Day 1

Taking off from Deimos was easy compared to launching Mars. Deimos’ colony is on the side of the moon that always faces Mars, so we didn’t need as high of an escape velocity. The first shift to fly the ship was mine and I just needed to keep the ship flying towards the location we expected to find the planet Venus in ten days from now. I included a slight curve to compensate for the gravity of the Sun. Through the internal scanner I could observe most of the ship, visible to the main corridor, and most the crew quarter doors were open.

Nyrella sat in her quarters, and watched a lecture video and a large hologram of exam questions with possible responses. Whenever the video paused she responded and seemed to answer correctly every four out of five questions. It seemed like an inefficient method for educating children. If she had the correct cybernetic enhancements she could just memorize databases as needed.

Meiyo sat in her quarters reading correspondence. The scan didn’t provide the words of her communications, but they seemed to come from Venus. As she read them she typed on a separate sheet of plastyn. I wondered which of her personas she was replying as.

Surhey was hard at work cleaning up the med-bay which had just been Tony’s spare cybernetic parts locker. Every once in a while he would fight an enforcer mech, which had parts that were compatible with his cyborg body. I never went to the ship’s med-bay, I never needed to, nor was anyone there to help me. So I understood why Surhey needed to sort the med-bay so she could have a desk.

Ylisaya was in charge of sorting the food supplies, feeding the pigs, and finishing bolting the pigs’ cages to the hull in cargo bay four. Tony only attached two bolts from each cage, and it was Ylisaya’s job to attach the rest. It was expected that after she finished she would rest, because the next shift to fly would be hers.

Tony and Ryfez were in the brig and Tony had some questions. Ryfez reclined in his cell tapping his foot on the deck of the ship. Tony sat in a chair magnetically anchored to the deck outside the cell.

“Why did you start a war on Mars?”, Tony asked the dread pirate.

“I seem to remember, that Zokoro started the war. I just gave him a nudge. You see he’s not that different from the average Aurovean space pirate, they all think taking other people’s wealth, their property, and their freedom is their purpose for existence. Or should I say all of you Auroveans think that way?”, Ryfez sneered at Tony with contempt over the fact that Tony was also Aurovean.

“Fine, next question. What was the point of using a puppet like Zokoro to start a war?”, Tony asked.

“How much is our big brother paying you, to bring me in?”, Ryfez asked.

“Substantial. Now answer the question.”, Tony demanded.

“Did the Phantom, the Master Assassin, and Super Soldier that slaughtered armies of enemies really just ask that? It’s insulting that you would pretend to care about them.”, Ryfez argued.

“Then answer this question. Why betray the Protectorate?”, Tony asked.

“You can’t prove I did. If a bunch of your mud born fascists kill other mud born, that is inconsequential to the Protectorate. Even if an entire colony was wiped out, the Protectorate still wouldn’t care. And that’s the problem.”, Ryfez said.

“Why should they? There’s plenty of customers on Earth who would love a cheap ticket to another planet and start a new life. Is your goal to make the protectorate care about the Earthborn? I am Earthborn, I’m also Aurovean. Until I was converted into a cyborg, the rest of Earth didn’t care about me, what could you say to me to make me care about Earth?”, Tony challenged Ryfez.

“Nothing. But if you care about the Protectorate and Rylkonians, you won’t let us turn into Earthborn. Because the longer we stay, the more we think and act like you.”, Ryfez said.

Day 2

I walked onto the bridge for the start of my shift and I saw Tony sitting in the gunner’s seat and Ylisaya sitting in the flight engineer’s seat. They were watching a hologram of a conference of Rylkonian admirals. The hologram was displayed at the edge of the console of the captain’s chair and appeared as a recording of the meeting but something seemed wrong.

“What are you watching?”, I asked.

“The data stick from the U.D.E. officer, had this hologram recording in it, but I think it’s fake.”, Tony said.

“It’s definitely fake. We marked a bunch of time frames when the actors make mistakes. Here’s the first one.”, Ylisaya tapped her console, and the hologram shifted.

“If we colonize one or two of their planets, we’ll exhaust at least two planets completely in three years, but if we colonize every planet and moon they will be self sustaining. But we’ll need at least two point five billion colonists, and we’ll dominate this system in a few months, a year at most.”, the hologram of the admiral said, and then froze as Ylisaya tapped her console.

“Did you catch it?”, Tony asked.

“Yeah that’s how Earthborn measure time. We use solar cycles, not your calendar from your home planet.”, I replied.

“Let’s look at the second mark.”, Ylisaya said as she tapped her console and the hologram shifted.

“Closing the hyper jump gates on Deimos and Luna effectively cuts off trade to both Mars and Earth. Mars will start an open revolt against the Mars Pax Alliance.”, another admiral said and froze as Ylisaya tapped her console.

