08
[Analysis] Whatever memories Rosy had of space vessels, the Mummer did not fit the mold.
“Didn’t you say it was at dock three, Para?” Safia asked skeptically. She stared at the dock which appeared empty.
“It’s there,” Fásach assured her.
And its presence was enormous. Though Safia snorted and rolled her eyes, I was transfixed. Not by a ship that she couldn’t see, but the lack of anything.
Dock three was on a commuter tarmac fifty thousand feet above the moon’s surface, its long gangway stretching out into a black sky above a blanket of volcanic plumes and glowing orange lava. While other docks and ships vibrated with data, dock three was limbo. There was nothing—as in the absence of everything.
When we reached a ramp that appeared to lead directly into space, Fásach strode up without hesitation. An odd movement against the sky caught my attention ahead of him, and I realized just before the door slid open that the Mummer was invisible.
“Mirrors,” I whispered, wide-eyed. The vessel wasn’t invisible, but covered in an array of small mirrors, deflecting visible light while porous black material beneath them absorbed the rest.
Fásach led Safia, Misila, and me up the ramp, my ears and temples itching from how long the thermophobic hood had compressed against my curls. Up here was far colder than the moon itself, so my ears had gone numb and my skin pebbled. As soon as I was close enough to touch the ship, I pressed my hand to its hull, but still, it was as active as a lump of coal. No echoes, no halos, no outgoing transmissions of any kind. Just a profound and chilling silence.
“Vantaplates,” Fásach told me while he ushered the bewildered children inside. The black hull vibrated beneath my fingertips. “They absorb pretty much everything. The Mummer is more like a black hole than a ship.”
“And the mirrors?” I asked. I pressed my finger to one. Since I produced no oils, the mirror simply fogged without leaving behind a fingerprint.
“My guess? The captain didn’t want our rendezvous on the books. Pretty sure traffic control thinks this dock is empty. Come on, we better hurry.”
The door slid shut behind us with a swift hiss, and my stomach immediately swooped as the Mummer left its berth. Safia and Misila stumbled into the wall from the gentle shift.
We were in a receiving bay of some sort; a plain room with one long bench to the left and a thick airlock blocking us from the rest of the interior.
“That tickles,” Misila giggled, rubbing her stomach as the ship growled with thrust power. She wiggled her fingers at her older sister, threatening to start a tickle fight.
“Stop, Misi,” Safia whispered with exasperation.
“Girls,” Fásach warned. “Sit until the airlock opens.”
“But it makes my plates itchy,” Safia complained.
“The vibrating will be over soon. We have to get out of low orbit and then…”
While they spoke, I stared dumbstruck at the things they couldn’t see. No matter how absent the ship was from the outside, inside it was vibrant.
The harsh black angles weren”t colorful or inviting like Auntie’s home and the dim lighting was murky white rather than amber and summery. But a river of halos were caught in a stunning race along the ceiling, where the current snatched up the data from Fásach and the girls’ holotabs and whisked it away to destination unknown. The information was broken down into such small parts that the river sparkled like iridescent glitter. A vein of diamonds hidden within the coal.
Beautiful rather than overwhelming.
Instinctively, my feet carried me with the flow of the soothing current. I pressed my hand to the airlock, wishing I could see where it went, and something prickled my palm. It wasn’t an organic feeling, but code that whispered against my skin. I stared at where my hand met the ship and sent my parumauxi there. Perhaps they could hear the pattern more clearly than I could by myself…
The airlock beeped, hissed, then unlocked. The massive slab of a door rolled into the wall, and I found myself face-to-face with a tall—
My breath hitched.
Human.
“My, aren’t you a sight?”
[Analysis] He had chiseled cheeks, a straight nose, and firm lips, but the light deep behind his eyes suggested his sight was bionic like mine. His face was bisected along a line that ran from his high cheekbones to his mouth, demarcating a difference in material. His lower face, including his bottom lip, was matte black silicone while the top of his face was a smoky, dusty brown with black brows and a mottled black gradient around his temples. His skin was slightly translucent too, exposing the ghost of his skull beneath with running seams for fine gold wiring that disappeared into thick black hair shaved neatly on the sides.
If I shaved off my curls, would I be able to see my own wiring like that?
He grinned a little wider, then unfurled his matte black hand one finger at a time.
“Traveler,” he introduced himself. “You must be the young lady.”
“Hello, I am Roz.”
I took his hand and gave it the perfect amount of pressure for a human handshake. His bottomless eyes sharpened.
“Indeed…”
“Captain?” Fásach said, pulling our attention. His ears were tense, a crease in his brow as he inspected the man’s human features. “It’s been a long time.”
“Has it?” he asked flippantly.
