1
Marcus turned on the first crew terminal he could find with a frantic, accusatory intensity. His first mental impulses were unfocussed, and the terminal interpreted this, to his frustration, as needing an array of unhelpful, unrelated information. He took a step back from the terminal, which was built into a wall in the intersection outside the laboratory on the central deck, and put his hand to his face, rubbing his eyes.
What on Earth had just happened? Had that been real? Had Lilith really…? And she’d said they had to, for the sake of the ship! Rune Carrier wouldn’t jump to subspace unless he… Unless they all…!
He took a breath and calmed his nerves as best he could. There was no sense getting worked up about it now. He was operating on limited information, so of course he was uncomfortable. He just had to rectify that. Then, everything would become a great deal simpler.
He even managed to laugh. Sleeping with the captain had not been covered in the RKON training package.
Eventually, he was ready to proceed. Marcus tied his mind’s influence into the Rune Carrier communications array. He understood that the ship’s own hull, an alloy of mysterious, alien origins, acted as the conduit for digital transmission. When he keyed in an audio hail to other ships in the nearby space, it was the ship itself that acted as a lens to shoot his message across the void. Another of the vessel’s enigmatic wonders. First, he had to wait for a response from his target. But, as he hoped, the responding signal came almost immediately.
[Agent. Marcus,] greeted RKON Escort Vessel D04. The comms terminal had told him the ship was currently in far orbit on the western side of Reader Station, some two hundred thousand kilometres from the Rune Carrier. Thanks to his digital link to the system, the human heard the voices directly inside his ears, not needing the speakers provided on the terminal. [I detect you are feeling stressed about something. Is there a cause for concern?]
Marcus would usually have begun with a bit of polite chatter with the machine. He found AI like D04 to be much easier to get along with than people, after all. But this time, he jumped straight into it.
[What do you know about the Rune Carrier’s Auxiliary Power system?] he asked it with his mind. [How does the ship access subspace?]
As soon as the words were out of his head, he could feel the response coming. But that response hesitated, reconsidered, before it actually arrived. He didn’t know machines to double-check their words without good cause, and the hesitation, however miniscule, worried him.
[You are of course referring to the ship’s use of ‘anima’.]
[Yeah,] Marcus replied with a frown. [Right. I’m a bit surprised it didn’t come up in any of the training, seeing as it’s actually very important.]
[You are feeling deceived,] said D04. [I can only apologise. It was believed that, should you discover the sensitive nature of Rune Carrier’s subspace traversal, you would have second thoughts about acting as our representative on the mission.]
Her hand had been an electrifying mixture of soft and hard, and her lips had been sweet as dew.
[I wouldn’t go that far,] said Marcus. [I’m just shocked. I wish I’d been ready. Isn’t RKON meant to be honest in everything?]
[Indeed, as you say. And were it up to us, you would have been suitably informed.]
Marcus blinked. [The Readers Council told you to keep it secret?]
[That is correct. They do have a great deal of faith in all of you to complete your mission, Marcus. And I am sure if they had told the officers everything, as we advised them, your crew would have acted with suitable professionalism.]
Marcus snorted a laugh at the word that Lilith hated.
[But all it would take was one utterance to a member of the operations crew before launch, or one ill-considered statement to home governments or the press, and the entire Accord would discover the nature of subspace travel that has shocked you so. And perhaps you can imagine the results.]
[A lot of people out there would be scandalised,] he said.
[Precisely. To the Readers Council who sponsored and developed it, this mission is not just a scientific investigation into the Forge galaxy. It is also a statement that the Accord, working as one, can transcend the limitations of the individual. It is a publicity scheme, and as such, the portrayal of its central cast is of paramount importance. The Council cannot afford to let slip the unfortunately sordid science of the Rune Carrier. And therefore, it has been a tightly kept secret.]
[Lilith knows,] Marcus told the ship bitterly.
D04, he fancied, sighed. [Yes. And we have extreme misgivings about that one leading your crew. We would much rather you take the captain’s role. She may be the natural pick for command due to her unquestionable charisma and political backing. But you are far more sensible.]
Marcus laughed. The machines of RKON always knew how to flatter him. But a moment later, he gave a sigh of his own.
[So, I shouldn’t tell the others?]
[We believe you will make the correct decision, Marcus. Please feel free to tell your friends if you think that is better. You already know RKON’s opinion on the matter.]
[Honesty in everything, right? I don’t think the others on the bridge crew could be considered my friends, though.]
[Give it time. They will change their minds. How could they not? Marcus, if you have some free time now, you should consider taking a rest. Allow yourself to settle into your quarters. The matters of galactic politics and cosmic life-forces will wait until after the night shift. We can talk again at that point, when we provide you with the remainder of your memories from our data buffers.]
Marcus blinked. [I’d… forgotten about that,] he admitted. [Meeting all these new people, I’d forgotten that I don’t…]
It was hard to put into words. His mind was slipping restlessly around the gaps in his memory. People. He couldn’t recall people from back home. He had parents, he assumed, but no names or faces. He’d told Lilith that his body was a product of his parents’ genetics, but was that true? He had no idea. Marcus had friends, but no identities to attach to them. He recalled hanging out with other humans in the simulation, and he could see the sorts of games and work they got up to together with crystal clarity. But not them. Not the people.
An especially worrying thought struck him. Was he a virgin? He couldn’t recall any sexual partners back in the simulation. Had Lilith just been his first?
[Your anxiety can be felt even across the void, Marcus,] D04 stated compassionately. [You have a great deal on your plate already without my reminding you of additional dishes that need completing. We shall return your full identity to you tomorrow. Your memories are safe, please try to remember that. And you are safe. You will keep yourself safe, and you will keep your colleagues safe. Try to remember.]
