CHAPTER 5 - SPYING

Kayden and his eight-legged friend discreetly wandered across the obscure hallways of the civilian deck. There were other decks, smaller than this one: the engineering deck, located right next to the fusion torch drives and the warp drive; the control and communication deck, colloquially called the bridge; and the emergency deck, which was more like a single large room full of supplies. All but the last were behind the civilian deck and were off-limits to passengers for security reasons, but the conspirators were probably not crewmembers.

"Think any will be stupid enough to do the cloak thing again?" Kayden said quietly as they went past an intersection.

"No…"

The deck didn’t seem that large after a few rounds. The layout was quite compact, with the hallways being short and narrow and rooms being only as large as they needed to be. Most hiding places would need to either be in the cabins, which required ticket scanning, or the maintenance tunnels, which were not accessible to most passengers, as Kayden and Nheka found out after trying to open the hatch and being met with only a low-pitched beep. This meant that at least one of the crew members was in on it, after all.

So they waited, lounging next to the hatch entrance, hands on datapads in pockets, ready to covertly record anyone entering the tunnel who did not look like an engineer. They forced themselves to discuss random and completely irrelevant things, from football to favorite colors to houseplants. These conversations would have sounded fake and stilted to anyone listening closely, but they worked well enough to deter awkward questions from security guards passing by, who were understandably paranoid given the report.

Finally, Nheka saw a man in an orange engineer jumpsuit and a hard hat open the hatch for an older man of Asian heritage in civilian clothes and go in alongside him while whispering something… but as she tried to open the video app, her datapad slipped from her hands, drifted away for a few seconds before she could catch it, and the two were gone. Kayden similarly fumbled, and before he could do much else, Nheka was looking into the hatch. The two seeming conspirators turned a corner in an intersection, and she could hear the hiss of another door. Kayden could not hold her back as she slipped inside.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Kayden fumed. He looked in several directions, quickly evaluating the situation and… went in alongside her.

The hatch closed behind the two, and they were in near-total darkness, lit only by an extremely dim light. The door had a green, glowing ‘EMERGENCY OPEN’ button on the inside. Kayden was grabbed by Nheka and followed her down the hallway, even smaller and more cramped than the public one…

"Do not turn on the flasshlight…" She whispered.

Unlike the tunnels in the ruins, there were no nooks and crannies for them to hide in. This was a risky detour and Nheka knew it. The corridor was eerily silent, with only the occasional electronic staticky noise to interrupt the deathly quietness.

"Good thing we’re in zero-gee," Kayden thought. "No footsteps…"

The two approached an internal hatch. "I do not think it iss a good idea to jusst lean in and lissten… What if it openss…? I am not going further…"

Instead she turned on the audio recorder in her datapad, cranked up the sensitivity to the absolute maximum even by chohjozra standards, and waited there.

…

The wait was painful. It did not exactly feel like hours, yet it was like torture. Kayden could not ask how long it would take, not that Nheka knew either.

…

The hatch creaked as it began to open.

The tension suddenly released. Nheka took her friend with three of her muscular hands, nearly breaking his ribs in panic as he yelped, and dug in painfully with her talons. The alien bolted towards the exit, smashing into the emergency open button with her elbows. It did not even open fully when she forced herself through, nearly ripping her coat. She barely caught a glimpse of someone entering the maintenance hallway, sweeping a flashlight, before it closed again. They were almost certainly spotted… but Kayden didn’t quite process that at the moment.

"What… what the… you… I… let me go!" Kayden stammered. "I’m bleeding!"

"I am ssorry…" Nheka said with the same low, measured, almost monotonous voice she always had, but it was clear from her expression, as far as Kayden could read it, that she felt guilty.

Kayden looked at his shirt. It was newly distressed, the large gashes in its light green fabric soiled with red. "It’s fine… the main question is… how do we explain this?" He then tried to put pressure on the wounds but failed. "Get me to the medbay fast, don't wait, goddamn…"

Nheka just as quickly, but more gently, carried him towards the ring, which contained the medbay. She heard the hatch slide open as she left its vicinity. People she passed by gave her weird or shocked looks, but she didn’t care.

