Nicole sat in a folding chair, as Gizzy sat on the edge of the bed in the bridge, staring at her.
“Look.” Nicole sighed. “Sorry about that, but you did threaten to mutiny.”
“I don’t think you understand the importance of this mission, Nicole. This isn’t some political rivalry, or a personal squabble between me and an old nemesis; this is serious.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
“Classified. You have to trust me.”
“Then just tell me the first part of it, where are we going?” She asked. Gizzy slowly pulled out her phone, the pocket version of the memory cone attached to the headphone jack. “Oh for fuck’s sake…is it really that bad?” She asked.
“We’re all in a book. I’ve partially decrypted the code for the author’s notes, and we need the blood of an impostor syndrome to get out.” She sighed.
“No, you’re right, cone me and try again.” Nicole said throwing her hands up. Gizzy hit the button. Nicole blinked.
“Look.” Nicole sighed. “Sorry about that, but you did threaten to mutiny.” She repeated, speaking identically to the first time she said it. Gizzy rolled her eyes.
“I don’t think you understand the importance of this mission, Nicole. There is an ancient evil that has awoken that is trapped on a world in its infant form, and we have to kill it before it becomes powerful enough to survive deep space, and start massacring worlds. We’re gonna stop it while it’s weak and vulnerable.” She lied.
“You do have a way of pissing people off. But Vinn and I aren’t killers.”
“Vinn’s killed before.” Gizzy scoffed.
“Okay, once. But it was in self defense, and it took months to get over that in therapy. I don’t even like to kill spiders. We’re not monster assassins, we’re just, clueless dorks with a ship, and enough money to get by... And don’t…don’t offer us a shitload of money to become assassins. I know how your pitches work. I may be a hybrid seamonster of the dark, and Vinn may be a 700 pound mass of muscle and teeth, but we don’t kill people. We have committed a few minor crimes, sure; money is tight out here, you gotta get tough to survive, but we don’t kill people.”
“Great. We need a pilot and a navigator who stay with the ship. Vinn has military training and this ship has pulse cannons and a shuttle bay. Let us do the killing part, you be the glorified Uber, and call yourself Captain.”
“You gonna murder people on my ship?”
“Possibly. It’s not the goal, but if they get on the ship and need killing, yeah we’re gonna potentially kill people on your ship.
“Who cleans the mess?”
“Oh trust me, Vicki is great at cleaning messes. Between the two of us, there won’t be anything left.”
“You bugged my ship.”
“Your husband punched me in the face. You’re married to a guy who beats women.”
“Oh come on, you barely even count as having a gender at this point. He didn’t even know you did this…weird human soft exoskeleton thing, he assumed you were a living suit of biomech armor thinly coated in plastic and sensors. That shouldn’t have even put a scratch on you.”
“Well, it did. But it healed, so whatever. But that does remind me…Your husband and Vicki are probably having a very awkward chat right about now. You’re gonna want to know details before walking into that without context. “
...
Vicki sat in front of Vinn. They were both sitting cross legged on one of the crew beds as she nervously arranged her thoughts, and figured out what to say.
“Vinn, your copy and I had this…um, agreement. Of sorts. You see I have a medical problem ever since the bug/cancer thing. It turns out Delmarians are more nutrient dense than humans are, and I need to consume about 1-2 liters of human blood a day or I get sick. And for some reason, I have an instinct to feed, and, well…”
“Yeah sure, go for it. Whenever you need a fix.” He shrugged.
“Huh…so the other Vinn was more reluctant, and needed some persuasion. I’m not sure you understand what I’m asking. It’s not technically that dangerous but I am venomous and aggressive when I feed and…”
“No I get it. You’re gonna attack me regularly under supervised and planned conditions and then you wont lose your mind from hunger and hurt someone. I’m taking one for the team.”
“You’re really casual about this, Vinn. Why are you casual about this?”
“I’ve been on a ship for 6 months with Evee Nicole, you remember how Kinky she was with Hyde? I’m very open minded, and we have the restraints if needed. Things have changed in 6 months. I’m different, she’s different, you’re VERY different as we can see. You’d never ask if it wasn’t medically necessary and you are still our friend. We’d risk our lives for you, I think a little awkward vampire nibbling is acceptable. I already know Nicole is gonna be cool about it, but how is Jack feeling?”
“He’s…aware and accepting. He doesn’t wanna think about it too much, but he knows it’s necessary. He’s seen me when I haven’t fed.”
