A jolt running through my body woke me abruptly.

[Good morning, Aium!]

[Morning!] I answered during a stretch.

[How long was I out for?] I asked while I sat up. Apparently, I fell asleep in my clothes.

[A bit longer than 14 hours. You were exhausted.]

“That’s a lot...” I mumbled while sitting on the side of my bed hunched over groggily. [Anything noteworthy?]

[Nothing new. It’s been quiet but coming out of Bend-Phase woke you up.]

[No centipede girl trying to get in and egg into my stomach?]

[I told you several times that Severins aren’t animals that would do something like that without your permission. Also, she’s a clone. Clones can’t do that, and we were in Bend-Phase the whole time. She can’t connect to her clone during that.]

[So, during that Bend something the clones are on automation with the A.I.?]

[Yes.]

[How does that make sense? Her clone can automate the clone, but she can’t connect her mind to it?]

[Communication between mind-links during Bend-Phase is limited due to technical difficulties and safety reasons.]

[Huh… what would happen to her if her mind was in her clone and the clone blew up for some reason?] I scratched at my side and asked.

[Nothing. Her consciousness wouldn’t be in the clone. She just projects her control over to the clone, and the clone sends back sensory information to her. If the connection ends abruptly, she wakes up in her real body. The times when the mind-links were dangerous passed ages ago. It’s completely safe now.]

[I bet there are people with an army of clones. I doubt everyone follows the rules,] I said and stood up.

[The companies that do cloning are all government approved. They won’t make people more than one.]

[Then people do it illegally,] I argued with her while I walked into the tiny bathroom to wash my face.

…

[Why do they only allow clones on non-transport ships anyway?]

[Clones were first allowed to be used for the public because intergalactic travel was dangerous. They made it a regulation to non-transport ships to only carry clones. Since then traveling became a lot safer, but the regulation still remains.]

[How did people travel around then if it was dangerous?]

[Cautiously and with plenty of scout ships.]

[What’s so dangerous out there to make such a ridiculous regulation?]

[There are plenty of patches of Darkness between galaxies, especially when the distance is great and-]

Her explanation was interrupted by a sharp knock on my door followed by a sweet voice, “Are you awake? Come on, let’s chat! I rarely have the opportunity to talk to others nowadays! I’ll make you food!”

The mention of food made me aware of my empty stomach. Going out to have a big meal was a tempting idea, but I had a problem.

[How could I go out and eat without showing my face?] I asked with a frown.

[I don’t think it makes a difference since the dock supervisor already saw you. If they want to find your trail I bet they’ll ask around the docks first and he’ll be able to tell them which ship you left on.]

She was right. I fucked up when I took off my helmet, but I wasn’t too reasonable at the time.

I came out of the bathroom ready to leave, but I spotted my gift box on the table. I put it under my pillow just to be sure before opening the door.

The blue-furred creature’s face greeted me outside of my door. Her legs started dancing around rhythmically as soon as she saw me and squealed, “Yay!”

“Hey! I could do with some breakfast,” I greeted her.

“Ooooh, you look completely different than I imagined. With your lean body and scratchy voice I thought you have blond hair and blue eyes,” she babbled while leaning closer to my face. “Well, so much for hoping to find a blond,” she mumbled as her strange eyelids did a double.

“Honestly, if I only heard your voice I would imagine a billion looks for you but the real deal.”

“That's because this isn’t my real voice. It’s a neat Voice Modifier,” she said while pointing at the base of her head. “Is that a trendy body-mod?” she asked as one of her longer legs reached out to my right cheek.

I leaned back to avoid her pointy touch and answered coldly, “No. That’s me getting burned.”

“Well, you shouldn’t play with fire then.”

I let out an annoyed sigh before continuing, “So? I believe you mentioned some kind of food.”

“Yes! Yes! Come along! I’ll make you something to munch on, and we can chat meanwhile. Captain Hanal and the other one aren’t the chatty types, and my real body has been busy recently.”

“Who’s the third?”

“Ugh...” she snarled, and her legs twitched in chaos, “a Fungar. Hardly ever here in mind and I swear it’s considered too boring even by Fungar standards.”

“What’s your job on the ship?” I asked her as we walked down the hallways. Well, she skittered on the ceiling instead of walking but… yeah…

“I’m a Bend-Phase engineer and the ship’s navigation officer.”

“Woah, that sounds like a serious job,” I said genuine surprise.

She only commented that with a meh sound. “And what’s your occupation?”

“Erm… I sell things I guess,” I answered after a little thinking.

The food room of the ship was similarly small like my own. The table and the chairs were the same as the ones in my room.

“Screen for the guest!” said Karr and one popped up in front of me immediately. “Not much variety but feel free to choose anything.”

Most of the meals weren’t familiar, but luckily I found a linbog meal that I tried before and I liked.

“Deboned Rawa Wings please!”

