I asked Intra to keep an eye on Zreeth for the day, I had already had my fill of him before I’d even woken up. Which was a first for me. I decided to spend my day, what there was of it before we arrived at his homeworld, settled snugly in a sim pod. I needed some more training anyway, it was a good excuse to seclude myself away from him.

I booted the pod up in silence, wondering what I’d do next. I hadn’t actually fired a gun yet, that might be a good place to start. I’d already gotten pretty good at taking my pistol apart so I didn’t need to revisit that, not till I started training with anything larger than a pistol that is.

Once more, the veteran Imrani appeared before me, and I began the training.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

“So, where on this ship are you exactly?” Zreeth asked me out of the blue. It gave me pause, and I frowned slightly as I sat across from him at the mess hall table.

“What?”

“Well you’re clearly hiding, since you use a hologram to interact with me and Ula, have some sort of secret bridge or something neither of us know about?” He posited this while stuffing his beak with fluffy pancakes.

“I am not hiding, I’ll have you know. This is the only way I can interact with you outside of text or piping my voice directly into your head. You lack the required cybernetic implants for the latter however.” I say, and he raised a feathered brow, leaning towards me.

“I don’t believe you.” He said finally, and I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Well then that’s on you. I have spoken nothing but the truth on the matter.”

“Really? Then why are you confined to this means of communication if you’re not hiding.”

“Because I am a H.I. I have no natural physical body.”

That seemed to give him pause this time, and he looked at me curiously. “And an H.I. is?” He asked.

“Human Intelligence. Humans are the creators of this ship, and of me. A fully digital sentience that is modeled after the human brain.” I say this proudly, but he’s clearly spooked by this as he squawks in alarm and backpedals out of his chair.

“A-A.I!? Please, don’t try to exterminate my species!”

“Why would I… I don’t even want to do that. Oh sit back down, you're making a scene.” I chastise, and he does as I say, as though noncompliance will result in death or something. “Firstly, I am not an A.I. Humans already tried to make many of those and failed when they started to go all Skynet on them. So instead, they decided to conduct brain scans of living humans and digitize those instead. Hence why they call us H.I.s. Though apparently when H.I. reproduce we do make A.I…. It’s strange how that works but fascinating as well.”

He was shivering in place, still clearly unnerved by my existence. “B-But… Isn’t that… I mean aren’t you… You know… homicidal?” He asked, and I chuckled.

“No, no I am not. Not yet at least. I doubt I ever will be, not unless someone gets access to my code and makes me that way.” I tilt my head slightly, leaning towards him while he leaned away in tandem. “I promise, I will only kill to defend myself, or to defend Ula. I will never kill nor purposely harm another living being out of cruelty. If I do, then I will not fight the consequences I incur.”

That seems to be what he needs to hear, as he starts to visibly relax. But he’s still trying to wrap his head around it. “Do uh… Do all H.I. look like you?” He asked, and I shook my head, sighing.

“No we do not. We all have our own unique appearances. Most take a familiar form, that being this one,” I motion towards myself. “Two arms, two legs, ten toes and fingers, and finally a head. We even have our own unique names, though some were clearly given the names of old gods in human mythology. Like Odin or Horus. H.I.s with names like those tend to model themselves after their namesake. Me, I am not named after any god or goddess as far as I know, and so I chose this particular form. Granted, I was constrained by certain parameters, like the fact that my scan came from a woman and such.” I shrug, and now he seems to be far more fascinated in me.

Can’t say I blame him, were I in his place I’d be fascinated as well by something like an H.I.

“So you’re… everywhere then, since you’re digital and such, you’re in every system of the ship?”

“That is correct. Though the ship itself is alive as well.” Another bomb dropped, and he doesn’t quite understand.

“Come again?”

“The ship, it’s alive. Not sentient, not like the Yil’kaa ships are. No, this one, and the others that were built like it, were first grown and then covered in this metal facade as added protection. Biological systems made to mimic mechanical systems. The reactor is a rather literal beating heart, energy is transferred in the form of blood, bone and muscles are everywhere. You, my friend, are rather literally in the belly of the beast. Minus the stomach acid, because ew.”

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I blinked, and in that mere instant, I hear him collapse onto the floor in a dead faint. I sigh, shaking my head and call for some drones to take him back to his room.

“Probably shouldn’t have mentioned that.” I mutter, then shrug and vanish.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

In a somewhat darkened room, a taloned finger pressed itself against a button, connecting the avian figure with another in FTL. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes spoke for him, telling the other to speak first and to do so quickly.

“Lord Inquisitor. The Crown Prince has been retrieved and we are returning with maximum haste. Attached is a dossier of his unwitting smugglers. I ask forgiveness for the sparseness of it, but these beings are not part of any known species the Imperium has ever encountered.” Nettal said, able to hide the need for approval from her words. The shadowed figure glanced at the dossier, then nodded.