“You’ve changed.” Fásach gestured at his face. “A lot.”
“So have you.”
Traveler scanned the yiwren from tip to toe, my hand still clasped in his. The Mummer’s code vibrated between our palms, and my focus fell to it with fervor. What was he saying to me? Why couldn’t I understand it?
“Roz?”
My eyes snapped up to Fásach. His ears were angled back, Safia and Misila under his palms now. He’d picked up their bags while I was lost in thought and stood holding mine out to me. I let go of Traveler’s hand and took my things, bashful that I’d fallen out of time sync. “Sorry.”
Traveler showed us to our quarters. He insisted that they weren’t much, but I’d never had more than a charging pod. When he showed Fásach and his daughters to their room first, Fásach brushed his fingers against my forearm to stop me from leaving.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, concern still evident in the set of his ears. The hair along his back stood up, poking at his shirt, making his shoulders look larger. He glanced at Traveler leaning in the doorway, waiting patiently. “Traveler is doing us a favor, but don’t mistake him for a friend, Roz.”
I opened my mouth to deny it. Traveler was being kind, wasn’t he? He was helping us get to Yaspur without asking for anything in return.
The velvety edges of memories pressed against my mind. I was shorter, holding my papi’s hand amidst a crowd of humans lined up at an armed border early in the morning. He held my hand too tightly as we walked into a market, then down an alley. We never returned to that border again.
And we’d always avoided men with authority after that, no matter how nicely they smiled.
I pressed my lips together and gave Fásach a single nod. “I understand.”
He let my arm go with reluctance as Misila pulled him into their room, even while his eyes remained fastened to mine.
“We’ll get settled,” he said as she tugged on his shirt, “then I’ll come find you.”
“Okay.”
The door between us slid shut and my heart skipped.
“Miss him already?” Traveler teased.
I blinked up at the captain, thinking about how I should answer, but he rolled off the wall and sauntered down the passage without waiting for one. I followed on his heels, listening to the Mummer again now that it was quiet.
“Your room,” Traveler said with a flourish as the next door opened.
“All of this is just for me?” I asked with excitement. A long, slender bed took up the entire length of the room on one side. There were four shelves, a printing bay, and a wardrobe set in the wall large enough to clean an outfit and a pair of shoes.
Compared to Fásach’s home it was very small, but for just one person, surely it was big.
Traveler seemed amused as I stepped into the room two paces, bumped up against the bed, and turned to smile at him. “Thank you, Captain Traveler.”
He smirked. “Just Traveler. Nearly forgot the most important feature.” He joined me and the door closed. There was just enough room for him to lean over my shoulder and open a cabinet above the pillow. He withdrew a charging cable and waggled it from side to side, his chuckle warming my shoulder. “Won’t get far without this, will you?”
I took the cable in my palms.
“Is it compatible? It doesn’t look the same as my previous one.”
Traveler leaned into my cheek with lidded eyes and a flirtatious grin tugging at his mouth.
“No clue. Why don’t you take off that hood and show me your hardware?”
I gave him a sideways glance.
“Fásach told me to say fuck off if someone asked me to take off my clothing.”
The captain bit his black lip with shiny gold teeth. “Fascinating.”
“What is?”
“You’re coded to take instruction and yet you don’t.”
I gripped the charging cable until my knuckles were white. “I’m not just a doll. I’m human.”
“Are you?” Traveler tapped my forehead. “Could have fooled me.”
My brow creased. “I have living code. I’m alive.”
The captain’s teasing aura dissipated. He held me captive with a straight face and unblinking eyes. “Not quite. Your download corrupted, didn’t it?”
“How did you—”
He traced my brows with his matte black fingers. “I can take care of that for you. Fix up the intrusive brain fry that lets your originator’s memories seep through your LMem. Repair corrupted files...” He looked at my mouth, too still to be breathing as his hand tested the edge of my thermophobic hood. “I can even correct your pesky sensory input control. No more overload. Wouldn’t that be a relief?”
I pushed his hand away. “No thank you.” Then my expression brightened. “Oh! But I’d love access to databases to fill in my data gaps. I don’t know anything about Fásach’s species, and I’d really like—”
Traveler burst into laughter as he leaned back, cutting off my sentence. “You’d prefer to stay broken?”
“I’m not broken,” I insisted. “I’m just me, and I like it that way. It comes with some inefficiencies, but I think I can make up for it in other ways. That’s what other humans do.”
“And how do you know that?”
I kept quiet. Would I have the same conversation my entire life? Yes, my unit was only a matter of days old, but my memories had been alive for much longer. Did that delegitimize my existence just because I was out of sync?
“The same way you or anyone else does.”
Traveler tilted his head at me. “Ah, so you think we’re the same.”
