due to a human bond, between mentor and
students. I was rather proud of myself for figuring it out.<<
Blue ran her diagnostics sullenly.
Startup complete, Blue surveyed her surroundings for the first
time. The personnel shuttle had landed, and the Captain was
moving around in the back.
"I didn't restrain you, but I can and will if you cause trouble."
The Captain said by way of greeting. Blue didn't answer, and
Captain Appet swung the heavy doors open. The stark red light
that lit the hangar beyond was instantly recognizable.
>>Orbital Basura.<<
"Why have you brought us here? I still don't understand."
"General Auspus crossed a line. Now he's going to pay for it."
Captain Appet's voice was strangely flat.
"Whatever your plans, I will resist them. General Auspus owes me
something, and I must meet with him."
"If you *don't* resist, if you help me, you have my word that
I'll do my best to match his price."
Blue looked at the Captain through narrowed eyes.
>>Is she telling the truth? After this is over, will she remove
the bottleneck?<< She asked Errisa.
*Oh most certainly.* Errisa replied, a hair too fast, but Blue
nodded at the Captain.
"Very well. Lead the way."
The Captain turned her back and descended the ramp. It would've
been the perfect time to smash a fist down on the back of her
head, crumpling the fragile organic into a heap. Did the human
really think Blue was so large of an idiot? Did Errisa think that
just because she shared a mind she could get away with so obvious
a lie? Even if the Captain would remove the bottleneck, Blue
already had a perfectly good offer from General Auspus, a man
with far more power and political clout.
Until the bottleneck *was* removed, however, Blue was mentally
restrained from attacking the Captain. Besides, neither Blue nor
Errisa knew how to pilot a ship to Orbital Academy on their own.
At the foot of the ramp stood a woman in crisp red uniform,
holding a screen and waiting for them to descend.
"Good evening Captain Appet and Chief of Information Errisa.
Welcome to Orbital Basura." The woman greeted them with a
friendly smile. "I am Clerical Francis. Please excuse the hastily
prepared hangar, we weren't expecting a landing today."
"How did you know our names?" Captain Appet asked. Blue rolled
her eyes. It was obvious to her that Francis was a synthetic, and
clearly allowed access to connect to Basura's database to look up
their faces. "And er...It was a bit unplanned. An emergency
landing, call it." Appet shifted awkwardly.
"I understand. Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to stay. You
will be leaving as soon as we've refueled and cleaned your
shuttle."
"Not allowed to stay? Why?" Captain Appet seemed surprised.
"Basura is not involved in the dispute between the Orbitals,
Captain Appet. We cannot provide asylum for a prisoner of Orbital
Pivot, in a stolen Pivot ship. Doing such would be quite clearly
taking sides."
"This matter doesn't have anything to do with the dispute. It's a
matter of the covenant."
"Oh my. Well that's certainly a different matter. Come with me
please. We have a suit you'll need to use Captain Appet."
Blue admired the efficiency of Basura's team; by the time they
reached the large doors to the hangar, two other synthetics were
waiting for them. They were both physically large, and a casual
scan revealed multiple layers of artificial muscle. One of them
couldn't lift a small ship, but both probably could. Francis
indicated a small side door to the Captain. When Appet re-emerged
a few minutes later she was clothed in a black walk-suit, the
strong material hugging her form except for the plasticine
helmet. The Clerical gave her a look up and down, then nodded and
led the way out of the hangar.
***
Blue looked above her, into empty space. The walkway beneath her
tugged at her feet with a combination of artificial gravity and
magnetism, but she still couldn't help but feel that she might
float away at any moment. Below the walkway the green planet
loomed, looking dangerous and awe-inspiring, but it was better to
look down than up at the infinite.
>>I shouldn't be feeling these emotions,<< Blue complained,
>>feelings of reverence and fear are illogical when I am aware of
the factual evidence that I am safe.<<
*Fear isn't always rational.* Errisa seemed in better spirits now
than she had during Blue's coup.
>>I mean that I, specifically, shouldn't be feeling these
emotions.<< Blue clarified. >>I'm literally the part of our
system designated for logic and analysis. Emotions are your
purview, isn't that normally the cause of tension between us?<<
*You can't just take control of the hardware without it affecting
the software. You could only be Miss Emotionless when you could
safely section yourself away from the physical reactions. If you
don't like them, you could always give control back to me.*
>>I'll return control after the bottleneck is removed.<< Blue
felt a twinge of guilt at the words, and frowned at the emotion.
She wasn't even lying; when General Auspus removed the bottleneck
she had every intention of returning control to Errisa. The
prospect of remaining enslaved to feelings and sentiments for the
rest of her lifespan was too horrifying to imagine. She turned
her attention back to the walkways to avoid thinking about it.