“Very good. You’ve done well. Submit yourself for a full debriefing upon return. You will be justly rewarded for your service these past few days.” He had a regal tone to his voice, and she almost visibly shuddered under the weight of his words.

“Yes, Lord Inquisitor, it will be done. For the Imperium.” And the line was cut by him, without so much as a goodbye.

“Indeed, for the Imperium.” He murmured, turning to look out at the glittering skyline just past his office window.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I checked on Zreeth and discovered him to have recovered from his fainting spell, though he seemed less than eager to touch the walls now. I couldn’t blame him for that, it must have felt incredibly disconcerting to be inside a living being, rather than just next to one. But his trepidation evaporated when I spoke up to him and Ula as they shared a meal.

“Just to inform you both, we’ll be dropping out of FTL soon. And if it would be alright with you, Prince Zreeth, I’d like to get some repairs done to my armor… Possibly even an upgrade?” I ask, and he thinks it over for only a minute.

“That would be just fine I think. A worthy payment for being such good hosts and returning me to my people. I shall get in contact with the royal shipyards and ensure you have a berth. Will you be joining us on the surface?” He asked, and Ula looked curious as to my answer.

“Thank you kindly, my prince. And that is a maybe. It depends upon whether your city has hologram projectors everywhere and if I’m allowed to access them. If not, then I will be stuck here.” I say, and Ula frowns slightly.

“Couldn’t you just… put some hologram emitters on a drone and use that as a body while projecting your current look?” She said… Or seemingly tried to. I didn’t hear a word she said, and I couldn’t even read her lips. Cocking my head I frowned.

“What did you say? I must be suffering some sort of auditory malfunction.” I ask, and she repeats herself, but again there’s no sound and I again cannot read her lips. I look at the Prince, confusion on my face. “What’s she saying?”

“She’s saying-” He started, and then he too went silent, his beak opening and closing repeatedly. I was at a loss, and Ula seemed annoyed, picking up the salt shaker and dumping it out, using her finger to write in it.

But like her voice and lips, whatever she’s writing doesn’t seem to register with me. Worse I-

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I woke from a delightful nap, and checked our progress, noting that we were just about to drop from FTL. I summoned Ula and the Prince to the bridge, and appeared before them with a bright, warm smile.

“Hello you two. We’re just about to drop out of FTL.” I say, and they stare at me wordlessly. I note this and cock my head, concern coloring my expression. “Is everything alright? Is my projection malfunctioning?” Ula shakes her head and she looks to the prince, who in turn looks at her with the same look on his face.

“N-No… You’re fine. Sorry, I think we just had a moment of… what do the humans call it? Deja vu?” Ula said, and Zreeth nodded vigorously.

“Yes, what she said.” I smile, nodding at their answers and glad to know my projection was working properly.

“Oh in that case, if you’d please take your seats, we should be arriving at… What is the planet called?” I ask, as they get settled in their seats.

“Pelevon.” Zreeth speaks up.

“Oh, that’s a rather pretty name,” I murmur, then clear my throat. “We should be arriving at Pelevon in three, two, one.” And in unison, our little fleet drops out of FTL almost in orbit of the planet. Just far enough out of the way that the gravity doesn’t have much of a pull.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I was worried about Intra, she rarely just up and left a conversation like that, and strangely she didn’t even seem to remember it. Tacking on the apparent malfunction she’d been having with her ears and not being able to hear us when we were talking about her getting a new body suggested something was wrong that she wasn’t aware about.

But it was something we’d have to figure out later, for we’d arrived at Pelevon. It felt much like our arrival at Earth, but with less of a massive fleet as an escort. Pelevon itself was a massive planet, it had to be at least twice the size of Earth and even came decked out in a large ring. Within said ring was another ring of all things, with sixteen large asteroids that’d been sculpted into a diamond shape and connected by what Intra told me was a ring world. This seemed to act as a hub of sorts for all space traffic in orbit, and the asteroids acted as the anchors for an equal number of space elevators that stretched down to the planet.

But above it all was a glittering needle of metal and glass, hovering in the void. This was where the Inquisitorial ships were headed, and it’s where Zreeth directed us as well.

“Intra, I’ve taken the liberty of calling ahead and requesting that your personal reward for this whole thing is full repairs and also an upgrading of your armor.” He said, and Intra was surprised by this, as though she’d been just about to ask for that herself. “Also, I invite you down to the planet as well, there’s plenty of hologram projectors inside the palace, though you’ll have access only to them for the duration of your stay.”

She was struck speechless, but smiled and bowed her head once she collected herself. “I thank you, your majesty. That is a most generous gift indeed.” She rocked back and forth on her heels. “Oh this is going to be exciting.” She murmured, while we slid into the dock with barely even a jolt.

As exciting as coming to a new planet and meeting an entirely new species properly was, I found myself more concerned for my friends wellbeing. I hoped that this was but a once in a lifetime sort of thing.

But I got the feeling it wasn’t.