I started to scan my kitchen frantically as I felt my heart ramp up. I grabbed the chef’s knife out of my knife block, knowing full well that if it got taken there was nothing I could do. I was a tug pilot for fuck’s sake, not a fighter.

“No, you fucking idiot. We can’t ‘jUsT bAg HiM’. He’s already read through the folder, and we’re here to finish his onboarding. Behave.”

“Aye, sir.”

I didn’t like the sound of that one bit. Whatever this bullshit was, I wanted no part in it. I decided to let them know.

“I don’t know what this is, but I want no part in it. Get out of my quarters, I have a knife and security is already on their way.” I called out. There was a pause before the second voice, presumably the boss, called back.

“Contractor Sierra Charlie Romeo Lima Niner Two Six Gulf X-Ray Seven Three, nickname Tugger. You received a folder earlier. In fact, I know you received the folder because I gave it to your supervisor, and now that same folder is sitting in front of me. You’re going to put the knife away, then come into this room and meet myself and my team.”

“That sounds great and all, it really does. I have a counteroffer for you; you get the fuck out of my quarters, take your folder with you, and I get back to my life.”

“No can do Tugger. Your contract allows this, and frankly, we wouldn’t care even if it didn’t. Either you sit down with us here, or I take my colleagues suggestion and we have this conversation somewhere less comfortable. I do like your couch.”

“And how do you plan to deal with security? Like I said, they’re on their way.”

“Tugger. Tug. Can I- Can I call you Tug? Nevermind, I don’t care. Tug. This whole section of the station is dead. You couldn’t have called for security even if you had thought to. Which you didn’t. You didn’t even try. It’s almost disappointing, really.”

Well, fuck. My bluff had been called, and it sounded like there were two people in my living room that I had just waltzed past. At least two. Firming my grip on my knife, I reached around the corner and smacked the light controls for the living room. As casually as I could manage with my heart beating out of my chest, I walked out of the kitchen and leaned against the doorway.

I was greeted with three people; two on my couch, one leaning against the wall next to the door. The two on the couch could have been siblings; one male and one female, both with ice blue eyes, the same jawline and nose, and white hair. Not grayed hair, but actually white. They were both wearing full body armor suits that I was unfamiliar with. Given my plans to be an explorer, I had done my research on the armored pressure suits I could acquire, but the quality on these was like nothing I had seen. The suits were covered in solid black plating with an iridescence that shimmered ever so faintly when they shifted. Under the plating lay what I assumed to be a muscle suit of some kind, given the dark gray cords of bundled material that rested over the matte black material that the lowest visible layer was made of. The third person wore armor of their own of the same description, but with a helmet as well. The helmet was made of the same material as the armor, and featured four disks of a faceted reflective blue-black material. Two of them were overly large and were clearly the ‘eyes’ of the helmet. The other two were significantly smaller and placed below and inward of the upper ‘eyes’. Below those were two bulbous protrusions that curled inward to the neck and had a hose from each running back into the helmet. It reminded me of the giant ogre-faced spiders that had run rampant fifty years ago. Scary fuckers.

“Well, well, well. He reappears.” The man on the couch spoke, clearly the leader who had been talking to me. “I hoped you would be sans knife, but I’ll take present and armed.”

“I have a shift in a few hours. Talk so I can eat and go to sleep. Better yet, get out so I can eat and sleep. I don’t care what you’re selling, but I’m not interested.” Their presence pissed me off. I had been contracted for twenty five years, and only the first ten of that was with the growers. It was just like RMC to decide to throw me a bone to get me to extend. After all, I had taken the first one. ‘Oh, come on Tugger, it’s just five years. We’ll let you take the ship and explore afterwards. We’ll even hire you are a regular if you want. It’s a good deal Tug, might want to take it before you can’t anymore’. The story was the same every fucking time.

“Right to the point then. You read the folder.” He said it as a statement, so I didn’t bother confirming. “I have a gift for you from my employer… well, our employer. It will give you all of the information you need, and it might even give you some of the info that you want. The cost is another five years under an amended contract. In addition to having the Dusty Star transferred to your sole ownership, RMC is also willing to pay for all modifications you want to make or add, as well as allow you flexibility with her current setup, providing it can meet my mission criteria. You will be provided pressurized armor, as well as future upgrades when available or required in perpetuity. Until explicitly told otherwise, you will not share any information related to what you have already learned or what you will learn, on pain of death. Moreover, that information will not be discussed unless that discussion is held within a secure, controlled environment.”

“Yeah, my answer's still no. Get out.”

The man leaned back, making himself at home on my couch, and smiled indulgently. “You clearly don't understand. I'm not here to sell you something; you've been purchased.” He glanced at the third person standing by my door. “Recluse.”

