The day goes on, the latter half of the afternoon passing peacefully. With all the free time, you soon settle on a callsign. From that point on, you watch the surrounding city and its people to the best of your ability – which, unfortunately, isn't very well.

The way Tendou had you kneel down before getting out, your head is low to the ground, sight partially blocked by the gate to the street, and what you can see is at the edge of your visual field; the center of your gaze still pointed straight at the ground, as Tendou left it.

When the sun goes down, the number of people you can make out falls off somewhat. A smattering of lights turn on, but there are large sections of the road in deep shadow. It's nearly midnight by the time that the nearby area truly begins to empty out.

It's a few hours after that, when there has been nearly zero movement, when an odd shadow separates from the others. Not out in the street, but within the clearing. It's a small figure, likely human despite what little you can actually make out. It approaches you in complete silence.

It takes until they stop directly in front of you to see the shape well enough that you guess it's a human woman. She slides up to your hatch, gropes blindly across the surface, and eventually finds the manual release.

Her head turns left and right to survey the surroundings, then eases the lever upward, opening the cockpit with a hiss that sends her into a rapid double-check.

As the woman climbs up into the cockpit, you're already considering what her intentions are, and how to deal with them. The most likely possibility would be thievery, attempting to steal you.

You can't allow that.

Of course, it's easier said than done. You have no direct control over the movements of your body, so you can't stop her directly if she simply takes the controls and begins to pilot you out of here.

What you can do is get the other computer systems to deny her access.

Once she sits down in the pilot seat the dim light of the cockpit shows that she is dressed head to toe in completely black attire, no face or hair visible. No wonder she blends into the night so well.

On the contrary to her appearance, Pilot Assist begins collecting a whole lot more information than you can see physically through your internal monitoring camera. She's in her mid-twenties, with strong vitals, and a slightly elevated heart rate. The woman is the same height as Tendou, but a good deal lighter. Her mental state and intentions are still unknown, given that Pilot Assist has no understanding of her, just like when you first met Tendou.

She's already at the controls, pressing a couple small buttons on the right arm of the pilot seat. The Primary Control System responds, opening a control interface on-screen, which Tendou never got to, since you've been managing things for him.

Operating the controls at a breakneck pace, your system menu is her target, selecting it without an instant of hesitation. The Primary Control System tries to display it, and you jump in, interjecting into the process.

Instead of displaying your entire body plan, weapons, subsystems, and everything – notably including your own AI subsystem – you replace the whole thing, throwing up a fake error message in its place.

Error – Access Denied

Her eyes narrow at the message, mask shifting like she is mouthing the words beneath the black fabric, but she remains silent. Then, she goes back to the first menu, and inputs a seemingly nonsensical series of commands, which the Primary Control System apparently responds to by opening an onscreen terminal. She reaches to a separate panel far back to her right, drawing it closer to the pilot seat, and uses the inset keyboard to begin typing quickly.

When she submits the completed command, The Primary Control System again tries to grant her full access to all of your systems, but you step in once more.

Error – Access Denied

That one gets a head tilt, then another typed command, this one different from the last. Even though the computer does not respond to this one, you throw out another identical error message, determined to keep up the ruse.

The woman proceeds to cycle through a dozen different codes, growing increasingly agitated the more they fail to overcome the fake permissions error.

Well, it's not entirely fake, you suppose. Of course you won't give the probable thief permission to look through all of your system information. It doesn't matter what she types in, it's not going to work.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

After over a dozen attempts, she apparently gives up on that plan, returning to the main menu, which you grudgingly allow. She already saw it once, you don't want to raise any suspicions by keeping her out of it now.

That doesn't mean she's going to get any further. Every option she selects, you immediately throw the same bogus error at her.

At last, she moves to slam a fist at the console in anger, only stopping just short. Probably to avoid making noise. A hiss of breath passes between her teeth, and she instead grabs the control sticks.

This, you can't do anything about. At least, not directly... You to query Pilot Assist on how it should determine whether someone is eligible to pilot you, and how to stop them when they aren't. But there's no time to work through that before she gets you to tilt your midsection back and forth slightly.

