"Hell," Lisa growled, jumping out of the emergent craft and hovering stationary in the air. "Can you do something productive?"

Bath shot her a questioning glance. "Like what?"

"Anything!"

Bath rolled his eyes. "The prank was your idea; you deal with it."

Lisa let out a low groan. "Damn it, come on. How about you tell AI Ninety-Seven to set the Arc back down? He'll actually listen to you."

Bath's face quirked in amusement. "Why don't we just see what happens? Stick around for the ride?"

"No, damn it!" Lisa howled. "We want this ship for the other sapients and quasies, not ourselves."

"Well, I kind of want a ship," Bath replied. "The humans will make their own soon enough."

Lisa narrowed her eyes and flared her nostrils. "Bath," she intoned, looking skyward. "I'm 99% sure you're kidding."

"Am I?"

"Seriously. Tell this stupid android to lower the ship before someone gets hurt."

Bath flashed her a lopsided smile. "Alright, alright. Do you know where the android is?"

Lisa sighed. "He's an android, and doesn't have a shell. C'mon; I'm more surprised you haven't already filled this ship with your essence and found him yourself."

"AI Ninety-Seven can sense my essence," Bath reminded her. "Besides, it's fine: I'll think of something."

Lisa remained hovering outside while Bath walked back through the bedroom--which was currently exposed to the wilds of Vast Desert--and into the main corridor.

"AI Ninety-Seven," he called out, resuming his imperial facade. "Disregard the past five minutes. I had my companion issue you a test of loyalty, which you have passed." Bath continued forward, his feet falling lightly upon the white ground.

No response? he thought, peeved. I'm almost at the control room.

He pushed the purple doors open, stepping gingerly into the control room of the vessel. His eyes widened slightly as he noted the huge, glass window that encompassed the entirety of the room's back wall.

On second thought, it's likely just a digital screen rather than a transparent material. However, the end result was the same: Bath had an excellent, even flawless, view of the crimson sand below and the darkening horizon beyond.

He tore his eyes away from the screen, focusing on AI Ninety-Seven, who was currently standing next to the control pedestal. AI Ninety-Seven didn't acknowledge him, which was odd.

"You dishonor me," Bath said softly, stepping forward.

AI Ninety-Seven gave Bath a blank look. "Who are you?"

Bath cocked his head. Why ask this now? "I am Bath."

"Your followers called you the Dragon," the android replied, its face devoid of expression. "And said you, and that detestable companion of yours, ruled over a church."

Bath maintained his icy composure. "Do you even know what a dragon is?" Or a church, for that matter?

"It wasn't difficult to find out," AI Ninety-Seven replied. "You did give me unrestricted access to your companion--the Church's--chip reader."

Bath sighed and looked off to the side. "This is my ship," he stated, walking over to the back wall. He placed a hand on its cool surface. Maybe it isn't a screen, he thought, noting how it felt like thick, sturdy glass.

"It is."

Bath let out a light chuckle. "Then land the ship, AI Ninety-Seven."

The robot didn't make any move to touch the control panel. Bath turned back, fixing his gaze to the robot's inscrutable green eyes. "Are you truly insulted by our test of loyalty?" he asked, a derogatory smile playing at the corners of his lips.

The android's glowing body patterns flashed. "You almost destroyed this ship," AI Ninety-Seven replied.

Bath shook his head, returning his eyes to the screen/window. "It was a test," he repeated calmly. "Do you need a demonstration?"

"Of what?" the android replied. "Of setting the ship on fire and burning its archives to charcoal?"

She didn't set the damned ship on fire, Bath grumbled internally. Since when do androids use hyperbole?

Bath really didn't think the prank Lisa devised was that bad. Sure, she'd taken advantage of the superconductors she'd planted in the repair parts to jostle them around in the ship and make the Arc go haywire, unintentionally starting a fire in three library rooms, but that hadn't been intentional.

Well, Bath thought. If it were only that... But because of the robot's disparaging "fringeworld" remark, Lisa had taken things a step further. Because it was partly made of metallic materials, Lisa was able to use her magnetic sense to force poor AI Ninety-Seven into bowing on the floor. The end result was that the android was helpless to do anything while his newly-repaired ship was falling apart and "spontaneously" combusting.

Bath figured that, for an AI programmed to run a ship, such a situation was a nightmare come true...if androids could have nightmares, which Bath seriously doubted, but wasn't going to totally dismiss without evidence to the contrary.