“Ya bit him.”
“I did, and I feel terrible. He had to get shots and everything. I can’t risk killing a friend, if a friend who can handle it will voluntarily go through a little discomfort with me. Also, you may find the venom to have…some euphoric effects.”
“Like…hit a dab of Delmar red too hard and got spinny and the munchies or...”
“Straight up heroin.”
“Oh okay, so that explains the reluctant part.”
“These help.” She said holding up a pack of syringes. “And you can build a tolerance by putting a tiny bit of venom in your daily food rations.
“Oh cool…microdosing bug cancer heroin. I’m understanding why the other Vinn had some hesitations. So we talking every few weeks?”
“Every few days, daily if I can’t get a source of human blood.”
“Didn’t think to pack a blood printer on your trip?”
“We did… and also a Massochistic submissive Delmarian assassin. Lost both in the explosion.”
“Fuck.”
“Yep.”
“Well, at least this way you’re drinking with friends, and I won’t be wearing a gimp suit.”
“Nicole didn’t get you one?” she smirked.
“Hey, HEY!” he scolded. “a little more biting and getting high than normal is one thing, we’re not making this weirder than it needs to be.” He said sternly.
...
Nicole stood on the bridge, staring at the display screen as Gizzy paced behind her.
“Look, if you want to play pirate out here, that’s fine. But you should really treat this as you and Vinn owning a taxi service, and the 3 of us just along for the ride.”
“I’ve never seen these charts before.” Nicole marveled. “There’s so much out here to explore than I ever realized; how did I miss all of this?” She asked, as thousands of colored dots appeared on a 3d hologram display.
“Because some of them haven’t been charted yet, and some have been de-charted.”
“De-charted? What does that even mean?”
“Nicole honey, I know you love your mystery and adventure, but there are things out here nobody knows about because the ones who found it either never lived to tell, or they hid it so nobody else would have to find it. The people we are after go to those kinds of places. You cannot understand the weird shit that exist in the dark of space, off the charts you can buy and explore.”
“What if I like weird shit?” She smirked.
“You won’t like some of these. Some of them even scare me, and I’m not afraid of anything. Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course I can. Otherwise you’d be in jail.” Nicole reminded.
“No I wouldn’t, I’d just cover the evidence. But the fact that I don’t have to do that proves your point. This device right here, it’s a pocket cone. It’s just like the larger memory wiping devices. Shen it’s turned on, you don’t form memory, and the moment you walk out of its range, you remember right up to the moment it was turned on. This one has some fancier features, but it fits conveniently into a pocket, and has a range of about 3 feet. Completely harmless for short term use, but if you have to go back and extract memory, it requires a more advanced setup. The further back you go, the more you risk brain damage."
"While every one you or the crew have ever experienced was about as damaging to the brain as 3 shots of vodka, I’ve had some that were more like major brain surgery. Ironically, I don’t know how many I’ve had, but sometimes I see things that don’t feel real. Like a badly drawn glitch in reality where someone filled in a hole with rushed AI imagery. Or like someone deleted a chapter of a book and rewrote it and only I remember pieces of the first draft in my dreams. When you see these glitches, these places or things, the more you look at it, the stronger you feel that feeling of terror and dread; like what you’re looking at shouldn’t be looked at, and you have no idea why. People, places, the mention of events. Tell tale signs of Osirian memory patching or universe ret-con."
"Planet JD4 is one of those. Just looking at a photograph makes me feel like something is crawling it’s way up my throat to my brain, and it can't quite get there. I wanna be as far away as I can get from it, but I was curious why and I once knew, and I risked brain damage by un-knowing it. That’s what kills my curiosity. It’s on the list. I’m saving that for last, hoping we simply all die before having to find out.”
“Oh that’s comforting.”
“Comforting is Delmar Moon 44, where your copy is safe and happy, and you are far from anything that ends worlds, protected by layers of security and ignorance. You’re out of that safety bubble here, Nicole. These charts that the governments that hate each other have agreed to make have omitted and blocked areas for a reason, and that’s why you never ended up there. Your ship won’t even let you, while loaded with the government’s navigational software. Your ship will make a wide loop around anything you don’t wanna find and they don’t want you to find. It’s in every ship, every manufactured nav-system on every planet that makes them. Very few people even know it exists, let alone how to bypass it. I only know they exist because I was on a crew of dipshits, and they navigated by vibes, and the captain just aiming at stuff. Look at your path logs, honey. Straight shots to approved worlds and systems. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever encountered out here? Other people and ships, pirates looking for money and supplies, desperate people in need of help who will take it from you even if you don’t offer?"
