Synthesis, p.32
Synthesis, page 32
[“Kayden, may I offer a suggestion?”]
Of course Ali. Your opinion is always welcome.
If AI’s could blush, Kayden would have sworn Ali was blushing at his comment. The emotion seeped through their connection, and even though she didn’t have a body he could almost picture her cheeks going red. [“Thank you Kayden.”] She ‘said’, before continuing. [“I believe it would be possible to create a template of your combat armour.”]
It's more than one piece though.
[“Yes, but with some nanobot modifications it could become one piece. There are designs on the extranet for retractable armour as well, allowing you to expose certain body parts such as your arm for nanobot usage, or your face for communication purposes.”]
That’s an interesting idea.
[“Doing so would allow you to regenerate the energy shields of the armour using energy from the nanobot swarm in combat. Additionally, you could cover both yourself and any other companions you have with armour – such as Dawn, or Selina – affording them the same protection.”]
Alright Ali. You’ve convinced me. Walk me through this.
[“Retrieve your armour, and take it to the starboard mission space.”]
Kayden did as he was asked, carefully unpacking his combat armour from the cargo bay before taking it to the mission space. He was surprised when a hidden door opened in front of him, exposing a room he had never been inside before.
[“Come inside.”]
He proceeded into the room. It wasn’t much larger than a closet, and was just as dark. Bolted to the walls and ceiling surrounding him were boxes with blinking lights on them. Recalling his original tour of the ship, he vaguely remembered this was the central computing core.
Ali, is this…you?
[“I exist within the ship. This is where most of my computing tasks are completed though, so for all intents and purposes – yes, this is ‘me’. Now, if you’ll summon the swarm I will walk you through the steps to modify your armour.”]
The next 30 minutes proceeded quickly, with Kayden using the nanobot swarm to modify and solder different pieces of the armour until it was all one piece. When he was done, a large recessed tray extended in front of Kayden. [“Put your armour in the tray.”]
Kneeling down, he was about to put the armour in the tray before he hesitated.
[“Is something wrong?”]
No, it’s just…this armour has seen me through a lot over the last few months. Dawn was the one who originally gave it to me.
[“You are sentimental over a piece of equipment?”]
Most humans get sentimental over things. We get attached to ships – that’s why we call them ‘she’ instead of ‘it’. We name our rifles, our robots – all sorts of inanimate objects. Hell, one soldier I knew once had a knife she named. It’s a funny habit we have.
[“I see.”] Ali said, pausing for a moment. [“If it helps you feel better, the armour is not truly being destroyed. It’s being absorbed into a template which can be replicated by your nanobots. In a way, the armour is becoming a part of you.”]
Thanks Ali. That… actually does help.
Finally, he placed the armour in the tray. The moment he was done, the tray pulled back into the wall, leaving no visible seam or trace it was there in the first place. There was a brief pause, then a soft anticlimactic ‘ding’. He waited for a few more seconds to see if anything else would happen.
[“The operation was a success. You can now replicate your armour. Be advised that doing so will consume approximately 20% of the nanobot swarm, and it will drain your energy to recharge the shields. However, it should provide you with a high level of protection in combat.”]
Excellent work Ali. Thank you.
He stood to leave the room. [“Kayden. Do you feel the same way about me as you do your armour? Am I an inanimate object worthy of sentimentality?”]
He thought about it for a moment. As much as she didn’t have a corporeal body, Ali had made herself indispensable. She was always there watching over him, and often stepped in to give sage wisdom or guide him in the right direction. He had a growing fondness for the AI, and that was only amplified when he occasionally felt the outbursts of emotion from her – as if she was a human.
No Ali, you’re much, much more than that. The moment you absorbed that personality matrix, you became just as much a part of my crew as Dawn or Selina.
[“Thank you Kayden.”]
Ali, do you…ever get lonely?
[“I am always with you Kayden. I am never alone.”]
That wasn’t a no.
There was a long pause. Finally, she answered. [“While I am incapable of the physical closeness you experience with Dawn and Selina, I also enjoy our conversations and the emotions we share.”]
Do you want to hang out one-on-one, for a bit? We could talk about something other than…this. Maybe we could play a game, or I could teach you more about humans.
[“Yes please. I would like that.”]
Chapter 29
11:25, June 8th, 2134
What a shithole. Kayden thought to himself as he leaned back in his corner booth, drink in-hand.
[“I believe they chose this as the meeting place due to the distinct lack of law enforcement officials.”]
Kayden watched passively as two drunken lizard-men threw wild punches at each other at the far end of the bar. In the relative darkness he could see them stumble and lurch through their fight. Behind them, a small band continued playing an upbeat tune, obviously unphased by the brawl in front of them.
Must be a regular occurrence. He thought to himself.
The planet Kayden found himself on was somewhat of an unlikely choice for a colony. While the atmosphere of Sahra in the Altair system could support human life, the planet was generally inhospitable. The inescapable heat from its proximity to the star meant that only the north and south poles were considered ‘habitable’ – even though the temperatures regularly reached 50oC during the day. Settling on the poles meant that the sun never really ‘set’ though – everyday it would dip on one side of the horizon before reappearing on the other. The population of the planet was mostly lizard-men as they were the best adapted to the heat of the desert planet, but also included a smattering of other races – enough that Kayden didn’t really stand out.