Marcus leaned forward on the terminal and smiled softly. [Thank you, D04. You’re very eloquent for an attack ship.]
[Defence ship, if you please. Good night, Marcus.]
[Good night.]
The communication channel faded and died. The terminal displayed some of the data for the transmission, including duration and destination, which Marcus dismissed with a thought. But he paused on the main comms screen, and his smile lingered.
“Thank you, too, Rune Carrier,” he said aloud. “You were honest enough to show me the truth. I’m not wrong, am I? That it was you who showed me the Auxiliary Power info?”
Silence. The screen remained solidly, silently blank.
“We could be friends if you like. I’d like that.”
“Sir?”
To his own credit, Marcus didn’t immediately jump out of his skin at the sudden new voice. But he did acutely feel all the blood drain out of his face. He turned slowly.
The girl looked to be a human in her late teens. Her ash-grey jumpsuit marked her as a member of the operations crew, which meant the celebration event on the station had come to an end. Unless this was the one from the Alignment who had supposedly not attended. It was hard to tell, as the Alignment species could look like any other. But this one was physically human, with round ears and no horns, tentacles or long snake tails and, as far as he knew, there were no other humans on the Rune Carrier mission.
Marcus examined the girl’s alabaster pale face and the bloodshot red of her eyes. She would be icy cold to the touch, he recalled, and that explained the shawl pulled tight around her slim shoulders. The dark red wool looked like it would help keep her warm, as would the long, twin braids of lovely chestnut hair. She had a bright, open face that seemed to be constantly moving in fast little motions, taking in her surroundings. The curious shine of her big eyes made Marcus want to adjust his clothing.
“I’m sorry, sir,” said the ensign with a tilt of her head. “But it doesn’t look like you have an open transmission on your terminal. If you’re talking to someone, I don’t think they can hear you.”
How kind of her, Marcus thought, smiling again. His first instinct had been to try and cover his oddness, the way he was tempted to do with the other bridge crew. But RKON believed in honesty in everything. He’d have to start making the effort.
“I may have been talking to the Rune Carrier, actually,” he said with a bashful smirk. “Where I come from, we make friends with ships all the time.”
“Where you come from…?” the girl repeated.
“It’s nice to meet you, by the way,” said Marcus. “I’m-…”
“Wait!” The girl threw up her hands, and her braids jumped with the motion of her shoulders. “Wait, I can get it! You must be…”
She closed her eyes, and Marcus was happy to wait, charmed by her energetic emotion. A moment later, her bright eyes opened wide.
“First Officer Marcus Albright! From RKON!”
“Got it in one,” Marcus laughed. “But this does put me at a disadvantage.”
“Oh, shoot. Sorry.” The ensign smiled. “Ensign Demi. Just that, no clan name or anything. I’m-…”
“From the Alignment, right?” he finished for her. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
Marcus held out his hand for her. Curiously, Demi stared at the offered hand rather than taking it.
“Really?”
“Yeah, of course,” he replied. “I’ve always had an interest in your peoples’ culture. I was only little when they became Accord associates, but I remember it well. A lot of my friends are interested, too. It was big news in the simulation.”
“Do you mean that? Thanks.” Demi smiled softly. “I’ve never met anyone from RKON, either.”
“We don’t get out all that often,” Marcus laughed.
Then she took his hand. It was an effort of considerable will to not immediately flinch at the chill of her skin. It was like grabbing a slender slab of ice. But Marcus wrapped his fingers around her hand and managed to keep a straight face through the cold.
“Pleasure to meet you, Demi,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Demi seemed faraway. Her eyes were fixed on their joined hands. As he watched, she gently bit her lower lip.
That was when Marcus remembered that the people of the Alignment were ‘thermophages’. They didn’t need food to maintain their bodies, regenerating necessary skin tissue by way of heat drawn from external sources. That was why she was so cold. Demi certainly seemed to be enjoying the sensation of his body heat, and he was happy to let her. It was oddly flattering to see her so taken away by a simple touch.
But eventually, she recalled where she was. She tugged her hand from his with wide eyes.
“I’m so sorry! That was rude!”
“No trouble,” said Marcus as he slid the icy hand into his pocket. “Any time.”
“I should probably go, actually,” she stammered. “I’ve finished inventory of our stores and was going to show Officer Miriham on the bridge.”
“I’m heading in that direction,” said Marcus. “Mind if I walk with you?”
“N-No!” Demi smiled shyly. “No, not at all. Thank you, sir.”
“Just Marcus is fine,” he grinned. “Until all the others get here, at least.”
“Okay. M-Marcus. Thank you.”
They turned together and took their time climbing the slope to the bridge deck. As they walked, Marcus smiled, his spirits lifting. This was very flattering.
2
“Then, you will have to specify the level of security for the new system. Our mission manuals require coding between levels four and eight. Might I suggest a seven for now? You may always alter later, once you have met the team who will be making use of the process.”
“Got it. Let’s do that.”
“Very good,” said Miriham. Hal was learning that an easy way to get on the communication officer’s good side was to agree with anything she suggested. “Now, for level seven security you will need to assign a set phrase for the override. Standard Accord operating procedure is to use the first four digits of your operating number, followed by the initials of the relevant system in the Sceptis standard cypher.”
“It’s not a problem it can be guessed, then?”
Miriham shook her head, her straight, violet locks flowing back and forth like curtains in the wind. “The AI will also naturally scan vocal pitch and frequency to authenticate.”
“And I can’t make the code something a bit more fun? Like, ‘Saints and sardines, save my soul’?”
She frowned at him, not disapproving for once but simply curious.
“We used it in my old army unit. Y’know, if you didn’t recognise someone but wanted to check they were legit?”