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“We saw a lot of dead ships, lot of dead people in those ships.”
“Victims of space travel. What most people assume is the worst thing out here. Honey it’s one of the tamest. Here is the first secret of the day, you probably feel safe knowing we have that cloning tank. Immortality cheat, you die, you step out fine, like Jack has done a dozen times or better, like I’ve done. Safe, security, life insurance. Here’s the scary part. On goes the pocket cone, your reaction is gonna determine if you remember this. That is not a full advanced lab back home on Delmar, loaded with safety and backup gear, printing basic human beings we all know and print like clockwork. That is a compact prototype we cannot repair or replace. That is a device that knows how to print me and Jack with no problems. So far Vicki’s scans show clean, but she is a hybrid now, no guarantees she will print off herself, and we have no backups like we do back home, so if she comes out more bug than human, or more cancer than Vicki, we can't fix it, we just have to put her down, and we’re shy a crew member. We already know you print unpredictably under controlled circumstances, so if you die out here, whatever we clone is likely gonna be not quite you. Not nearly as bad as coming out a mindless death machine made of cancer, but you may never be entirely Nicole again. I have my brain encased in convenient pods so I’m just cloning a body, and Jack is the only basic-bitch pure human that would come out fine every time. Even Vinn is only probably going to come out as himself, but last time we had to fix his eyes. So if someone else here dies, and they don't print back right, our best hope that we can retrieve the body or the head is to remove the brain, cryo freeze it, and clone around the brain.”
“Holy fuck.” She cringed.
“It’s not a discreet cremation service and push a button, ding, fries are done, out steps you or your friend. Unless it’s me or Jack, everyone else is a combination of guessing, rolling the dice and if all goes wrong, emergency brain surgery and crossed fingers that may result in someone killing the abomination that came out, and then you’re gone. Now back home where it’s safe and cozy, Jack and Vicki are immortal, I’m untouchable, you’re well backed up, and everyone is safe even from death. Out here, death is not only possible, but not the worst outcome you could have.”
“I’m keeping this memory, because I’d rather be safe knowing it, than ignorantly risking my life.”
“Smart girl, smart answer. But you said it yourself, you’re not a killer and these missions may need that. We have a list of items we need that shouldn’t exist that prove things they would kill us for knowing, and I can’t even tell you who THEY are."
“Deep space-spy shit.” Nicole sighed.
“Exactly, So we can drop you off at the nearest space station, with a shitload of money, and you can go back to playing pirates. I can even erase ever meeting us out here. You’ll just think you got drugged and robbed, get another ship, and you and Vinn will live happily ever after. Or you can stay on the ship with Vinn, while the 3 of us dive into madness and shit that makes no sense. And you can learn to trust my orders when I override yours. I’ll call you captain, your name will be legally on the ship’s paperwork, and you can pull rank most of the time. But the moment we encounter a thing or place we shouldn’t know about, The Chief military advisor…me…becomes the ranking officer and you sit back and play sidecar…understood?”
“Wow, every time I think I figured you out, there is another layer of skin to peel off, and what’s underneath is more disturbing than the thing I assumed was the horrifying core. But you know that I can’t stay away from mystery. You know the truth pulls at me, and the curiosity whispers my name. I may need a minute to process and cope with this, but don’t you dare keep underestimating me and take that truth from me again. I’ll stay on the ship, I’ll ride sidecar when it’s absolutely necessary, but I’ll never run from knowing something, especially things I’m not supposed to know. I’m kind of a nosy bitch. So I’m guessing we’re supposed to call you Charlotte outside of this crew, in case something finds us and you need your identity protected. What about our identity?”
“Mine traces back to you, your moon, your friends, OUR friends, my kids, my wife, Menace, everyone. You think I would walk around with a bomb in my head for security protocol, and let you 4 organics walk around as a capture risk? Honey, I’m the big bomb, the detonator, and the leader here. Every one of you on this ship was cloned by me, and every one of you has a little tiny explosive in your brain. Nobody knows your name, or Vicki, or Vinn, and aside from a list of Surgeons back on Amenthis, nobody knows Jack. Everyone knows me. And a lot of those people really don’t like me.”
“Boy, I can’t imagine why you’d be hated more than the rest of us.” She snapped.