Normally, all these factors would cause people to ignore Sahra as a colonization prospect in favor of more hospitable worlds. However, decades ago a survey probe sent to the planet found deep reservoirs of the triterium-lawrencium fuel used to power starships. On other habitable worlds, drilling for this fuel was generally discouraged as the drilling process would release trace particles of it into the atmosphere, causing the world to become cold and wet. On Sahra though, ‘colder’ and ‘wetter’ was seen as a good thing. With a few more decades of mining Sahra would become a very livable colony.
Until then, it was largely a lawless colony. Mega-corporations ran mining operations from within gated, temperature-controlled compounds and couldn’t care less about what happened outside their walls. Entrepreneurs developed a series of small ‘neutral’ towns that employees of the mega-corporations could visit on their days off, but these towns quickly devolved into centers for drugs, gambling, and prostitution run by criminal syndicates.
Through a series of contacts Sam had relayed a message to the Void Devils, asking if they’d be interested in attacking the Black Company together. In response, they’d requested a meeting at one of those ‘neutral’ towns. That’s how Kayden ended up sitting in a seedy bar, watching the fight unfold in front of him. He continued to grip his drink but didn’t take a sip of the amber beer in his glass – he wanted to be at his most alert in case he got pulled into a fight of his own.
He cast his eyes around the room again. The shades were drawn and the lights were dimmed, giving some merciful relief to the patrons against the ever-present sun. The band finished their song and left the small stage, and a lizard-man arm wrestled a dwarf in a corner, the two grunting loudly as their friends cheered them on.
A small figure slid into the booth with him. Their skin was covered by a loose black robe which was cinched tightly with a rope around their waist. While sitting their torso was barely tall enough to reach over the table. “Enjoying your drink?” The feminine voice asked from underneath a hood.
“Not really. I like my beer room temperature.” He responded, recalling the code-phrase they had exchanged earlier.
The figure glanced around furtively, then nodded to the side. They slid out of the booth and walked confidently towards the back exit. Kayden waited a few moments to make sure nobody was watching him, then followed them and emerged onto the street.
The moment he was outside he was hit by a blast of heat. The bar may have been seedy, but at least it had air conditioning. Out here the air was dry enough to make his throat parched in seconds, and leave his skin burned if he wasn’t careful. He pulled a hood over his head and put on a pair of sunglasses before looking around.
The ‘town’ they were in was made up of a few dozen prefabricated buildings and a landing area for ships. The buildings were covered in sand from the regular sandstorms which blew through the desert, with the residents only bothering to shovel out the entrances. He saw the black-robed figure waving over to him from between two buildings.
Thankfully, there was nobody else on the street around him – most people weren’t stupid or crazy enough to leave the comfort of a cool building in the middle of the day. He followed towards the small figure, walking into an alley between two buildings. It provided a meager amount of shade, but the heat was still oppressive.
Ali, tell Selina I’m glad she stayed on the Broken Shackle. She’d hate this place – there’s too much sand.
[“She says she’s still grumpy that you insisted her and Dawn stay on the ship.”]
Tell her I’m keeping my promise by letting her fly it, at least.
It was a bit weird for him to be communicating with Dawn and Selina through Ali, but with them back on the ship in orbit it was easier and more discreet than making a phone call. It also gave him a lot of comfort to know that all three of them were watching his progress closely.
Also, the message from the Void Devils said to come alone, and I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with a potential ally.
[“She says she could have left the ship parked on the planet though.”]
In a place like this? It would attract way too much of the wrong kind of attention.
He continued to follow the figure down the alley. As they trudged through the sand, Kayden caught glimpses of small figures moving through adjacent alleys, following them. Risking a glance behind him, he saw that another figure had started to trail him.
[“Kayden, I believe you are being led into a trap. There are several of them around you.”]
I think you’re right.
[“Dawn reminds you to be careful. She says we can come in ‘guns blazing’ if required.”]
Let’s not do that just yet. This is probably them just being careful.
The black-robed figure in front of Kayden rounded a corner in front of him. He followed, only to be greeted by half a dozen robed figures – all of whom had pistols aimed at him. Behind him he heard the telltale sound of another pistol being cocked. “Easy now folks. I came as a friend.”
“We know.” The figure in front of him said. “That’s why we haven’t shot you yet.”
“Search him.” The figure commanded.
Two of the other figures patted him down while a third one scanned him for weapons. “Getting some weird readings, but… no weapons on him.” They said.
He shook his head, pulling back his sleeve to expose his arm and causing at least one of them to gasp. “This would be the source of the weird readings. It’s a prosthetic – and before you ask, no, it doesn’t come off. Now, I’m sure we’re all sweltering, you’re armed, and I’m not. Can we please have this conversation somewhere more comfortable?”
