Enid ran her hand along the surface of Apollo much like she had done with Noctus so many centuries ago. She smiled and patted the smooth surface one last time.

“Aunt Enid. I will not let you down. Once I have your coordinates locked in, I can be there anywhere in the solar system in seconds.”

“I’m not the main concern Apollo, Hazel is. You get her off that fucked up zoo.”

“If she is a werewolf there is a good likely hood she is in status. There is a bit of sickness that comes with that. A haze. She may not be able to move under own power for a few hours.”

“We’ll figure it out and make a plan. We’ll figure out their resupply missions and time a jump to us to coincide with that, then you can just cruise beside the ship until its time.”

“Of course, Aunt Enid. Good luck.”

Enid patted him and the metal liquidized and held onto her hand for a moment. Enid gave him a half smile.

“See you soon Apollo.”

“And you.”

*****

Bee sat down next to Enid on the transport. She’d had her own tasks to deal with before departure. She looked at Enid.

“Kat’s on her way to Earth. Have a friend that’s going to pick her up. She’ll be fine.”

“Good.”

“Is Apollo ready?”

“As always. Once we have our location and transmit it and the schedule for the next FTL resupply he’ll jump close and follow us cloaked.”

The FTL transport crew started going through their pre-jump checks. The staff that were servicing the crew compartment were going through various safety procedures. The transport was BMC owned. Enid felt slightly different during this jump, seeing as she was mortal. Kind of like her stomach got left in another dimension. It was a disturbing feeling. Bee seemed more comfortable. Enid sat quietly because honestly, she felt like if she talked her insides would come out. All of them. When the ship dropped out of FTL Enid felt everything back in the right place and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“That was…disconcerting.”

“You get used to it, some people never do. I thought you used FTL to get to Titan.”

“I did, but there was one major difference.”

Bee nodded after a few seconds.

“I see.”

The transport approached a massive three kilometer long ship. Its surface was covered in weapons. It also looked heavily armored. There were no planets in sight. The pair looked at each other. Enid spoke first.

“I had no clue it was that fucking big.”

“Yes, the videos did not show scale well.”

“I wondered why they had tubes on it.”

Bee shook her head and looked back at Enid. Enid nodded.

“You’re thinking what I’m thinking that is a lot of guns for one small fighter to deal with.”

“Yep.”

Enid frowned. Bee touched her forearm gently.

“There may be a way to take out the threat indirectly.”

Enid nodded.

The transport landed in a bay. Enid unbuckled herself and stood up. She grabbed her duffel bag and waited for Bee at the exit. As they disembarked they were greeted by a full conversion job that looked something akin to the terminator. He tapped his holo-display twice.

“Doctor Sarah Young, Security Chief Alona Smith. Please get on tube line two. Ride it to habitation sector two. Once you arrive you will be directed to your quarters. Security and emergency protocol briefing will be in two hours. Welcome to the Menagerie. Also pleasure to meet you Chief. Glad we’ll be working with you.”

Bee nodded to him. Enid and Bee walked towards the tube that was labeled two and got on. There were several other newcomers. Enid glanced at Bee after the tube started to move.

“Hope you don’t mind. I talked Daniel into getting you a promotion.”

“I don’t mind. It will make things easier. First order of business is the phalanx.”

Enid nodded.

“Well ensuring my ID card has the proper permissions should be the first order of business.”

“Ah, yes, very true.”

“How are they hiding something this big?”

“Space is big and empty. Scanner absorbing materials, heat suppression. If they never go to FTL there would never be a detectable disturbance. There are also active countermeasures. Arranged meeting points with no FTL communications would mean no detectable worm hole activity. All data transferred by encrypted data crystals. It’s how I would do it if I wanted a completely off the map operation. I’ll know more when I review security.”

“But what about the transports? They FTL in.”

“Yes but FTL detectors are not active. They can tell there was activity, but if they were to follow a non-predictable course by the time someone notices they could be out of sensor range in a random direction. I’m sure there is a pattern that can be deciphered but random FTL activity happens all over the system. It’s the antimatter that scanners look for to find FTL ships. No FTL drive, no antimatter.”

Enid glanced at Bee.

“You know a lot about this stuff.”

“Aurelius has the biggest FTL fleet in the system. I mean not counting whatever the WTO is hiding in the belt.”