Her front half was hanging down from the ceiling like usual, and she was staring at me with her huge, reflective eyes. I expected some kind of reaction from her when I asked for my food but she just hanged there completely frozen. Not even a leg twitch which was absurd considering she had several hundred and they hardly ever stopped since I met her.

“Meat?” she asked finally. “You eat meat?”

“Yeah, I know it’s strange for a Human, but I like meat. And before you ask, I won’t have problems with it. I eat it all the time. I’m not weak like the other humans, I can handle it,” I explained with a small smile and my back slightly straighter than usual.

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“Really?” she asked quietly and lowered herself even more from the ceiling with her legs stock still.

[Did I say something wrong?] I asked Genna with a frown.

[I don’t think so.]

“Is that a problem?” I asked.

“Oh, no, no, no, no!” she said, and her legs started moving around again. “Absolutely not! I hadn't met a Human before that ate meat regularly,” she added while her eyelids did another double. “I’ll make it for you right away!”

She skittered up to the wall with a big console, pressed a few buttons and after a couple of seconds the wall opened up with a steaming meal inside.

“What the...” I stared with a slacked jaw. “Was that the food making?”

“Yes,” she said and put the dish down on the table with two long legs. “Eat up!”

[What kind of bullshit food making was that? She just pressed three or four buttons, and the food came out ready!]

[Automatic food synthesizer. It’s pretty simple to use. You could have used the screen too to make it.]

Still feeling incredulous I thanked her while sitting down, “Thanks...” ...For pressing four buttons which I could have done myself. What a scam!

As I readied myself to gorge down the food, I couldn’t help but feel awkward by the hanging furry monster staring at me without pause.

“You’re not eating?” I asked.

“Nah, I already had my fill.” I’d rather not imagine her eating.

I shrugged and dived in. As the minutes passed, she just kept staring at me silently. I thought she wanted to chat with me but apparently, she meant watching me eat creepily. When I was halfway through I stopped a little and thought about asking her something to ease up the awkwardness.

“So, why are you on the ceiling all the time?”

“Why are you on the ground?” she asked back without missing a beat.

“Well...” That was a surprisingly hard question to answer. “It’s natural? Standing on the ground makes dealing with gravity less of a hassle, and it takes less energy?”

“Being up here is natural for me. As you can see I have plenty of appendages to make it comfortable up here,” she said while waving around several legs. “Plus all the dirt is usually on the ground you know.”

“Well, not here,” I argued as I looked at the spotless white ground.

“Not here but this is an exception. Our ancestors were cave dwellers. It’s the ‘right’ way for us to stay up here.”

“That makes sense,” I added as I dived back into my food.

“You know,” she started and skittered closer, “our reproduction is very special among the sentient races of the Empire.”

“Uhuh,” I hummed in response in fear of what she wanted to talk about next.

“Our larvae grow up in people. It might sound a bit strange at first if you’ve never heard about this before, but trust me, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Especially with modern technology. The incubator volunteers get the best medical attention during the growth and after the emergence. They came out of the whole thing without any health problems.”

“Okay?” I told her with food in my mouth, but I wasn’t chewing it anymore. I was expecting something bad from this.

“The whole incubation takes around seven mounts from egg phase to emergence. We do this in specialized facilities managed by our Nest Council, and they also pay incredibly well to any volunteers,” she explained on. “As a matter of fact, my real body is in one of these facilities nearby incubating an egg and waiting for it to hatch. I’m really hopeful this time, but I fear that the little one won’t hatch,” she sighed. “I’ve tried bearing an offspring six times already, but it’s so hard to succeed without the First-Born Assistance,” she said in an increasingly quiet voice while her legs folded up. “Anyway! I’m hopeful I can manage a natural spawning.”

“Why can’t you use animals or clones?”

Her eyelids moved again, and her legs twitched around without any order or rhythm. “Why do you eat meals? Why can’t you just inject nutrients? It’s easier, cheaper and less time consuming than chewing around for hours daily,” she accused me in a cold voice. ”Why do you mate with other humans if you don’t want offspring? Why do you wear clothes when the temperature is warm enough not to get cold? Why do you greet each other every day? Why do you make ceremonies for your dead? Why is it such a sin in your culture to eat your dead kin?”

“I-I...” I stuttered.

“We do it because that’s our way. It has been like this for thousands of cycles, and we have no intention to change it. Even the thought of putting my eggs into filthy animals or cheap copies makes me sick,” she huffed while her blue fur visibly stood on end.

“I’m… sorry. I didn’t know it was this important.”

Her legs curled up under her and said, “No! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t lash out like that. I’ve been on edge for the last few days. I’m hopeful for this egg, but my Counselor told me to consider looking for another volunteer just in case. The Nest Council offers are nothing special, so it’s better to look for a promising volunteer on our own, but it’s just so hard. I’ve been trying to find a blond male human for a while now because my friend had a successful spawning with one.”

“I’m not blond sadly,” I laughed awkwardly.

“No, you are not,” she paused, “but you smell like nobody I’ve met before and more importantly,” she paused again and leaned disturbingly close to me over the table “you eat meat as a human!”