“That’s pretty obvious. All the events are in the wrong order. Mars pax didn’t shut down Earth’s gate, it halted the gate’s construction and it was never completed. All trade within Mars Pax space is done through space stations, never been done through jump gates. And the Mars’ rebellion was because of taxes, not because they were prevented from becoming the leader of the Mars Pax Alliance.”, I said.

“Go to the third mark.”, Tony said, and Ylisaya tapped her console.

“The Phantom uses his primitive weapons because he’s convinced Rylkonian technology is too efficient. We infused his weapons with our technology so he can send a message to his enemies, that he’s going to kill them because he hates them. His reputation allows him to use fear as weapon. Only the Phantom is able to kill the Dark Tyrant, and he will be a valuable tool in controlling the rest of planet Earth.”, the hologram of the Admiral said and froze as Ylisaya her console.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with this one.”, Ylisaya said.

“The name the Phantom came after the execution of the Dark Tyrant.”, I said.

“Wait? Do both of you think the rest of that footage is an accurate description of me?…Actually don’t answer that. Well there’s a bunch more timeframes marked and none of the actors did a convincing job of looking like they know how cyber-link works. I think we can sell that to Protectorate Intelligence, give them an idea of what the U.D.E. plans to use as propaganda and what they might have guessed right.”, Tony said.

“Was there anything useful about those mystery bullets?”, I asked.

“There was something.”, Ylisaya said as she tapped her console and a hologram of the bullet appeared, replacing the propaganda conference hologram.

“It turns out it’s it won’t actually kill our Captain. It assumes that he’s just a robot being remotely controlled and cutting off the controlling signal will shit him down. If that was true, it would have worked. Now Rylkonian physiology incorporates technology, where as our Captain’s body, is mostly technology. The weapon is a sonic pulse, that disrupts our synapse technology, which is why it hurt us more.”,

Day 3

I walked into the bridge to start my shift, but Ylisaya was sitting there alone. I thought this was strange because her shift is supposed to be after mine. As soon as she saw me she started closing out her console, as if her shift was ending.

“Did you switch shifts with the captain?”, I asked Ylisaya.

“I’ve only been here for about ten micro-cycles, the Captain is setting up some sort of food and movie event, for the passengers. I’m supposed to go help him, now that you’re here.”, Ylisaya said.

“That’s right today is Saturday on the Earth calendar.”, I reminded myself.

“So it’s something to do with his religion?”, Ylisaya asked.

“Not exactly, go help the Captain.”, I instructed Ylisaya.

I took the Pilot’s seat and Ylisaya left the bridge headed to the kitchen. I accessed the internal sensor and focused immediately on the kitchen. I found everyone there, except for Ylisaya and Ryfez. Tony wore his holographic face as he finished preparing several trays of cookie dough of different flavors and his box of cookie cutters. Ylisaya arrived and stood next to the passengers.

“Good morning passengers…and crew. On this Saturday Morning, we’re going to cut cookies. Please be patient since some of us have less experience with cooking in space than others. If there are questions, even a expert can learn from those too.”, Tony said.

“It’s fine. You can just say it’s me. I just travel as a passenger.”, Meiyo declared.

Tony opened a box and poured a collection of cookie cutters onto the kitchen’s food preparation surface. The metal of the cookie cutters was instantly drawn to the magnetic panel underneath the surface. Nyrella picked up a cookie cutter to look at it from different angles. Tony picked up a cookie cutter and spun it around his finger.

“Go ahead and choose a cookie cutter, choose a tray, and we’ll get started.”, Tony said.

“What’s that cookie cutter?”, Nyrella asked, prompting Tony to examine the object he was twirling around his finger.

“Looks like a mustache.”, Tony said as he held the cookie cutter in front of his mouth.

“This looks like Cat Burglar.”, Nyrella said, as she held up the cookie cutter in her hand.

“Kids still watch Cat Burglar and Guard Dog?”, Tony asked.

“What’s Cat Burglar and Guard Dog?”, Ylisaya asked.

“It’s a cartoon made on Earth, about an anthropomorphic cat and dog. The cat tries to steal valuable objects representing a hyper capitalistic world view, the dog tries to stop the cat representing a meritocracy world view, and their struggle is an ongoing commentary on the experience of morality.”, Tony said, as he gestured for the passengers to start cutting cookies.

“I don’t remember either Cat Burglar or Guard Dog ever saying anything, but I only watched the international version, because we thought it was just made with music, sound effects, and didn’t need to be translated. But I was just a kid.”, Meiyo said.