***

The medbay consisted of a few small rooms, smaller than any planetside or even station-borne hospital. There was gravity thanks to it being located in the ring. The tiny reception room was staffed by a clearly inexperienced human woman who was quite disturbed by what she saw.

"It wass an accident…" Nheka hissed, not elaborating what happened, yet not exactly lying. "My friend needss help…"

"Um… the medics are currently free," the receptionist said and gestured to the door.

Kayden just groaned, still in something of a shock.

The medbay itself would have been claustrophobic if not for the absolutely masterful arrangement and organization of the medical equipment. Everything had a place: the operating table in the center, with various high-tech tools next to or hanging over it; the refrigerated cabinets with medicine; and the computers behind the physician’s desk. Another door led to the recovery room.

The elderly physician quickly bandaged and disinfected Kayden’s wounds as Nheka watched.

"Hmm… no internal injuries," he said, inspecting the young man’s wounds. "You will recover fast. You may go," he continued, glancing at Nheka with apprehension as they left while she helped Kayden walk.

***

Kayden quickly changed into another shirt, a pale yellow one, after throwing the torn one into the trash disposal chute in the hallway.

"What da bhak happened?" Lai asked incredulously, sitting up.

"We sneaked into a maintenance tunnel. Had to run. Nheka hurt me. Accidentally." He succinctly explained. "Speaking of, Nheka, what’s on the recording?"

"Kayden iss correct… Anywayss…"

She opened the app, stopped the recording, pressed the ‘play’ button, turned up the volume, and…

KhshshshshhhhshhshhshshhelloskkskskhsalrighthhhhhhshshdoyouwantsjshshshsshshshouldtheartifactssksksksCHUNKshhshshhshshshshkssksletstalkquieteriheardffhhsssshshshhshshshshsh…

The rest of the recording was merely more static, followed by merely the sounds of the two fleeing the tunnel, followed by the exchange in the medbay and the cabin. Nheka closed her eyes and slammed her head into a pillow.

"Great! So all of that was for nothing! We got absolutely no information from this whatsoever except that it's really them!" Kayden said, rolling his eyes.

"Well I warned ya." A pause was heard. "Ant I rekommend ya ton’t pry bhurther now," Lai then made an exaggerated waving gesture with his pink-furred, clawed hand. "Be like me. Haaabby. Relakseeed. No worries. Not getting yaself sliced up."

Kayden sighed and sat down on the bunk. "You don’t really understand. I can’t not worry. If I’m not doing what I can to stop them, I feel like I have failed. Failed both myself and my homeworld."

Lai briefly took off his sunglasses to wipe them with a cloth. "Wait for info from Amani, Kayten. All dhat will happen if ya continue trying to gather info by yaself… ya gonna get killeeeed!"

"I–"

Nheka interrupted him, looking away from the pillow and turning towards the relmai. "Ssince when have you been sso uptight?"

"Uptight? No no no. Just having fun is dhe opposide of being ‘uptight’! And besides, I’m not saying they shouldn’t involve themselves at all. Only follow the plan we all agreed upon! So why worry?"

Kayden shook his head. "They’ll likely go forwards with their OWN plan before we get info. Even more likely now since we probably startled them."

Lai shrugged widely. "Well I said whad I wanted to say."

"I’m not feeling too well, and a bit hungry," Kayden said and took out a bag of crackers, munching down on a few. "My head hurts."

Nheka then turned to look at her friend. "I. Am. Sso ssorry again… I. Could not meassure. My sstrength…"

"Don’t apologize so much, you didn’t mean to. All this means is that we need to rethink our strategy. You probably shouldn’t have just… rushed forwards there."

"I have done the calculationss in my head and determined that it wass the right coursse of action… We. Got. Unlucky…"

"Right," Kayden said, in a bit more of a sarcastic tone than he normally used when uttering that interjection.

Nheka did not pick up on this. "Glad you agree…"

Lai did not interrupt only because he was… already gone. The door whirred as it closed behind him, leaving the two alone in the cabin.

