After one wild ride, the ship flung itself into a stop. The dampeners absorbed most of the thrust, but struggled with the counter to slow the vessel down. "I apologize." Singularity said after the ship had finally stopped. "It's no fault o' yours, blame the Council for being the greedy pigs they are." Bahasa said after regaining his breath. "Open the shield, please." asked Goran, standing alert. Singularity complied, and the metal doors that covered the front viewing window slid open, revealing the tan-brown rim of a clearly desert planet, and a huge wheel-like space station hovering above.
They crept nearer, wary of whether the station would respond to them in a hostile manner or not. A voice crackled over the old communications system, "Unknown vessel, please identify yourself." It was neither hostile nor welcoming. None of the soldiers had ever needed to know how to properly identify themselves to way-stations before, and Izwara was certain the speaker on the other end wouldn't be able to understand her, but Singularity kicked in a latent automated response unintentionally, saving them all the trouble. "This is the transpo-warbird CFS Singularity's Scream, serial SS004569. Requesting permission to dock for fuel and supplies." The comm-unit crackled a few more minutes before a reply came. "Permission granted, please use bay twelve. Welcome to Star City." The sound died as the connection was lost, and they all swayed with the ship as Singularity directed them in.
Once the computer screen signaled they were safely docked, Goran asked Singularity, "How did you know how to respond? Not that I'm ungrateful, mind you..." "I do not know, it was some kind of internal program that kicked on. I could not stop it." "Well, he did use to belong to pirates, you know. With an automated response, they might think the ship was unmanned and thus benign." Sev reasoned, followed by a chuh from Ogdru. "Yeah, until a hundred merciless killers leapt from her bowels, then they'd be in a shitload of trouble." Clearing his throat, Ischyrio cut in. "ANY way, let's get off and explore this place, maybe we can find something to fill our empty and meaningless lives now that the Council has deemed us trash." His voice took a deadpan tone near the end, and he stared in all seriousness at the rest of the crew before bursting out laughing. "Oh, the looks on your... but seriously, let's do find out what this place is about."
Noni looked sadly to the computer. "How can we bring Singularity along? I know how to get it off the ship's computer, but a program on a disk is hardly capable of exploring. Izwara stood in thought for a minute, before clicking so rapidly, even if they had been able to understand what she was saying, it would have been highly difficult. They waited for Singularity to translate. "She knows of a place that makes... robots? Androids... here on the station. Her telaparts have enough spare storage space for me to be uploaded and she can carry me to the shop..." It sounded uncertain as the orchid mantid finished. "I do not know, Izwara. My program file is very large. I suppose if I... deleted a few of the language programs and the programs dealing with crew relations..."
She began to click furiously again, carrying out a conversation with only Singularity. "But that might damage your memory... I do not wish for you to injure yourself...I know it would only be for a few minutes but damage could still be... Oh very well, I see I am not going to dissuade you." Izwara looked as though she were smiling, and indicated for Noni to give her the plug she'd used before. Even if Singularity had yeilded, Nyrugake was reluctant. "I really don't know Izzy, I have telaparts too and I've carried programs and large information files from base to base... it gives you one killer headache." But the mantid was not to be deterred. She just clicked for Noni to begin the download, the bird-shifter didn't need a translation to know that's what she meant.
A massive amount of data flowed into the telaparts Izwara wore, she stiffened and relaxed, sluggishly removing the plug from the port near her neck. "Are... you okay?" Sev asked hesitantly as the mantid rose shakily. She nodded slightly, then nearly toppled over. Goran caught her quickly and nodded to the crew. "Let's get to this android place and hope they have something we can put him in now, before something happens."
They exited the ship and led Izwara through the huge corridors of the station, following signs that pointed in the direction of the commercial deck and the android shop. Goran and Ishie had taken Izwara under each "arm" and were lugging her heavy body through the door when they were accosted by a man wearing a horrid plaid jacket and a huge, false smile. "WELCOME newcomers, to Star City's OWN Androids 'R Us, supplying you with the VERY best of your home convenience droid needs. How can I help YOU today?"
"Er..." Noni was taken aback for a moment. It was a small, shabby store with a few old, simple droids lining the wall. None were of a high processing power themselves, or would have had anything resembling a personality when activated. Probably out-of-date droids programmed with simple house-cleaning programs and the like. "We're fine thanks, just having a bit of a look-see." Sev completed the ave's trailing sentence. "Well DO call if you have any problems, 'kay?" he flashed that false grin again before returning to a stool behind the counter. "Okay Noni, you and Sidda are our aces here. Find us something quick." Ishie remarked under his breath, shifting a still-dazed Izwara on his shoulder.
The pair scanned the rows of proped up droids, some missing limbs, or external body plates altogether, revealing rodent-chewed wires and rusting internal mechanisms. The best looking, aesthetically speaking, was a tiny droid stored in the corner. It had all its limbs, the dull pewter-gray outer plating was in good condition. Sidda moved each joint and nodded, they all functioned. Now came Noni's turn. She plugged a hand-held scanning device into the port on the back of its neck and studied the read-out. "Everything's fine, enough room for its entire program and then some." she whispered quietly to Sidda, who nodded discreetely to Sev.