“I just watched it when I was a kid too. I had no idea Cat Burglar and Guard Dog were analogous of worldviews.”, Surhey said.

“We should watch a couple of episodes sometime.”, Surhey said to Nyrella.

“I grew up in an orphanage, we were lucky to have a T.V. set. Not my favorite memories. I mean no offense, but I don’t think I’d enjoy JATO propaganda as much again.”, Tony said.

“Grew up? How old are you, Captain?”, Surhey asked.

“I’m thirty three.”, Tony replied.

“Sorry I thought you were a robot. I didn’t know you’re a man in a machine.”, Surhey said.

“I don’t mind. I get the whole robot question a lot actually.”, Tony chuckled.

“So how do you take care of the things…a man needs?”, Surhey asked.

“Doctor, can we please not talk about that around the kids?”, Tony replied.

Day 4

I walked into the Bridge to start my shift, and Tony was sitting in the gunner’s seat. Tony lifted something without looking at me, and presented me with a box that smelled of maple and cinnamon.

“Captain, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m only interested in the raw cookie dough. If you cut and bake it, you ruined it for me.”, I said.

“Okay. I’ll see who else on the ship wants these.”, Tony said, as he departed the bridge.

I took the pilot’s seat and accessed the internal sensor. Tony walked to the med-bay and presented Surhey with the box, and she appeared to be repulsed at the box as she looked away and held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sight of it. Tony quickly moved the box behind him and Surhey faced Tony and took a breath.

“Sorry Captain, no offense the cookies were delicious, but…too much of a good thing. But I’m glad you’re here. I went over your med-scan after what you said yesterday and I have a question. Have you heard of experiment Twenty-Nine-A?”, Surhey asked.

“What a coincidence. I am experiment Twenty-Nine-A, sometimes also called Patient Twenty-Nine-A.”, Tony replied.

“I’ve been staring at your genetic sequence for years, and I never knew the genetic code belonged to an engineered cyborg.”, Surhey replied.

“What the Cooperative and Commonwealth are paying a monthly license for is my repaired genetic sequence. My genetic modifications aren’t included, and only the Protectorate has a copy of my original genetic sequence.”, Tony clarified.

“What I’m really trying to understand isn’t the Apex Predator, Improved Metabolic Efficiency, nor Tardigrade Resilience mods. I have two questions. Why didn’t they give you the Super Strength gene mod? And my second question is, why did you include the ability to reproduce as a male, and also a combat cyborg?” Surhey asked.

“First question. As experiment Twenty-Nine-A, I have a genetic capacity of one-hundred-and-thirty-seven evolution points, as far as I know that the highest evolution points attained by any Earthborn. My arms and legs are replaceable machines. I can always upgrade and become stronger, so I skipped on the strength gene mods and saved eighteen evolution points. I actually still have a lot of evolution points left over. Now your second question has two good answers. I heard some U.D.E. propaganda, implying that providing me with a way to relieve those urges, costs the Protectorate nothing, but also takes that opportunity away from the U.D.E. to try and solve that for me. So now I have nothing to gain by asking the U.D.E. for help, which is a really good guess. But the truth is when I was born I was sick, disfigured, malformed, and incapable of fathering children. So according to most sciences I wasn’t technically alive. When the Rylkonians asked me if this is the way I wanted to be, I asked if I do father children, then I want then to be normal humans.”, Tony replied.

“This was all part of the super soldier project?” Surhey asked.

“That was when the project was cancelled. Very few know this, but I wasn’t the first super soldier, I was the third and most successful. The entire concept was considered a failure upon the realization that a fleet of stealth gunships was far more effective than two malfunctioning super robots and one mostly functional cyborg.”, Tony replied.

“What happened to the two earlier super soldiers?” Surhey asked.

“I destroyed them to take their upgrades. The super soldier project had seven permanent upgrades planned and that’s how I obtained my first two.”, Tony said.

“What about the other five upgrades?”, Surhey asked.

“Planned, possibly designed, but never built, and after the last ten years, I hope they never do. The super soldier project was just a shortcut to power. The Dark Tyrant was the worst evil I had ever known. Another tyrant, would just see me as the sign to a shortcut.”,

Day 5

It was a quiet time on my shift. Nothing interesting happened besides Tony coating his bullets in toxic venom. We knew that halfway on our route from Mars to Venus meant we were now in the highest risk of a space pirate attack, because we’re too far from either planet to call for help. We calculated and theorized the chances that our prisoner might have set a trap for us to facilitate his escape. The only ones who knew the danger were Tony, Meiyo, Ylisaya, and myself. Should the worst come to pass, and pirates take the ship. I can’t let them take Surhey or Nyrella. If the space pirates obtain hostages, they might try to trade for the more valuable dread pirate.