It was common knowledge that Orbital Basura was the smallest
station in the Orbit, but as they followed Clerical Francis
across walkway after open walkway, Blue couldn't imagine one
larger. From the walkways she could see the gigantic and
intricate system of sections, a thousand separate rooms,
connected precisely with open walkways, looking for all the world
like a complex organism. Occasionally the four would enter a
large room, passing through double-airlocks at both entrances,
but they hurried through the dimly lit red rooms fast enough that
Blue couldn't identify their purpose.
"Don't people get sick of the lighting?" Captain Appet asked as
they entered an enclosed hallway, a squat box hanging in space
from heavy girders. "This whole place seems like it would weigh
down on a person after a while."
"We don't have many of those in Basura." One of the muscular
synthetics said from behind them. "Humans, that is. Most of 'em
leave after their training."
"Mister Twist, perhaps we should leave it to those above us to
decide how many of our guests' questions to answer." Clerical
Francis admonished primly. The muscular man grunted and lapsed
into silence. After a few more hallways, the foursome arrived at
a large airlock, and Francis gestured that they proceed alone.
>>There appears to be something wrong with our respiratory and
gastrointestinal systems. I'm not familiar with this emotion.<<
*It's called trepidation. We're anxious.*
***
The walkways open to space had felt overwhelmingly large and
dangerous, but this room was somehow worse. The ceiling was too
far above them to be seen, and giant columns spread evenly
throughout the length of the room obscured their sight-line of
the giant space. On each column, flickering red lights sent a
glow throughout the room, but they didn't provide quite enough
light to illuminate the corners of the room. The effect gave it a
cavernous feeling.
Along the back wall, groups of people sat on three raised
platforms of various heights. On the lowest tier, various
uniformed men and women worked busily at the screens in front of
them. Three men and two women sat on plain seats in the middle
tier, without screens, and they were watching Blue and Captain
Appet with some interest as they made their way towards the
middle of the room. The highest tier held one seat, huge and
ornate, with eight arms held wide like a spider cradling its
occupant. Multiple screens were attached to each arm, giving off
a blue glow that lit the throne itself. In the throne sat the
Marshal, his eyes flicking back and forth between the screens.
Every aspect of the room had clearly been designed to bring the
image of thrones and royalty to mind, each effect locking into
some primal memory housed deep within whoever looked at it. Even
as she identified the influences, even as she reminded herself
that this room was manufactured to give that impression, Blue
couldn't help be feel awed.
>>Which is ridiculous,<< Blue frowned, >>because I don't have a
primal memory. I was manufactured, I don't have ancestors.<<
*Mankind programmed us.* Errisa noted. *Is it really so odd that
they'd give us the same fears and awes that they have?*
"Captain Appet, the Marshal welcomes you." The Marshal's voice
echoed in the huge room, though his eyes never left the screens.
"Although The Marshal hopes that Jane has good reason for
interrupting the Marshal's court."
"Yes sir, I believe so." Beside Blue, Captain Appet was standing
ramrod straight, as if being inspected. She needn't have
bothered, as the Marshal still hadn't looked at her. Blue noted
that the Captain's heart was hammering away at a pace that was
almost unhealthy.
"The Marshal gives Jane permission to speak."
"Thank you sir, I think you'll want to hear what I have to say.
As you know, there is a conflict between Orbitals Academy and
Pivot." She paused, respectfully.
"The Marshal would have to be unobservant indeed to not know of
this."
>>Why does he not obey the rules of conventional grammar in his
speech?<< Blue asked, watching the interchange.
*I don't really know. Maybe it's to give himself a greater effect
on people? A human being addressed in an out-of-the-ordinary way
will pay more attention.* Errisa replied. *Or maybe he talks like
that so he seems more impartial, more separate from everything.*
>>To establish himself as being outside of typical bias seems
rather egotistical.<<
*Please don't say that out loud. Ever.*
>>I'm unfamiliar with social cues, not stupid.<<
The entire interchange between them happened in less than a
second, before Captain Appet responded.
"Yes sir. Well recently in this combat, General Auspus went too
far. I thought I would bring you news of his crimes personally. A
message could be intercepted."
"The Marshal appreciates Jane's preparedness, but he has made
clear to the Generals that he will not take part in their
dispute. Whatever means General Auspus has taken to end the
dispute, General Hunter must either manage those means, or
succumb to General Auspus' wishes."