“I get the job done, and I don’t get personal about it. If someone, or a group, or a world needs to be eliminated for the greater good of the universe or another one…it happens, and I live with it…or I scoop it out so I don’t have to.” She said, turning off the pocket cone. “Don’t make me scoop that out too. Be stronger than that, CAPTAIN Nicole. Now… tell about your ship.”
“Basic Masonry cruiser. 58 meters long, 31 meter wingspan, 2 floors, Main living space, upper cargo and maintenance, shuttle bay, lower half level is just access to systems and engines. We replaced the passive guns with Delmarian forward assault tubes. 2 tubes with 2 launchers each, energy cannons between, FTL 3.3 distortion drives and some very slow main thrusters for cruising and maneuvering. She’s a flying brick. Literally. Mostly stone and ceramic hull, 3 meter solid blackstone core column support; sturdy but not fast or sleek. She can land and take off in any atmosphere under 3G, Designed for a crew of 12, so 4 escape pods with 3 seats, but Vinn takes a whole pod to himself to fit. We gutted the interior, for our own needs, so it has one giant master suite, a guest suite, and no other bedrooms. We have a maid bot, please don’t hack it, it’s not a combat model or a sex drone, it’s an actual maid android. It’s a walking roomba that talks, and you’re gonna judge us when you see it. So just don’t, please. We have one main elevator, 2 shuttles, and 2 bathrooms. This place was renovated for me and Vinn and 1 cleaning bot, not a crew of 5. The food printer works, but it’s limited, one broken cryo tube, 1 good one, and the 4 escape pods double as short term cryo.”
“Good. I need the parts, and I’m claiming the main one next to the cloning machine. That’s my suite, you’re welcome, if I want a bed, I’ll use the bridge, and I’m familiar with its level of comfort."
“What if we need to take a prisoner?”
“We’re not taking in prisoners. We’re not bounty hunters, honey. If we do take a prisoner, they won’t be in the bridge. That won’t hold anything we’re after."
“It held you.” She smirked.
“I’m disappointed that you think it did. You assume I wanted out. You learn a lot about how people think about you, when you start a mutiny, then you’re pretending to be unconscious and they think they can’t hear you. People talk more honestly when they think you’re locked up and they’re safe. Vinn deserved that free punch anyway, and the satisfaction. Buckle up cupcake, it’s about to get very dark, weird, and demented in this stone dungeon of a ship. We need supplies, so I’ll plot a course to the nearest shady outpost. Nice seeing you again after so many weeks. Love the outfits. You’ll need to refit one of ours to match.” Gizzy concluded as the door opened and someone interrupted. She turned to leave and noticed Dee standing there.
“Dee is on your ship in a maid outfit… care to elaborate?”
“Okay see, you’re judging already. I know your mind immediately went to sexbots. We missed Dee and her stupid antics, so we downloaded the Virtual Dee app. She made one for online simps who can’t get a real online girlfriend, We deleted the sex stuff, which was apparently 82 percent of the packet. The cleaning robot looks and acts like Dee…kinda. No, before you even ask, we’re not banging the vacuum cleaner, I just missed her, and frankly, she never cleaned the house back home. Not one damn time, and it pissed me off. So there’s a slight vindictive satisfaction in sitting on my tiny ass and knowing she’s cleaning my ship, and can’t complain about it. Plus, Vinn likes to talk to her while he works and complain about me, so she’s like a free therapist we feel like we know already, and she can’t blab about everything, so she’s not a security risk.”
“Fair enough. Jack and Vicki are gonna be creeped out by that, so I’m already entertained. Well done. So how familiar are you with guns?” Gizzy asked.
“Aside from video games, I have, and know how to use, a 38 revolver... and that’s it.”
“Well that won’t cut it here. Follow me.”
...
The team gathered in the cargo bay, as Gizzy opened up a briefcase emblazoned with a logo of the grim reaper.
“That’s kinda badass.” Nicole whispered to Vinn
“Jack and Vicki have been briefed and familiarized with the guns alread, but you two need to get acquainted. This is the reaper system, a highly compact weapon system utilizing these bullets.”
“Kinda dinky. No lasers or space blasters?” Nicole said looking disappointed.