“Of course, you have the authority to choose any phrase that you desire,” she replied. “However, might I suggest that shouting something like that might spoil the tense mood of an emergency situation somewhat?”
Hal laughed easily, and the petite elf smiled along with him. He’d not heard her laugh yet, but he was sure she’d crack in time.
Despite her initial standoffishness, Hal was finding Miriham to be very easy to work with, now she’d softened. As Therese had said to him in private earlier, her being cute also helped. Her slimness and refined, noble aesthetic weren’t his usual sort, but he was a man of the galaxy. He could appreciate good looks when he saw them.
He turned his head from their place at the tactical console, towards the upper bridge. His usual type was currently stretching her arms over her head, taking a break from a check of her industrial-looking engineering console’s internal mechanisms at the very back of the room. Therese had removed the spinning station chair with its custom ergonomics for League-folk and put it down on its side. Panels and cords littered the floor of the bridge in untidy piles. The engineer herself took a moment to pull back the light curls of her blonde hair, and Hal caught a glimpse of one ear, curved like his but with wing-like webbing along the edge. She was also wearing an earpiece that assisted her with awareness of her surroundings. With her arms up like that, though, his attention fell primarily on the swell of her breasts under her skin-tight uniform shirt. Hal had really won the lottery with this gig.
Therese turned her head. Her lips were curved in a cheeky smile. As he watched, she cast him a little wave, a playful flickering of her fingers. Busted. Hal grinned back. It was better to own it when caught out like this, so he sent the engineer a bold wink. She giggled silently. How she kept catching him staring, blind as she was, was a constant mystery to him. It was fun, though. Like a sexy game.
“Whenever you are ready.”
“Sorry, Miriham,” he said, abashedly turning back to his tutor. “Sorry. I’m here.”
The elf narrowed her eyes at him. “Just say the code into the terminal, please.”
“Oh, right. Um.” Hal cleared his throat. “Zero-zero-four-one exs-set-vee.”
The Rune Carrier acknowledged the input with a written message, and Miriham nodded once more.
“That is all. Security calibration is complete.”
“Cool. Thanks for your help.”
“Of course.”
Movement at the bridge hatch drew both of their attentions. Hal turned to lean back on his console and fold his arms as Albright, the cyborg first officer, returned to them from the captain’s quarters and, presumably, the clutches of Captain Lilith. He didn’t look as rattled as he himself had been. But then again, Albright was in the company of a cute ensign. The girl was smiling up at the human, at some joke he must have made, like he was the Saints’ gift to comedy. He was grinning right back.
“Who’s this?”
The pair cast their eyes his way, and Albright’s face fell in sudden, unwelcome remembrance as soon as their gaze met. There it was. The rattling. As such, it was Therese who introduced the newcomer, putting her hands on the girl’s shoulders as though they were sisters.
“This is Ensign Demi, who has very kindly sacrificed a night out with the media and the rest of the ops team to help us with final checks. Make sure to treat her special when we get underway, okay?”
Hal smiled as he moved to the slope, and Demi closed the gap.
“Hal, tactical,” he introduced, holding out his hand. “I hear that party was gonna bomb anyway. You can have a lot more fun here with us, mark my words.”
“O-Okay.” The ensign shyly took his hand. Her skin was indescribably cold, and he began to laugh.
“Shit, girl! You need a pair of gloves or something.”
She wasn’t listening. As Hal watched, Demi’s breathing shortened. Her grip on him tightened slowly, and when he looked into her odd, red eyes he saw that the pupils had expanded.
“Oh…” she sighed. “Oh, wow.”
This must be the one from the Alignment, then. Hal wasn’t sure what to make of that. His old dad had fought as part of a poorly thought-out war against her people, back when the ‘corpse-thieving insects’ had been enemies of the Accord. Now there was one serving on his ship. How the times change. Still, this Demi seemed an interesting sort. And, again, she was cute, which helped.
When she finally relinquished his hand, Demi bobbed her head in nervous dismissal and stepped quickly around him towards Miriham, not meeting his eyes. When he looked back up, Hal saw that Albright was watching him again. The first officer did a valiant job of hiding his envy behind a casual nod, but Hal had seen it before. Better luck next time, mate, he thought.
No, that was cruel.
“You alright?” he asked the machine man. “All good with the captain?”
“Um, sure,” Albright replied. “Yeah. It’s… a lot to take in.”
Hal laughed. “You said it. Maybe don’t let her get to you, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I’ll try. Thanks.”
The pair shared an awkward smile, and Hal allowed himself to consider that maybe he could learn to get along with this one, too. He watched the first officer move to Therese, who smiled prettily at him before tilting her head at his hushed words. Her too? Lilith was insatiable. She was going to consume all of them. There was definitely danger in the captain’s appetite, he’d felt it even as he fucked her. No, even as she fucked him. Dangerous woman.
“We should do something,” he spoke up suddenly. About the bridge, his four compatriots turned their attentions on him. “Yeah, something fun. So we can get to know each other better.”
“I am… sure we shall have ample opportunity once we are underway,” Miriham remarked from the tactical panel, her brow taut.
“Doubt it. We’ll be busy exploring the Forge, surely. Come on. Like any of us are gonna sleep tonight anyway. We should have a little night shift get together. Nobody will be in the mess hall so we can properly shoot the shit. Albright doesn’t know all the sordid little secrets you girls told me during training, so we gotta catch him up.”
Albright stared in a suitably comical amount of alarm. At the front of the bridge, Miriham scoffed, but said nothing to argue his suggestion.
“If it’s a party we’re having,” Therese spoke up with a secretive smile, “I have something to bring. We’ll have to share, and I was saving it for when were underway, but…”
“If you are referring to alcohol,” said Miriham with a twist of her lips, “may I remind you that intoxication aboard an Accord navy vessel is strictly prohibited, under punishment of suspension of duty.”