They moved, tossing something at me that was clearly metallic, given how it glinted as it flew. I was already off-balance from the whole encounter, so I didn’t have the presence of mind to not catch it. Snagging whatever it was out of mid-air, the second I made contact it extended obscenely long legs and wrapped them around my hand. I recognized the profile of an ogre-faced spider and froze; I hadn’t had to deal with the giant version as it ravaged the local arm, but I had seen pictures. Whoever these people were was the furthest thing from my mind. The only thing in my mind was to not piss off the spider.

The spider-robot-thing slipped through my fingers and wrapped itself around my hand and wrist, hissing softly as it worked its fangs and mandibles. “Enough, stop scaring him.” The man on the couch spoke, and the spider scuttled up my sleeve, moving too fast for me to stop. Scurrying up my arm to my shoulder, I felt the spider position itself between my shoulder blades. Even if it had been slower, I was still frozen in fear. The single true horror story mankind had found in space, and it’s little cousin was attached to my back.

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A sting resounded from just below my neck, finally spurring me to action. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” I muttered the word, over and over, as I dropped the knife and scrabbled at my back in a futile attempt to dislodge the thing. It had clearly already bit me, so at worst it would just bite me again. A tingle spread from the inital sting that I assumed was a bite up to my head, a wave of panic-inducing static traveling inexorably upwards. I slammed my back against the door frame I was leaning on, hoping to crush the spider since I couldn’t reach it, but I collapsed as the tingling reached the base of my skull.

I had been paralyzed. Sure, I could still feel my splayed limbs, and the knife I dropped had buried its tip in my thigh, but none of my anything would move, no matter how hard I pushed. “Not to worry Tugger.” The bastard on the couch had crouched next to me and taken the knife out of my leg. “We all went through it. I won’t lie and say it was a pleasant experience, but the benefits are worth the onboarding. We’re going to leave you to it. Theridion will take good care of both of you.” All I could do was glare as they left, and the static tingling spread over my face. My eyes tingled, and the world went black.

A blinking blue bar winked to life in the void in front of me. A few seconds of blinking later, text started to scroll.

OPERATION BLACKLIGHT - OPERATOR THERIDION ONLINE

OPERATOR THERIDION

-DESIGNATION 1: SCRL926GX73

-DESIGNATION 2: TUGGER

-AGE: 25

-SEX: MALE

-STRENGTH: AVERAGE

-ENDURANCE: AVERAGE

-INTELLIGENCE: AVERAGE

-VISUAL ACUITY: EXCEPTIONAL

-CURRENT CONTRACT

—-TWENTY YEAR SERVICE, SPACECRAFT/STATION REPAIR & MODIFICATION

—-TEN YEAR EXTENSION, STATION TUG OPERATIONS

—-SPACECRAFT OWNERSHIP GUARANTEED, TEN YEAR EXTENSION BONUS

--NO MAJOR INCIDENTS, APPROXIMATELY 0.348 MINOR INCIDENTS PER YEAR

-SUB-CONTRACT (!)

--OPERATION BLACKLIGHT MEMBER

--INDEFINITE, J1724TZTN ENABLER

--LINE OF ACCOUNTING - BHBLJ1724EG05

-—-PENDING CONTRACTEE ACCEPTANCE

---PENDING THERIDION ACCEPTANCE

STRENGTH ACCEPTABLE

ENDURANCE ACCEPTABLE

INTELLIGENCE ACCEPTABLE

VISUAL ACUITY ACCEPTABLE

SERVICE RECORD ACCEPTABLE

CONTRACTEE SCRL926GX73. YOU ARE BEING OFFERED AN INDEFINITE CONTRACT TO PARTICIPATE IN OPERATION BLACKLIGHT. BLACK HOLE HAS AUTHORIZED YOU ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL CLARIFICATION OF ALL INVOLVED PARTIES PENDING ACCEPTANCE OF THIS CONTRACT. YOU WILL ALSO BE AUTHORIZED BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS. AS A BLACKLIGHT ENABLER, YOU WILL ENSURE YOUR ABILITY TO RESPOND TO BLACKLIGHT REQUIREMENTS AS OUTLINED IN PRE-MISSION BRIEFS.

BE ADVISED. BLACK HOLE HAS DEEMED THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION OFFERED TO YOU TO BE DETRIMENTAL TO BLACK HOLE INTERESTS. YOU ARE FREE TO DECLINE THIS CONTRACT. IN THE CASE OF YOUR DECLINATION, YOU POSE A SIGNIFICANT SECURITY RISK TO BLACK HOLE INTERESTS. RUMORS MINING CORPORATION AND BLACK HOLE WILL ENSURE THE SAFE DESTRUCTION OF ALL INFORMATION DELIVERED TO YOU, INCLUDING YOUR DEATH.