Near the end of my shift I checked the internal sensor and I found Nyrella, Tony, and Ylisaya in the cargo bay with the pigs. I wasn’t surprised that Tony wore the hand-cannon or that the shotgun was also in the cargo bay. I was slightly surprised that Ylisaya was now wearing a handgun, hanging from an ammo belt. After I saw Tony was wearing a wolf mask, and three pig cages had been placed in a row, and decorated with garbage to look like straw, stick, and bricks, I couldn’t stop watching, I had to know what this was about.

“Little pig, little pig, let me in.”, Tony said.

Tony turned to Ylisaya as he gestured for her to take an action. Ylisaya rolled her eyes and activated an electronic remote.

“Not by the hair of my chin-ny-chin-chin.”, a recorded voice sounded from a device attached to the cage decorated with straw.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in. And I huffed and I puffed and blew down the straw house.”, Tony said, as he removed the straw and moved the cage and speaker to the stick decorated cage.

“The little pig ran to the stick house, I walked up and said, Little pigs, little pigs, let me in.”, Tony said, as he gestured to Ylisaya.

Ylisaya hid her face in her free hand and she aggressively pressed the button to activate the speaker.

“Not by the hair of my chin-ny-chin-chin.”, the recorded voice said again.

“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in. And I huffed and I puffed and blew down the stick house.”, Tony said, as he removed the stick decorations and moved the cages and speaker to the brick decorated cage.

“The little pigs ran to the brick house house, I walked up…”, Tony said but was interrupted when Ylisaya pressed the button.

“Not by the hair of my chin-ny-chin-chin.”, the recorded voice said again, as Tony realized Ylisaya was unhappy with the redundancy.

“As I tried to sneak in through the chimney, the little pigs lit a fire and burned my tail when I fell in. I climbed back up the chimney and ran away. The Little pigs won the day. The end.”, Tony said, as he removed the wolf mask.

Surhey entered the cargo bay seemed unsurprised by all of this.

“How was the story?”, Surhey asked Nyrella.

“I want to hear another tomorrow.”, Nyrella said as she followed Surhey back to their quarters.

“I have questions.”, Ylisaya said to Tony.

“I had to skip a part, but you looked like you thought it wasn’t important. So, what are your questions?”, Tony asked.

“Those first two parts implied that resourcefulness and consideration of the environment are wrong, and the protagonist got punished for trying. What’s the moral lesson?”, Ylisaya said.

“What? The three little pigs were the heroes, not the wolf.”, Tony said.

“That’s not what it looked like from where I’m sitting. The wolf had all the agency, everything happened because the wolf ’s choice affected everything.”, Ylisaya said.

Day 6 (The Auro Blade)

I walked onto the bridge at the start of my shift and I found Tony sitting in the Gunner’s seat, and Ylisaya sitting in the Engineer’s seat. The console of the Captain’s chair was playing a hologram, and it was the fourteenth episode of the Auro Blade Television show.

“Is this all hands to battle stations today?”, I asked.

Tony nodded his head up and down, acknowledging my question. Ylisaya held her index finger of the hand near the pilot’s seat over her lips. The hologram showed an old Aurovean man holding an Aurovean Knight’s sword, sitting in front of a fire. Next to him were two Aurovean men and one Aurovean woman.

“If you leave now, I will not stop you, but to continue I must tell you the kind of evil you’re facing. I was born over fifteen hundred years ago. I am what my kind call Omoht, and we believe our immortality is meant to benefit humanity with our wisdom. The immortals who believe humanity should serve us, are called the Gavahk. The Gavahk collected mortals to build armies, and empires, to worship them as gods, and we Omoht would hunt down any Gavahk, but our laws let the mortals keep their empires, and choose for themselves. Eight hundred years ago I travelled to Western Aurove and found a tribe untouched by any Gavahk. They called me the Wizard Myrnon, and I choose one among them to become their king to prevent any Gavahk from corrupting his people. His name was King Arton Ravay. As a symbol of his right to rule, I gave him the Sword of Stone, a weapon capable of killing a Gavahk and also as a sign of trust, since such a weapon can also kill me.”, the old man said, as the hologram showed two men in a sword fight, and one man stabbed the other.

“For the Auro Blade.”, yelled the winner of the sword fight as he freed his blade with a spin and decapitated his opponent. Then the hologram shifted back to the old man.

“Omoht and Gavahk are born from mortal women, but father no children. I determined that King Arton’s sister, Myrginia would birth a new immortal. I told her that her child would be like me, and I began teaching her all she needed to prepare him as a new Omoht, as both Omoht and Gavahk have only ever know our kind to be male. And…”, the old Wizard Myrnon said as a tear swelled in his eye.