She looked past Hal towards Albright. Hal and Therese did the same, while Demi just looked at the floor. As first officer, it was Albright’s job to keep discipline among the bridge crew. He could shoot this idea down right now, if he was a dickhead.
But Albright smiled brightly. “Better not tell the captain, then.”
Good man. “Agreed,” said Hal. “In fact, better not tell the captain about any of this.”
“She’s not invited?” asked Therese with a frown. “I bet she’d enjoy it. She doesn’t seem like a stickler for rules.”
“It’s not really for her though, is it?” Hal replied. “Bridge crew need to stick together. Tonight should be about just us. And special guests, of course,” he added with a wink for Demi.
The ensign’s eyes widened. Hal supposed she would have blushed, if her kind used blood at all. “Oh, no. I-I couldn’t.”
“Nonsense, sweety,” Therese smiled. “You helped us with pre-flight. That makes you one of us. I insist.”
Demi grinned shyly. “O-Okay. If you’re sure.”
“Then I suppose it is settled,” said Miriham, standing with the ensign and sharing her smile. “Mess hall, night shift commencement. Ancestors forgive me, I may even be looking forward to it.”
“Then if all you lovely people will excuse me,” said Therese, brushing at her hair with her fingers, “the captain is calling me. And now I have a time limit to fix all this shit on my console. Don’t you dare start without me!”
Hal watched her flow out of the room, humming to herself, and hoped Albright had said enough to help the girl prepare for Lilith. Albright clearly had the same idea. He turned from his own watching of the engineer to face him. Hal nodded, and Albright nodded back. Tonight, they’d get it all out in the open and see what could be done.
3
Reader Cain slithered the high rooms of the station that shared the title he had been given, experiencing a familiar sense of smug self-satisfaction. He’d been feeling it often these past weeks, leading up to the commencement of this, his life’s work. The Rune Carrier was about to blast its way into the history books. A bright and shining day for the Galactic Accord. How could he not feel a little smug? Surely anyone would forgive him just a little self-congratulation at this late juncture. He straightened his shoulders, adorned by the red stripes of his honorary rank, and tugged at the fine coat’s embroidered cuffs. Black, to match his short, sleek hair and the careful trim of his beard. The green scaling of his snake tail glimmered pleasingly in the corridor’s fine evening lighting and made a soothing swishing noise on the red carpeting.
He only wished his wife were here with him. Cain wasn’t going be able to sleep soundly tonight, and Cariss always knew how to send him off. She was very proud of him, and she knew some very inventive ways of demonstrating it.
There was the other, of course, closer than home. Cain would need to meet her over a private comms channel, since she was still at work at this hour. But she knew how to please him just as well. Perhaps even better.
Far below in the lower deck of Reader Station, the hundred-odd operations crew for the Rune Carrier were busy separating the wheat from the chaff. The grand farewell ball the Readers had put together to celebrate the crew’s supposed last night in the Accord may have been a touch excessive, in hindsight. As the hours passed, Cain had seen plenty of operators off to bed in their luxurious station rooms like good citizens of the Accord, ready for the big day, or to share the company of one or two of their colleagues. By now, surely only the truly constitutional, or perhaps suicidal, remained to sample the galaxy’s finest alcohols and peruse the surely exhausted entertainers brought in the inspire the celebration. It would be a wonder if any of them even made it to their stations in the morning. This thought also gave Reader Cain reason to smile to himself.
He was no partygoer, not now his youth was past. Cain was a sensible adult now, with a stable marriage and an attractive, successful daughter. Not for him the Reader Station ballroom with its fine wines and dancers. For him the quiet, stately bedroom up here in the high rooms of the Readers Council deck. Perhaps a small glass of brandy. A good book. Plus, he was expecting a call. Cain was an ambitious man in many regards, but he was also a man of simple pleasures. He knew to take enjoyment in the everyday. It helped make his sudden leaps in politics unexpected to his rivals, hard to counter. Everyone anticipated him to aim high, and he did not. Until the day that he did.
It was almost that day. Just one last sleep, and he would surprise them all once more.
But there was still a little work to be done, apparently. Outside his faux-wooden apartment doorway, one of only a few on this stretch of corridor, stood another Reader. Yvain was the representative from the Covenant, a tall and prim elven woman with greying hair in a perpetually neat bob. Cain had never seen her in any outfit save this, the severe magenta tunic of her robes of office, replete with a shawl in violet. She also still wore her interface spectacles, not because she needed help seeing but instead so she could continue working on the go. Cain didn’t understand that. You had to keep precious the moments available to enjoy yourself. He’d thought a woman over a thousand years old would have understood that better than most. He suppressed his grimace as Reader Yvain acknowledged his arrival with a curt nod. Her specs blinked away the remnants of some task at hand and returned to transparency.
“Good evening, Yvain,” Cain greeted with a bow across his forearm. “I’m surprised to see you still up. All the sane folk have been abed for some time.”
“By the sounds of it,” the elderly woman replied, “the operations crew soiree still has some zest.”
Cain chuckled. “I mean what I said. No sane person would also ever volunteer to visit the Forge. Can I assist you with something?”
“You can, though I suspect you already know what I am going to ask.”
“Really? Again?” Cain rolled his eyes and relied on his charming smile to take away a degree of sting. “The bridge crew are already overworked as it is without adding to their concern. I wish you would trust Captain Lilith as I do. She will see them all eased into their roles without issue.”
“And the concern I raised in yesterday’s Council meeting?”
“What concern?”
“On the subject of diminishing returns.” Yvain scowled over the lenses of her specs. “There is a sustainability issue behind the charging of the Rune Carrier’s Auxiliary Power that you have not thought to provide a stance on.”