Enid nodded. The tube stopped and the pair got out. They were met by what appeared to be a young woman. Enid could instantly tell there was nothing human in her. She was a robot her gift had more facets than she realized.

“Please come this way.”

Enid and Bee followed her. Bee’s room was first and she went inside. Enid followed the robot further in.

“So, robot eh?”

“You are very observant Doctor Young. Your file was very accurate.”

“I’m very good at discerning something’s true nature. Its what makes me so good at my specialty.”

“I am assigned to you as your research assistant.”

“Sure, why bother with the skin and eyes? Why bother concealing your nature?”

“It was thought it would be less disconcerting if scientists had a human seeming assistant. Many forget what we are.”

“Why a robot?”

“The subjects on the Menagerie are dangerous, and in many cases much stronger than humans. Also, several carry infectious vectors. Some even exhibit abilities that exert control over minds. Robots are immune to all of their tricks. We are able to monitor our assigned scientist and note changes in behavior so they can be isolated until the mental influence can be removed.”

Enid nodded.

“Very valid concerns and reasoning. That will be all for now. I have briefings today, report first thing tomorrow to give me a tour of my lab please.”

“Of course.”

Enid locked her door and made a few off-hand remarks about robotic nuisances. She started to unpack.

*****

The Menagerie, Day 3

Enid sat across from Bee in the terrace restaurant as it was called. Food was served in a mall food court like environment on the Menagerie. It even had trees. Each restaurant was manned by human-like robots. Each one was a void in the humanity of the place to Enid and her gift. Enid looked at their waiter with something akin to disgust. He dropped off their food. Bee looked at Enid.

“Is something wrong?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Its all these damn robots, why make them look so real?”

“Why do they bother you so much?”

“My ability to sense something’s true nature is at odds with what I’m seeing. You know how people get motion sickness? Its like that every time I look at one.”

Bee nodded. Enid took a drink from her glass of wine and looked over her steak, baked potato and assorted vegetables. She shoved the vegetables aside. She hadn’t spent thousands of years at the top of the food chain to eat…rabbit food. She started to slice her steak and glanced up at Bee who was doing something similar.

“So how is your progress going?”

“Its going to be a while. I initiated a full security review of the ship.”

“There are lots of moving parts I guess.”

“That is an understatement. No system is perfect. I will find holes. How about you?”

Enid shook her head.

“Robot has been on my ass 24/7. I did genetics research as part of my upgrading but like that was…old technology. Its going to be challenging to keep up. All subjects are in stasis. It prevents them from causing damage. They are doing cloning experiments.”

“All of the sectors with subjects are red level security.”

“That means nothing to me.”

“Did you sleep through the security briefing?”

“I’m not going to say no.”

Bee shook her head.

“Red level is the highest level. I’m looking into our IT folks. Seeing if any are up to no good.”

Enid nodded.

“They always say people are the weak link in any security system.”

“And they whoever they are, are right.”

Enid took her first bite of steak and swallowed.

“I think Daniel told them to keep us happy.”

“I think you’re right.”

*****

The Menagerie, Day Seventeen

Enid’s robot lab assistant was looking over her shoulder. For once she was glad she was mortal because if she had been her usual self the robot probably would be spare parts by now. The thing was nosy and always in her way. Enid glared at her.

“What is it?”

“I am trying to process the request you are entering. What is the purpose of requesting a full catalogue of subjects?”

“So, I know what I am looking at.”

“We have a full catalogue of their genetic material available.”

“That is insufficient. I require details on origins, age, names.”

“These details should not matter. You seem to have more system access then is required”

“Get out.”

“Dr. Young.”

“Get out or so help me God, I will tear you limb from limb.”

“Dr. Young should I get a counselor? Are you suffering a break? Someti-”

Enid hit the security button on her wall.

“I have a robot that seems to be malfunctioning and is not following instructions. Please send security to escort it to tech. I suspect there may be a malfunction and it may become violent.”

Enid didn’t have to wait long before a heavily armed security team appeared and dragged her confused robot lab assistant away. Enid shook her head and continued to try and pull the information she wanted from the system. Bee had found out one of the system admins was…breaking some rules. Full access to the system for Enid was arranged shortly afterwards. Enid waited for her query to complete, unfortunately the names weren’t included, just apparent age, actual age, gender and near-human type. There were two sixteen-year-old female werewolves. Enid frowned. She had gleaned enough on the workings of the genetic scanners of this era so she could see if she could find any matches to her DNA on the list. The problem was Hazel was Hazel and Rolf’s daughter, not hers, she just carried her, but sometimes DNA from a child could persist in the mother for decades, she hoped it was true. She spent the afternoon taking several samples and running them through the DNA analyzer. She started a search on the database. It was better the robot was gone for this.

