For our evening dinner we opted for some healthy pesto eggs on toast as we felt like we had to balance out the chicken wings at least a little and it was a dish I wasn't overly familiar with, it did sound tasty though and as Eva recommended it, we went for that option.

With our to-go bags in hand then went on towards Eva’s cabin, just as we rounded the corner into Eva’s hallway we saw the back of Doctor Freemann as he walked off, presumably for his shift in the Doctor’s office.

“How’s things going with your new neighbor?” I asked as Eva occupied herself with opening the door for us.

“Pretty good. He’s a good colleague as well.” Eva replied, letting the both of us through. “It’s a shame we can’t hang out more because our shifts pretty much follow each other. But then again, I don’t really want to impose too much, he might not be willing to hang out on his off-hours like you two.”

“I’m sure he would be very happy to hang out with you too, Eva.” Luna replied, walking to Eva’s table and spreading out the bags of food so we could eat our dinner together.

“If you can handle Gunny I’m pretty sure you can handle the good doctor as well.”

Eva chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I suppose so. Anyway, let’s get our food out of the bag and start eating so that we can discuss something more important.”

“Good idea, I’m starving already.” I rubbed my hands in delight as I could smell the tasty food in front of me.

The taste of the food was pretty good as well, it wasn’t mind-bogglingly amazing but it was definitely a foodstuff I would try to eat more often than. I was especially a fan of the pan-fried cherry tomatoes with garlic that accompanied the dish, you could never go wrong combining eggs, tomatoes and toast.

“So, did you find out anything more about the black box? Apart from the fact that you can use said box to turn my girlfriend into a dommy mommy?”

Eva snorted. “Does this set the tone for the rest of the conversation?”

“No, I was merely joking, but it doesn’t make it any less true.” I replied.

“Well…” Luna started. “Ellie basically confirmed that the box is based on precursor technology just as we had thought.”

“Did you manage to crack it, Ellie?”

“Cracking is an overstatement, Commander.” She replied through one of the local speakers. “I have managed to scratch the surface of the sophisticated code that programs the box, and I have found markers that are very much identical to the code that runs through me as well. It proves to be a fickle beast nonetheless, as the code inside it appears to change pretty much constantly.”

“So it’s a bit like it has a mind of its own?”

“I guess you could say that.” Ellie replied affirmatively. “From what I can tell though, its only purpose is to change the genetic make-up and bodily structure of the being that uses it. Giving it any other kind of command doesn’t result in anything.”

“Ellie said she also doesn’t know if that’s by the design of the precursor race, or if it’s something that my species adapted to its own needs.” Luna added.

“It is very hard to say at this point, indeed. If an outsider would try to really dive deep into my core it would also be hard for them to tell what was there and what was adapted. It could help me if I could link up with more technology that stems from the LC’s home planet, similarly, more precursor technology would also help my analysis quite a bit.

I nodded and crossed my arms while I stared blankly in front of me, right in between Luna and the Doctor. “I have two questions…. The first being if we couldn’t let you connect with Luna’s communication device, but I think I already know the answer to that.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Luna nodded. “It is too dangerous, I know for a fact that the communication device has a way to detect meddling with it, so I would rather not have her try that as it might set of some alarms, even if I think Ellie is very skilled.”

“That makes sense, and I suppose you don’t have anything else with you that Ellie could connect to.”

Luna shook her hand.

“That’s annoying… And the suits from Felix Invenire were too damaged to really salvage anything from it too.”

“We also thought about that.” Eva replied. “Besides, the suits are no longer in our possession anyway.”

“Okay, so I’ll note down that we have to find more technological assets to conduct our little research… So now it’s time for my second question… You said the box can change ‘a being’. Because you were so general, can I assume that that also includes us humans? Or is it only applicable to Luna’s race?”

“Theoretically it works for any being, at least that’s what I presume.” Ellie responded.

“You presume? So you’ve not tested it yet?”

“We haven’t.” Eve replied. “That’s where ethics come into play.”

“I think it irresponsible to really test it on you or the doctor, given that we don’t know what it will do with human biology, nor do we have the lab space to ourselves to conduct those tests safely.” Ellie continued. “I will not allow you to perform these tests on yourself in a cabin where you can not be sufficiently monitored. It would not be in the best interest of the crew to let you do that, and it won’t help Luna’s cause either.”

“Hmmm… that is a bit of an issue… It’s too hard to really lock out the lab without drawing suspicion…”

“Exactly.” Ellie replied. “Without bringing at least ten more people into the loop about Luna’s state of being, that plan would have an extremely high likelihood of failing.

“We haven’t even told Gunny yet… telling some random lab schmuck, with all due respect to our very bright colleagues of course, is something I myself also find a bit too risky. So we will just bench the idea of testing out that part of the box for now.”

“Besides those two things, we haven’t really found out anything more.” Luna replies to my comment. “But I think benching it is the best decision as well.”

Eva leant back in her chair. “The possibilities it offers could be tremendous though. Just imagine what we could do with genetic manipulation at our fingertips.”

“Hmmm… That’s true but I really don’t want our species to go the same way as Luna’s species did… No offense.”

“None taken.” Luna shook her head with a smile.

“While we probably could make ourselves more resilient to sickness or even the effects of ageing, do we really want to give the government a tool that can make us all the perfect sheep for their flock… I’m not so sure about that. Even though we do work for the government already. At least our mind is still our own.”

Eva nodded at my reply. “Yeah… That’s the big stinker, isn’t it?” She then ruffled her hands through her hair in frustration. “If only we could change human nature… But then again, that’s exactly the thing you were talking about.” She then puffed up her cheeks. “Oh well… Nothing we can do about that.”

We discussed for a little while longer while finished the rest of our plates, but I was pretty much caught up to the cube’s investigation after my couple of questions. The only thing that was left was to ask Eva and Ellie about the advice that they had given my girlfriend for last night’s encounter.

“Why did we give the advice we did? Because we were sure you were going to like it, evidently.” Eva smirked. “I know you prefer to be on the rather dominant side of things, but that makes a role-reversal even more enticing, doesn’t it?”

“According to statistics of relational science that statement was very much true. So therefore we gave Luna advice to enhance the pleasure for the both of you. And as it would seem, science was proven correct once more.”

I rolled my eyes. “But how did it work logistically though? Did you make Luna change in front of you and then you went on from there?”

“Of course, it’s hard to give advice without visuals, isn’t it?”

“So you saw her naked?” I pouted.

“Lauren, seeing people naked as a doctor is literally part of my function description. I’ve seen you naked plenty of times before too, you know?” Eva rolled her eyes back at me. “Besides, I was one of the foremost sponsors of your relationship, I have no intention of getting in between the two of you. Au contraire.”

“I know… I’m just greedy.” I pouted and pulled Luna down onto my lap, snuggling her with great gusto, leading to some cute giggling from her part.

-How can I not be greedy? I mean…. look at her… So beautiful…-