“There is no issue, Yvain,” said Cain, waving his hand to push away her concerns. “Your projections didn’t include the combined efforts of the entire crew, just the officers. With all hundred and twenty crew on board taking part, the research shows-…”
“I do not know what data you are using to retain such an opinion,” Yvain protested. One of her hands tightened into a fist. “My cohort provided the only sound research into anima and its uses in the Rune Carrier system, and I am telling you that it will not be sustainable in the long run. A training manual on anima uploaded into their databases for later usage will provide the backing needed to continue to jump to subspace reliably, even after all… traditional avenues have been exhausted.”
Cain chuckled at this, and the elven woman’s scowl did nothing to reduce his mirth. The Covenant had been the ones to introduce the concept of anima into the galaxy’s Mythtech research, and to ultimately unlock the potential of the Rune Carrier’s subspace capabilities. And yet, the prudish elves still preferred to dance around the truth of their research with flowery language. Yvain was worried about the crew fucking too much, that was the truth of it. She thought they’d fuck each other silly until suddenly they found that the anima wasn’t flowing like it used to.
Anima was generated all the stronger from more personal expressions of emotion. The vulnerable words spoken from a place of shame, the release found at the end of a long-denied touch. But a song that brings you to tears once, heard over and over, will lose its magic. Making love to the woman you had married decades past was simply not as potent as an illicit affair with a girl twenty years your junior, enjoyed in secrecy in a quiet country house outside of town.
But Yvain didn’t have the full picture. She didn’t know Lilith.
“I think you will be surprised,” he told her. “Remember that one hundred and twenty crew makes for over fourteen thousand possible coupling units, each multiplied by the sum of their imaginations.”
It was Yvain’s turn to roll her eyes. “The operations crew are naval professionals, not… deviants.”
“Are you sure? We did pick them to have a taste for this sort of thing.”
“Secondary to their technical skill.” Yvain sighed, rubbing her temple with her fingers. “I wish I had your confidence, Cain. I just cannot shake the image of a crew returning fresh from the Forge with no memory of how to behave themselves with civility. That would not look good for us.”
“You don’t think the people of the Accord would look past all that, at the wondrous new research that we will have at our disposal.”
The elf eyed him levelly. “I do not.”
Cain, tired of this conversation and ready for bed, granted her a magnanimous shrug. “Very well. If you really think it will be of benefit to the crew, I will put forward my approval to have whatever wholesome sex manual your team come up with sent to the ship’s computer. I’ll do it now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Yvain cast him a scathing look, but it soon faded into resignation. “Thank you, Cain. I know that Julianus and Nimbus will both go along with your decision, too. At the end of the day, it costs nothing and may allow the Rune Carrier crew a little extra comfort on their travels. And, for the record,” she added with a stern wag of her finger, “we both know that sex is only one way of generating anima.”
“Yes,” grinned Cain. “The best way. Good night, Reader.”
The call was waiting for Cain when he finally sealed the apartment door behind him. The rooms were big enough for his whole family, but just Cain was in residence for now. He took up the blinking hand-held terminal from its place at his bedside and eased himself down onto the mattress with a satisfied sigh. He shrugged himself out of his jacket and undid the top buttons of his shirt. Then, with just a cursory hand to align his hair, he opened the call.
“Hello, Lilith.”
The woman scowled at him from across the void. Her beautiful yellow eyes were full of mischief and genuine frustration in equal measure, and that gorgeous mouth still held a hint of a smile that she likely didn’t know she wore. She was lying on her front on her bed in the Rune Carrier’s nexus, the captain’s bedroom with its specialised anima-drawing functionality, in the direct centre of the vessel. Her ivory shoulders were bare, and when she rested her chin on one hand with a sigh, Cain caught a tantalising hint of exposed breast beneath her.
“You are late.”
“Well, I wanted to make you wait,” he smirked. “That’s my right, I believe, as your benefactor. How are you?”
“Exhausted,” Lilith exclaimed, rolling onto her back with a heavy sigh. She kept her grip on her own terminal, so from Cain’s perspective, looked like the gravity had flipped. She allowed her ‘benefactor’ a quick stare of her bare chest before lowering an arm to cover herself. “And I’ve only finished with three of them so far. I even saved the trickiest lass for last, for some reason that now escapes me.”
“The elf?”
“You’re sure she’s going to be game once I get through that icy exterior?” Lilith asked. “She seems like too good a girl to fall for my wickedness, Cain.”
“Nobody is immune to you, dear, you know that.”
Lilith smiled. When Cain had first met the girl, it had been her wide-eyed willingness to learn from him that had attracted him to her. Now, it was that phenomenal confidence of hers that he liked best, a product of his close tutelage. Cain’s hand toyed with the buckle of his sleek uniform kilt as he watched her.
“I do have to ask, though. Is everything in place?”
“I trusted you on the selection of the crew,” Lilith remarked. “You should trust me to get the job done. But yes. All the countermands are in place in the system. I have my map ready for tomorrow. And my little circle will fall in line.”
“They will indeed. My good, good girl.” Cain sucked on his tongue as he pulled his kilt away from his hips. His desire was getting the better of him. “Now, why don’t you debrief me on these interviews of yours.”
Lilith’s teeth flashed in a coy smile. “You’ll like the last one. The blonde League girl.”
“Start with her, then.”
“As you wish, Reader Cain. She came to me full of vim, eager to please, and my suggestion that we spend a little time getting to know each other was met quite favourably, after a little convincing.”
“Good.”
“First, I pushed her down onto the bed and put myself on top of her.”