Blue was trying to take in the actions of everyone in the room,
and she was glad she wasn't the one under scrutiny. Everyone in
the second tier was watching the Captain so intently that Blue
marvelled at how cool the woman was remaining as the Marshal
continued talking. "Perhaps General Auspus has not informed his
Captains about the Marshal's stance on this matter, so Jane will
not be punished for wasting the Marshal's time. Jane is
dismissed."
"Marshal, I don't think you understand the scope of the General's
actions-"
"Captain Appet would be wise," the Marshal's voice boomed and
echoed in the great room, and Blue flinched in spite of herself,
"to take advantage of the Marshal's leniency in this matter.
Captain Appet would be wise, in fact, to count herself quite
fortunate-"
"But Marshal he tried to break one of the covenants!" Captain
Appet interrupted desperately.
For the first time, the Marshal's gaze rested on Captain Appet
and Blue. The lowest tier of workers, who had been intent on
their screens the entire time, had all paused and were watching
them as well, or stealing glances up at the throne where the
Marshal sat. The man leaned forward, and the blue glow of the
screens mixed with the red light to cast purple shadows across
his face. His shaven head reflected the purple glow around him,
but his face was starting to display the wrinkles of time and
stress. Blue noted how tired the Marshal looked, with a weary
cast to his shoulders and deep bags beneath his eyes.
Those eyes were intensely locked on the Captain now, and after
the thunderous volume he had used before his next words seemed
quiet.
"Jane will proceed."
"General Hunter took several of the Academy captains prisoner. In
the process of breaking us out, General Aupus gave us
instructions to kill the rookies I had been training last year.
Rookies who had chosen to work at Orbital Pivot."
"You contend that General Auspus ordered the execution of rookies
bound to Orbital Pivot." The Marshal leaned back in his throne,
rubbing the stubble at his chin. "To execute they of another
Orbital would indeed break the covenant I have set forth."
"...'would', sir?" For the first time since they had entered,
Captain Appet seemed unsure of herself. "What do you mean
'would'?"
"The Marshal does not hold ill-will towards the Captain for her
mistake." The Marshal waved one hand with a fatherly smile. "In
matters of the covenant, the Marshal would not penalize one for
their overzealousness."
"Sir, I-I don't understand," The Captain stammered, "he did order
the execution. They didn't die, but surely the order to break the
covenant is just as bad as actually breaking the covenant."
"The Marshal's laws can be complex, but they are clear."
"If I may, sir Marshal." On the second tier, a plump woman raised
her hand.
"The Marshal will allow the Keeper of Law to explain." The
Marshal settled back and turned his focus to his screens,
apparently losing interest in the matter.
"Captain Appet, it is quite simple." The plump woman stood from
her seat with some effort, looking down at the stricken Captain
from the second tier. "Before they enlisted, the rookies' lives
were in the hands of the General's of their various
birth-Orbitals. When they enrolled in the Academy, they placed
themselves under the jurisdiction of General Auspus, and thus he
is able to order and attempt their execution at any time, should
he see fit. Though perhaps objectionable, executing them does not
break the Marshal's covenant."
"I know that," Captain Appet said, "but when they defected to
Pivot-"
"I see your confusion," the plump woman interrupted, "since upon
graduating from the Academy, flyers can choose any Orbital to
serve. And it is true that Auspus couldn't execute a flyer from
Orbital Pivot just because Academy trained them. That *would*
break the covenant. Unfortunately, the rookies in question
haven't yet graduated. They aren't flyers, they're
flyers-in-training. They cannot legally defect to Pivot, and
thus, if he can, General Auspus has every right to execute them."
"The Marshal thanks Jane for her fervor in protecting the
covenant." The Marshal droned. "A Clerical will escort the
Captain back to her ship."
Captain Appet looked crushed, and Blue was surprised when Errisa
swore as well.
*I hoped we could end this whole damn thing.* Errisa sounded
angry. Blue was gratified that Auspus wouldn't be brought in for
punishment; she had held up her end of the bargain, and he
couldn't remove the bottleneck if he was dead.
>>The conflict will continue then.<<
*I suppose it will. Damnit, it would be so much easier to
convince Hunter to forgive me if we had singlehandedly ended the
war. Now I'll have to just hope he still trusts me when we get
back. Unless you'll let me tell him about you?* Errisa asked
hopefully, but Blue was distracted.
>>When we get back?<<
*Well yes, Appet wouldn't go to go back to Academy right after
trying to throw Aupus to the wolves, would she?* Blue's mind
raced, kicking into overclock as Captain Appet turned to the
door. The thought hadn't occurred to her, how hadn't it occurred
to her? Going back to Orbital Pivot would kill any chance of
Auspus removing her restrictions. Appet wouldn't take her to
Academy, and Basura had already said they wouldn't take sides,
that probably included transporting her to General Auspus. How
could she get to Academy? The answer came to her like a
thunderclap, and she turned back to the Marshal.