“And she told Arton…And Arton raped Myrginia. Myrginia fled Western Aurove, and in my shame and guilt I never looked for her nor her son. I never forgave myself because I was the one who made Arton into a king. In my arrogance I thought I could defeat the Gavahk, but in doing so I became one, I failed. When I made Arton King, I placed on him an obligation to produce an heir, so for what happened to Myrginia, I am just as guilty as Arton.”, Myrnon said.

“Are you saying that all the kings of West Aurove are descendants of a rapist?”, one of the men asked.

“I can’t be certain, but at least not King Arton. He never touched his queen, convinced his true heir the rightful god-king would return. The crown passed to his cousin Lord Spearmore, and their legend faded into obscurity. I have determined that Rozkuten, is the son of King Arton and Lady Myrginia Ravay, and with the knowledge I gave his mother, he is hunting down and eliminating all the Omoht and Gavahk he can find. I may be the last of either order. Right now he has the Sword of Fire the deadliest Gavahk blade, which means he’s also looking for the Sword of Stone. If he can obtain both swords and one more component, he can craft the Auro Blade.”, Myrnon said, as the screen changed to the message, “To be Continued.”

“Well I saw most of the first season, I want to visit every one of those Aurovean Cities, and I definitely wanna see if Aryssa is the reincarnation of Myrginia.”, Ylisaya said to Tony.

“There’s a reason both roles are played by the same actress.”, Tony said to Ylisaya.

“Is the story better than the Three Little Pigs?”, I asked Ylisaya.

“It’s a dark drama about an immortal who can only be killed by specific methods… that’s not a crazy concept for me anymore. I can’t say I saw anything that’s unrealistic.”, Ylisaya said.

Day 7

We had no more reason to expect a space pirate attack, and we decided to relax. I entered the Bridge to start my shift, and I found Tony in the Gunner’s seat and Ylisaya in the Engineer’s seat. They were watching the propaganda movie made about the Parasite Wars, but didn’t object to my taking the pilot’s seat. The movie portrayal of the Dark Tyrant and Tony fought each other with energy blades. Tony’s movie portrayal swung a battle axe with wide swings as the axe’s energy blade burned in the air. The Dark Tyrant used an energy sword that clashed against the battle-axe’s deflector. The movie’s music crescendoed in a heroic climax, as the Dark tyrant realized he couldn’t win. The music changed and the Dark Tyrant revealed he had captured the movie’s portrayal of me. The movie portrayal of Tony decided to rescue me instead of attacking the Dark Tryant. Ylisaya tapped the controls of her console and paused the movie.

“I have so many questions. I know you already said it was a dramatized version of the actual war, the propaganda made it look like the Protectorate and Earth were in some kind of alliance, the movie’s version of the Battle-Axe uses the same fighting style of a Ugian Rotono Blade, and cybernetics are basically magic. But if the parasites make the hosts only fight and kill, how did Jhessyreen get captured?”, Ylisaya asked.

“Nobody knows, but I hope you have some questions after the sex-scene and the dream sequence.”, I replied to Ylisaya.

“Yeah let’s just skip to the dream sequence.”, Tony said as he tapped the controls of his console.

The movie portrayal of Tony walked through an empty gray space with fog floating over the ground. There was a figure in the distant horizon sitting on the ground. The movie Tony activated his armor and battle-axe as he approached. The armor and energy blade glowed like lava behind the fog. The dream sequence had the fully powered cyborg version of Tony face his human version, played by the same actor. The human version had a disfigured face and one non-functional eye, one leg did not function, and one arm was malformed. The human version stood and turned with the assistance of a walking cane.

“You seem paranoid.”, the human version said.

“The Dark Tyrant could be planning anything, every encounter has been a fight. I have to be ready.”, the cyborg version said.

“And are you ready?”, the human version asked.

“I will be ready, but I need more power.”, the cyborg version declared.

“Are you willing to defeat the first two super soldier robots?”, the human version said.

“But they are not the enemy.”, the cyborg version replied.

“If you cannot defeat them, you are not worthy of their upgrades. The Protectorate created you to complete the plan. And you can’t even start?”, the human version demanded.

“And what are you contributing?”, the cyborg version argued.

“I died so you could be born. Look at me, I don’t belong in battle. The warriors don’t need to waste time and energy looking out for me. That’s why I became you!”, the human confessed to the cyborg version.

“Do you think I’m afraid?”, the cyborg version said to the human version.

“I am you, and I’m terrified. If the Dark Tyrant finds Earth, then everyone you know becomes his. He will turn them into hosts for his soldiers, into food for his parasites, and they will join his army or beg for death.”, the human version argued.