Worlds beyond have had billions of years to perfect their technologies, he thought, sighing inwardly. Lisa and I would be fools to disregard the technological advances of the Core Worlds--Ildr--and their outlying neighbors, such as Lepochim's planet of origin.

Bath knew that while Lepochim had, in the end, accepted Bath's boons, his secret military background had provided him with biotechnologies that allowed him to adapt to worlds with drastically different environments on the fly. Lepochim managed to get to Earth in two years unassisted, without a ship to speak of, from Zder. Bath figured that the journey couldn't have been easy, especially considering that Lepochim's kursi symbiote had been forcefully sealed and he'd been sent out in exile.

"If I promise to safeguard these books until the end of time," Bath said serenely, as though discussing the weather, "will you swear an oath to follow me unquestioningly until my demise?"

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"No."

"What, then, is your purpose, if not to safeguard the library aboard this Arc?" While Bath didn't technically need AI Ninety-Seven--he could just have his engineer humans figure out how to use the ship--he figured that the android could be extremely useful...if he could secure its genuine cooperation.

"If you were truly a member of Fezosisn, which you are not, you would know."

Bath rolled his eyes, his four-eyed, alien face reflecting back at him faintly in the glass. "If I promise to uphold whatever task a true Fezosisn would undertake, do you swear an oath to follow me unquestioningly until my demise?"

"I would."

Bath smiled. "As you have acknowledged, this is my ship: tell me of the promise I would make."

"It is simple: deliver the Egdelek Arc's library to a set location."

That sounds too simple. But in all honesty, Bath didn't really care if this was a trap or not: the last time he ended up in a trap, he emerged with a new essence manipulation range of 3.8 miles.

"I promise to deliver the Arc," Bath said.

"I promise to serve you until your demise."

Bath chuckled, this time letting his natural deviousness seep out. "Excellent. First, a few questions: as an artificial life-form, what are your capabilities?"

"Excuse me?"

"For instance, how secure is your stored data? Could another android or world government hack into you?"

The android sounded insulted. "Not any more than they could hack into your mind." Bath was fairly certain this was untrue, considering that his mind wasn't really...a physical thing.

Bath turned around, gliding predatorily toward AI Ninety-Seven. "How is this true?"

"Organic computing," the android replied, alarmed. "How are you so misinformed?"

"Didn't you mention, a minute ago, how you discovered that I was the Dragon from my companion's chip reader?"

The android rolled its four eyes. "Yes, I saw: you must be a powerful kursi. Though I am still unsure why one as fortunate as you would waste your time playing around with a fringeworld."

Wow, it actually rolled its eyes. More importantly, Bath was curious regarding what the android had actually gleaned from Lisa's chip reader. She didn't have too much private stuff on there, he reflected, a few COTD documents and plans, such as the hierarchy, but not much else. Lisa had used the wasps to put together a chip reader application for COTD, styled after the website; Bath assumed this was where the android was getting the bulk of its information.

Bath considered how much to tell the android. AI Ninety-Seven claims to be hack-proof, but I can't afford to be so optimistic. He found it difficult to believe that any kind of artificial life-form was immune to having its memories--or mind--hacked.

For one, it can't know that I'm a World Devourer. That was far too risky to divulge. He tried to decide what else he could tell the android, though was only coming up blank.

I should probably fetch Lisa: she's been hovering outside the ship for a while now. Not that the ship was moving anywhere; while it had risen about forty feet above the sand, it was only inching forward at a snail's pace.

Now that AI Ninety-Seven had sworn to follow him loyally, Bath had no qualms using long-range manipulation in its presence, snaking a thread of essence out to Lisa and forming a mouth beneath her left ear. "Come inside," he said. "It's time for politicking."

Lisa wasted no time in dashing in, arriving in the control room in the space of a few seconds. Bath smiled. Looking lovely, as always. Her braided hair was pulled away from her face, seemingly immaculate despite the friction force the wind undoubtedly exerted upon it. Her flawless face stared expressionlessly at the android, her hands resting on her robed hips.

With all the white of her dress, she certainly looks like she belongs on the Arc. "Lisa," he said. "AI Ninety-Seven has sworn an oath to serve us loyally until our demise."

AI Ninety-Seven's eyes darted between Lisa and Bath. "As I recall, I only made one such oath to you, Radiance Bath."

