Somehow, a 1928 dirigible’s dining room didn’t seem the proper venue for something like this, so with a snap of my fingers I transported us back to the Lunar Ritz-Carlton where we’d started. I didn’t even mind this time around. Besides, I wanted something vaguely resembling actual technology so we could explore our options.

“What’s it say?” Raven asked, peering over my shoulder.

During the transition from 1928 to 2137, the original Telefunken cablegram had instantly transformed into a digital video message on the hotel’s viewscreen. We both took a seat as it played, watching in curiosity.

The Chell were cagey; I had to give them that. There was little to see on the monitor, merely a set of coordinates marked on a local star chart, followed by a radio frequency and wave harmonic. A disembodied voice, one clearly computer-generated, said simply, “Go to this location. Transmit the following signal. Await further instructions.” Moments later, the screen went dark.

Raven gave me an appraising look. “Well. That was mysterious.”

“Considering their circumstances, I can’t say I blame them. Institutional paranoia is probably the only reason they’re still alive.” I stared at the data for a moment and shook my head. “Getting there is going to be a problem.”

“Why?” she asked. “Can’t you just whistle up a ship for us to hitchhike in?”

“Not in a place like that,” I answered, shaking my head. “It’s in the middle of nowhere. If it was near a planet, I could figure something out, but the galactic equivalent of the Sahara desert?” I shrugged helplessly. “Nobody goes there.”

She folded her arms. “Then what are we supposed to do?” she demanded.

I sighed, before padding over to the bar and retrieving us a couple of drinking bulbs. “There’s only one thing I can think of, and it’s a desperation move,” I informed her as I handed one over.

She accepted the bulb gratefully. “Seems to me we are desperate,” she countered, sipping her drink.

It was hard to argue with that. “Yeah, I guess we are,” I agreed. “It’s something I try to avoid since I prefer operating covertly, but in this case…” My voice trailed off as I shrugged. “The only answer I can come up with is that we steal a ship.”

A wide grin appeared on Raven’s face. “You mean we get to be space pirates?”

“It’s not as romantic as it sounds, believe me,” I groaned. “I’ve spent plenty of time on Corsair vessels, and they’re about half a step up from freighters. They spend most of their time lurking near trade routes and trying to keep their ships from falling apart.”

Raven chewed on that for a moment. “Don’t suppose there’s a Corsair captain out there who owes you a favor?” she inquired.

I briefly considered Captain Hadad of the Gyrfalcon and then shook my head. “Not for this, I’m afraid. Besides, we’d be asking them to take a tremendous risk.”

“Risk? What kind of risk?” she asked suspiciously.

I took a deep breath. “Raven… there’s a good chance it’s a trap. We show up, and they blow us out of the sky.”

“Well… fuck,” she cursed. “I have to say I’m against that idea.”

“You and me both,” I concurred, “but it’s the only way we’re going to learn anything. We have to risk it.”

“Can’t you send a probe instead?” she insisted. “We hang back and relay the information, so if something goes wrong…”

“Won’t work,” I interrupted her. “I’m almost certain that’s why they chose such a remote location for the rendezvous. There are no convenient planetary bodies to hide behind, no asteroid fields to lose ourselves in, no nearby comets we could use to mask our signature. Oh sure, we could park a light year off and give it a shot, but the transmission lag would be a dead giveaway. They’d be long gone before we ever got close.” I gave her an unhappy look. “The only way to do this is stick our head in the lion’s mouth and pray he’s in a good mood.”

She shook her head. “What the hell, you only live once,” she grinned.

Easy for her to say, but she wasn’t wrong. “So where do we steal a ship?” she pressed, “or should I be asking how?”

“The ‘how’ is easy enough,” I pointed out. “It’s a straight hacking job: download ourselves into our vessel of choice, fire it up, and point it at our destination.”

“Um, isn’t that a bit… hazardous?” she ventured.

“It’s a lot hazardous, which is why I try to avoid that sort of thing,” I told her, “but this time I don’t see how we have much of a choice.”

“Well, okay then,” she said with a wave of her hand.

Oh, to be so utterly blasé about matters of life and death. Must be nice.