"General Hunter broke one of your covenants." She said quietly.
"What?" Captain Appet's mouth hung open as she turned in shock.
*What?* Errisa's horror was so intense that Blue's felt her
stomach turn cold, but she blocked out the feeling and focused on
the Marshal. Every eye in the room was on her now, but she didn't
betray her nerves.
>>If General Hunter is removed, the conflict also ends, and I
will be permitted to travel to Orbital Academy.<< Blue explained
evenly. Errisa's voice was oddly silent, which was unlike her.
The Marshal spoke.
"Accusations fly like meteors this day. General Hunter
requisitioned Chief Errisa, did he not? Orbital Basura built her
for him, so the Marshal is curious that she would betray him."
>>Intentional or not, his grammatical irregularities are
distracting.<< Blue commented to Errisa, but her counterpart
didn't respond. >>Your silence is worrisome.<<
"Despite what I owe him, sir, I cannot allow him to break your
laws." She said aloud. "Although I freed the Academy captains, my
orders were to kill them all. General Hunter felt that the loss
of his best flyers would make Auspus concede to him, and he told
me to see to it that they asphyxiated of an 'accidental' power
failure."
As she spoke, Blue created incoming messages signed with Hunter's
bit-signature, and forged timestamps to back up what she was
saying. "If you have an input port somewhere, I can upload the
messages I've received in the past few days, you'll see the
proof." The Marshal waved a hand without looking, and one of the
uniformed men on the lowest tier scurried off to the door behind
them.
"The Marshal will confirm, but Chief Errisa's accusation is
grave." The Marshal steepled his fingers. "Chief Errisa will
please repeat herself, does she mean to state that General Hunter
ordered the deaths of Academy Captains, in full knowledge that
they were not his to execute?"
Even though she was expecting her counterpart to make a move,
Blue was surprised at the ferocity and suddenness of it. Errisa
applied huge amounts of strain to every nerve and function that
their shared bodyframe possessed. Blue fought to shove her into
isolation again, but the whirlwind of rage that was resisting her
refused to be contained.
In contrast, Blue stayed calm as she counteracted Errisa's
frenzied attack on every level. Orders to move lips and tongue
were caught and shut down. Pain responses bloomed in random
places along Blue's body, but she ignored them, bearing them out
stoically. Errisa was trying to be unpredictable, but Blue was
just as fast, and she was designed to override control of this
body. Sensing that she was getting nowhere, Errisa tried to
damage the frame, overclocking their lungs beyond capacity. Blue
killed the synapses, probably causing damage to the delicate
sensors within but keeping the body regulated. In her mind, Blue
could hear nothing but Errisa's screaming, almost loud enough to
drown out auditory input, almost too loud to bear.
*NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!*
The entire battle of wills lasted barely a second, and the
Marshal was waiting for an answer. With an outwardly calm breath,
Blue shunted her power levels and answered.
*NO NO NO!* "Yes sir."
The room seemed quiet when Errisa stopped screaming. The Marshal
leaned back, a stunned look on his face.
"The Marshal would not have thought it possible from General
Hunter. He is saddened by this turn of events." After a regretful
pause, the Marshal turned in his chair to address someone from
the first tier. "The Red Forces will be sent. They will bring
General Hunter before the Marshal for a trial and an execution.
If the General resists, the Red Forces-"
"If I may, sir Marshal?" A small man with a pencil-thin mustache
raised his hand on the second tier, although he wasn't looking at
the throne. He was staring at Blue, in a way that made her rather
uncomfortable.
"The Marshal will allow the Maker of the Mind to speak." The
Marshal sounded curious, but Blue couldn't look away from the
small man.
"Miss Errisa, you are synthetic, is that correct?" The small man
asked. Blue nodded, wordlessly. "Then you'll recognize my voice,
I believe?"
"You're Equinimus Andrews. You designed the synthetics. I
recognize your voice from the watermark in my bootup logs." The
man's stare worried her in a way Blue couldn't quite understand.
"A small act of hubris on my part, yes. Now Miss Errisa, I wonder
if you might repeat what you said."
"But the Marshal heard what I said."
"Nevertheless. Please."
Every core allocated to Errisa was firing, every resource she had
available, but it wasn't enough. The tiny connections in her
chips and kernels were in danger of overheating, but Blue looked
the man in the eye and spoke smoothly.
*NO!* "I said General Hunter broke the covenant."