I hugged myself, unsure. “Aren’t we…?”
The captain paused, searching my face as he rubbed his index finger and thumb together. The Mummer’s deep hum rolled through the room a little louder than before. It was a thoughtful sound. Sentient.
“I’m a biognostic. I was born on a planet called Eruditia as a tiny scrap of coding and cobbled myself together as I grew,” he explained. “I’m not human at all. Not even a little bit. And I’m very much not a doll or clone.”
“But you look human.”
He shrugged. “I get bored keeping the same casing and humans are trendy.”
“So you get to choose what you are?” I hedged.
“Sure.”
[Calculation] I sat down on my bed, arms wrapped beneath my chest. “Then I’m not a doll or a clone either. I’m human. I don’t care if that’s not how I was born, I choose who I am,” I said with conviction. “Just like you.”
Traveler smiled with a deep, adoring sigh. “Alright, fine! You’re human. How could I insist otherwise? I so rarely see your brand of purity, and it’s a lethal combination.”
“Lethal?”
“Mm,” he confirmed. “A deadly weapon wrapped in such a sweet package.” He ran his black tongue across the bottoms of his gold teeth. “Delicious enough to eat.”
“Do biognostics eat?” I wondered.
His smile spread into a wolfish grin.
“Not food.”
“Then we are definitely different. I have a universal digestive system.”
Traveler bit his lower lip again as if he was trying not to giggle, and the door whooshed open. Fásach stood in the entrance, eyes wide and ears swiveled forward with attention. He was slightly breathless as he nodded to me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” I assured him. Safia peeked around his hip, and he brushed his hand over her little spires.
“I told you to wait in the room,” he murmured gently.
“But I was worried.” She grimaced at Traveler with suspicion. “He’s creepy.”
The captain clutched at his chest with a sharp yelp and doubled over in pain. I gasped as he fell to his knees in front of the little girl.
“Are you okay?!” I yelled, reaching for his shoulder in shock.
“Oh, the pain!” he wailed in agony, lifting his face to Safia’s with both hands clasped. “How could such a beautiful girl kill me so ruthlessly? Creepy, she says!”
“What?” Safia burst into laughter, her mandibles flaring with amusement. Heart in my throat, I looked between them, wide-eyed and indignant.
“He’s dying! Why are you laughing?” I asked in a panic.
To my horror, Safia pushed his shoulder and he rolled over dead, a pointed black tongue lolling out of his mouth. I gasped, covering my face in abject horror. Tears popped from the corners of my eyes as the loss of the captain hit me like a battering ram.
Then I heard Fásach’s chuckle. Rough, growly, and hesitant. He put his hand on the side of my hood, asking me to look up at him. “Don’t worry, Roz. He’s fine.”
“Stop stealing my limelight,” Traveler warned out of the side of his mouth. Confusion creased my brow.
“But he’s… he’s dead. He said it hurt.”
Fásach crouched over Traveler’s body across from me as Safia poked him.
“They’re playing. He’s alright, Roz.”
“Ouch! Hey,” the captain whined at the venandi girl. “Careful, this casing is expensive and soft.”
“Yeah, too soft,” she laughed.
I poked Traveler’s cheek, and he opened his eyes, catching mine with a wink. “Children love to be in charge.”
“Oh…” My voice was small. “Are all children this violent?”
Traveler raised his brows at Fásach, passing off the answer to the father in the room. He winced, one ear twitching.
“Pretty much.”
When he scratched Safia’s spires with affection, warmth overwhelmed my sense of confusion. Traveler sat up with a groan, planted his forearms on his knees, and nodded to my hood.
“The cable will adapt to whatever port you have,” he said, referring to the charging cable I’d discarded on the bed. “As for data gaps, I can give you broad access to public servers. Just don’t go fishing through the Mummer.” He leaned in with a serpentine rattle of caution beneath his words. “I’ll know if you do.”
Excitement bubbled through me despite the warning. “I understand.”
“Have you decided on a price?”
Fásach was tense as he asked the question, muscular jaw ticked with apprehension. We all got to our feet, and Traveler dusted himself off before answering.
“The Mummer will take what it’s owed when the time comes. Don’t worry over it right now,” he said, patting Fásach’s shoulder. “As for me? It’s just nice having your girls onboard. Makes me think of Pomahrutvi. I miss that brat.” He leaned in close to Fásach’s ear, tickling his fur. “But don’t ever tell her that. Little girls like them burrow their way into your heart and never leave, you know?”
Fásach chuffed. “Thank you, Captain.”
“Nonsense.” Traveler dusted himself off and slid by my friend on his way out. “As long as no one I like dies, this will be highly entertaining.”