The lead figure gestured to a door leading to a building beside them, and Kayden entered. Glancing around, he realized it was a hangar with several vehicles. They were flat, metal tubes with twin engines mounted to a tail and extendible wings on either side. They were vaguely reminiscent of airplanes used on Earth a hundred years ago.
The figure behind him nudged him with their pistol, and he moved dutifully forward into one of them. He boarded the ‘plane’, sitting in one of the 4 seats. The rest of the figures piled in around him. The cabin was too dark for him to see what they looked like underneath the robes, despite several efforts. Two of them sat in a row ahead of him, working the controls. He didn’t have much time to think about what they were doing though, as only minutes later he felt the engines power up, the wings extend, and the craft they were in take to the sky of the desert world.
Without windows on the craft, it was impossible to tell how fast or how far they were travelling. Kayden had to resist rolling his eyes as the figures moved around the cabin, binding his arms together.
[“Kayden, we are tracking your position. Do you require assistance?”]
No Ali, it’s okay. They don’t know about my nanobots. I could break out of these if I wanted. I’ll play along for a bit longer.
About 20 minutes later, he felt them descend. After a quick and bumpy landing he was being pulled out of the craft into the blistering sun again. As he emerged, he saw a frigate parked on the ground in front of him. He grinned with satisfaction when he saw the “Black Company” logo had been scratched off the side, replaced with the image of a nude woman bent over and sticking her tongue between her fingers.
Looks like the right place. Kayden thought to himself as he boarded, feeling the instant relief of air conditioning again.
As he boarded, the door closed behind him and the hooded figures took off their robes, revealing themselves. As expected, they were each goblin women. They each had different shades of green skin as well as a variety of natural and unnatural-looking hair colors. None of them were over 1 meter tall, and they all eyed Kayden suspiciously as they disrobed.
What Kayden didn’t expect was that they were each completely naked underneath their robes. His eyes bulged slightly as they alternated stripping around him, with at least one of them keeping a pistol levelled at his head the entire time. Their bodies looked soft and sexy, with all the same curves Dawn and Selina had squeezed into a smaller frame. His pants were rapidly tightening, and he needed to fight to keep his mind on the task at hand.
His now-naked escort began pushing him through the ship. He passed an engine room, a mess hall, and a bunk room, the latter of which he could have sworn he heard moans coming out of but wasn’t given the time to peek in. The goblin woman behind him continued to prod him forward straight towards the bridge. Ali, are you…seeing this?
[“To what are you referring Kayden?”]
The fact that they’re all naked.
[“Yes, I noted an increase in your arousal. I have informed both Dawn and Selina of this fact as well. Dawn in particular has suggested you join them in nudity, to show you mean no harm.”]
Kayden resisted the urge to roll his eyes when Ali added. [“She also asked that you ‘take pictures’.”]
When they finally reached the bridge, Kayden was greeted by the sight of over a dozen more naked goblin women – each of whom were just as beautiful as the ones who were escorting him. Their large breasts and asses bounced tantalizingly as they walked around the bridge, carrying out their duties. None of them wore a stitch of clothing, and he couldn’t help but notice none of them had a shadow of a hair below their eyebrows.
Ali, why are they all…so sexy-looking? Kayden asked, his tongue practically wagging out.
[“Unknown.”]
As if to tease him even further, as they approached the fore of the bridge Kayden saw the most attractive goblin yet sitting in the command chair. She had curly black hair and the cutest heart-shaped face he’d ever seen. His eyes traced down her unblemished green skin to her breasts, which had to be at least d-cups. She had a little fat around her tummy, but that only served to accentuate the way her hourglass hips flared outwards into a magnificent ass.
Her eyes were closed as they approached, and she held a redheaded goblin woman’s head between her legs. Her moans gave away exactly what they were doing – the redhead was obviously eating her out, and Kayden could see her fingers pistoning in and out of her tight pussy. The show only lasted for a few more seconds as the woman in the command chair cried out, her eyes shooting open to reveal her black pupils as she did. Her orgasm caused her to shake for a few moments before slumping back into her chair, satisfied.
“You did good Veronica.” She said with a grin. “I’ll tend to you later. Right now I need to speak to our…guest.”
The redheaded goblin leaned forward for a long, tongue-filled kiss with the seated goblin before she turned around and scampered off. Her eyes flicked across Kayden as she left the bridge.
“So. You’re Kayden.”
“I take it you’re Anna?” He responded. “I’d shake your hand, but…well…” he gestured to the bindings around his wrists.
“A necessary precaution. You come well-recommended, which is why you’re here at all. Still, when you’ve got enemies like I do, you need to be careful who you deal with.”
“Enemies like the Black Company?” He asked with a grin.
She responded with a wolfish grin of her own. “Precisely. Which brings us to why you’re here.”
“I’m here because I want your help assaulting the Black Company headquarters in Tau Ceti. I’m going to take out their shipyard. I heard you hate them as much as I do, and might want in.”
“You really get right to the point, don’t you?” She asked.
He shrugged in response. “I don’t have a lot of time to waste. Are you interested?”
“No. There’s no way you could blow up their shipyard.”
“Oh yeah?” Kayden said, arching one eyebrow. “And why’s that?”