“It’s a covert mission, we didn’t bring Osirian energy weapons. This is a totally new unknown prototype with no affiliated army or logo. It’s human friendly, and since we had a Delmarian on the crew, we have a Vinn sized version. This compact rifle can fire 16 different kinds of ammunition to suit the mission and user. Those DINKY bullets are smaller because they use a solid metal explosive end case as the propellant. It doubles as the rim and extractor stub. It burns up on detonation, no casing to extract, No gunpowder, and no brass. It is basically a self contained projectile. This 5mm pistol round may look like a 22 handgun round, but it’s more like a 22 caliber rocket that hits like a 556 on crack.”
“Yeah, that sounds more like something you’d design. Wait... this is the smallest round for the PISTOLS, and it hits like a rifle round? Is the recoil and sound the same as a rifle round too?”
“Thankfully no. The guns are all integrally suppressed and equipped with reciprocating barrels and gas shocks that cut recoil down to a third, and volume down to well below the range of hearing damage... at least in a confined ship. It’s suppressed, not silenced. They’re not spy gear quiet, they sound like guns, but you won’t sustain ringing ears until you get into the bigger rounds. The reaper system is a modular design that allows you to interchange 5 different caliber barrels, two at a time."
"This is the 20X13 Reaper assault rifle. Carbon nanofiber frame, titanium alloy parts, vanadium carbide rifling and coating, and a rubberized buttand grip in charcoal matte black. One carrier bolt, and one recoil system can fire anything from the 5mm pistol rounds, to the 20mm antitank rounds just by swapping the barrels and magazine. Like a caseless modular Desert Eagle, except this sucker is 2 guns in 1. Double barrel, Full auto under, semi auto over. The 20mm top barrel can use drop-in barrel adaptor sleeves to fit everything from the 13mm OS heavy, which is basically a 50BMG that fits in an AR magazine, to the dinky pistol rounds, and feeds from a drum tube in the back. Bullpup design, helical rotary mags you pop out by rotating the buttstock, that’s an 18 inch barrel in a 27 inch gun. The lower 13mm barrel uses the forward magazine as a full-auto assault carbine. One flip of the selector and you can go from a light recoil 556 equivalent machine gun or a 13mm auto-shotgun… to a grenade launcher or 50 cal sniper rifle in a second. 5-6 pounds loaded, depending on ammo and barrels. Vinn, yours is the same thing, except scaled up to Delmarian size. 30mm top barrel, 20mm lower. Now THAT one is loud as fuck. Even you will feel that 30mm kinetic grenade round.”
“Nice. Are the pistols double barrel too?” He asked.
“No…where the shit would we put the second clip?”
“Yeah, fair point.”
“The standard handgun, the 579 Scythe. Still modular, suppressed, compact, and overpowered. They go from 5mm to 7mm to 9mm, but remember, those are hitting like Ar-15 rounds, AK47 rounds, and a 30-06. She’s a 10.5 inch long beast and at just over a pound, kicks like a 9mm, 45ACP, and 357 mag depending on caliber. The sound is quite reasonable, but the fireball it throws out looks like artillery, so don’t let that startle you. Nicole 1 suggested that you start with 5mm, that’s a 30 round clip. Vinn, yours is just straight up 20mm short, takes FMJ, hollowpoint slugs, mini grenades, and shotshells. Otherwise, it’s just a scaled-up 579 Scythe. The controls are identical. Slide release, mag release, stays open when empty, and hammerless. The 579 Scythe handles like a Berretta; it cuts armor like a hot knife through butter. Just rack it and hack it.” Gizzy said, like a salesman.
“Where’s the safety?” Nicole asked, admiring the gun.
“There is no safety on any of these guns. Don’t be a dumbass, and touch the trigger when it’s cocked and loaded. Now, these are 3d printable as well as the ammo and a myriad of accessories and colors you can customize so you know your gun from anyone else’s. We also have standard black models to stock the ship with. They're in designated lockers. General rule here…if you think you’ll need a gun, take the big rifle. If you don’t think you’ll need a gun, take the pistol anyway.
“Wow, the rifle is comfortable but heavy.”
“It’s Six…pounds. What are you…an elf?” Gizzy sighed. “Look, I didn’t bring child guns with me, I brought soldiers ,and battle rifles capable of thousand yard sniping and dumping 20 grenades at something, or 50 rounds of armor-piercing alloy needles. Get used to it, you’ll need it. Double your protein, or something”
“Yeah, thanks. Great to see you too Gizzy.”
“Oh, I like mine though.” Vinn smiled, handling his pistol. “What, I have military training. I’m sorry.”
“Great. So everyone here is a soldier or hit man, except me and the robot maid that looks like a pornstar. Best vacation ever.” Nicole huffed.