UPON ACCEPTANCE OF THIS CONTRACT, YOU WILL BE AUGMENTED TO BLACKLIGHT ENABLER BASELINES. YOU MAY ASK FOR CLARIFIERS ON ANY OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION PRIOR TO CONTRACT ACCEPTANCE. NOT ALL QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED TO PROTECT BLACK HOLE INTERESTS.

HOW DO I ASK A QUESTION?

JUST LIKE THAT.

WHAT ARE YOU?

I AM THERIDION. I AM ONE OF A NUMBER OF AUGMENTING BIO-ACCESSORIES USED TO ENSURE OPERATION BLACKLIGHT CONTINUES TO BE A SUCCESS.

I didn’t respond immediately. I was clearly in over my head, but it seemed like my only halfway decent option was to accept the contract. It was either that, or get hunted down by who or whatever Black Hole was. Hopefully I could find out after I took care of whatever this was.

WILL I BE ABLE TO ASK MORE QUESTIONS AFTER AND IF I ACCEPT THE CONTRACT?

YES. YOUR AUGMENTATION IS FACILITATED BY ME. YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO A LIMITED BODY OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH CAN BE EXPANDED BY A NUMBER OF ENTITIES. TEAM LEADER DEINOPIDAE, TEAM J1724TZTN WILL BE THE MOST RELEVANT PERSON IN THAT GROUP FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE.

WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS CONTRACT AND THE DUTIES OF AN ENABLER BEFORE I DECIDE TO ACCEPT OR DECLINE THIS CONTRACT?

ENABLERS WORK ON AN ON CALL BASIS TO PROVIDE TRANSPORT, MATERIAL SUPPORT, AND FILL OTHER MISCELLANEOUS REQUIREMENTS FOR THEIR ASSIGNED TEAM. TEAM J1724TZTN TEND TOWARDS RECOVERY AND REMOVAL MISSIONS, WHICH IS WHY YOUR EXPERIENCE SITTING IN ORBIT FOR LONG PERIODS AND PERFORMING PRECISION MANEUVERS HIGHLIGHTED YOU AS AN ENABLER CANDIDATE. THE NATURE OF THEIR MISSIONS ALSO MEANS YOU WILL ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST A WEEK OF WARNING BEFORE YOU ARE EVEN GIVEN YOU MISSION BRIEF. HAVING GRADE 5 ACCESS TO OPERATION BLACKLIGHT BUDGETING MEANS AN APPROXIMATE TEN-FOLD INCREASE TO YOUR INCOME, AS WELL AS ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR EXPENSES REQUIRED FOR ENABLER DUTIES. THOSE ADDITIONAL FUNDS WILL COVER NEARLY ANYTHING, UP TO AND INCLUDING THE UPGRADES YOU WANT FOR YOUR DUSTY STAR. YOUR AUGMENTATION WILL INCREASE YOUR STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE OVER TIME BY SELECTIVE DNA EDITS THAT WILL ENSURE YOU ARE, SIMPLY PUT, BETTER THAN NORMAL PEOPLE. YOUR INTELLIGENCE, BOTH IN SPEED AND CAPACITY, WILL BE DIRECTLY SUPPLEMENTED BY MY HARDWARE. YOUR VISION WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED, WITH AN INCREASE TO YOUR VISIBLE RANGE. YOUR ABILITY TO HANDLE PHYSICAL STRAIN,ESPECIALLY HIGH G FORCES WILL BE SUPERHUMAN. AUGMENTATION WILL ALSO PROVIDE YOU A SIMILAR SUIT OF ARMOR TO WHAT YOU SAY TEAM J1724TZTN WEARING, IF MORE ADAPTED TO EXO-ATMOSPHERIC OPERATIONS.

I didn’t have a reason to say no, really. The contract being indefinite was certainly a downside, but given that it wasn’t a constant job and I would have forewarning, I should still be able to explore. And then the pay. The pay! Making ten times as many credits as I was now was huge. That didn’t even take into account that I would be able to upgrade Dusty Star on someone else’s dime.

HOW DO I ACCEPT THE CONTRACT?

THANK YOU FOR ACCEPTING THE CONTRACT. IN ORDER TO AVOID FUTURE COMPLICATIONS, YOU WILL NOT BE CONSCIOUS DURING YOUR AUGMENTATION. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ASK FURTHER QUESTIONS AND PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST MISSION AFTER THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE. ALLOW ME TO BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME TO TO OPERATION BLACKLIGHT.

The text remained floating in the void before me for a second, then faded until nothing was left but OPERATION BLACKLIGHT. Then the text faded and the blackness retracted, and I felt myself fall out of whatever I had been in and into oblivion.