Apparently, she doesn't intend to steal you, because she immediately releases the controls and slinks out of the cockpit, closing it just as stealthily as she opened it. Then she melts back into the darkness and disappears.

You remain waiting for a number of minutes, but nothing else happens. The night is quiet and seemingly peaceful again, and it stays so for the a few hours until the first rays of sun creep over the horizon.

Shortly after you first hear people in the streets again, Tendou approaches. The guards at the gate talk to him briefly, then let him through. He yawns and stretches all the way to your feet, where, hitting the cockpit release, he pauses.

More awake now, Tendou's eyes scan across the cockpit twice before he climbs in. The moment the hatch is closed, he asks, “did something change in here?”

Someone came in the night. I thought she was a thief, but she didn't attempt to steal me, and appeared most interested in gathering information from my systems. I stopped her from getting anything.

Tendou continues to frown deeply at the idea. “So, someone broke in? Can you stop yourself from getting stolen?”

I believe so. I can't control things directly, but there should be a way to make Pilot Assist stop accepting user input.

“Hahh... Tendou intones, like he doesn't get it. Nevertheless, he nods. “As long as you don't suddenly disappear in the night...”

Giving himself a shake, Tendou settles into the pilot seat more comfortably than before, and asks, “So, what about that callsign? You come up with anything?”

Yes, how does Strider sound?

“Strider?” He hardly even takes a moment to consider, before he nods strongly. “Yeah, I like that, it sounds really cool.” He's already starting to pilot you forward within moments of his response. When you ask where you're going, he explains that he heard Shinzou is looking for you again today.

“He's supposed to be at a plaza somewhere around here...” he follows up, less certainly now. Seemingly following whatever instructions he received, he walks you a short way, before your destination becomes glaringly obvious.

Just a few city blocks into your trek, you spot a wide open area, paved in places, but with a good deal of greenery intact. Three ray frames standing to one side, near a building.

When you approach though, rather than receiving a hail from one of them, a loud call comes up from beneath your feet. Looking down, Shinzou is there, hanging out of the side of a small vehicle, like a truck.

“There you are!” he shouts up at you in order to be heard, waving a thick arm back and forth overhead. You crouch down, hatch opening so Tendou can speak to the older man more comfortably again.

“Good morning, Shinzou,” he starts.

“Morning,” he tosses back. “So, let's get right to it, you come up with a callsign?”

“Yeah, Strider.”

“Mm, good enough,” he shrugs. “So, here's what you should know, being a pilot and all now.” He raises one finger, reciting, “One: It's pretty damn exclusive, you'll basically be a celebrity around town.” A second goes up to join it. “Two: there are always missions you can pick up if you need some cash. Ask around, there's always someone who could use a competent pilot.”

After those two, clearly useful points, Shinzou follows with a third. “And three: don't mess with Hellrazer.”

“Hellrazer?” Tendou asks, of course.

“Best pilot in town, but he's got the ego to go with it,” Shinzou informs him, rolling his eyes all the while. “But we can get to that later. Something much more important first. You've got a mission.”

Tendou sits up straighter in his seat. “Huh? Just like that?”

“Yeah, you'll join up with Mouse for a search.”

“But, uhh, why? I mean, like, I just got here.”

“Gotta vet you,” Shinzou explains with a humorless laugh. “People don't just show up here in a ray frame, you know. You have to do something to prove you're an asset worth having in town, not some dangerous, rogue pilot. So take the mission and show your worth. Or, you know, don't.”

Leaning further out of the truck, Shinsou's voice lowers somewhat, becoming notably more serious. “Here's how this is going to go: You're going to leave town. Either you go and help with the mission, or you don't come back. Got it?”

“I... Yeah.” Tendou visibly gulps at the ultimatum suddenly placed before him.

“Good. Head to the south, Mouse will meet you near the edge of the city.”

“R-right...”

With their brief conversation finished, you turn, and begin to move south, as instructed. Soon enough, a runner shows up to help you navigate through the unfamiliar streets, back out of the city.

“So, what do you think?” Tendou asks along the way, trepidation filling his voice. “Should we go for this mission? Or should we just get out of here?”

It's a good question. While the town provides safe place for Tendou to sleep, you've already dealt with unscrupulus elements as well. Perhaps it would be better to just move on...

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