I gulped loudly and asked, “Are you-”

“Yes! I’m asking you if you would be willing to be my next incubator volunteer if my current egg won’t hatch. As I said, it pays incredibly well, and you won’t even get any physical or mental health problems. I keep my volunteers in a coma for the full duration,” she chattered.

She was so close to me at this point I could see my eyes reflected back in hers.

Her question should have bothered me the most, but it was to be expected after those lengthy explanations. The one thing creeping me out the most was about her comment about keeping people in a coma for the full duration. It was nice of her, but this statement makes it obvious that there are ones that don’t keep their volunteers in a coma. I shuddered at the thought.

Despite being a creepy monster her behavior and voice gave her a twisted kind of cuteness. I had no plan of accepting, but I didn’t want to flat out refuse her and make her sad. She was nice to me so far, and I didn’t want to be an asshole in return.

“I’ll think about it, okay?” I said with a small smile.

“YAS!” she screamed and did a little jiggle on the ceiling with all of her legs flailing around.

After that, we changed contact information, and I politely told her that I’d like to return to my room alone. She didn’t mind since she was still high on happiness.

As I was sitting on my bed back in my room, I sighed deeply.

[That was the weirdest breakfast conversation I ever had.]

[I guess you aren’t planning on taking her offer?]

[No way. They can’t pay me enough. She made it sound like a harmless thing, but I’m sure it’s a gorefest. ‘Emergence’? That sounds like the smoothly worded version of ripping open your chest and bursting out.]

[I’d rather not comment on this.]

[Because I’m right?]

[Kind of,] she answered but then switched topic immediately. [Would you check out the Progress Atom box already?]

[Oh? Patience you must have little one!] I tried to be snappy, but it didn’t work that well. Anyway, I was curious about the contents too so I fished out my gift box from under the pillow.

There were two huge tubes inside and on both of them the text said: “Advanced Dexterity” alongside the company’s huge logo. Looking closely you could see a pattern of 2s printed on all over the tubes.

[Oh, wow! Oh WOW! This is expensive!] she marveled.

[It definitely sounds a lot better than a fucking bladder upgrade. How expensive are we talking?]

[This is a level 2! They could go all the way up to millions depending on the type and the market.]

[WHAT?! Why the fuck would he give me a gift that’s worth millions?] I exclaimed with a shocked expression.

[It wasn’t necessarily millions. He could have gotten it for a good deal well under a million but still… it’s definitely a grand gift.]

[Aw man… now I feel bad for scamming them,] I exhaled with a frown on my face.

[Scamming?]

[You know… scam!] I tried explaining to her.

[I don’t know. The translator can’t work this one out.]

[You guys don’t have a word for 'scam'? Are you shitting me?!] I asked with cocked eyebrows.

[Explain what it is and I’ll know what you’re trying to say.]

[It’s fooling people. Deceiving them to gain something. Like the letters we sent out.]

[So you had a generalized word for these kinds of activities?]

[Of course.]

[We don’t have a similar word.]

[Oh boy...] I sighed while facepalming.

[By the way, Mr. Magnificent and the museum won’t suffer too much in my opinion. I think in such a rare and unique case like this the Assistance Department will compensate one party and let the other one take the ship. Not sure who will get what.]

I should steal more than… [I guess they have the budget for this if there are no crimes at all.]

[Anyway back to this beauty,] I continued while shaking the box a little in my hand. [I can’t sell this either, right? Do I take it then?]

[No selling, but before you take it I’ll have to remind you that since it’s a level 2 BioEnhancement you are restricted to only 3 of them. You have to consider if you want this to be one of them.]

[What happens if I take more than 3?]

[Well… nothing particular but it’s supposed to be extremely dangerous and obviously against the regulations.]

[Then I take it,] I decided without hesitation. [Do I use it like the bladder garbage?]

[Same method, yes.]

[It will knock me out, right? I still have plenty of time on this ship. Wouldn’t it be best to take it to spend the time useful?]

[Sounds like a good idea.]

Having decided that I headed into the bathroom. I took a quick steam but after getting my teeth cleaned I found myself staring at my reflection in the mirror absentmindedly. I turned my head to the side and reached up to the side of it. My fingers ran through my short hair on the side. I might have been wrong but I thought that the gray at the sides grew further recently. Ridiculous for 26 years old… I turned my head the other way, looking at my burn scars. From my cheek down through my neck and shoulder all the way down to my ribs.

[Will you ever tell me what happened?] asked Genna quietly.

I continued staring at my reflection for a while. Genna was closer to me at this point than anybody was in the recent years. Hell… she was stuck in my disfigured body too. I should have talked to her about this sooner.

[I’ve been a pretty cheerful person you know. I finished school, had a lovely girlfriend, and I was supposed to take over my old man’s business in the future,] I paused for a moment. [You could say I was set for a nice life. Then I fucked up everything and went to a very dark place in my life for years. It all started when I killed my parents,] I said while sliding down my fingers on my scarred neck.