Kayden hastily changed the subject. "Anyways, want to talk about something less intense? One thing I was wondering about and forgot to ask before you set off… How difficult was it to get a ticket out? From what I read about it, and from our correspondence, the Chohjozra Republic is… something of a closed country."

Nheka tilted her head and spoke in a seemingly somewhat offended tone. "Republic…? Do not call itthsat… It iss the Nrukhrihchzaa. A ssacred union of territoriess. Freed and cleanssed from the demonss formerly known ass the ‘upper casstess’. They lorded over uss. We killed them… Killed them all and conssumed their flessh and sspiritss…" She rambled. "Ass for your quesstion… I had to fill in a lot of paperwork…"

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"...sorry. And I know about the purge. We talked about this before but I still think that was a little cruel, you know? We just reined in our rich a lot. We like… ate them without literally eating them?"

Nheka turned away. "You don’t undersstand, human…"

"Right, right. What do you want to talk about?"

"Nothing…" Nheka then buried her face in her datapad again.

"I’m sorry…"

There was no response. Kayden just stared up at the ceiling, or rather the bottom of the bunk above. What had he done to offend his friend? And was it merely this exchange or had he perhaps treated her poorly before, making this the last straw?

***

There was a singular but loud metallic knock on the door.

"Is that you, Lai?!" Kayden shouted, prompting Nheka to glance away from the small rectangular screen.

Instead of a reply, the door slid open, revealing someone who decidedly lacked pink fur, flamboyant mannerisms, or eye-searing attire.

They looked like a humanoid robot, standing slightly taller than Kayden, but their subtle humanlike movements immediately betrayed, at least to the human, the fact that they were a full-conversion cyborg. Their white, matte plates, looking a bit like an insect’s exoskeleton, covered their thin frame and had wires and circuits visible through gaps. They were not modeled off a baseline human, possessing a mask-like static head with a short, slightly upturned snout and small feline or canine ears; digitigrade feet and retractable-clawed digits; and a long, thin, segmented tail, which helped maintain their perpetually-leaning, animalistic posture. Two eye-like lenses stared ahead blankly from large, almond-shaped sockets. They did not wear anything aside from a large, gray, rugged backpack, not having anything to hide.

"Hello. Am Ray. I request an introduction.", they bluntly and monotonously intoned in a calm smooth androgynous voice, their mouth not moving but lighting up with a soft blue glow as they spoke.

Kayden stood up. "Oh, hello! I am Kayden Reynolds, and she," he gestured to Nheka, who just glared at Ray with what looked like a mix of curiosity and confusion, "is Nheka Khajr… Kehrj… Khejki… okay just Nheka."

She then rolled her eyes slowly and awkwardly, imitating human mannerisms. Meanwhile, she thought to herself. "Is that a thinking machine? Thinking machines don’t talk like that. But they’re getting smarter and smarter…"

Kayden continued. "This bunk," he gestured to an unoccupied but ruffled bed at the upper ‘floor’, "would now be occupied by my other friend, Lainoujai Kaikuw-ma the relmai, but he went away without explaining himself ten minutes ago."

The cyborg nodded. "Pleasant to meet you two, soon three."

They then took off their backpack, placed it down on the floor next to the two empty folded suitcases and one full one, then began quickly and methodically unloading things, from cans of nutrient liquid to various tools to a charger with an extension cord. Most of the backpack was taken up by what looked like spare parts. There was no datapad, or indeed any other computing device.

"Is that all of your luggage?" Kayden asked curiously.

"I unrequire much to survive. Attachment to material goods is harmful. It is not just all my luggage, rather all I own."

"Right. We are going to Earth, what about you?", Kayden said as he sat back down.

"Similar, Terra."

"That’s… interesting."

Nheka finally stopped hesitating and asked Ray a question. "Hello… Are. You. A machine?"

"Depends on ‘machine’ definition. My body is ninety-eight percent metal and silicon. However, I have an organic brain."

Nheka was relieved. Perhaps her prejudice would need to be confronted another day, but not now. She livened up somewhat, and leaned from the bed as she spoke.