“How did you know that?”, Ylisaya asked Tony, as she paused the movie.

“Oh, I never said that. I don’t have conversations like that in my mind. And if the Dark Tyrant was alive today and he wanted to enslave Earth, he can have every idiot on the planet. Everyone and everything I care about has a place in the Protectorate.”, Tony said to Ylisaya.

“We are so lucky we found Earth first.”, I said to Ylisaya.

Day 8

Meiyo and I entered the brig and we saw Ryfez. Ryfez noticed us as soon as the door was opened, and he was no longer blind-folded. His hands and feet were shackled to the floor of the cell, and slowed his movements. He reclined in his cell with a suspicious grin on his face.

“Jhessyreen, so kind of you to visit. I hope the Captain passed along my compliments to the chef. The food has greatly improved since my capture. Who’s your friend?”, the dread pirate asked.

“When you say capture, do you mean the time you lost in direct battle with the Captain, or the time I hit you with the gunship?….Don’t bother answering. I don’t have any questions about you.”, I said to Ryfez, but I turned towards Meiyo.

“I have questions about Lord Zokoro.”, Meiyo said to the dread pirate.

“You must be Meiyo Ymiri. My sincerest apologies for the passing of your late father.”, said the dread pirate.

“What’s your master plan?”, Meiyo demanded.

“Well since you asked so nicely and the plan needs to change to proceed, I’ll give you the three main parts, I like to call the beginning, the middle, and the end. Some within the Protectorate believe a war against the Earthborn is inevitable. We’re the ones who took a moment to learn your planet’s history. Auroveans, Naphridahns, Sjaiadi, Ugians, Lahnthano, and now Alyricans all struggling to subjugate the others, lying to each other, lying to themselves, and we realized if we start playing this game, we’re basically saying the game is correct. We simply don’t want to share with your kind if that makes sense.”, the dread pirate said.

“I’m a Venus Citizen, so correct me if I’m wrong but you’re Rylkonian. You can get a space ship and go anywhere. You can build space stations greater than my planet’s major cities, that don’t rely on the locations of a planet, and can trade with any planet. If you only want to deal with other Rylkonians I don’t see why you can’t just do that. So what if some Rylkonians trade with us, some Rylkonians marry us, and some Rylkonians have children with us. Nobody stopped you from being you.”, Meiyo argued.

“One day my people will leave, we will return to our home universe. You’re saying I need to ask if it’s safe for us to stay longer than we need to, and ask that question eight billion times. Did you know the warrior you call the Phantom gave us a highly detailed report about how Earthborn think? Specifically the Auroveans. One thing he said is true and grows more true over time, as Earthborn learn about us. He said the people of Earth are no threat to Rylkonians and might never become a threat. But a few of you Earthborn think that’s unfair, and that’s a problem. Because the only thing that makes the Mud born into a threat, is a few of them think the Rylkonians are a threat to them.”, the dread pirate said.

“So why use Zokoro to start a war?”, Meiyo asked.

“Odd, the Captain asks me that same question every time he’s here. The Protectorate won’t see how much of a threat the Earthborn are as long as they think your kind can be controlled, and that’s where the Protectorate is wrong. If any Earthborn could be controlled you would have figured that out how to do that by now. You’re not stupid, so let me ask you this, what is Zokoro’s only possible move to win against the Confederacy? Who are the most uncontrollable Earthborn?”, the dread pirate asked Meiyo.

“Space pirates!”, Meiyo said as she realized.

“So that covers the beginning and the middle of the plan, now for the master move that you can’t imagine. The only things needed to make one of you into a space pirate is reason and opportunity. Look at the Phantom, he’s a ruthless bounty hunter and renowned super soldier, lot’s of opportunities to become a space pirate and live life on easy mode as the pirates say. But he plays the more difficult game, despite the fact that his artificial abilities give him an unfair advantage, and he’s constantly accused of cheating. He can’t change what he is, but the situation can change around him. If there was no Protectorate, or if the Protectorate simply stopped supporting him, he’d definitely become a space pirate, or even worse.”, said the dread pirate

“Jhessyreen, there’s a problem with the pigs. I need you on the bridge.”, I heard Tony’s thoughts through a cyber-link.

“I’m needed on the bridge.”, I said to Meiyo and I departed the Brig.

“I’ll return to my quarters, I need to make a report for the Cooperative.”, Meiyo said as she followed me out of the brig.

When I arrive at the bridge I saw Tony in the gunner’s seat closing out the Gunner’s console, and he turned to face me. As I took the pilot’s controls I sensed his mind releasing the controls of the ship.

