I studied the ship procedures for cargo loading and unloading, the machines used, and even took the time to read through the manuals for those machines. I checked the time and saw that I had about six hours before the morning and cleared everything off of the bed and secured it, then used a mental technique to enter sleep after setting an alarm on the datapad.

I woke up when the alarm went off and thought about getting a shower before going to the med-bay. I figured it wouldn't hurt to be clean for it, especially if she gets me to strip off... which I highly suspect is what she's going to ask me to do. I left the datapad beside the bed and stepped out of my sleeping compartment and shut the hatch, then covered it in Presence and made it solid. Anyone trying to get in, wouldn't even be able to touch the hatch, let alone use the handle to open it.

“Hey, Ullir.” Rhubin said.

“Hey. How was...” I started to ask how he slept and stopped when Luxea stepped out of Rhubin's sleeping compartment behind him. “Good morning.” I said to her.

“Good morning.” Luxea said and walked by us and left through the hallway's hatch. I waited until the hatch closed before I turned my head to look at Rhubin with raised eyebrows.

“She said she needed help to relax.” Rhubin said.

“Did she?” I asked and started to smile.

“A few times.” Rhubin said and started to laugh, then I did, too.

We both went to get a shower and talked, changed into clean jumpsuits, then we went up to the med-bay on level two. Evelyn didn't say anything and pointed to Rhubin and then at a chair. He sat down and she hooked her arm in mine and led me through a large hatch, then closed it. The room was almost bare, except for a huge bed with what I assumed was a scanning mechanism and the console off to the side.

“Strip.” Evelyn said, and it sounded like she was full of anticipation.

I didn't do it quickly like I suspected that she thought I would. I slowly unzipped my jumpsuit and pulled it off my shoulders, and her eyes followed my movements. I eased it down my chest and across my stomach, then stopped. I saw her jerk a little, as if she wanted to pull it off the rest of the way herself. I held in my chuckle and slid the jumpsuit down over my hips and made sure to bend over and block her view as I slid the jumpsuit to the floor.

I thought I heard her growl a little, so I stepped out of the pile of jumpsuit and picked it up to hold in front of me. “Where do I put this?”

“Anywhere!” Evelyn said, a little frantically.

“Okay.” I said and tossed it over her head and ran over to stand behind the bed.

“Hey!” Evelyn exclaimed and pulled the jumpsuit off of her head and glared at me. “That wasn't nice.”

“There's no chairs or anything else in here.” I said and motioned to the room. “Where else could I hang it up?”

Evelyn opened her mouth for a moment, then sighed. “I didn't want you to have anything to hide behind.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to be the first to see all of you.”

“But...”

“Outside of the few moments I can sneak a peak at you in the shower.” Evelyn said.

“I'm starting to suspect why you like your job so much.” I said and stepped out from behind the bed, and saw her disappointment that I was wearing underwear.

“Getting to see people at their most vulnerable is something I've always enjoyed.” Evelyn said. “I don't mean that I want to see people hurt. I'm not sadistic or anything.” She explained. “It's just... I get to see a glimpse of who people really are, without the front they present to everyone else.”

I pulled down my underwear and tossed them to her, and she caught them and looked down at me. I didn't try to cover myself with a hand and I let her look for as long as she wanted. When she looked up at my face, she gave me a smile and walked over to me.

“I'm so glad to finally meet you.” Evelyn said and held a hand out to me. I shook the offered hand and she motioned to the bed. “Please, lay down and try to relax.”

“I don't have to try.” I said and climbed onto the bed and laid down.

“I know.” Evelyn went to the console and hit a button, and a little stool popped out of the bottom of it. She put my clothes on it and started to push buttons and pull levers on the console. “I've had a couple of people who are sensitive to Presence in this thing, so if you could try and not freak out about it powering up, that would be great.”

“I've been near power sources before, so I should be okay.” I said.

“I'm warning you, because of the way it cycles up.” Evelyn said. “It uses a lot of power and it gives a deep scan by penetrating your body with a resonance wave of energy.”

“That sounds suspiciously like a stun blast.” I said, and she chuckled.

“It's a similar principle, and probably why some people are more susceptible to its effects than others.” Evelyn said. “It's a much lower setting and covers the entire body, which is why it takes a lot longer to activate.”

“Can I block the effects and still have it work?” I asked. “I was stunned once and suffered for two days before a friend managed to purge the effects from me.”

Evelyn walked over to me and looked into my eyes. “How many stun blasts did you take?”

“I think they said it was a dozen.”

“A dozen!” Evelyn nearly yelled as she put a hand on my chest. “You could have died!”