"In where I come from, I never ssaw anyone like you… I am curiouss, what led you yo become like ssat?"

Ray turned to look at her. "Apologizing. Am uncomfortable recounting my origin to people I yet unknow. You must know, current life is better than old."

"I ssee… I hope to talk more to you…"

Kayden asked another question. "If I may ask, if you don’t care about the world, why are you traveling so far then?"

"I care about the world. But not the fetters and restrictions that are possessions. I want to see sights. I never been to Terra yet, despite visiting several core worlds." Ray said, then sat down beside Kayden. Their movements, though clearly organic, were oddly measured and twitchy in a way that was very inhuman. Once they settled down, they were completely motionless.

"I have been to Earth… when I was five. I am now twenty-two. I don’t remember it or other planets much, really. Just hazy memories of huge skyscrapers and crowded cities with walls of lights and neon signs everywhere. I saw it in pictures and holovids and in Simulacrum, but there’s going to be nothing like seeing it up close, with my own eyes," Kayden said.

"Agreeing," Ray intoned.

"So, kind of a silly question, but I don’t know many cyborgs, especially no full-conversion ones, so bear with me… Do you, like, have difficulties engaging with people? Do you feel distant or superior?"

"Distant, yes, I fundamentally ununderstand most sapients now, like my eyes were opened. Superior, not in value sense, I do believe my life way is superior, however, and Oval would improve if everyone followed. Unfortunately, that is unfeasible."

Kayden shrugged and replied calmly. "It just feels… awfully boring? Do you even care about having fun?"

"No. If I need a better mood, I simply override my emotions to feel happy. I desire fulfillment, unstrictly entertainment."

"That’s… nevermind. Like, okay let’s just agree to disagree," Kayden grimaced.

"Agreeing."

Ray then nonchalantly unscrewed their head, placing it onto the bed, sprayed some kind of lubricant onto the joint, then reattached it. Kayden and Nheka just watched, a little disturbed, but didn’t comment. "Apologizing, my neck starting to creak."

"...right."

After Ray climbed onto the upper ‘floor’ to motionlessly sit there, slumped against the wall with their legs hanging off the edge, Kayden decided to reconcile with Nheka.

"I’m sorry. Genuinely sorry for offending you."

"No… No. It iss my fault... I am a little dejected and was sseething deep inside… Not your fault…"

Kayden then stood up from the bed and pulled Nheka into a hug– or rather let her pull him into a four-armed hug. He cried softly. Kayden still wasn’t really sure what made Nheka annoyed at him, but he didn’t really care now.

This lasted for a minute or two. An entire series of knocks on the door echoed through the cabin, and then it slid open. Lai was back, looking somewhat tired but still full of energy as usual.

"Eeeeeyyy! I was just taking a walk around dhe shib but med an old friend in dhe corridors, we know each odher since childhood," he waved his hand wildly as he spoke. "We talket and… eh! Forget it! Whad I wanted to say is, he might, just might, visit us every once in a while until he steps off at Cocytus. Ya fine with that?"

Kayden rubbed his forehead. "Sure, why not, I’m looking forward to meeting your friend. Or maybe friend. Just don’t like. You know. Be super noisy."

Nheka tried to sigh, though she ended up sounding more like a vacuum cleaner powering down. "...ssure…"

"Glad you both are fine with this!" He then noticed Ray. "Is that our fourth passenger?"

The cyborg snapped out of their stillness and quickly climbed down the ladder. "Yes. Name Ray. Just Ray. No surname."

"I assume my frients told ya about me before!"

"Yes."

The relmai then turned to look at Kayden. "Got yaself in trouble again while I was gone?", he smirked.

Kayden shook his head. "Nah. I kinda realized," he seemed to be talking both to Lai and Nheka, "that our plan was silly and we just got lucky, only to squander our luck completely. There was no guarantee they’d pick that entrance. And now they are going to impersonate engineers to blend in, probably. We need to rethink this," by the end he was fully talking to just Nheka.

"I am not in the mood…", Nheka said.

Ray finally spoke again. "What is the incident you discussing?"