“What’s going on with the pigs?”, I asked Tony

“Don’t know, internal sensors can’t get accurate readings. Ylisaya spotted it first when she went to feed them, and now Surhey and Nyrella are in there too saying the same thing. They just keep saying I need to see.”, Tony said

I activated the internal sensor and saw Tony move through the ship and enter the cargo bay where we kept the ten pigs.

“I see the problem now. Good news is none of the pigs are missing, but now we have twenty seven additional piglets.”, Tony said as he entered the cargo bay, and scooped up a piglet that tried to escape into the ship.

“I’m sorry captain, but I’m a genetic researcher, not a veterinarian. I’m not sure how to deal with this problem. How did you already count the piglets?”, Surhey said to the Tony, as Tony closed the door behind him.

“One of my abilities is called scanner vision…It’s a cyborg thing.”, Tony said to Surhey.

Ylisaya and Nyrella held two ends of a netted sack, as they tried to collect piglets in the net. Ylisaya and Nyrella only succeeded two out of five attempts, but their technique was flawed, and one out of three piglets escaped their net. Tony instructed everyone to leave the cargo bay and for Surhey and Nyrella to go to their quarters, except for Ylisaya who joined me on the bridge. As soon as Ylisaya reached the bridge she took the engineer’s seat and activated the internal sensor. I didn’t need to see because I already knew what Tony was going to do. He needed the cargo bay closed because he’s going to move at super speed, but that’s also going to knock the ship off course. Once everyone was confined to quarters, Tony vanished into a distortion and moved so fast the distortion appeared in the entire cargo bay. The ship rumbled and tumbled, and then silence. I recalibrated the navigation array and set the ship back on course from our last location and headed towards Venus.

“Ylisaya, bring Surhey to the cargo bay.”, Tony said to Ylisaya through the internal sensor system, as if he knew she was watching and listening.

“What do I tell Surhey if she asks what just happened?”, Ylisaya asked me.

“The ship needed to make some maneuvers to help me capture the escaped animals. You don’t have to lie.”, I said to Ylisaya, as she departed the bridge.

Ylisaya and Surhey arrived at the Cargo bay, and found all ten adult pigs captured in the cages, and the piglets as evenly distributed within available spaces in the cages.

“Collect your thoughts, but I just checked and none of these pigs are male. Is this gonna happen again? Am I smuggling embryos to Venus?”, Tony asked, the two people on the ship who were the closest we had to experts.

“Captain, I think the sender of the pigs assumed you would cryonic-freeze cargo like this, and then you might have been caught smuggling. How many piglets are male?”, Surhey asked.

“None…and that’s doesn’t seem possible, unless these animals are some sort of experiment. And if the parameters of delivery are animals for food, someone lied to me.”, Tony replied.

“What do we do about the animals?”, Ylisaya asked.

“That’s why I asked both of you here. Ylisaya, we have thirty seven pigs, large and small. I have enough life support, food, and supplies for ten large. I must have ten to fulfill my contract in sixty two hours. Any pigs that are unlikely to survive will be eaten.”, Tony said to Ylisaya, and then he turned towards the Surhey.

“Doctor Surhey, I know this problem falls outside you area of expertise, and you are not part of my crew, so you may name your price if you wish…”, Tony said to Surhey, but she interrupted him.

“I’ll do it. I’ll help. Nyrella has become attached to these animals, I would like it if she could keep one.”, Surhey replied.

“Good, send your plan to the bridge when you have it. I want report updates at each flight shift. It should be safe to let a few animals out at a time.”, Tony said as he departed the cargo bay.

Tony returned to the bridge and took the gunner’s seat. I watched him through my mirror, and I could see his holographic face reflected his thoughts over the lessons he was teaching the chosen one, that not everything nor everyone could be saved. I determined now was a bad time to present my pork and bacon menu.

“You did the right thing, teaching Ylisaya about triage.”, I said to Tony.

“We need to teach her how to survive on Venus.”, Tony said.

“I’ll teach her. All she’ll learn from you is how to exploit their rules, manipulate statistics and how to cheat the system. She already can do two of those. But first you have to introduce their propaganda.”, I said to Tony.

I disconnected from the flight systems as Tony resumed his flight shift, and I didn’t return until my shift officially started. When I returned to start my shift I found Ylisaya in the flight engineer’s seat and Tony in the gunner’s seat. Ylisaya was making the update on the Bridge.

“So we have enough food and oxygen if we move pigs into the cages as soon as we let some out for the next fifty nine hours. Two adults and five piglets will not survive, Surhey has already brought them to the kitchen, and she has asked that Nyrella will no longer be allowed to help with food prep. Meiyo has already filed smuggling charges against the sender who sold Venus the pigs, and if they involve the Something Clever, which is a Protectorate registered ship, all their deliveries can then be inspected by Protectorate officers.”, Ylisaya said.