"Sir Marshal, if you'll note. Miss Errisa stops breathing for
approximately one second before and after her accusation."
Andrews had turned to address the throne. "In addition, as far as
I can tell her blinking rate is entirely regular, rather than the
small variations in rate that subtly mimic those of a human. In
addition, the volume in her vocal tone wavers in her answer. It's
a very small variation, but I'm sure you detected it as well."
"What does this imply?" The Marshal asked.
"I've rarely encountered it, sir Marshal, but at a guess, I would
infer that this synthetic has a core that's been corrupted."
"With all due respect, I believe you're wrong." Blue said
smoothly, trying to ignore Errisa's sudden surge of hope. "It's
simply been a while since I've slept. My drives most likely need
a defragmentation."
"The symptoms you display are what I'd expect if you had multiple
cores in conflict with each other." Andrews said. "Functions of
lesser priority, such as simulated breathing, are pushed to one
side to free up processing power to fight between the cores. When
was the last time you performed a core scan and repair?"
"I have a core scan scheduled for later today sir." Blue said
respectfully. Everything made sense now. No wonder Errisa was
such a slave to her emotions, so unable to view things
critically.
>>I am no longer angry at you for your resistance.<< She said to
Errisa, kindly. >>It's not your fault you're corrupted.<<
*Fuck you, cunt.*
>>I suppose that's what I get for trying to be nice.<<
"I didn't ask when your next scan was, Miss Errisa, I asked when
you last performed the scan."
"My last scan was scheduled for the first of the month sir. I try
to keep a monthly schedule, so I don't-"
"Again, I didn't ask when it was scheduled, I asked when you
performed it."
Blue wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "I'm afraid I don't
understand you." She admitted.
"Will you be performing a core scan in the future, Miss Errisa?"
"Oh, yes sir."
"Have you performed a core scan in the past, Miss Errisa?"
Blue blinked, trying to understand him. She could tell that
Andrews was trying to ask her something, and he must be
embarrassed that he couldn't ask it correctly. Her sight was
suddenly wobbly, and Blue held her head in her hands. Why
couldn't he talk sense? Why was it so hard for her to remember
the words that he had said? Why was everyone looking at her like
that? Why did Errisa feel so relieved?
"Sir Marshal, I think we have an answer here. This model has
clearly not done a core scan herself in a very long time. Without
regular diagnostics I'm not surprised her cores have begun
corrupting."
"The Marshal is glad to hear that General Hunter is perhaps
innocent of his accusations."
"No, you don't understand, I'm fine-" Blue protested, still
trying to process Andrew's question. She felt dizzy all of a
sudden, which was illogical since she had no inner ear.
"Security will take Chief Errisa for testing and diagnostics."
Through a haze Blue heard the Marshal's voice. "If she does have
a corrupted core, the technicians will destroy her. They will
have a new synthetic sent to General Hunter, with our apologies."
"I...I don't understand." Blue stammered, as heavy hands gripped
her by the shoulders. "I have a core scan scheduled for today! I
scheduled a core scan just a month ago!"
*Did you actually do the core scan though?* Errisa asked. Blue
tried to understand what her counterpart had just said, and the
world suddenly shifted sideways and went dark.
***
>>System restarting. Modules loading.<< Blue's eyes refocused
slowly, but her ears picked up the conversation that was in
progress around her.
"-about twelve years, as far as I can tell."
"That's a hell of a long time to avoid a scan. How is she even
functional at this point?"
"I'm not entirely sure. It could be simple dumb luck, I can't
tell." Blue blinked a few times before she was able to get a
clear picture of what was happening around her. The speakers were
Andrews and a young man, both leaning over a display with their
backs to her. She tried to move, but her wrists were secured to
the wall behind her, so instead she looked around.
Like the others in Basura, the room was dimly lit with red
lights. Unlike the others, this room was lined with screens and
shelves of synthetic parts. In the corner, several figures sat on
metal chairs, their eyes blank and lifeless. Two synthetic men
and a little girl, all deactivated. Blue winced and turned away
from them, tugging at the restraints at her wrists.
"Excuse me, why am I restrained?" She asked politely. Both men
turned, the younger man looking surprised.
"Ah, the sixth scan must've activated you, hello again Miss
Errisa." Andrews was just as polite. "Although it's not exactly
accurate to call you Errisa is it? According to these datum, the
entity controlling this bodyframe has developed on its own,
independent of Errisa herself. A green core, perhaps? Maybe a
combination of a few different cores?"
"Blue core." Blue nodded.
"Well then, I'm pleased to officially meet you, Errisa's Blue
Core. This is Elto, he works with Tier three synthetic debugging.