She heard her lab door buzz. She switched windows on her holo-display to show a genetic analysis of one of the subjects she had been assigned before calling out.

“Come in.”

The door slid open. Doctor Yuklievich walked in he looked overly excited. He was generally excitable but this time was like he’d just discovered the secrets of the universe. Enid placed a fake smile on her face. He wasn’t unattractive, and he was the youngest scientist on the ship. He’d taken a liking to her assuming based on her appearance she was also like him, young.

“Sarah, you will not believe what I found when I was doing a cross check on our database. There is are a series of unknown samples that were just entered! Not sure where they came from, looks like tech just attached them.”

“Sounds like a tech issue then.”

“No, no! One of them was a blood sample that had smallpox antibodies!”

“So what? Anything born before the 19th century would have those.”

“Yes but these antibodies are old, oldest I’ve seen. Like ancient.”

“The oldest we have is like fifteen hundred years old, dating says this sample is at least three thousand years old. Did we get a new subject? Can I see her?”

“I have no idea, Victor, they don’t tell me anything.”

“Sarah, you don’t need to be coy, everyone knows you’re the most knowledgeable specialist here. They totally sent her to you.”

“Nope. Just this one here.”

Enid motioned to her current screen. She was frowned when the secondary screen with her cross-match search popped up showing two matches to the samples. Victor blinked at the screen. It showed her a picture of her Sarah face. Hazel’s face and Eyre’s face.

“That’s the sample! Hey, wait…that’s your sample.”

Enid sighed.

“Fuck.”

She reacted quickly striking Victor in the chest, knocking the wind out of him before she grabbed him in a sleeper hold blocking off the blood supply to his brain. She leaned him against the wall gently and looked back at the results.

“Eyre’s alive?”

She tapped her wrist.

“Alona?”

“Is something the matter Dr. Young?”

“Nothing, just checking in. You know that thing I was looking for? I found them both. Unfortunately, there was a complication that I need cleaned up. If you could attend to it yourself, I’d appreciate it, I’m in my lab.”

Enid tapped her wrist and pulled off Victor’s lap coat and used it to tie his wrists. She tore the collar off and fashioned it into a gag. By the time she had finished he was started to wake up. Sleeper holds were good for quick knock outs, not so much for lengthy ones. He started to look around wide-eyed. Bee came inside shortly after he woke up and he started up at her as if begging for help. Bee pulled out a stun baton and hit him on the chest. He fell unconscious again.

“Really?”

“Sorry, I had to think fast. Eyre’s alive, Hazel’s alive and here too.”

“Well, this…situation just caused our timetable to get bumped up.”

“Can’t you just lock him up in solitary, say he was caught accessing improper materials?”

“I suppose we could do that.”

“We’ll just say he tried to sexually assault you. There have been complaints about overly familiar behavior.”

“No way. Not alright.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to accuse someone of sexual assault. Too much real sexual assault happens to go throwing around false accusations, just say he was in a restricted area. You think it’s a mistake and you’re mostly just letting him stew. You also want to see if he panics and starts talking.”

“Why does it matter? You’re the Dark Mother, this only ends one way, this ship is going to be blown to bits.”

Enid sighed.

“I’m not going to kill sixty werewolves and vampires to sate my lust for vengeance. I might have at one point.”

Bee quirked an eyebrow.

“But you’ll kill three thousand humans? Kind of a double standard.”

“No, the humans are experimenting unlawfully and willingly on people. They deserve what they get.”

Bee crossed her arms. Enid sighed.

“We’ll give them a chance to get to escape pods and the WTO fleet can pick them up and arrest them?”

“Agreed.”

“Can we disable the guns?”

“Yes but how do we move sixty people? Protocols for WTO arrival and capture, or uncontainable prisoner escape call for instant destruction of all subjects with extreme prejudice. And security has everything they need. Silver nitrate canisters in the air recycling system. Silver based weaponry, stakes, and we’re always close enough to the sun to flood the whole ship with vampire-lethal sunlight. There is also a network of mirrors that can be used to direct it at any room in the ship.”

