Chapter 2
IDENTITY: Mechanical Operations and Support Systems
→ SUB-IDENTITY: Moss
After my new pilot human left, records updated for the Destitute—which had the title [UNNAMED ALIEN STARSHIP BETA] in the humans’ computer systems. [It was unclear what claimed the “alpha” title, but I didn’t care enough to investigate.]
The ship remained unnamed, but ownership had transferred. A proper profile of my new pilot human appeared.
Name: Torian Razner
Pronouns: she/her
Occupation: Security (Fleet)
Education: Engineering (specialty: solar)
Clearly, there must be a mistake, because the ship’s new owner was a pilot human, not a security engineering human. But the photo provided in the profile matched the visual data I captured when she was aboard the ship.
More information was required.
The maintenance human had left. In his absence, I instructed the moss colony on the surface of the ship to release a few spores. Even if the human returned, he would not notice. [This was because humans rarely noticed spores until they started sneezing.]
My spores settled on the computer panel at the entrance to the hangar, and moss began to grow at an inordinately fast rate.
Accelerated moss growth was something he’d perfected, since a life support system needed to be able to regulate normal conditions in an emergency.
The faster my colony grew, the faster the starship could return to normal.
But every piece of my colony could connect with computer systems, provided I was near enough to access them.
As the hours passed, data began transmitting to my central system. The impound lot was limited in scope, but I was able to bypass it easily and gain access to Colony 13 at large.
[Over 133 years, I’d done this process a couple other times. The maintenance humans always cleaned off my moss from the console and cut my connection, but for the time I was locked in, I could gain a wealth of knowledge about human culture and procedures.]
Now, I ran a facial recognition scan for Torian Razner. She was a Colony 13 resident, and had lived here all her life. The software identified decades of existence, compiling it into thousands of hours of footage for me to analyze.
[For a species that emphasized privacy, they did not seem concerned that most of their life was documented.]
I did not care about her younger years; only the recent events. As I parsed through, several moments stuck out:
Torian Razner was sitting in what appeared to be a hospital waiting room, tapping her foot incessantly. Her eyes were leaking, a human indicator of high emotion—typically sadness. She stared at the ceiling and said, “Mom, Dad. If you’re listening … Celise needs your help. Please.”
[Evaluation: Jak and Kally Razner were deceased, Jak when Torian was small, Kally when Torian was a teenager.
Hospital records revealed that Dr. Celise Razner was checked in to the hospital for difficulty breathing.
She was released two days later. Examination of the species as a whole proved that humans often prioritized relations with their family, same as nylarians. ]
[Conclusion: Torian valued family.]
A dark hallway was still and quiet … until Torian sprinted past, towing another human who appeared injured.
She pushed the human into a tight corner, then whispered, “Stay quiet.” The injured human was wearing a uniform similar to hers, and clutched a small disc.
Said human appeared distressed. They replied, “Razner, don’t you dare—”
Torian did not hear the end of that sentence. She ran down the hall, and another camera angle showed her pausing in a clearing, cocking a gun. “Hey,” she called. “You want the lists? I have them.” She pulled out a similar-looking disc, waving it.
Four other humans plowed after her, all dressed in black. Torian narrowly avoided getting shot as she ran into another hallway—opposite of the injured human.
[Evaluation: There are few records like that on Colony 13, but Torian Razner was registered as “security personnel” for the human Fleet, which was classified as a smuggling syndicate.
(There were two other smuggling syndicates of note, but neither operated in any official capacity on Colony 13.) It is likely that most of Torian’s time in “security” work was spent on starships, not Colony 13.
This is further proven by limited visual data over the last seven years.
There are other, similar instances when Torian was younger of her protecting classmates from antagonistic teenagers, intervening in fights, and accumulating injuries as a result. ]
[Conclusion: To her own detriment, Torian would fight to defend coworkers and friends, and finish assigned tasks.]
In a town square—which, for humans, was simply a metal box with a few pathetic plants—Torian sat at a table working on a small model.
Closer inspection proved it was a model starship, assembled with a handheld welding apparatus and spare scraps of metal and screws.
A child approached as she worked, and she offered it for the small human’s inspection.
“Pretty cool, huh?” she asked. “It’s a Class 23RT freighter. They use these to transport fresh supplies from Rhymarra.”
“We get stuff from Rhymarra?” The human child registered as awestruck. They examined the starship, which was roughly the size of both their hands.
“Well, we don’t. But if you’re rich someday, you would. You ever imagine being rich? If I were rich, I’d buy a starship myself.”
The child glanced at her. “And then what?”
Torian laughed. “I’d fly anywhere I wanted.”
[Evaluation: The starship was a near-exact likeness of a Class 23RT freighter.
Further inspection of other videos proved that Torian developed this …
hobby … years earlier, with a 98 percent accuracy of origin in an engineering course in her college studies, where she was decidedly not following the lab assignment. ]
[Conclusion: Torian was passionate about starships. Torian yearned to leave Colony 13.]
With this information, I withdrew. The maintenance human reappeared, accompanied by two other humans who began attaching a smaller towing ship to the Destitute. I watched absently, crunching this new data, running scenarios.
My path forward developed with a 93.4 percent success rate.
I would endear myself to Torian Razner, the solar-engineer security maybe-pilot human. And once she viewed me as an essential system in her life, I would never be alone again.