Once I had eaten, I began to feel a bit better, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling of loneliness. Despite how nervous the idea of going back into the Frontier public made me, I wanted to see Benni, and being around people could at least be a nice distraction. Now that I could walk, I would be able to assess how bad the damage to the ship really was. CDrive malfunctions were nasty, and a lot of systems were down, according to Benni. I would likely be able to fix most of them, but I had to see diagnostics first. Taking a look at the ship’s black box wouldn’t hurt either.

After taking a tablet out of one of the desk drawers, I made my way back up into the public rings of Brock Station. Back into the crowds. The stress of dealing with an unfamiliar space was ameliorated somewhat by the fact that it was in a familiar shape. If I had been from a planet, I would have definitely been freaking out right now. Luckily, I had been moved from station to station a lot. Figuring out another one wouldn’t be too difficult.

Even if Brock Station was more complicated than Ulthea’s stations, Helga was right about the station maps. They were at every junction, and well made. It really was impossible to get lost here. I took a moment to read the first one I saw, looking specifically for the docks. Unfortunately, they were literally everywhere around the station, attached to the outside rings. Five public rings, thirty docks per ring. This was a big station. There had been a number on the door to the dock where the Benevolence had been placed, and I knew it was on the same level as the medbay, but I had still been kind of out of it at the time. According to the map, the Docking Authority office wasn’t too far. They would definitely know where it was. 

Far it was not, but as usual, the walk to the office was more tiring than I anticipated. How did mechanical assistance take more effort? I was an engineer, not a physiologist, so I didn’t have a lot of insight into why that might be the case, but I was definitely focusing on each step a lot more than I would with my own legs. Hopefully this would get easier with practice.

The Docking Authority office was about the size of Helga’s, but there were plenty more people inside.  Some people were sat in chairs along the walls, messing with personal tablets as they waited to be called. A few people were standing in a line for one of the two kiosks at the end of the room. I got in behind them and tried to be as unnoticeable as a woman with mechanical legs, an eyepatch, and a bounty on her head could be. 

It turns out, someone like that is pretty noticeable. The person ahead of me turned around as soon as I got in line behind them. We stared at each other for a moment. Well, I stared into a dark hood, and I assumed that they were staring at me. The hood was pointed in my direction, attached to a long neck, covered in fabric. Flowing robes covered their body, and they wore a toolbelt around what I assumed was their waist. They were about half a foot shorter than me.

Colors pulsed underneath the hood, and to my shock, I began to hear words, despite the fact that they didn’t say anything. “You’re that Ulthean girl, aren’t you?”

Was that their language? Dr. Skisk had mentioned something like this, but I never expected how strange it would feel. I was almost too stunned to respond, but I rallied and said, “Uh, yes. Casey. Hi.”

The hood looked me up and down. “You look like you barely made it,” they pulsed.

I rubbed at one of my horns awkwardly. How was I supposed to respond to that? Did they mean I still looked terrible or were they just commenting on my unfortunately required accessories? Deciding to take the comment at face value, I said, “I, um. Yeah, I almost didn’t.”

“Hmm,” they mused, tilting their hood from side to side. “And you’re working for Urthstripe. I’ve got some routine maintenance on my ship coming up. You think you could calibrate my CDrive?”

“Oh,” I said. Maybe the uniform was a bit too recognizable as well. At least I knew how repair bays worked. “Sorry, I’m not a flux specialist. I also haven’t started yet, so it might be someone else on the schedule when you bring your ship in.”

Their hood stayed dark for a moment as they stared at me. Then, they turned away, but not before I heard them say “So much for Ulthean superiority…”

My face flushed immediately at that, and I straightened up in a combination of shame and knee-jerk anger. There was nothing I felt I could say in response. What in the name of the Blessed was that? Was I just supposed to say ‘oh sure, what dock are you in, I’ll go take a look’? That wasn’t how any business worked!

I took a deep breath. Just relax. I had met plenty of rude customers in my time, it was fine. So much for Ulthean superiority. Silently, I seethed there until it was my turn to approach the desk. The person working there was a Felid with dark grey fur, with a nametag that said ‘Moietta’. Her eyebrows raised upon seeing my face, but they lowered once she saw my jumpsuit. I had a feeling that I just avoided a question I didn’t want to answer.

Moietta took a quick look at her terminal. “Let’s see… Casey Black. How can I help you?” she asked, looking up again. 

“I have a ship in one of the docks on ring three, but I don’t know which,” I replied. “The UAN Benevolence?”

The eyebrows went back up. “You don’t know… Oh, right, yes. Just a moment.”

After a minute, she had found the dock number and handed me a sticky note with the dock code so I could access it. I thanked her, and a few minutes later, I was standing in dock 313. The Benevolence sat just the same way she had a couple of weeks ago, broken and still. I made my way carefully up the cargo ramp and entered the bay.

“Benni?” I called.

After a minute, there was still no response, and I sighed. It was more than likely that the batteries had been damaged when the CDrive malfunctioned, along with other backup power sources. Walking up to the door that connected the cargo bay to the rest of the ship, I punched a few of the buttons, trying to elicit some sort of reaction. Nothing. The cargo bay was starting to feel more like a tomb. Getting into a dead ship wouldn’t be too difficult, and Benni itself would be fine, but… 

“Benni!” I shouted. I don’t know why. It’s not like it would have heard me better. It was just so quiet, I had to fill the space with something.