“Did we get our care package from Kat then?”

“Yes.”

“Okay upgrade my assistant with it. Wipe her base programming and upload the data file I sent you.”

“You built a new program for the robot?”

“My major when I trained to be a pilot was computer science. I’m not a techno-idiot. Once I had a copy of her OS I reverse engineered it and got rid of all the shit BMC chucked in there to spy on their workers. You overwrite her code with that the only people she reports to are you, my Sarah face, and my real face.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Grant her access to the whole ship. When we go ahead with our plan, she can start the process and jump off the ship. Make sure she has a beacon we can trace.”

“Seems risky.”

“I hate the robots, but simple fact is they do what they are told to the letter and can survive in space. Their memory cores have the capability of lasting for several million years. I think we can safely assume no one will be paying attention to her once they figure out who is on this ship. Everyone will be after me. They will assume I’m a vampire, they will assume that I will be weaker in sunlight. Normally true but at the moment it doesn’t matter. I’ll use the Atlantean tech to keep up the illusion. Pretend to be harmless in the sunlight. While I’m doing that plan is the same, except instead of you grabbing the data, the robot does, you will oversee security and ensure the failsafe never comes into play. We’ll time it for when a transport arrives. You can lock down the staff, crew and security. Anyone who isn’t locked down will be dealing with me. I might not be a vampire, but I have enough explosives in my pack to make that of little consequence.”

“I should remind you, that we’re in space, and hull breaches are very bad. Okay, so we use the cargo transport to move the victims in their stasis pods.”

“No, you use the transport to rescue them. I’ll stay behind, let everyone out tell them to get out and blow the ship.”

“No, I should do that.”

“For the millionth time, I do not need protection. I’m the thing you need protection from.”

Bee slapped Enid’s cheek. Enid jumped as she was struck and rubbed her cheek gingerly.

“Ouch! What the actual fuck?”

“It was to remind you that you are mortal and that you don’t see everything coming.”

“I thought I was your messiah.”

“You are, and even Jesus’s apostles gave him tough love sometimes too.”

Bee leaned down and picked Victor up easily and tossed him over her shoulder. She waved her hand over the panel by the door.

“Alexi, I have a prisoner for solitary get a cell ready.”

“Aye ma’am!”

Enid continued to rub her stinging cheek blinking at Bee as she walked out.

*****

The Menagerie, Day 27

Enid and Bee sat across from each other at their usual spot in the Terrace Restaurant. Was the only place in the food court where they could converse safely. Bee had arranged it thusly shortly after they arrived. Enid dipped her French fry in gravy and took a bite watching Bee as she was reading a holo-screen. Be spoke finally.

“Confirmed transport arrives tomorrow. Offloading supplies takes four hours.”

“Okay.”

“So, 1300 hours is when we start.”

Enid nodded.

“I am concerned about this Eradicator protocol. I still can’t find data on it. Turned the screws on Albert, still nothing. And we still don’t know what is in Amber sector.”

“Amber sector can be locked down and it is only like six compartments on one floor.”

“Still, unknowns are the bane to planning.”

“Look, as many people have said: No plan survives first contact with the enemy. And we’re surrounded by them. At some point we just need to go with it.”

“For someone who is as old as you are, you’re sure impatient.”

“You’ve been away from your kids for over a month. Do you miss them?”

“Yes.”

“One my daughters it’s been a month, the other? For me it’s been decades.”

“I see your point, but we’re trying to rescue them, not get captured.”

“You’ve been trying to find out for almost three weeks. Have you made any progress?”

“No.”

“Do you see any way forward that will get you access?”

“No.”

“Then we’ll just have to deal with it.”

“Alright.”

“You are sure you’ve disabled the auto kill switch?”

“Yes. One button and that disturbing chemical you provided, that should not exist will turn the mechanisms to slag, trigger fire suppression system and warning. This will cause a lock down. Air will shut down. Atmosphere will vent. This will not affect the reaction as it doesn’t use oxygen right?”

Enid nodded.

“It will finish reacting eventually. Fire suppression will end. Lockdown will not. I will inform everyone that Dr. Sarah Young is actually Enid Aurelius. And you are currently on your way to Amber Sector.”

“That’s when things get fun.”

“Not how I would describe it. Let’s go over the full plan again.”

“All of it?”

Bee nodded. Enid sighed. She hated this making a list and checking it fifty thousand times thing Bee would do.