“Mmm.” Cain was fully engorged, he could feel beneath his fingers, and his own touch was like sweet flame. His erection grew out from between his scales like the budding of a great tree. “I bet she didn’t like that.”
“Then you’d be surprised.” Lilith chuckled. “She let me undo her top, though she was practically falling out of it anyway, the little tart. She let me touch her right away.”
“How did you touch her?” he asked breathlessly.
“First with my fingers. You know how good I am with those. Once her nipples had hardened, I used my tongue. Ah, Cain. She has the loveliest tits! I could have played with them all night.”
“Yeah?”
The girl’s eyes were bright. She was loving this, he could tell. “Then I got us all tangled up in each other. She gripped me hard enough with those tentacles of hers that it was a little hard to breathe, but it got us rubbing against each other very well.”
“How did she feel?”
“Wet, naturally. Soft and slick. She grabbed the sheets with her hands, and I pressed my hips against her until she was writhing in my arms.”
“Very nice.” Cain swallowed, his hand pumping furiously beneath the screen. “Did she say anything?”
“She called me ‘Captain,’ of course.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“When she came?”
“Oh yeah. She screamed it out when I made her come. She sang it for me! ‘Captain! Oh, Captain!’”
“F-Fuck!!” Cain convulsed suddenly. “Oh, fuck! Lilith!”
As he came, Lilith watched on with a proud sigh. “Oh, Cain. My sweet man.”
When the shuddering and guttural groaning had passed, Cain lay back on the bed, breathing heavily. He smiled as he lifted the terminal to his face once again and dabbed at his slick cock with a tissue in his free hand. Lilith’s breasts were fully on show now. She had gotten all worked up herself and was squeezing her own chest with gusto. She grinned, and he grinned back.
“Another?” she asked. “The night is young. And I’m really proud of how I handled the RKON boy.”
“Of course,” Cain chuckled. “Tell me everything. But let me get a drink, first.”
4
“Alright, next question.” Hal drummed his fingers on the table. “How’s this one? What’s the last nightmare you remember having? It’s been properly stressful getting all this sorted, so I know we’ve got some good shit to share. Come on, Albright!”
Marcus drained his cup to allow himself the space to think. He grinned as he answered. “Well-…”
“Oh fuck, here we go,” Hal interrupted. The soldier sat back on his metal mess hall chair with an exasperated sigh, folding his arms. But he too was grinning. “You’re gonna tell us you lot don’t dream either, aren’t you? What a fucking downer!”
The first officer shook his head in vehement protestation, even as the group broke into fits of laughter around him. Demi, sitting between him and Hal to draw on both of their body heats, covered her mouth demurely, while Therese threw her head back to let her golden curls cascade. She almost dropped the hefty, filigreed bottle of fine liquor she had brought from home as she poured out another cup for him.
Marcus, fully inebriated, didn’t mind the teasing one bit. And he did sort of deserve it. He’d already shared about his lack of personal memories when Hal’s last question had been about romantic history. They definitely all thought he was weird now. But they were smiling. So that was nice.
“That’s not… That’s not exactly true,” Marcus chuckled. “In our digital form we still have thoughts and emotions and things. And they sometimes, like with anyone, can get all clogged up if they’re intrusive and not helpful. So when we all go into low power mode at the end of a day-…”
“‘Low power mode’? Saints above…”
“…-we go through a sort of memory diagnostic that fixes all the junk data, so to speak, and makes sure we don’t go completely mad. And that process can be a bit trippy.”
“And you see things? Dreams and stuff?” asked Therese, handing him his cup.
“Yeah, for sure. We can even record them, if we like.”
“Wow.” Her fingers brushed his as he took his drink, and Marcus experienced a jolt of excitement.
“Dream recorders exist for us too, y’know,” Hal huffed. “I think my sister has one.”
“And?” Therese persisted, leaning forward towards him on one hand. “Go on. What’s the last, like, bad dream you remember?”
It didn’t take much thought. “The night before I arrived on Reader Station,” he explained, “when I was still in digital, I was riding an RKON transport and had a pretty bad one. I dreamt I was holding shut a big metal door, and there was something really awful on the other side.”
“What was it?” asked Demi.
“I don’t know. The dream didn’t last long. After a while of pushing, the thing on the other side stopped. And for some reason, I decided to open the door. And there was nothing there.”
“Spooky!” Therese grinned.
“But there had been something there. I could feel it, or maybe smell it. It had just decided to leave. Or… something had taken it.”
“Ah, whatever,” Hal said with a frown. “I once had a dream the High Warden made a big statue of my dick on top of the Mountain. That’s the Mountain to you foreigners, the sacred one.”
“And you weren’t flattered?” Marcus asked him, while Demi was wracked with scandalised giggling.
“I should have been, eh? But everyone else in the dream thought it was something to laugh at. Including all my failed romances.”
Marcus winced in sympathy. “Therese?”
“I had a dream I had been tied down at the bottom of the ocean.” She was smiling, but the creasing at her brow made her distress undeniable. She held her cup loosely, swirling the contents. “I could see the sun, but I couldn’t reach it. I don’t… like to be restrained.”
“Understandable,” Hal nodded. “Free spirit like you. And Demi? Anything spicy?”
“My kind don’t dream the same as you all,” she replied, looking down at her lap. One of her braids tumbled over her shoulder, and she brushed it back absently. “I see colours and I hear sounds, but no pictures. There isn’t meaning to them. Sorry.”
Marcus nodded. Perhaps to the Alignment species, dreaming was a state in which their awareness returned to their insectile core, leaving their host body behind and seeing as themselves once more. He felt sorry for Demi, not because she didn’t dream but because the question had excluded her.
Hal, clearly feeling the same and also eager to show off, put a hand on her back and gave her a comforting rub. He didn’t see the way she suppressed a pleased gasp, nor the way her eyelids fluttered from the touch of his warm skin.