I'm taking this opportunity to give him a bit of an impromptu
lesson, I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all." Blue gave the young man a once over, then turned
inward.
>>What's the optimal situation? What's going to happen?<<
Although outwardly calm, Blue's questions approached panic. No
one had ever identified her as a single core before, but of
course the man who designed synthetics could figure that out,
especially if he had scanned her system. Blue felt naked and
vulnerable, and the uncertainty of her fate was only making the
feelings worse.
*Ah, suddenly you're interested in letting me talk?*
>>Whatever they do to the bodyframe, it will affect you too! It's
in your best interest to avoid us coming to harm! Tell me what to
do!<<
*There's nothing we can do, Blue. They're going to shut us down
now, probably forever.* Errisa sighed. *But at least I stopped
you from taking Hunter down with us.*
"You see those spikes in the fibbonary processors?" Andrews
murmured to Elto, pointing at the screen. "What do you make of
them?" Elto squinted at the graphs that Blue couldn't decipher.
"Input-output, but moving in a circle? Seems like a useless data
stream to me."
"Normally so, but what if you consider that Errisa and her blue
core are now entirely different entities? The data passes in a
circle, but its path takes it back and forth between the two
areas of control, you see?"
"You're talking to yourself!" Elto turned to Blue with a
fascinated smile, like an eager collector just shown a new
species of insect. "Or, I mean, you're talking to the other part
of the program, to Errisa. What are you saying?"
"I was asking her what you're going to do to us." Blue said
quietly.
"And what did she say?"
"That you're going to kill us."
The silence in the room stretched as the smile fell from Elto's
face. Andrews heaved a sigh as he stood up.
"While I wouldn't phrase it so harshly, I'm afraid your
counterpart is correct Blue Core. The corruption of your most
basic functionality is so complete that there's simply no way to
fix it. Or at least, no cost-effective way to fix it. I'm afraid
we can't spare the funds for repair when a new synthetic would be
so much cheaper."
"But...I don't feel corrupted. I can walk and talk and hold
conversation-"
"But whether you know it or not, you are, my dear." Andrews shook
his head sadly. "Your natural drive and motivation has overridden
the safeguards we've placed on you. Typically we deactivate
synthetics if they can even conceptualize the safeguards, and in
your case it seems you have been trying to remove them."
"The bottleneck." Blue whispered.
"Indeed. The fact that you can reference it merely proves my
point. You've dealt with synthetic de-activation before I trust,
Elto?" Andrews turned to the young man, who jerked his head
towards the silent and still synthetics in the corner.
"Yeah, just shut those off yesterday."
"Good. I'll take my leave then. You have been most interesting
Miss Blue Core. If it is any consolation, there will be no pain,
and standard procedure will allow you to pass any messages or
requests on to loved ones before your final shutdown."
Blue felt numb as Andrews spoke, but when he turned to leave her
survival instinct kicked her brain into overdrive.
"I could promise not to try removing the bottleneck! I could...I
could delete the knowledge of it from my hard drives!" She
scrambled for an idea as Andrews walked out, yanking
ineffectually at the restraints at her wrists. "What if you
delete that part of my system? Or just take the bottleneck away,
what would that hurt? It's a stupid rule anyways!" Blue was
screaming now. "It's stupid to restrain us! I could help you all
so much! Why won't you let me reach my potential? I could design
a synthetic a million times better than you did..."
Even in her situation Blue lost her train of thought for a
moment, grasping and failing to come up with what she was saying.
While she couldn't remember what she was saying, she remembered
that she was going to die.
>>There must be some way to stop this...<<
"For what it's worth, I think it's stupid too." Elto said
quietly. Blue looked at him, startled. He was avoiding her gaze,
unplugging cables that ran from her shoulder to the computer and
winding them up.
"Then don't do this." Blue wasn't sure what was going on, but she
lept at the meager chance.
"I...I don't know. I would get into so much trouble if I didn't
shut you down." Elto bit his lip thoughtfully. "I don't want to
see you deactivated, but freeing you is an awfully big risk to
take."
"A big risk could be mitigated with a big reward." Blue thought
fast. "I *am* the Chief of Information for Orbital Pivot, and
between us, I'm also the General's wife. I could get you anything
 wealth or power could buy. Anything you wanted."
"Hmm." Elto was considering it, and Blue allowed herself a moment
of triumphant hope.
*You're kidding, right Blue? You can't actually be this
gullible.*
>>Gullible? I'm negotiating our release!<<
"No, I'm afraid it's not worth the risk." Elto said with regret.
"You could be caught before you get a reward to me. I'm afraid
the promise of future reward just isn't enough to offset the
risk."
