Chapter 2
TWO
The dross were loose.
The group of them came to an abrupt stop in the hallway in front of me, the myriad of colors of their skin making them look like a bouquet of flowers from the Noscaryn home world, not that I'd ever seen those flowers in person.
I'd only ever seen those luscious shades of creams and browns in videos purloined from that culture and stashed away.
My missions were not into Noscaryn space, as that wasn't my infiltrator designation.
The dross in the front was the most lovely creature I'd ever seen.
She had thick lashes, large eyes, and full lips.
Her hair was pulled back in large braids along her scalp, with a slight frizz to them that made them look fuzzy.
Her physical features were very nice, but what was most attractive about her was the way she stood, her hands on her hips, slightly in front of all the others as she stared back at me with a calculating look in her eyes.
Biological suppression initiated.
That cool familiar feeling washed through me as my interest faded away, chemically suppressed by the implant triggered by my control unit in response to my attraction.
I wasn't sure what to do.
Plexus Command had gone silent, which didn't bode well.
The last orders that had me running across the ship to deal with an incursion in the docking bay had been abruptly canceled, leaving me standing and waiting for new instructions.
In the case of Plexus Command being unavailable, my control chip had a basic set of orders.
I had to defend the ship, attempt to retake it if it broke free, or find my way to a different Plexus Command if I became separated from the ship.
None of those orders told me what to do with the dross running loose.
As long as they didn't attempt to take control of the ship, attack, or interfere directly with my standing orders, it would ignore them for the time being.
"Is that one of the aliens?" one of the dross in the back of the group asked. "He looks like a human."
I was smaller than the standard units in terms of visible muscular density, but I was still taller than this collection of dross.
"Who are you?" the loveliest of the dross demanded, her voice calm and cool.
I waited a hundredth of a second, surprised that no boxes flashed around her face. Normally when interacting with aliens, my internal system identified signs of emotional states and outward expressions of intent.
It failed to latch on to any in her tone or physical expression.
I didn't see any reason why not to answer, but before I could tell them my designation and purpose, one of the other dross changed the situation.
"If he's a human, he might be willing to help us take control of the ship," one of the dross in the back muttered.
"No one speak," the loveliest of the dross snapped out, her instincts correct, if a little too slow. Despite the crispness of her tone, no emotional identifying boxes flashed. "My name is Adesewa, and I am the one who speaks for this group. Who are you and what are your intentions towards us?"
None of the other dross spoke up after that, and their eyes all darted back and forth from Adesewa to me, so it was clear her words were true and that she was the leader of the group.
A single red square flashed around her face and body, labeling her as a hostile leader. My control chip had registered the earlier statement of intent to take over the ship.
No weapons detected, I told my control chip as I immediately changed the label, removing the word hostile before it could trigger me to attack the dross. I relabeled them back to their original flag: Valuable cargo.
My control chip queried Plexus Command for review.
Plexus Command unavailable, my control chip reported, just as it had done when I stopped receiving new orders.
Accept label, I told it.
Label accepted but flagged for review upon reconnection, my control chip replied.
Without feedback from Plexus Command to counteract my decision, it accepted the label I applied to Adesewa, but I was left with a clear problem.
I had no clear instructions, but these dross had expressed intention to try to take over the ship, which would put them in immediate danger if they caught the attention of the ship itself, or if they expressed enough of a hostile sentiment for my control chip to label them as hostiles.
I wanted to keep them safe.
Not just safe from the ship, or from me, but safe from being recaptured. I knew exactly what was in store for these dross if Plexus command regained control.
I stared at the long, lovely braids framing the face of the one called Adesewa.
If she were used to create an infiltrator unit, the maintenance of that hair would be deemed an unnecessary task, and her hair would be cut short like the rest of us until it was time for her to be sent on a mission.
That fierce spark in her eyes, that tilt of her chin as she managed to look down her nose at me even as I towered above her.
There was a fire there that didn't exist inside any unit I knew.
I didn't want her to not exist anymore.
I wanted to help her escape.
I could find a way to work around the constraints of my control chip. Perhaps I could lead them to the docking bay where the deployment shuttle was and place them there for safekeeping.
I would just need to get far enough away that I couldn't hear them start up the shuttle to leave. With Plexus Command down, there was nothing to coordinate with, nothing to trigger my control chip but my own limited senses.
It was lucky that I was a Taygetan infiltrator unit and Taygetans looked so similar to their species. All I had to do was convince them I was one of them.
"I am a human," I said, giving them my best smile. "I am here to help you."