“Are you serious?” Robin exclaimed while sitting on his couch, having an open comm channel with Katlina Hutton.

“I’m sorry. Formally speaking they have every right to force a checkup on you after coming back from an unsafe relic site. Of course, they have to respect the agreed terms, but the scan itself cannot be denied.”

“That’s bullshit, there are no risks from the Drel outpost. If there was any real danger, the UAS would have done the scan immediately, not a few weeks later!”

“You are right and I have to agree with you, that this seems to be targeting you. I don’t think it’s by orders of the UAS, it’s more likely the internal factions, that are dissatisfied with how things went, are making a move. Ramones is known to not shy away from… bending the rules.”

“They will not stick to the agreement, will they?” Robin asked after a moment of silence.

“...” Hutton didn’t answer but he could hear her letting out a deep sigh.

“Great. It has not even been a month and your people are already shaking the walls!”

“I understand your frustration and I promise you to complain to the right people to make this case known to the upper echelon.”

“That will not prevent the checkup in two days, right?” He mumbled.

“No, it will not…”

After the call ended, Robin remained sitting on his couch. Thoughts swirled in his head. He cannot allow this scan to happen. While he could live with them finding out more about his mutation, he didn’t want them to! They had an agreement and that had to be upheld. However, all that aside, if they found his Neuro-Chip, it would cost him his head - literally.

He quickly needed a plan on how to prevent the scan… and he had to decide on his course of actions with this ‘faction’ within the UAS.

Not coming to an immediate conclusion, he made his way to Prof. Aurelius’s lab. Maybe tinkering with some drones would help him clear his head. Also, he needed the training - while he got used to his grayscale vision in his day-to-day life, it was still a major problem when he wanted to work with electronics.

At least something good finally happened when ROMAS notified him of a new message.

* Niu Alaris has answered your message:

* Hey Drel-Hunter,

* How do you do? Great to hear that you’re already on Gaunus.

* I’ve finished my exam and got my license - obviously! - How about we have a drink together?

* See ya, Happy

Robin smiled and was happy for her. It was Niu’s great dream and he really had hoped she would make it… and now she did! While it meant that they would walk on different paths pretty soon, he knew his and her goals didn’t align. From the start, it was never meant to be.

After a quick reply, she sent him a location for a meeting in the evening of the next day. With his mood now slightly lifted, he reached the workshop.

“Hello Prof.! It’s me, Robin.” He waved at the old man who sat behind a clean desk and inspected a circuit board.

“I passed the introduction and now have the necessary clearance to sniff around in here. Do you need an assistant for the next few days?”

The scientist looked up and shrugged.

“Do you know what you are doin’ boy?”

“I do hope so, I’m a technocrafter with Energy Senses.”

“That doesn’t mean you know your stuff, but it’s a start, I think. The BWT drone I guess?” The man asked and walked to the black combat drone.

“Yeah, I thought about what you’ve told me and while I still don’t understand how I made the drone follow me last time, I’m quite good with formulating BWT commands in my head. I wanna see how far I can push this thing.”

“The project is about to be dropped, so you cannot do any damage and if something new comes up, just the better.” Prof. Aurelius said and picked up a tablet near the drone.

“All right, you are cleared for a connection. Give it a try!”

Robin stared at the old geezer for a moment and put on a wry smile.

“Thanks… uhm… would you please temporarily deactivate or dismount its weapons? That’s kind of my fist practical test of the ideas I’ve worked on..”

“I thought you had Energy Senses?” The scientist asked him with a sly smile.

“Huh?” tapping into his mutation, Robin inspected the drone in front of him.

“Ah! You took out the energy chambers already. Good to know, thanks!”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The man nodded in approval, obviously pleased with Robin’s fast response, and went back to his desk.

‘Now… Let’s see what ROMAS can get out of this.’

***

“I already thought I’d never get you out of that laboratory!” Keran laughed next to Robin who looked out of the window of their ship and observed the endless, gray ocean.

They were on their way to the location Niu had sent him, apparently a bar of some kind. It still belonged to the facility Robin was stationed in, but as it was a huge one, scattered over many different underwater complexes, they had to go there by ship. Keran offered to take him there as he had things of his own to do in the area.

Robin had stayed in the lab most of his time, tinkering with the drone and exchanging ideas with the old man. It was quite rewarding for Robin, he did learn a lot from the scientist’s deep knowledge and got used to working with his grayscale vision.

He had brought up some good ideas, too and Aurelius was impressed by Robin’s fast learning pace and creative thinking. He couldn’t know that Robin had an AI in his head, stuffed with every paper he could find on BWT, and as such had great support in the fundamental work.

