CHAPTER 7 - UPGRADES

The crew spent the rest of the day wandering the station, visiting various entertainment venues, which were physically subpar compared to what could be found on-planet due to the inherent constraints of small habitats. However, the non-physical components were better than what could be found in the rest of the frontier, thanks to the station being rich due to tolls and cuts from trade. The first was a high-fidelity holo-theater, where people were able to interact with life-sized, volumetric, customizable displays depicting people, objects, and terrain. A short adventure depicting a mythologized version of Earth's past was undertaken, followed by a contemporary mystery. It was much more tiring than Simulacrum, the non-holographic equivalent of these experiences, as one actually had to move around instead of sitting with a datapad or a headset, but naturally felt more 'real', for lack of a better term.

Next was something even more mundane… shopping. The ship was not stocked with non-essentials all that well, and the entertainment room in particular saw very little use due to its bareness, with most preferring to simply play games on their datapads. Thus, several items were bought to remedy this issue. A variety of board games, for those who liked tactility, as well as a target practice kit for Artur, and finally a floatball. There was a lot of deliberation over the last one. The captain, with some remote convincing, allowed them to also buy a small stock of canned, dried ingredients for humans and relmai. While it would have had to be rationed, the occasional meal of 'real food' could provide a necessary morale boost.

***

Patch used most of a half of their body to grip a heavy-duty welding tool, lended to it by the station's engineering department: a massive red-and-yellow box with lots of blinking lights and a pair of thick electrodes on wires. It was much heavier than anything available on-ship, and had a lengthy power cable which was currently hooked to the Pheidippides' powernet. The robot, even lacking humanlike emotions, was amazed at its performance. As soon as a pair of hardsuited engineers pulled a radiator section into position, Patch would slowly sweep the welder's electrodes over the new seams. The flash seared like a continuous bolt of lightning, and it seared even inorganic cameras and shield-protected organic eyes.

Still, work went somewhat slower than it could have been, due to Sabauri being injured and Grant leaving the ship alongside another engineer. While the former issue could not be immediately fixed, Patch called in the latter engineer to eva. He was a little dismayed, but, of course, complied.

"What is this dawg doing here?" Radd Grant said on both engineering teams' radio channels, and pointed to a different, seemingly-identical hardsuited person. They were not, however, identified with either team assigned to the ship.

They floated a fair distance from the ship, looking at it from various angles… and looking at the repair crews intently.

Nobody knew who they were.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Radd repeated, this time directing his message at the mysterious individual.

"Oh, sorry," a slightly staticky voice responded. "I got lost, I thought this was my ship."

"First of all, don't you have suit ID? Second of all, why were you flying around and staring at us like we owe you umecs?" Grant raised his voice.

The intruder turned around and zipped away, turning up their jetpack to maximum throttle. They quickly disappeared behind the pillar of the dock.

"Did anyone else see that? Should we file a report?"

Patch's robotic voice echoed through the radio. "In an ideal world, where security forces have unlimited bandwidth and effectiveness, yes. Alas, we do not live in such a world. I predict with a very high certainty that our report will be dismissed."

"I suppose we should keep a closer eye on things," Grant sighed.

***

Elektra decided to be the one hauling a batch of the goods to the ship after several bags were fully loaded. The low gravity in the ring made it easier to carry that huge load. With every step, she jumped forward, often a meter or more. The box with Specks, however, was carried in a more stable place: a pocket.

When Elektra reached the ship, she was greeted by Jamaad, floating beyond the airlock.

"Lots of extra mass, isn't it, Officer Jacinth?"

"I looked at the back of every box and picked what weighed less, it is no big deal, sir. It really looks like a lot because it's just not dense. And besides, what's a few more kilograms when the ship weighs what, many hundreds of tons?"

"Yes, but extra mass could still cause delays."

"Hold on please," Elektra pulled out her datapad and typed something for a minute, "this extra would cause a delay of… less than an hour according to some calculations. I think we delayed far more here by docking and bolting on these weapons."

"I suppose you are right," Jamaad said. "but the upgrades were justified, as if we all die before reaching Ilsh-Bewruw, our mission time becomes infinite," he chuckled.

"Well yes, fair enough. Did the admiralty allow us to arm ourselves like this, though?"

The captain thought for a moment. "I basically have a blank check to do anything, as long as it is not illegal."

Elektra pulled out the box and explained the incident on the station to the captain. "If you don't want this side gig for one reason or another, we can track that guy down and give him back the box. But as Rachel said to me, I don't see why we shouldn't," she added after showing him the contents.

Jamaad sighed and made a gesture between a facepalm and a forehead rub. "You know what? If you came up to me without this thing, I don't know if I would have accepted. But now… sure."