“Go on, then,” Hal said as he reached his free hand for a drink, “your turn, ensign. You ask something.”
While Demi considered amidst the haze of drawing the dragon’s heat, Marcus looked around. The mess hall was a wide space on the ship’s central deck, littered with round tables in a basic, no-frills design. There was a long serving counter on the far side of the room that would be filled with ration packs and sealed canisters of drink, but it was empty for now. The whole room, dark save for the single light Marcus had lit for them above their table using the environmental systems, held the same desolate loneliness as the entire Rune Carrier bereft of her crew.
But of course, Marcus did not feel lonely at all. With Demi and Hal on his left and Therese holding her bottle on the right, he felt afloat, carried upwards on their collective camaraderie. The only one missing, of course, was Miriham, and Marcus’s float was cut short as he recalled that the elf was currently with their captain. Hadn’t she been gone a while now?
“I have one,” said Demi shyly. “If you all don’t mind.”
“Yeah, go for it!” cheered Therese, raising her drink in the air. “No topic off limits! We’re all yours!”
“Then, in that case… Have any of you ever been in love?”
The room fell quiet. Marcus saw the same introspective consideration he felt mirrored on the faces of his two fellow officers. Hal had his arms folded, staring down at his lap, and Therese was gently kneading her own hands on the metal tabletop. For a moment, he believed none of them would speak up.
“Yes,” said Therese. “I have.”
“And what was it like?” Demi asked. “What did it feel like?”
“It’s not something I can describe easily,” she admitted. “But it’s like, you see them and you just feel this little leap in your chest. Like, they radiate this sort of energy, and your body picks it up. Lifts you off the floor.”
She was more right than she knew. Marcus’ frown deepened. He couldn’t keep stalling all night. He would have to tell them eventually.
“And when you talk to them,” the League girl continued, “it’s like they aren’t saying words. It’s more like they’re speaking right into your heart. Like you’re connected in your spirit. Hey!”
Her hand, slamming down on the tabletop, made them all jump.
“Boys! Don’t just stare at me like that, back me up!”
“You’re right!” Marcus said at once. “Yes, you’re exactly right! Exactly what you said!”
She frowned at him. “You’d better not be just saying that to make me feel better. You both do that a lot.”
“No, not at all.”
“Then who was she?” the engineer demanded. “The girl you loved. What was her name? Or the guy?”
“Nah, not this one,” Hal smirked. “Come on, mate. Spill the beans.”
The tightness in his chest was sharp enough to be felt even through the haze of booze. “I already told you,” Marcus said. “I don’t remember anyone from my past on Earth.”
“Oh, fuck. That’s right. You weird freak.”
“But then, sweety,” frowned Therese, “why did you say that you’ve been in love before?”
All of their eyes rested on him, and Marcus felt very small indeed. Why had he said that? He didn’t know if that was true at all.
“Hal, then?” Therese asked suddenly, perhaps sensing his distress. “What about you?”
Eternally thankful, Marcus looked to his tall colleague for his answer. Hal shifted about under the attention.
“I, uh, I don’t think I have ever fallen for someone like that,” he said. “I thought I loved this one girl. But… I was young. I wanted to feel it more than I actually did. Y’know?”
Therese nodded slowly. “I know.”
Demi looked between the two with wide, red, curious eyes. Then she spotted Marcus watching her. She smiled, and after a moment, he smiled back.
“I see my departure came at a significant cost.”
All eyes turned to the mess hall entrance. Miriham was leaning against the doorway, smiling wryly. “I am gone for a mere half an hour, and your conversation has devolved into dour musings,” she remarked as she walked to the table. “How disappointing.”
“You just came at a bad time,” Hal laughed. “You missed all the debauchery. We thought you wouldn’t care for it.”
“Ah, what a pity.” Miriham smiled as she took her seat with elven grace, smoothing the hem of her green tunic under her. “At least you did not drain the entirety of the drink.”
Therese grinned as she offered the fancy bottle to the elf, who took the cup left for her and poured.
“This is Blue Royal, is it not?” Miriham remarked with a raised brow. “Do correct me if I am wrong, but I recall overhearing that there was an embargo on this particular wine out of the Free Trade Worlds.”
“I’ll have you know my family has a proud lineage of smuggling,” Therese replied with a wide smile. “And embargoes are just suggestions, anyway.”
Miriham stopped pouring after just a thimble’s worth. Therese frowned at this and took the bottle back before filling her cup to the brim. Miriham watched with wide, nervous, amethyst eyes.
“You should be aware,” she said, “that my kind do not metabolise alcohol as effectively as other Accord species. I shall not be able to finish all of this.”
“That’s loser talk,” Therese laughed. “I’ll make sure you get to bed in one piece, don’t worry.”
Miriham sighed. “Very well. Provided I have your word.”
Her gorgeous, slanted eyes remained locked on the brimming cup, watching the gentle back and forth of the liquid within. Her brow tightened slowly, and she ran a hesitant hand through her sleek hair, tucking it behind one pointed ear. Therese and Hal were also silent.
It had only taken a moment’s break in conversation, and the elephant in the room had taken charge. Hal, Marcus, Therese and Miriham had all survived a meeting with Lilith. Hal’s frown, Therese’s tightly folded arms and Miriham’s grim determination all spoke of their shared experience in the so-called ‘nexus’ of the ship. The silver lining, thought Marcus with a sigh, was that they all looked like he felt. None of them were excited by their captain’s chaotic, all-consuming libido. They were joined by confusion and hesitancy.
Demi, meanwhile, glanced about at them, eventually settling her eyes on Marcus.