“I was only twelve at the time, too.” I said, and she caught her breath.

“Oh, Ullir.” Evelyn said and she rubbed my chest consolingly. “You poor thing.”

“It was four years ago today, actually.” I said.

“I... I'm sorry.” Evelyn said and leaned down to kiss my cheek. “I didn't mean to bring back painful memories.”

“It's all right.”

“I'll make the proper adjustments to the scanner to account for previous stun trauma.”

“Thank you.”

Evelyn stared at me for a moment longer, then slid her hand down my chest and across my abdomen, then she went back to the console and made some adjustments.

“Okay, here we go.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

I closed my eyes as the machine started to make a whir sound, and I took a deep breath and let it out, then used a mental technique to hold myself in place perfectly still. With my Detect Presence skill active all the time, I could see the flow of Presence change around me and then it concentrated in what I thought were emitters in the machine.

The energy burst out and slammed into me like a freight train, and every muscle in my body tried to tense up. I was really glad that I had used my self-titled Statue technique, because it kept me perfectly still when all my body wanted to do was jump up and run. It wasn't pain, though. It was more like it was stimulating all of the nerves at once and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

I wonder how many people screamed at this point? I asked myself. The energy wave fully penetrated me, hit the bed, then bounced back. I think it's like radar or sonar.

“...and we're done.” Evelyn said and hit the button to stop the machine, then she walked over to me with my clothes. “You did really well.” She said, surprised. “You didn't even flinch when it started.”

“How many people screamed when they felt all of their nerves get stimulated at once?” I asked as I sat up, and her face drained of all it's color.

“How did...” Evelyn closed her eyes. “A few.”

“I bet Cassie was one of them.” I said and quickly got dressed.

“She was really loud and Rus came in yelling at me for hurting his little girl.”

“It doesn't actually hurt; but, it doesn't feel good, either.” I said.

“I'm sorry.”

“Did the scan come out clean? I wasn't blocking it or anything.”

“Let's check.” Evelyn said and walked back over to the console. “The imaging software should have had plenty of time to... to... by the Goddess!”

“What is it?” I asked and looked over her shoulder.

“I've... I've never seen such a clear scan before.” Evelyn said and enlarged it. “Look at this!”

“What am I looking at?” I asked as I saw what looked like a screen full of little lightning bolts.

“These are your nerve endings!” Evelyn said happily. “Usually the body reacts in some way and there's always some blurring, mainly when I zoom in on this scale.” She said. “Even unconscious, the body still has autonomic functions that can't remain still.” She looked up from the display and stared at me. “You are just as much of a wonder to behold on the inside.”

“You're giving me a scary look, Evelyn.” I said with a chuckle, and she laughed.

“Don't worry, Ullir. I won't sneak into your room to get a better look at you.” Evelyn said. “Just like Luxea, I'll respect your decision to save yourself.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Don't thank me yet.” Evelyn said with a smile. “Once we're out in space for a month or so, your appeal is going to skyrocket.”

“I don't need to ask why, do I?”

Evelyn chuckled. “You've noticed that there's not a lot of available men on the ship, haven't you?”

“Apparently there's one more than there was before.” I said and nodded to the waiting room.

“Luxea won the fight to have him for the first week.” Evelyn said, then she sighed. “Wow, I just told you a lot about myself, didn't I?”

“Not just yourself.” I said and took out my new datapad. “Can I have a copy of my scan?”

“Sure.” Evelyn said and send it to my datapad. “You don't have the resolution to zoom in very much; but, it still has all the data.”

“Thanks.” I said and walked over to the large hatch. “Want me to send Rhubin in?”

“As long as you don't tell him what I said.”

“I honestly think he wants to do his part for the crew.” I said. “I'm sure even if he did know, he would still want to help you if you need him to.”

“You seem very accepting about all of this.” Evelyn said.

“Luxea had me practically naked in her room and less than two hours later, she was having sex with Rhubin in the next compartment.” I said, and recalled what Rhubin had told me barely ten minutes ago.

“She didn't even wait until...” Evelyn stopped talking and sighed. “You definitely don't have a high opinion of us now.”

“I'm just glad I didn't try to get involved with her, and the misunderstanding with Cassie confirmed that decision.” I said. “I'm taking Luxea's advice to heart and I'm staying away from all of you.” I opened the hatch and stepped out. “Rhubin, she's ready for you.”

“That was fast.” Rhubin said and I caught his arm before he passed me.

“It's not going to hurt, but you're going to feel it.” I whispered to him and let his arm go. “Try not to scream like a little girl.”