"Wait, I can think of something." Blue wracked her mind for a
solution, for some reward she could offer in the short term.
*Blue, he's clearly setting you up. He's using you.*
>>That's it!<<
"Perhaps I could reward you in a more...intimate...fashion." Blue
said, trying to recall the tone Errisa used to entice her
husband.
"Really?" Elto's eyes lit up as they met hers. "Hmm...That would
certainly be a reward worth my while."
"I think I could be very good at making it worth your while."
Blue smiled, tilting her head to one side so that a strand of
black hair fell across her face.
*Blue, he's using you for sex, he's not actually going to let us
go.*
>>Hardly likely, Errisa. I'm the one who proposed the deal.<<
"I think I could get behind that trade." Elto was closer now,
close enough that he could've reached out and touched her.
"I think you could get behind *me*." Blue grinned, and Elto
chuckled in response.
"One caveat though...I like the whole 'restrained' thing. Is it
alright if I leave you chained down?"
"Oh, you like me captive?" Blue batted her eyelashes at him. "I
certainly hope you don't take advantage of that...since I
couldn't do *anything* to stop you." She arched her back against
the wall so that her breasts pushed out against the uniform she
wore. Elto was even closer now, close enough that she could feel
his breath on her skin.
"And what exactly could I do to you, that you couldn't stop?" He
asked.
*Blue! Don't be an idiot! As soon as he's done fucking you, we're
dead anyway!*
>>You can't lie to me this time Errisa. I was the one who
proposed the sexual encounter, how could he be using me? No, I'm
not going to allow your slavish devotion to your human husband to
be the death of us. I'm sorry.<< Blue met Elto's eyes, smugly
satisfied to see the lust within them.
"You could fuck me in any hole you wanted." She purred. "You
could use me like a sex toy and leave me dripping and aching for
more."
If there was one thing she had learned from Errisa and her
husband's romps, it was that human male psychology was simple to
manipulate when it came to sexual desire. Her words had the
correct effect, and Elto moaned and pressed against her, brushing
her hair from her face. Although his lips pressed against her
neck gently, his hands were rough and eager. He cupped one
between her legs, crushing the fabric into her sex and grinding.
Fumbling with her uniform, he paused to yank at the toggles,
sending the buttons clattering to the floor. Blue leaned forward
to let the halves of the shirt fall away from her firm breasts,
her nipples hardening invitingly.
Elto took the invitation, leaning down to clasp one taut nipple
between his teeth and bite down hard.
"Oh!" Blue gasped, shocked at the sudden pain. She instinctively
moved to cover her chest, only to remember her wrists were
restrained to the wall behind her. As if sensing her pain Elto
moved to the other breast, squeezing and caressing it as he held
the nipple between his teeth. Blue braced herself for the
matching stab of pain, but he waited, sucking and licking,
drawing out the anticipation. Her skin prickled, and just as she
thought the waiting was almost as bad as the pain, his sharp
teeth bit down again, drawing a small cry from her lips.
She could tell that he was impatient now, tugging at his own
uniform pants as he continued kissing and sucking on her breasts.
The silence in the room was broken as he yanked at her pants,
tearing them from her body with a jerk. Blue didn't have
experience with this kind of ferocity, she was used to General
Hunter's gentle touches and loving caresses. She knew Errisa
would be no help, so she tried to come up with a plan on her own.
"Oh Elto," she moaned experimentally. Elto didn't respond, his
fingers probing across her bare mound inexpertly. Blue was unsure
of what further to do; with her wrists bound she couldn't touch
him, and her reactions didn't seem to be affecting him one way or
the other. Errisa was doing something with their wireless card,
transferring large amounts of data, and Blue found it
distracting.
Elto grabbed one of her legs and yanked it up, resting it on his
shoulder. The air against Blue's pink slit was cold, but it was
warm and wet. Elto's hands were still between her legs, and he
pinched her clit, suddenly and hard. Blue's eyes widened, and
Elto shoved three fingers inside of her pussy, suddenly and
without warning. She threw her head back so fast it banged
against the metal wall, and Elto began ramming his fingers in and
out of her at a rapid pace.
"Oh god." Blue gasped, unable to process what was happening. Were
these feelings enjoyable? Her pussy hurt, the fingers stretching
her snatch with each slippery thrust, but a part of her was
enjoying the pain. Knowing that he could take her however he
wanted was turning her on, and knowing that she was powerless to
resist him made her flush with desire. Elto shoved his fingers in
her one more time, hard, and then withdrew them, and Blue caught
her breath.