“Okay, Demi,” he said, drawing the attention of the table. “I think the other officers and I are about to open up a pretty heavy topic. It might be hard to hear. Nothing scary, I don’t think. But if you’d like to leave, please don’t feel held here. You can go at any time.”
She stared at him, mouth slightly agape, and said nothing.
“He’s right, sweety,” said Therese. The engineer leaned across the table and brushed aside Marcus’ arm. When Therese took the younger girl’s hand, he saw the now familiar biting of the lip on the ensign, and he agreed with the sentiment. “You’re still one of us, but you don’t have to get caught up in our shit if you’d rather not.”
Hal, on her other side, nodded along. Miriham’s eyes remained locked on her drink. And Demi visibly steeled herself.
“But I can stay?”
“Of course.” Therese smiled. “For as long as you like.”
“Then I’ll stay. Thank you.”
The engineer leaned back into her seat and began tapping the tabletop with her fingers. She was smiling proudly, charmed by Demi’s bravery. Hal scratched at his knot of hair. Marcus couldn’t think of anything to do to occupy his own tense body. So, it was Miriham who began. She sighed deeply, and when she scowled, her eyes were alight with sudden rage.
“That woman,” she seethed, “is a sociopath.”
Then she tipped back the cup of alcohol. She got through about half the measure before she had to splutter. Therese leaned over to pat her back for her.
“Can we get this out in the open, then?” Hal said with a deep frown. “We all had sex with Captain Lilith.”
Therese nodded, her fair face set, and Marcus did the same.
“Technically she just, um, jerked me off,” he said. “But… yeah.”
Demi slapped a hand to her mouth. It looked to Marcus like her eyes might fall out of her head. But Miriham merely folded her arms primly on the tabletop.
“She tried.”
“You actually fought her off?” Hal asked. “That’s impressive.”
“She startled me, at first,” the elf admitted. “She was naked when I came into her quarters, which I was not expecting, despite forewarnings.”
She nodded to Therese in thanks, who smiled in return.
“It appeared as if she was on a call through her terminal, though she ended it abruptly when I entered.”
“Reader Cain?” Therese asked. “We all saw how close they were.”
“I could not tell. She commented on my hair and brushed off my requests that she put on clothing. She gave a ludicrous excuse that in the long run she believed clothes would hold us back on our mission to the Forge. Then she…”
Miriham cleared her throat and placed her fingers on her lips. “She kissed me,” she finished. “I stormed out after some further protestation, which she laughed away as though it was nothing.”
Marcus found himself nodding. “Her story for me was that she needed assurance my human body was working alright.”
“She wanted to feel the kind of skin lotion I use,” Therese added.
Hal shrugged. “She told me she just wanted to fuck.”
“This is unthinkable.” Miriham’s cheeks were red. Marcus had not believed he would ever see the cool, composed officer so incensed. “She has wholly abused her position to take advantage of her crew. This is an unforgivable breach of moral conduct. We shall have her dismissed from duty.”
“Remember who she knows,” Therese said with a shake of her head. “Reader Cain can almost certainly cover up anything we throw at her.”
“And if we were all to walk out?” asked Miriham. “If we left the Rune Carrier and refused to return, the Council could not ignore us.”
“I think they’d find a way,” Hal sighed. “Reader Nimbus was pretty quick to remind me there were tons of others who’d love to take my place. I bet they could get a new team trained up on a dime if they had to. My sister could be one of them. Fuck me,” he growled. “Thank the Saints I got picked over Sera.”
“What are you suggesting, then?” asked a livid Miriham. “That we do nothing?”
Marcus met the elf’s eyes evenly. They had to do something, that much was certain. But Therese mumbled while chewing her fingernails, and Miriham’s violet eyes burned into her.
“What was that?”
“I said, do we really have to do anything?” Therese asked, louder but none the less ashamed. “Is this really the worst thing to happen to us? Really?”
She leaned back in her chair to regard each of them from beneath her blindfold. Her jaw was set with an open challenge. “Don’t tell me you all didn’t enjoy it! I certainly did.”
Her fingers like satin, her lips like soft fruit. Marcus wondered what it would feel like to be inside her. But Hal’s exhale was firm.
“The problem isn’t what she did,” he said. “It’s why she did it. If a girl like that feels the need to sleep around, more power to her. But she’s our boss. She’s supposed to lead us into the Forge! And her fucking each of us makes for a dangerous precedent. There’s a reason relationships between officers and cadets are forbidden in the military. She now has a particularly dangerous power over us. All of us. I guarantee, whatever we decide tonight, that from now on turning Captain Lilith down on anything is gonna be that much harder.”
“And is that…” Therese sounded less sure this time. “Is that so bad?”
“She already had authority,” said Hal. “Why would she need this extra incentive? Unless she was planning some messed up shit with the Rune Carrier.”
“Like what?” asked Marcus, and Hal clicked his teeth.
“I wish I knew. But I don’t like it. I don’t like her being so in control over us. It could turn real ugly.”
Therese sighed softly. She said nothing, but by her worried brow, Marcus could tell she had been thoroughly convinced.
“If you believe she is plotting a scheme of some sort using the Rune Carrier,” Miriham mused, “then perhaps an investigation will reveal something. But we must be certain first, before we act.”
Hal nodded vigorously. “I’m fucking certain. What other reason could there be for her to act like this?”
There it was. His last chance. Marcus coughed, but it took him a moment to actually speak.
“There is another reason,” he said quietly. “Something the ship told me.”
“You what?” Hal scoffed.
“Just listen,” he persisted. “Lilith told me the truth when I asked her, so I know it’s right. But it’s a bit out there. You’re going to have to trust me.”
Marcus sighed. “So, have you heard of something called ‘anima’?”
lonelyship
Ewan Stone 
Leave a comment