Bargaining was the key. They had very little to trade, none of them wanted to lose the ship, even if Singularity disliked it so. Ogdru sauntered front and center, stepping greasily past Sev. "So, how much are you offering for that little one in the corner?" The salesman turned and saw the barely three-foot mechanic droid flanked by Sidda and Nyrugake. He shrugged, "That model is one of my newer ones in the store... how about... a thousand credits?" Ogrdu laughed loudly. "A thousand credits for that hunk of steel? Please, I can get two for that price from this place down the corridor. So, if you'll excuse us..." "Wait!" the salesman cried, glancing frantically at the droid. It had been sitting in that corner for a year now, no one wanted it because it was so so small and faintly creepy looking, with a genderless face and huge, black eyes. "I'll give it to you for... 400 credits?" "Make it 250 and you've got a deal." The salesman suck out his hand for Ogdru to shake, "DEAL!"
A few moments later, Izwara was, very happily, downloading Singularity from her own telaparts into the "brain" of the small droid. Noni flipped the switch hidden under it's arm and it whirred to life. A pair of black eyes lit up, then suddenly turned lime green. A familiar voice greeted them, "Thank you, my friends." A smile spread across the surprisingly mobile face, revealing metallic, pointed teeth. "Whoa, no wonder he nearly gave it to us... whoever made this thing was a little weird." Baha said. "Our only problem is, where are we going to get 250 credits?" "I've already settled that matter." Ogdru approached from his final haggling with the salesman. "He'll take whatever's left of the booze we have, and let us pay him the rest in installments." Ischyrio looked horrified. "Surely that's not my spirits you're talking about?" Sev glared at him, "Yes, it is and you better hand it over. Singularity got us here after all, don't you owe him that much?" Ishie slumped, beaten... "I don't see what choice I have." But he continued to mumble under his breath belligerently and moped as Goran and Baha loaded up his solitary half a crate on one of the hoversleds to take it to the salesman.
They reconvened later in the shared crew quarters of their vessel, even the reclusive Illtud came out of hiding, wearing some kind of tattered uniform and actually cleaned for the first time. "Well, what now?" Baha asked. "The ship is completely out of fuel, if you wish to leave it will have to be refueled." Singularity said. It had already begun to differentiate itself from the main ship, since they were no longer dependent on each other. Nyrugake had found an old program used to teach navigation to youngsters in the files section and had successfully altered it into a new navigation system for the ship. It lacked all of Singularity's crew interaction capabilities, but it would get them from point A to B just the same.
Izwara began to click rapidly, Singularity translating for her. "Translation: They have portals on the lower decks that can take you to any known place in the Nexus that you wish to go. We may all part ways now, if you wish." Goran nodded. "Since we aren't exactly wanted by the Council anymore, splitting up for a few months may set them off our trail." Ogdru let out one of his now well known chuh sounds. "I doubt they'd come looking for us anyhow, they're rid of us for good." Sev turned her icy glare on Ogdru this time, "Be that as it may, Goran is right. Perhaps we should separate into pairs for the time being, head to different worlds."
"I would like to stay here." Singularity stated. Silence followed this statement. Ishie spoke for the first time since they'd given away all his booze. "Why do you want to stay here?" It glanced around the common room, then back to the group huddled at the table. "Though I am separate from this ship, I still feel very much a part of it. I could not just leave it behind and go exploring, not just yet anyhow. Star City seems like a wonderful place to start my new life, will all this diversity packed into one station." Izwara began to click again, more hesitantly, "Translation: I should stay with Singularity, it's the only one who can understand me anyway. I can keep an eye on it while we're here. Who knows, maybe we'll even sign up for one of those clutches in the hatching bays we saw earlier." Once it was done translating, Singularity nodded. "I would like that very much, Izwara."
"Well, I can't very well leave the pair of you alone with no protection, I believe I'll be staying here myself." Xhosa said. Her hands kept flitting from one place to another, she had sold at least half of her beloved guns to antique weapon dealers to help with the first installment on Singularity's new body. It made her feel positively naked. "I sure as hell ain't stayin' here, with you guys. You'll be the first one's the Council captures, if indeed they are after us. I'll be finding the farthest tropical island from here." Ogrdu stated, hands on his hips, as if daring anyone to stop him. "No, really Ogdru? You promise?" Noni smirked at the man. "I kinda feel like exploring myself, how about you Sidda?" The felisian looked up from the small necklace she was fiddling with and nodded. She and Nyrugake had forged some kind of friendship over the past few weeks, one was rarely seen without the other.
"So, I assume it's agreed?" Sev asked, standing. Illtud cackled wheezily from the darkness, as much of an answer anyone had ever gotten out of him. "We'll split up, meet back here at Star City in, say, a years time?" A silent nod passed around the table. Then Sidda stood, and draped a necklace around each of their necks, even Ogdru and Illtud. "They're homing beacons. No matter where you are, you'll always be able to find your way back to the ship." Everyone was stunned. They had been stuck in the same ship for a month now, and this was the first time any of them could remember hearing Sidda speak.
"Well, my friends. I suppose this is goodbye."