“Ughh…The fastest I can make a pre-flight inspection is eighty-three micro-cycles. I feel sorry for anyone having to wait in line for a Rylkonian food inspector.”, I said in disgust.

“I think that was the implied threat Meiyo intended. Anything else Captain?”, Ylisaya said, as she closed out her engineer’s console.

“Yes, maybe…There are a few things you should know about Venus. It it the safest place for women, but they only achieved this by maintaining a very low male population. No more than one percent of the entire planet. Their military defenses are mostly autonomous combat drones, their dangerous labor is done by disposable drones. Any males who are not already cyborgs and do not volunteer for brain implants with mind control technology are euthanized.”, Tony said.

“You mean they turn them into robot slaves. Is this what Meiyo and Surhey…”, Ylisaya said, but Tony interrupted.

“Do not get angry at them, they are doing the best with the situation they got. The logic is that they define rape as taking away sexual freedom from a woman. If the population increases the odds of rape also increase, and if the population decreases, there is the conquerer factor. If a male kills any other males who can compete for females, he is taking that choice away from women, so he can be the only option. And if there is only one available female for two or more potential males, the threat to her only increases. Any males who unintentionally benefit from the actions of other males are automatically complicit and are therefore accomplices. They call it Rape-by-process-of-statistics. I don’t like it, but this is what their government believes, so they implant all their males with mind control technology.”, Tony said as Ylisaya attempted to process a planet’s contempt for people who didn’t choose how they were born.

“Logic? There’s two obvious flaws with that logic. Their government is taking that choice away from women, and they assume all men cannot choose otherwise.”, Ylisaya argued.

“So, I guess you don’t want to hear the five stages of Patriarchy.”, Tony said.

“Tell me the first two, I’ll decide if I wanna hear the rest.”, Ylisaya said.

“The first is society’s inclination for war, and the second is male privilege.”, Tony said

“I’ll decide later…What about you?”, Ylisaya demanded.

“I’m a cyborg, so I’m allowed on Venus.”, Tony replied.

“But, why doesn’t it bother you?”, Ylisaya asked.

“When I was human I already came to terms that I wasn’t going to live the life I wanted. I had to accept the life available to me, which is more than Venus allows. But I have my own reasons for hating Aurovean males who become space pirates, and I don’t mind if a planet chooses to be part of the solution instead of just ignoring the problem…If I ever become a Dark Tyrant and need an army of robot slaves, then this just means I know where to start.”, Tony joked, but Ylisaya didn’t find it funny.

“Jhessyreen, is this true?” Ylisaya asked me.

“I think we could steal the control codes, but I’ve seen Tony deal with two crew-members who actually do everything he says, and it’s like he’s always got the weight of the ship on him. That’s not his job. I’m the the first officer. I just don’t think he’d be happy as a Dark Tyrant. He’d have no time to oppress them, we’d be fixing all their problems for them. But I don’t assume robot slaves can solve their own problems.”, I said.

“I don’t care about Dark Tyrants. Is the Government of Venus using mind control technology?…Okay maybe I am bothered by tyranny.”, Ylisaya asked again.

“It’s true. We are.”, Meiyo said.

Ylisaya looked over her should to see Meiyo, and I looked through my mirror. I presumed Tony knew she was moving through the ship.

“My government isn’t just planning on taking freedom from our men. We replaced most of our military with robot drones and most of our labor needs as well. My role as a huntress is to supervise those drones, as they assist me with investigating illegal pregnancies. Ylisaya, my government does bother me. Surhey’s job is the engineering of a new kind of woman who will inherit the future of our planet. That’s how I know smuggling embryos is such an issue for us, this new life form is our only hope, and I will protect that future. That is my vow as a huntress, but when that future happens, I also know I will have no place in that world. If you seek refuge on my world, follow your Captain’s wisdom. It is your best chance of survival.”, Meiyo said.

“Thank you Meiyo, is my import license approved?”, Tony asked.

“Yes Captain. You will encounter no inspections nor checkpoints, and you may move medical and biological samples on, off, and around Venus without restriction. Is there anything else?”, Meiyo asked.

“Excellent, thank you Meiyo, great work. Please relax.”, Tony said to Meiyo.

Meiyo nodded and returned to her quarters.

“You never say I do great work, but you think she does great work?”, I asked Tony.

“Jhessyreen please, I don’t want political asylum from a government that enslaved their people and also plans to replace them with a new species. Can we focus on that?”, Ylisaya asked, which effectively rescued Tony from my question.

“What do you need to see, to accept their point of view on this issue?”, Tony asked.

“What is the example that all men are automatically evil?”, Ylisaya asked.