Now it's being polite and using my COTD title? "We come as a package deal," Bath said, leaving no room for argument. He felt no guilt whatsoever. The deal was unfavorable to myself: if I were just a normal sapient, I'd be pledging to do a dangerous transport while only receiving this android's loyalty. I probably wouldn't live long enough to enjoy such a privilege.

"What oath?" Lisa asked, brows furrowed. "What?" she repeated, confusion clear upon her features.

"I promised to help the android deliver the cargo of this ship. In return, it pledged its loyalty to us."

"Ugh, Bath," she started, shaking her head. "Why didn't you ask me first?"

Bath gave her a bashful look. "Eh, we can make the delivery on our own time, piece of cake. But just think..."

Lisa rolled her eyes smirked, her eyes locking onto the android's lower set. "I have a few things I need to say if we're going to have a working relationship."

She sounds terrifying, Bath thought, shuddering at Lisa's menacing tone.

"First, you have to get something through your digital brain: the fringeworld of Earth is going to be a powerhouse. The Dragon and I have designated Earth as our home base. That being the case, you will not, under any circumstances, refer to denizens of Earth in a derogatory fashion."

The android looked in Bath's direction. "You came to Earth to colonize it?"

Bath shot the android an appraising look. "Is it so surprising? The humans have a kursi mental faculty rating of just over eight. Moreover, they have a swift reproduction cycle and high fertility rates."

The android began to appear contemplative. "Those are all indicators of a young sapient species," it muttered. "However, this span of gates on the fringe is utterly remote. What are your intentions?"

Lisa grinned. "We're going to..." she looked at Bath. "Expand outward. Our intent is to become a powerhouse in the universe, like I already said."

"Through using your biological enhancements?" The android looked pointedly at Bath. "Where are you originally from?" it asked. "I'm profoundly surprised you were able to bring such taboo technologies out to the fringe."

Are biological enhancements taboo? Bath wondered. Who is deciding these rules, anyway? Religion seems to be similarly stamped out. Moreover, it's not like these rules are stated explicitly: the Universal Law Codes say nothing about biological enhancements or religion. Juserin hadn't seemed alarmed at the prospect of biological enhancements, though perhaps he wasn't the best example, as he, too, lived on the fringes of the civilized world.

Lepochim, on the other hand, should have a better idea about what is and isn't taboo. Actually, what AI Ninety-Seven is saying makes sense: Lepochim made it sound like his own enhancements were provided by his top-secret Zderian conquest organization on Sigenolf-74. That means they weren't readily accessible to everyone in society, even though Zder was billions of years old. The technology to give everyone biological enhancements must have been invented...and yet...

Moreover, why is the fact that kursi don't age so important? I'm sure that humans could discover on their own, within a thousand years, how to halt the aging process. Bath's thoughts swirled around him in a whirlwind. He realized that he hadn't really given enough thought to...well, anything.

He gave the android a stoic look. "The technology is my own; accordingly, it follows me wherever I go. AI Ninety-Seven, enough of this: fly the ship to Jure. If you truly read the Church's chip reader, you should know the city's location."

Bath sighed as the ship began to move, beckoning Lisa over to the screen/window to track their flight over the red dunes.

"Hey Bath," she said, leaning against his shoulder, "thanks for handling this."

He snorted. "How did I handle it? I made an oath to a robot."

"Just think: AI Ninety-Seven is going to give us so much in return for, by my estimations, comparatively little. It talked about giving us implants rather than chip readers, for instance, when we first made contact."

"We're also getting a space-faring ship," Bath added.

"You were serious when you said you wanted this ship for yourself, weren't you?" Lisa asked flatly.

Bath chuckled, leaning his head on hers. He was tall enough in his alien form for her head to rest naturally in the crook of his neck. "It's a nice ship."

"It's a freaking flying needle," she replied.

"It's a space-faring needle," Bath emphasized.

"Do you really hate space that much?" she asked, narrowing her eyes into the dusky sky above. "I know you say it's cold, and empty...but it's so peaceful."

Bath sighed. "A desert is peaceful," he murmured, gesturing to the sand below. "In empty space, it feels like the fabric of the universe itself is rejecting you, stealing away your warmth and energy."

"Isn't that the entire universe anyway?"

Bath removed his head from hers pulling her into a side hug. "I guess so."

"Then why is space different from a desert?"

Bath didn't respond for a minute. Then: "The two are incomparable."

Lisa nodded slowly. "I guess I'll just have to see for myself one day."

"If you do get up into space on your own accord," Bath said, "I'll take pictures."

Lisa turned her head around to shoot him a sour look. "You'd better."