But ROMAS was also the key to commanding the drone to a nearly perfect level. Over the coming days, Robin planned on crafting a device that would extend the range of communication between his Interface and the drone. Aurelius told him that the UAS already had those and he could just order one, but Robin insisted on building it on his own.

While the old man admired Robin’s drive to challenge himself, Robin had something completely different in mind.

He finally had formulated an emergency plan to avoid the checkup in two days.

After Keran dropped Robin off, he didn’t need long to find Niu. The silver-haired midget came rushing to the landing pad moments after the ship took off again.

“Ahhh… My student has finally arrived!” She laughed and gave him a big hug.

“Happy, good to see you! Congratulations on your new license! Intergalactic cruisers, damn…” He chuckled and stepped back. He saw something flash in her eyes, a tinge of sadness? Before he could think deeper, it was gone already and Niu’s smile was as happy as ever.

“Let’s go, I reserved an awesome room, you have to see it!”

“Sure, lead the way, Coach.”

It really was a sight to behold. Like in his guest room, their private booth gave view to the underwater world of the ocean. However, here the window was encasing nearly the whole room, giving one the feeling of standing in the middle of the ocean.

Robin marveled at the impressive sight and once more reminded himself of how much money Niu must have. He was sure, this booth was more expensive to rent then what he earned at Jim’s workshop in months.

“Amazing, thanks for taking me here!” He said, throwing himself onto the couch across from Happy.

“I like the play of colors the most. They cheated a bit by installing special lamps to increase the illumination, but it’s still breathtaking!” Niu chattered ahead, not seeing him flinch.

“How private are these private booths?” He asked and opened the menu on a small screen to his side. There was an endless list of drinks, he didn’t even know where to start.

“You can pour out your heart, even many high officials are having their meetings here because no one will be able to listen in.”

“That’s good to know, but first help me select something to drink!”

They just chatted for some time after their drinks arrived. Niu talked about her pilot license exam and Robin narrated his great tale of the pirate raid.

“Awww… I would have loved to be there, too! That sounds super exciting - like, I mean… Being raided by space pirates is like an accolade for adventurers!” Happy whined.

“Exactly my words! I can cross that from my list now!” He laughed, “But I’m sure in your case it’ll be different - the roles should be switched, right? You are the one to raid the pirates, not the other way around.”

‘There it is again…’ He noted after seeing sadness flashing over her face for a blink of an eye.

“What is it, Niu? Tell me.” He said, putting his drink to the side.

She looked at him and shrugged.

“You first! The Robin from a few weeks ago should be glued to the window, drooling at the sight out there. What changed?”

“Hahhh…” Robin sighed, thought for a moment and began to explain what happened at the Drel outpost, his deal with the UAS and his quest to find Jim’s murderer. The only thing he did not explain was ROMAS and his new Neuro-Chip, he told a bit about Guard and his lost color vision, but clearly left out some parts. Niu noticed but respected it, everyone has to have his own secrets.

After he was done, he had to answer dozens of questions about Guard, the Drel, the Keeper, his mutation, the Cetro and so on. Especially his usage of the Disruptor piqued her interest - how many people can claim they made space eat a pirate ship?

Ultimately Robin streamed the video ROMAS had taken from the incident to one of the screens in their booth and they watched with awe as the ship slowly broke apart.

“This is how you see everything now?” Niu asked, after the video stopped.

“Yeah, all just fucking shades of gray…” He sighed once more.

“Wow… sucks to be you!” Happy mumbled without sugarcoating anything.

“Yeah, fuck you, too!” He chuckled, “Maybe I’ll find a way to restore my color vision. There are so many techs out there, I’m sure someday I’ll stumble over a solution.”

“You are probably right.” She nodded, “Good luck with that, you’ll do it!”

“Thanks. So, now that I’ve poured out all my heart, what is weighing on your mind? Don’t tell me, everything is fine - you don’t look fine at all.”

Niu slumped back on her couch and closed her eyes, no smile remained on her face.

“My family will come to pick me up in a few days. I’m being sent to Beakrath on Rucasur to attend new studies and take over the Alaris branch there.”

“Huh? I thought you gained enough fame to be left alone? First your racing, then the Hopewing story, now the license and piloting an intergalactic cruiser. You are earning points for your family left and right… Why the sudden change of mind? Didn’t you say something about a deal you've made with your family?” Robin frowned. That was really fucked up, no wonder Niu couldn’t keep up her good mood.

“Don’t you know how fragile such deals are?” She asked and Robin realized she began to sniffle, trying to fight the tears that wanted to well up in her eyes.

“I… I’m not going to fly intergalactic cruisers, I failed the psychological test…”