The CMO handed him the box. "Let the security guy inspect it just in case, I don't think we need Artur for that. Speaking of him, he got drunk and when we went to the holo, he kept doing dumb shit. For example, in the… medieval adventure, he proceeded to go ham on all the enemies with his holo-zweihander. No stealth, no negotiations."

"Ah. I hope you had fun, then."

"We did, nevertheless."

Jamaad took the box to the habitat deck. In the other direction of the hallway from the shower and entertainment room was a small space, barely larger than a closet. Its walls were stacked with various screens displaying camera feeds from various areas of the ship, as well as some machinery for analysis. In a swiveling office chair sat an Asian man with short black hair, wearing a red jumpsuit. He was the ship's sole security officer, aside from Artur, and served a role closer to that of a detective. Considering the Pheidippides' small and vetted crew, he was often the butt of jokes about his job's lack of utility.

"Ensign Achariya, I have a request for you," he then repeated Elektra's explanation. "Work your magic on this box and its contents."

"Aye aye, sir," Achariya said. "Honestly, I didn't expect to have anything to do at all on this mission…"

***

The rest of the day was, overall, rather uneventful. Everyone was rather tired, but two thirds had to stay up in order to not mess up their shifts… with the sole exception of Patch, who had finished toiling away at the radiators and now began attaching the particle gun to the ship's central girder stack.

Artur crashed onto his bed, still very intoxicated, while Kuw and Rachel went to the entertainment room to unpack the bags Elektra left there. The drab gray walls and utilitarian adjustable shelves were only accompanied by a big table, a few chairs, five public computers, and a multifunctional exercise machine. There was a short teal carpet.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Some alone time, huh. Let's save the floatball for later when we have more people free," Rachel said as she sat down, after putting all the board games onto their proper place.

"Yeaaa," Kuw said, not looking away from the shelf, "Not been getting much of that since we left. I don't miiiiind though, people are nice to be around."

"They can be. But it still gets a bit tiring. Just a bit. I suppose I'll get used to it."

"Well I said I just don't understand how humies wanna be lonely, but… didn't ya serve on a different ship just recently?" Kuw was struggling to find a game she wanted to play.

"The Eternally Successful? She's a big warship. We had private quarters on her. This thing is tiny."

***

Jamaad and Elektra sat in the CIC, similarly alone, but comparatively more professional. A call from the station came in. The two looked at each other and decided to request that Kuw return to the command room.

"I almost picked one I liked," she thought as she dashed down the ladder, then down the hallway, using her long, clawed limbs to accelerate herself using every protrusion or nook.

Once seated, she gave a thumbs up and silently picked up the incoming comm.

"Hello!" A young man wearing a formal-looking suit said. "Is it correct that your vessel is undergoing upgrades?"

"Yes!"

"I am Mathias Richards, and I represent the local branch of the Terran Shipbuilding Regulatory Organization. I am here to inform you that, due to new regulations of FE-01 that were passed yesterday, you must pay an extra fee for every hundred kilograms attached to a ship. This fee will be calculated depending on the type of component. Please provide documentation for what you are installing."

"Huh. Suuure…"

The man reviewed the papers, or rather files. "That will be an extra fifteen thousand umecs. In addition I see you have several unauthorized parts already installed. For instance, your modular CELSS requires a license in order to allow ships with it to be serviced at our station…"

"Wait!" Kuw said, "I have never heard of such a law. Anywhere in the Federation."

"It was only passed three days ago," Mathias said.

Kuw had a bad feeling about this. "May I request proof?"

"Yes, please visit this website," the man rattled off an address.

Kuw began looking through the site. She was not too familiar with the Terran internet, but the site looked credible enough.

"You must also sign up for a license. Don't worry, it is fast. You merely need to pay five thousand umecs via this site, and you may pass safely. Otherwise, there may be legal consequences."

"Huh… okaaaay."

Jamaad sighed. "What a rip-off," he thought, "I hate bureaucracy."

Rachel floated into the CIC. Like Kuw, she was a bit drowsy, but decided to check in on the others before going to sleep. "What is going on here?"

Kuw and the captain gave a brief explanation of the events.

Rachel rolled her eyes and sat down to run a sensor integrity checkup. Kuw and Mathias, meanwhile, were still talking, mostly talking over the various fees. Kuw already pressed the button on the site and was entering the credentials, when…

"Wait!" Rachel sat up from her chair and dashed over to Kuw. "Let me look over that thing. I'm just not getting good vibes from that guy."

Mathias stared in silence. Rachel looked over Kuw's shoulder and into his eyes. Motionless. She then opened the site. "Hold on," she said. "It says here your branch has jurisdiction over 'The Terran Federation and the Koumanlan Protectorate'. But Koumanlan is fully sovereign. It had its own regulatory bodies since 2185. I can say with certainty that you would not have authority over them. You're fake."