“That brings me back to my original question, however,” she continued, “namely, where do we go to steal a ship?”

I nodded, pulling up a star map of the local sector. “For this? We want someplace big. Big and busy, preferably.”

“I would have thought the opposite,” she said curiously. “Normally, yes, if we were corporeal thieves,” I grinned. “But we have an advantage over them, and a busy star port where hundreds of ships arrive and depart daily is perfect for us. We can lose ourselves in the chaos.”

Raven nodded. “I think I see where you’re going with this,” she agreed. “You want to slip in an amended itinerary, tell the crew the schedule’s been changed or something, download into the ship’s computer and hack the controls, then just disappear before anyone realizes what’s up.”

“That’s exactly what I want to do,” I said with pride. “By time they figure it out, we’ll be history.”

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“It could work,” she said thoughtfully. “A big space port, huh? Bustling, lots of traffic?”

“That’s the idea,” I conceded.

“Well…” she said playfully, “what about one belonging to the Big Three… what did you call them again?”

“... the Troika,” I hissed. “On paper, I can see why you’d suggest it, but with everything that’s happening, it’s just too risky. We’ll have to settle for something else.”

She gave me an odd look but didn’t argue the point. “Okay then, who’s the next biggest kid on the block?”

Good question. I pulled up the files and took a quick peek. “It looks like the Bamidh are our best bet, at least in this sector,” I informed her. “They’re a pseudo-reptilian race of merchants.”

“Sounds perfect,” she smiled. “You know, except for the whole getting blown to bits part.”

“You want off, I can arrange it,” I told her.

“Actually, you can’t, but that’s a separate conversation,” she chuckled. “Like it or not, I’m stuck with you.”

I ignored that, instead looking over the map. “Hmm… well, the best I can find nearby is Unthu Goq,” I said several minutes later. “Assuming we can find a ride, we could be there in a week or two. The planet supports a population of several billion, and the capitol’s transport hub is as busy as we can hope for.” I started scanning nearby ships, hoping to get lucky. Raven perched on the edge of her seat, watching my efforts with rapt fascination. “This could take a while,” I reminded her.

“Like I’ve got anything better going on at the moment,” she said pointedly. “Besides, it’s my ass on the line too, you know.”

I turned to face her. “This is your last chance to sit this one out,” I told her. “From here on in, we’re committed. Maybe I can’t just dismiss you, for whatever reason… and I’m still not convinced your theory holds water… but I’m betting you could leave if you really wanted to.”

“Oh really,” she snapped, her voice now filled with sarcasm. “And just where is it you think I disappear to when we’re not barhopping, or bouncing each other off the mattress?” She glared at me, waiting for me to respond.

“Umm…” I thought frantically, trying to fathom where she was going with this. “Well, I don’t know the exact file location off the top of my head, but I’d store your program in local memory and…”

“... and where is that ‘Local Memory’ kept when not in use?” she hounded me. “Are you in the habit of leaving your data files behind when you go out on a mission?”

“... well… no, but…”

“... but nothing,” she flared. “Explain to me how I’d be any safer in suspended animation, sitting in a folder next to your other girlfriend.” her dark eyes looked downright dangerous now, as I nervously tugged at my collar.

“You… umm… know about that, huh?” I said with a slight quaver in my voice.

“You’re damn right I do,” Raven growled, “and part of me doesn’t care. We never said we were exclusive, right?”

“Right!” I said brightly, hoping she’d change the subject.

I should have known better.

She leaned in close, enough that her hot breath made my hair stand on end. “Except that I don’t have other options, do I? Unless you’re loaning me out at parties and then blanking my memory, but that wouldn’t be my choice either now, would it?” Her nostrils flared with barely controlled fury. “Would it?” she snarled.

Okay, enough was enough. I think I’ve been more than patient here, catering to her whims, and it was fun, I grant you, but it was time to end this. There was no way in hell I was going to sit here and be berated by a fucking simulacrum. I created the bitch for my amusement… and I was no longer feeling amused. With a simple mental command, a gun appeared in my hand. I stood up and faced her, as she did the same.