Rhubin barked a laugh and stepped into the compartment. I thought about waiting for him, then figured I needed to keep studying and should get a quick breakfast from the galley a floor below. I was halfway through eating when I heard shrill and muffled shout, laughed, then finished eating. I found out later that it took three tries for him to get a full scan.

I studied all day and went over everything several times, then I went to get supper. Everyone was there and the idle chatter didn't stop when I went to the buffet table and gathered some food onto a tray. I knew what I liked and only took those, since Evelyn had said that the tastes were for variety and it wasn't necessary to have some of everything to eat a balanced meal.

I sat down across from Donny and waited until he was between bites of food to ask him for a favor. “Donny, do you think you could show me around the cargo area?”

“Not right now.” Donny said. “I've got some personal time scheduled.”

I chuckled. “I meant the next time you go in to check everything and to perform maintenance.”

“Have you worn a spacesuit before?”

“No, but I've read the manual and checked over one.”

“Ha.” Donny barked a laugh. “All right. I guess you've got to start somewhere.” He said. “Meet me tomorrow morning at the main cargo hatch.”

“Thanks.”

“It's not going to be a tour.” Donny warned me and kept eating. “If you're coming with me, you're going to work.”

“Why else do you think I'm asking you?” I asked, and I saw Rus nod at the same time that Donny did, and we all finished eating. I had even successfully avoided the furtive glances and little noises that Cassie made during the meal to try and get my attention. I skipped dessert this time and went back to my sleeping compartment.

Now that I had a bit of free time, I dug out the shower tray of my things that I had protected in the personal storage of my sleeping compartment, and went over everything. I knew that the tracking devices were all the same and were stashed all over everything in my possession. Some were blatant and I barely had to search for them, and others were so well hidden that if I didn't have such good control in my use of Presence, I would have easily missed them.

There was even one inside each of the two unmarked credit chips as well. I wasn't sure how they had inserted them without destroying them, though. Of course, with that thought in my head, I now wondered if they had anything on them or if they were just dummy chips. I also had no way of knowing how much used to be on them, if that was the case. Whatever I did find on them, it could be what The Order put on them and not what my parents actually had before they died.

I should see if there's a chip reader onboard. I thought and used my new datapad and checked the ship's inventory. There were a dozen of them stored in different areas of the ship. I was a little surprised by this, since you would only need one or two of them near the access hatches for the ship and the cargo.

There was only five people on the ship normally. Why would they need twelve chip readers? I asked myself. I've also got to see if I can transfer whatever is on these chips to different credit chips. If The Order is tracking these, I won't be able to use them anywhere without them knowing about it.

With a set beginning in my head, the next thing I looked at was the passkey. I checked the serial number on it and typed it into the datapad. I wasn't surprised when a schematic for my parent's small starship called 'Udelis' appeared.

Udelis? I asked myself, then smiled. Well, considering I didn't know the name of the planet I was on until after I left it, it's no surprise that I didn't know the name of the ship I was born on.

I looked over the information about the ship and its capabilities, and was quite satisfied that it would be a great ship. With that knowledge, I picked up the folded sheets of paper and read them. One was the ship's registration and I put it aside, then I saw my birth paper. It had my name, weight, size, and the coordinates of my birth. I wasn't sure why that was significant, except to prove that I wasn't born on a planet.

“Holy crap.” I said out loud. “I was literally born in space.” I sat back and stared at the paper. “I... I have... nowhere... to call home.”

That thought hit me hard, especially because of the way I had grown up in both of my lives so far. First my parents died and I grew up in an orphanage, then I died. Second, my parents were killed and I grew up in The Order's custody.

I glanced at the passkey and sighed. “I suppose I need to somehow find you as well Udelis, since that's where all of this started.”

I didn't feel any change in the Presence around the passkey or around myself, so I knew that it was only my own need for something to hold onto and not something the Presence needed for me to have. It was my own selfish desire and not something strictly required to live my life, so it dropped in priority in my eyes, below making a living and finding the things my parents wanted me to have.

I knew the locket was important, because my mother had told me that when I was old enough, she would tell me the significance of its contents. I needed to have it back, just to find out what was in it. I wasn't sure I would even know the significance of what would be inside; but, if I didn't find it and discover what it was, I would always wonder what it was that my mother found so important that she wouldn't let the touch of it leave her skin.

With nothing left to check over, except for my own things that I knew didn't have trackers, I did a cursory examination of them anyway and didn't find anything. I knew there wouldn't be; but, it was better to check and not find anything, than it was to not check and miss something that might have been there. My personal tasks were done, so I stashed everything away and laid down on my bed to go to sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.