Mathias' eyes darted from side to side, and he shut off the feed. Everyone could see that his face began to melt and distort shortly before the screen went black.

It took a few seconds for everyone to realize what happened.

"So, he tried to con us," Jamaad said. "I suppose this place isn't such a clean shiny beacon of civilization in the far frontier. Comms Officer Kuw, why did you not spot this?!"

"I'm sorryyy!"

"I will be honest with you... If something of this caliber happens once more, you will be demoted. You nearly lost us twenty thousand umecs."

"Don't be too harsh on her, sir," Rachel said. "The relmai have a lot more respect for each other. She probably wasn't experienced with people trying to pull a fast one on her."

"Ugh," Jamaad then sighed again, "Might be why he was so bold too… does anyone know why his face got all twisted up at the end? Some kind of transmission glitch?"

Elektra stroked her round chin. "I don't think it was a glitch. Looked like a Mulligan face-slug beginning to shift."

"Oh, that. I suppose using that thing makes sense if you're trying to swindle someone… why does it exist, anyways?"

"They're banned for use outside of cloak-and-dagger government work. In fact they originated as something for undercover agents to use… but then someone with more brains than basic human morals got a hold of one and managed to modify it to reproduce by mitosis and have no DNA lock. They're all over the Fed's black market now, on all planets, on all stations, because the eggs fit anywhere. And they grow in days, and change at most in hours," she said.

"Huh."

***

Rachel did not get to play games with Kuw, having gotten very drowsy. They both were preparing to go to sleep, alongside Elektra. Artur snored loudly.

"Why didn't Canids just… remove that from their forms?" Rachel sighed. "Homo canis superior or something…"

"It's not in their culture to change their morphs from regular anthro-wolves and whatnot, besides being built like a tank. They prefer adding things. And aside from muscles these things are mostly bionics. It's a waste, if you ask me," Elektra said.

"How so?"

Elektra thought for a bit and chuckled. "Well I'm biased, but if everyone modded perfect empathy into themselves, the world would be a better place. Just an example."

"Would ya say it should be dispersed? Like humies and us relmai do with the durabilis genes?" Kuw chimed in.

"No. No no no. There's a difference between durabilis, which simply makes people healthier and fixes cancer, and actively changing people's or their children's brains against their will. That is beyond unethical. I mean, I'm of course not against genemodding," she waved a blue, slimy hand around, "but there's an, in my opinion, pretty clear line between self-expression or self-improvement, and eugenics. And that line is consent."

"Sorry, I didn't think about thaaaat."

A yawn was heard from Rachel's bunk. "And even in the case of durabilis, it's sticky. Health has always been politically defined and many 'illnesses' are simply natural variance, rather than carrying an inherent loss of quality of life."

Elektra responded quickly. "Yes, but it's less, for lack of a better term, intrusive these days than the first experiments with it were," she sighed.

"Ya humies really like messing with your own genomes, don't ya?" Kuw laughed.

Rachel climbed up, sitting down next to Kuw. "You call it messing, we call it self-expression. I feel happier with cat ears and a tail, for example," she said, and leaned onto her a bit. "More than I would be with a pure human body."

Kuw gave her a blank stare. "I don't really understaaand. Of my relmai friends I know nobody who would want to change so much… and yet I read almost a third of humans do. Why?"

"I don't know why," Rachel said and lowered her face into her cheek fur, "I guess evolution crossed some wires up here," she tapped her own head.

"Is that also why so many of ya are into us?"

"I suppose," Rachel gave her a single, soft kiss.

"She's actually right about wires crossing." Elektra said. "To oversimplify it, the parts of the human brain responsible for self-satisfaction, the parts responsible for romantic or sexual attraction, and the parts responsible for a feeling of 'otherness' are close together. It just takes some slight distortions or a hormonal imbalance to make signals cross over. But of course, culture is also a factor… transhumanism and exophilia are more common now than two centuries ago, if I recall correctly. And much more accepted."

***

It turned out that the workload allocated to other docked ships was less than what was expected. After a bit of extra payment, another team was attached to working on the Pheidippides' upgrades. The ETA was shortened from around two days to just one, which meant that the ship would undock while only Artur and Jamaad would be at the helm, with the former finishing his quick nap, while the rest would either be asleep or free. There was no customs check, as this was a military vessel.

According to Achariya, an analysis of the box with Specks found no signs of suspicious contents, and thus it was stowed away in the supply room. Rachel was assigned to occasionally feed it.

14 Apr 2231

The beginning of the next day was mostly spent running diagnostics on the ship's new missile launcher and the relmai-made particle gun. Then, goodbyes to those natives of the station were said, last-minute purchases of souvenirs were made, and the ship departed from Terran space, into…