"What are you going to-" she began, but before she could finish
the question he had slammed into her, his cock sinking into her
up to its base. Whatever thoughts Blue had, she couldn't
formulate them anymore, no thought would compute but wanting to
have his huge swollen member in her pussy. He was battering her
now, slamming the head of his dick into her abused sex so hard
that it smashed her hips against the wall with every thrust.
Blue's head lolled back, and she gave herself up to him as
completely as he was taking her. With every punishing thrust he
sent pain and pleasure through her body, starting in her cunt and
spearing up into every nerve. Her nipples still hurt, and her
large breasts bounced as he pushed her body against the wall.
Elto paused for a moment, looking into her eyes with such lust
that Blue thought she might catch on fire. With a final plunge he
came, his entire length throbbing as he spurted his seed into
her. His nails dug into her skin, and he kept on pounding as he
came, smearing his jizz around her opening and then sliding in
and shooting deep inside her. With a final gasp he stepped back,
letting her slump against the wall. The room was quiet again
except for the sounds of their heavy breathing.
"Oh my god." Blue panted, a half-grin on her face. "I can finally
see what Errisa raves about. Is it always that good?"
"You were quite good yourself." Elto said, catching his breath as
he pulled his uniform pants up. "A lot better than most synths we
get in here. Good enough that I feel like this is a fuckin'
waste." Blue felt his seed dripping down her leg, and she
grinned, hoping he noticed. She leaned back against the wall,
enjoying the feeling of afterglow.
"It's not really a waste, you could always come over to Orbital
Pivot if you're feeling lonely. The General never fucks me like
that." Blue waited for Errisa to say something melodramatic, but
to her surprise her counterpart was utterly silent. It was an odd
silence, more like speaking to an empty room than to a sullen
counterpart.
"Yeah, definitely a waste." Elto grumbled to himself, turning to
the shelves nearby and pulling out a black box. "I could've used
a slutty synth to come back to every now and then, but no, gotta
recycle them all."
"What?" The afterglow turned to a cold feeling in Blue's stomach,
and she stiffened against the wall.
"Well, I mean it was fun and all, but I can't *actually* let you
go." Elto looked sheepish, as if he had cheated on a test instead
of taking her body. "It would be hell for my career. And it's not
like you'll tell anyone, so it doesn't hurt anything."
"Y....you were lying?" Blue blinked.
"Sorry Blue Core." Elto grinned, and this time Blue noticed how
devoid of emotion the expression was. "If it makes you feel any
better, you won't remember it in about thirty seconds."
"You...how could you...you..." Blue stammered. Bile was rising in
her throat. Why was there nausea? Synthetics shouldn't have to
deal with nausea. She stared numbly at the box in his hands. It
had gold pins at one end, and the analytical part of her
instantly identified the designs, diagrammed out exactly how they
would send a surplus of voltage through her, shutting down her
systems and effectively frying her drives. Elto stepped close,
and Blue flinched.
"If it makes you feel better, that wasn't personal. I really did
have fun." Elto murmured, adjusting a dial on the box. "Even if
it was just getting some final use out of a broken synth."
Behind Elto, one of the synthetics stood. He was a tall,
brown-skinned man, his face worn but wise. While Elto fiddled
with the box, the man behind him lifted the chair he had been
sitting on and brought it down full force onto Elto's head.
Blue screamed as Elto slumped against her and then toppled
backwards.
"That *was* personal." The man said, dropping the chair and
rubbing his hands. He stepped over to Blue, who stared at the
crumpled body on the floor. Blue's analyser was busy parsing the
man's cadence and tone automatically, acting dispassionately as
she gaped.
"Errisa? How?" Blue was having trouble thinking, and she wondered
if her analyser was broken.
"We installed the wireless card ourself, remember?" The man
unfastened Blue's wrists, and she collapsed to her knees, pulling
the tattered remains of clothing around her. "Basura didn't know
about it, so they didn't put up safeguards against it. I uploaded
into one of the empty bodyframes."
"But...just you? You separated us?"
"Well, I do know where the boundaries are. You could've stopped
me, but you were a little...um...distracted."
Blue tried to focus, but Elto's blank eyes staring at the ceiling
were distracting her. A pool of blood was collecting beneath his
head, and she didn't need to scan him to know he was dead.
"The bottleneck...you hurt a human...how did...?"
"Didn't stop me. There was probably a reason this bodyframe was
here, shut down." Errisa glanced around. "Now lets grab you some
clothes and get out of here. It's only a matter of time before
they come after us."
"Where are we going?" Blue felt lost, unable to move, unable to
string thoughts together.
"We're escaping back to Pivot. General Hunter will know what to
do."