Fásach watched him go, then rubbed his thick palm on Safia’s head. “Go hang out with Misila.”
“Yeah, okay,” she said. She looked up at me as if weighing her choices, then headbutted my hip. “See ya.”
“See… see you?” I blinked after her as the door shut, scouring my databases for venandi behaviors like headbutting. Fásach cleared his throat.
“It’s a yiwreni thing. Family members do it. You don’t have to wear that hood on the Mummer, by the way. You were just such an obvious target in the markets,” he shuffled back a step towards the wardrobe, leaned his shoulders against its door, and crossed his arms. “Did you tell Trav to fuck off?”
I beamed and nodded once. “Yes!”
He grinned. “Did it feel good?”
“Yes, but…” I pulled the thermophobic hood off my head with a relieved sigh as my thick mane sprang back into shape. Massaging my fingers into my scalp, I alleviated every itch with a groan. “Not as good as this.”
Fásach’s grin fell as he watched me. He held out his hand, claws tensed with a glance at my silk. “Go on. If you want,” he said thickly. My eyes widened.
“Really?”
He nodded, and [Priority] I ducked my head beneath his fingers, sliding his sharp claws into the back of my silk, tickling the follicles along my neck. I leaned into it, moving my head this way and that, trying to nudge those heavenly little points into the curls behind my ears.
“I got us off Huajile,” he murmured, holding his claws still for me to use as I saw fit. “This is your last chance to bail, Roz. If you can’t get us to Renata…” He chuffed, wide nostrils flaring open. “The point is, I won’t blame you if you lied. I can figure something out.”
I lifted my face, looking up the span of his narrow chest to where he looked down at me, ears silhouetted against the overhead light. “Oh, no. I can definitely get us there. Besides, my coding only allows for omission, not lying.”
Then I cocked my head. Would I be able to lie if I tried?
“Ask me if my silk is blonde,” I said. Fásach’s ear twitched.
“Are your tresses blonde?”
“Yes.” I gasped. “Yes!” I pointed at my own mouth with shock. “I lied!”
“You did,” Fásach admitted thoughtfully. “Do it again. Something true, then something false.”
“Hmm.” I tapped my cheek. “Traveler gave me access to public servers, so while I’m charging, I’m going to fill in some of my data gaps.”
Fásach leaned his face to the side. “True.”
“And the first thing I’m going to learn is how to swim.”
“False.” His blue eyes twinkled. “So what are you going to learn for real?”
I pulled the charger into my lap and crossed my legs. “I’m going to learn about you. Then I’ll learn about Yaspur.” I held up the cable to him. “Would you plug me in? I’ve never done it myself.”
Fásach knelt on the bed and leaned behind me. Shivers raced down my spine and up into my scalp as he pushed my silk aside to expose the port on my neck. “Thank you,” he murmured, a little chirrup at the back of his throat. “It means a lot that you’d learn about what I am.”
The connector sank into my spine with a coppery aftertaste in my mouth. I grabbed Fásach’s wrist before he clicked it into its lock, when I wouldn’t be able to speak anymore.
“I never got the chance to tell my originator that I was thankful that she chose me. So I want you to know, I’m thankful that you let me choose you, Fásach. That also means a lot to me.”
My fingers drifted off his wrist and he clicked the charging cable in place. [Conditioning unit for charge…] My face returned to its neutral position—a soft, relaxed smile—and Fásach crouched in front of me. He stared into my eyes and waved his hand, testing if I was still with him.
A moment of fear passed through me. Hot venandi breath, wandering hands…
When he decided I was absent, he sighed with a rush and rested his forehead against my knee.
“I was so worried Trav was gonna try to—” he choked off his words, sigh seeping into my leg with a humid puff of air. I wanted to offer him my nails, even if they were blunt compared to his claws. To run them through his fur and caress the shell of his big round ears until he was relaxed.
It’s okay. I’m fine. Traveler was nice.
His head lulled to the side and though I was looking out the open door into the hallway, I thought I felt his eyes on mine. He considered me, and the points of his impressive teeth brushed my thigh as he smiled.
“You’re not a doll. No fucking way.”
My heart skipped, even though he wasn’t really speaking to me. His voice was a murmur, almost a purr.
Thank you for seeing me.
“Good night, Roz.” He huffed a self-deprecating laugh. “I guess I’ll ask if you like waking up to the lights on or off next time.”
Then he left the lights on and returned to his daughters.
My newfound power to lie creeped into my thoughts. Maybe I wouldn’t tell Fásach that I remained awake while charging. I liked his unfiltered words and how they filled me with warmth. Rosy had many intimate memories, but these were mine alone, and I would cherish them.
Despite having no control over my features, I still felt as if I were smiling.