“I’m done playing this game,” I told her. “It stopped being entertaining a while ago, and since I can’t just wish you away…” I raised the weapon and pointed it at her. “My domain… my rules.”

Raven barely glanced at the weapon. “Go ahead,” she crowed, “... do it.”

It wasn’t the way I’d ever imagined this scene would end. I’d miss her, I suppose, but I could whip up a replacement in short order. It was probably for the best.

“Goodbye, Raven”, I said, and pulled the trigger.

The gun exploded in my hand, sending a bullet into her chest. It impacted with a spray of crimson, her body jerking as it struck home. Raven glanced down at the wound, and then back up at me.

And smiled.

… what the hell? I fired again, her shoulders twitching once more as the round slammed home. Another wound appeared near the first. There was yet another splash of red, but there was no other reaction other than her smile growing even wider.

Something was very wrong here. I raised the gun and aimed at her temple, firing a third time. Her head snapped back with the strike, rocking her back on her heels, but when she turned back to face me, she was still standing, even as the blood trailed down her face from the bullet hole.

“Finished?” she asked me, not put off at all by my attempts to murder her.

The gun fell from my grasp, landing on the carpet with a muffled thump.

I followed suit a few moments later.

----------------------------------------

I awoke in the dark, unsure of my surroundings. What happened? My mind was a fuzzy blank as I struggled to recall what I’d been up to before falling asleep. Something about… Raven…

I bolted up and jumped to my feet, casting about the space in a panic as the memories came flooding back, only to spy her sitting in a chair opposite from me, drink in hand, observing my antics with dispassionate composure.

“Feeling better?” she asked. I stared at her, dumbfounded, and as I peered closer, I realized there was no sign of the bullet wounds I’d inflicted on her. Somehow, that made it even worse.

“... no,” I whispered. “How… how…?”

“How am I still here, you mean?” she answered. “I already told you, I’m here because you want me here. Until that’s resolved, I’m not going anywhere.” She rose to her feet and approached me as I backed away, only coming to a halt when I bumped into the far wall. Pressing the bulb into my hand, she gave me a pitying look. “Drink up. We have a mission to plan, remember?”

A drink sounded like a fantastic idea as I swallowed the burning liquid down. I swooned a bit, forced to grab the back of a couch to steady myself, until finally I felt like at least a semblance of my old self. Somehow, I stumbled back near her presence, shakily setting down across from her.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she chuckled.

“I’m not entirely sure I haven’t,” I answered. I mean, the headshot alone… if she were real, I mean.

“Nothing’s changed,” she smiled, and for a moment it was like the way things used to be between us. I almost smiled back until I remembered just how much things had changed; in ways I was still struggling to understand. “The mission, remember?” she said rather forcefully, attempting to put me back on track.

“Why does it matter to you?” I asked peevishly. “You don’t have any skin in this game.”

Raven rolled her eyes in exasperation. “It matters to me because it matters to you, genius,” addressing me like some ignorant child. “You created me, remember? Left your mark, you might say… in more ways than one.” The look in her eyes quashed any interest in pursuing what exactly she meant by that remark. “We’ve already established that even if you could send me away, it wouldn’t alter my fate one iota. So how about we come up with a plan where we both actually survive?”

Well, she had me there. With a sigh, I pulled up the web boards and began tracking ship movements in the sector, searching for patterns. Another drink silently appeared at my elbow as she hovered nearby. Something was going on behind those eyes, but it was an utter mystery to me. Until now, I’d been certain I knew what was happening in my corner of the universe, that I was the master of all I surveyed. Now?

I suddenly wasn’t so sure.

Several hours and at least two meals later, I finally found what I’d been searching for. A Glevack freighter was nearing departure in the system, and after a transfer or two would take us to Unthu Goq. It might take me a few days to get the lay of the land there, but once I did, I was confident I could get us a ship. Part of me wanted to celebrate, to grab Raven by the waist and swing her around the room, but the events of the last twenty-four hours prevented that. Frankly, this alternative version of Raven scared the piss out of me. If I thought there was even a chance of my skipping out to a new scene and leaving her behind, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

Instead, I plastered a bogus smile on my face and asked, “Ready to go?”