"I’m a little tired right now and don’t feel comfortable repeating it all, but we have solid evidence that the artifact thieves that you probably heard about are on this ship. We tried to seek them out by ourselves and I got hurt in the process and didn’t gather any actual information."

"You seemed to realize that was a poor course of action."

Kayden sighed. "Yes. Anyways, I forgot, did you three familiarize yourselves with the ship’s route yet?"

A silence echoed through the cabin.

"Right."

He took a small metal box from the drawer and unfolded it into what appeared to be a tiny-speaker-covered square mat, perhaps thirty centimeters to a side, then placed it onto the bed beside him. With the press of a few datapad buttons, a pseudoholographic 3D starmap flickered into existence. The two thousand stars centered on Earth that comprised the Terran Federation, most uninhabited, appeared as tiny dots, barely visible in the bright light of the cabin. Kayden turned off the lights, and the cramped room was illuminated only by the holoprojector’s pale blue glow, its motes of light shining almost like real stars in the night sky.

Nheka climbed off her bed. "We don’t have such things… I am curiouss… Lasst time it wass behind glass…"

She swiped a taloned hand through the hologram, sending the whole image spinning wildly, and making some of the stars on the edge go out, only to wink back into existence a second later.

"Careful. Anyways…"

After a few more taps, a thin red line connected six stars in a gently zig-zagging pattern going from the edge to the center. Half a second after, these six stars enlarged into billiard-ball-sized spheres with text floating next to them: Flamerider (New Arizona), Eurydice (Alacrity), Acheron (Cocytus), Kumulipo (Kāmohoaliʻi), Tau Ceti (Hephaestus-Ares), Sol (Terra).

"So that’s our route. The ship will stop for a few days on every planet, giving us enough time to take in some major sights. We will stay on Earth for longer."

He used ‘Earth’ instead of the planet’s official name, as colloquial language has still not shifted to accommodate the name change, even though it was made around fifty years ago.

"What are thosse planetss like?" Nheka asked.

"Right. New Arizona, we were just there. Alacrity, forest planet with a vibrant biosphere. Cocytus, iced-over ocean planet with a thin crust that is frequently broken by earthquakes, also very windy. Kamohoalii, warm ocean planet with small lush islands and gigantic sea life. Hephaestus-Ares, binary desert worlds with extreme volcanism, still habitable though. Earth, human homeworld, extremely rich and developed, though still not fully recovered from its ecological scars," Kayden said while pointing to each destination, the ‘billiard balls’ growing further into spinning tennis-ball-sized holograms of each planet.

Nheka just stared wide at the holo-display. To Kayden, Lai, and Ray, this was mundane, but to Nheka, whose civilization did not develop pseudoholographic technology, it was like magic. "How…?"

Kayden shrugged. "I dunno how it exactly works, not an expert. Anyways," he looked away from the mat and towards Lai and Ray. "Sounds good?"

"Yea."

"Yes. However, on Alacrity and Kāmohoaliʻi, suppose I will need to verify my body’s waterproofing."

"Not looking forward to Cocytuss…", Nheka said.

"Right," Kayden then shut off and folded the holoprojector and turned the lights back on. "Nheka, Alacrity has a good electronics industry, if you want I’ll buy you a small projector there as a souvenir once we get there?"

"Of coursse… When doess sse sship take off from sse sstation?"

"The app says it’s ninety-seven percent filled by now, so probably soon. Within a few hours, most likely less," he said, looking up from the screen.

Nheka climbed back onto her bed and chomped down on another dried insect right there, then followed it up by guzzling down the entire contents of a water bottle. Kayden didn’t react this time, and just sat down onto his bunk to eat some more crackers and wash them down with some tea from a thermos. The lower gravity in the ship’s ring, about a third of Earth or New Arizona’s gravity, diminished the travelers’ hunger somewhat, due to complicated physiological effects, so they ate less than usual.

Ray and Lai similarly climbed back up to their beds, and the four waited idly, occasionally chatting to each other, but overall not talking much. Kayden in particular browsed the internet on his datapad.