A flicker, from one of the overhead lights. Then another. I gasped. As the buttons next to me lit up, I heard a familiar phrase spoken through the ship’s PA system.

“Hello, Captain.”

“Oh, thank the Blessed,” I said, resting my forehead against the door. “I’m so glad you turned on.”

“It’s Good To See You As Well.”

The door to the ship opened automatically, and I stepped inside, looking around. Emergency lights cast a dim red glow over everything. Even in the poor lighting, I could see a month’s layer of dust coating every surface. I winced, and headed towards the utility closet. “I’m sorry it took me so long to visit again. I was hurt pretty bad.”

“No Need To Apologize, Captain. I Set Myself To Wake Every Hour In Order To Scan For Your Lifesigns, Which Only Takes Thirteen Nanoseconds. My Cumulative Time Spent Actively Waiting Was Less Than One Minute.”

Carefully stepping over a pile of what seemed to be ceiling material, judging by the hole in it, I let out an amused snort. “You really did that? Why?”

“I Wished To Make Certain Of Your Proximity.”

I paused mid-step for just a moment as I processed what it was saying. “You were seeing if I was nearby?” I asked, unsure what it meant by proximity.

“Ensuring You Were Still On Station.”

My eye nervously swiveled up towards the ceiling, as if Benni was up there, and almost tripped on a loose drawer. I understood what Benni was implying. As safe as I apparently was, I still thought about it myself.

Finding the utility closet, I opened it and rummaged for cleaning supplies. On a shelf, I found a flashlight and clicked it on. “Someone told you I have a bounty, huh?”

“No, Captain, My Net System Is Offline, So I Was Unaware. That Information Has Now Been Logged. Thank you. I Was Referring To A Past Incident Of Crew Kidnapping In My Service History.”

I froze in the middle of pulling out a large box, flashlight held between my teeth. “Ohg. I’hm sorry, Ghenni.”

“Thank You, But There Is Nothing To Apologize For.”

I spat the flashlight out, and it clattered on the ground, shadows dancing across the walls. “Was it a long time ago? I’d be upset if I lost a crewmember like that. I was just offering my condolences.” I set the box down and sat on it, looking back up at the ceiling.

“It Occurred Approximately Three Years Ago. Upset Appears To Be Like Gratitude. I Would Need Time To Process It, But Right Now I Would Rather Speak To You.”

That gave me a slightly warm feeling in my chest. You and me both, buddy. “Well, sure,” I said. “I’d like to get some things done on the Benevolence, and you can keep me company. So much has happened in just the past few days, I’m not gonna have time to tell you everything.”

Standing, I removed the lid of the box. Inside was a PalBrand AutoFlux-Sweepr™, ‘Military Grade’. It was a dull grey metal sphere, about a foot across, with a hole on one side, and a switch on the other. The switch made a satisfying click as I pressed it, and I stood back. The sphere rose out of the box, hovered for a moment, then flew off towards the cargo bay. That would take care of the dust and smaller debris.

“Captain, I Have Prepared A Set Of Diagnostic Logs For You. They Are Located In The AI Core Terminal.”

“Thanks, Benni,” I said. “Can you get a dump of your black box as well? I want to get a better feel for what happened when we made that last jump.”

“I Cannot. That System Has Been Compromised. However, The Black Box Itself Should Not Be, And I Am Able To Tell You How To Access It.”

I waved a hand dismissively, then realized Benni probably couldn’t see it right now. “No, it’s okay, I’ve pulled plenty in my time.”

“Of Course, Captain. Please Be Careful In The Cockpit. It Was Most Heavily Damaged When We Were Attacked, So There May Be High Quantities Of Loose And Sharp Debris.”

“I will, don’t worry,” I said. Picking up the flashlight, I ventured deeper into the ship. With no windows to the outside, the visibility just continued to get worse.

As I got closer to the front of the Benevolence, a feeling of dread began to wash over me. I did my best to ignore the feeling and press on. The door of the cockpit stood ajar at an angle, clearly damaged. Even the emergency lights inside were off. Well, add it to the list. I took another step. The door loomed. My hands wouldn’t keep still. All I could see were ghostly outlines, thanks to the refraction of the light off the walls, but I couldn’t bring myself to point the shaking beam of light through the door. Okay, just breathe. Deep breath, then–

“Captain, Your Heart Rate–”

Never in my life had I screamed as loud as I did just then. The mechanical braces, unable to keep up with the wild jerking signals my spine was sending them, toppled me to the floor. 

“Captain, Are You Alright?”

After a moment of spread eagled hyperventilating, I struggled into a seated position. “I’m… Fine. You just scared me.”

“I Apologize, That Was Not My Intention. My Biosensors Were Indicating That Your Heart Rate Was Exceeding Safe Levels.”

I placed a hand on my chest. My heart really was beating fast. Deep breath… and out. Staring into the pitch blackness through the door, I said, “Okay. Let’s save the black box for later. I’m going to go look at your diagnostics.”

“Very Well, Captain.”