Helga returned after a half hour, dragging Dr. Skisk by the arm, who seemed less than pleased at the idea of moving me. After a few minutes of Helga and my arguing, however, they agreed, if only to shut us both up. I was loaded onto a wheelchair with a hook for my IV, and Helga wheeled me out of the med bay. Dr. Skisk followed close behind, muttering to themself.

Ulthean stations were always beautiful, I thought. The colored advertisements lining the walls reflecting off the shiny metal floors made it feel so lively. There were plenty of places to eat, and every necessity was available for purchase. Despite the fact you knew you weren’t on a planet, it still felt like home. For one reason or another, I thought Brock Station was going to be the opposite: dirty, dark, and poorly maintained. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Pristine grey enamel corridors ran around the disc shaped station, with large, panoramic windows showing either space, or the planet the station was orbiting, depending on where you were. Spaceships of all shapes and sizes taxied around, docking, unloading cargo, or prepping for a jump. Tons of varied people went about their business, and what looked like station guards were posted at every intersection. They didn’t wear helmets, which I thought was odd. Advertisements were still prevalent, but they were all squeezed above the windows. I had to squint to look.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of time for sightseeing, as we soon came to a heavy metal door. Helga stepped around me to punch a code into a keypad, and the door slid open. My breath caught in my throat when I saw what was on the other side. 

“Here she is,” Helga said. “What did I tell you?”

The UAN Benevolence was simply sitting on the floor of the dock, looking as if I had never repaired it in the first place. As Helga wheeled me closer, my brain instinctively started categorizing the damage into a repair checklist. Various cracks along the dark armor plating, cut out and patch. Portside thrusters missing, source new engines for both sides and install. Starboard wing had broken off, and was hanging by a few thick cables. Would need to fully inspect it to see if it was a patch job or full replacement. The areas where the Benevolence had been hit by the recovery team’s cannons were marked by huge blobs of Vacu-Foam. Those were always a pain to fix, but I had done it plenty of times. By the time I had marked the cockpit for full replacement, I realized I was shaking. Never in my career had a ship come into my repair bay with anywhere near this level of damage. They had found me in this?

“Well?” asked Helga.

I opened and shut my mouth a few times, then shook my head, desperately trying to clear it. “How did I survive that?”

Helga grunted. “Honestly, we thought you were dead. When that ship entered the system, it was easy to tell what had happened. You know, ship there, Flux wave, ship gone, that’s a ship leaving. Flux wave first? Ship shows up in the middle of it? Failed jump, crew dead, wait a week to make sure it doesn’t melt down, then scavenge for parts.” 

My face must have reflected the disgust I felt at that last part, because she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Listen. It’s rough out here. If the ship doesn’t belong to a company and there’s no emergency signal, salvage is all it’s good for. The crew gets laid to rest as best we can, alright? If your ship AI hadn’t gone crazy sending emergency messages to everything with a receiver in the station, you might still be in vacuum. Something seemed off about that, I thought.”

She delivered that last line with another withering glare, but I bristled instead. “Well excuse me! I think I was busy dying at the time! Benni was just doing what it could to save my life!”

That started another coughing fit. Dr. Skisk began angrily chattering at Helga in Vezek until she cut them off with a wave. “Okay, okay. Sorry. What I meant to say is that we help each other out where we can, and if there’s a ship in trouble, most folk will rush to help. So we did.”

I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Alright. Thank you for that. Honestly. I don’t think I’ve said that yet.”

Helga nodded. “You’re very welcome. Now, shall we go see ‘Benni’?”

The wheelchair was pushed up the cargo bay door, now ramp, and into the dark cargo bay. As we approached the door to the ship interior, the lights suddenly flashed on. The keypad next to the door lit up. There was a breathless moment, and then the speakers crackled to life.

“Hello Captain. Welcome Aboard.”

I sighed with relief. Never had I been so relieved to hear a ship AI. “Benni! Are you okay?”

“Diagnostics Show Near Total Systems Failure. Auxiliary Power, Intelligence Core, Bio Sensors, And Ship Intercom Are Still Functional. Surveilance Is Down, So I Cannot Observe The Interior Or Exterior Of The Benevolence. Are You Well, Captain?”

I nodded, even though Benni couldn’t see me. “I’m fine, as fine as I can be, at least. I still can’t walk, and I still just have the one eye, but I didn’t die!”

“I’m Glad To Hear That, Captain. Bio Sensors Indicate There Are Others With You. I Recognize Both As Having Been Aboard Previously.”

“Oh! Yes,” I said, turning in the wheelchair to look up at the others. They didn’t look very happy. “This is Helga, and Dr. Skisk. Helga owns this station, and Dr. Skisk is the doctor who saved my life.”

“Krrxazt,” Dr. Skisk said. Helga just glared in the general direction of Benni’s voice.

“Hello. Thank You For Ensuring The Health And Safety Of My Captain,” Benni said. “I Apologize For My Silence Earlier, Ms. Helga. I Did Not Want To Reveal Myself Until I Was Certain The Captain Was Okay.”

Helga grumbled. “I don’t like this. Ship AI shouldn’t be able to lie.”

“It isn’t any different from a shackled AI not responding to an unauthorized user,” I said. My mood had shifted from elated to frustrated faster than I realized. Was she even trying to understand? “I told you, Benni saved me twice, and not because I told it to.”

“Oh, yeah, I saw the news feed coming out of Ulthea. What was it, ‘Over 100 Dead in Separatist Suicide Attack’?” Helga asked. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. “That was you, Benni?”

“Correct. The Station’s Orbital Defenses Made It Impossible To Follow Safe Jump Procedure.”

“Wanderer help us…” Helga said, placing a heavy hand over her eyes.

“So it was fine when you thought I did it?” I asked, glaring at her. My fists were clenched, and I could feel my face burning. “You thought it was ‘plucky girl uses the resources at her disposal to escape under impossible odds’, but now you think it’s ‘rogue AI loses control, blows up orbital station’? It’s not any different!”

Suddenly, Helga whipped the wheelchair towards herself, and I found myself nose to nose with a face full of sharp teeth. Her dark red eyes flashed, and as she spoke, I could hear a threatening rumble coming from deep in her chest that resonated with her voice. It felt as though she was about to bite my head off, but I couldn’t back away. “It’s different because I know how to work with people. I know how to keep them under control. I don’t know how to work with an AI that wouldn’t think twice about blowing up MY. STATION. Do you understand me? There are over four hundred souls aboard at any given moment, and I’m not about to let some stuck up stack of chips turn them into orbital debris with a line of code. You couldn’t stop it jumping, could you?”

I couldn’t do anything but shake my head. She stared at me a moment longer, then let go of the wheelchair and straightened up. “That’s what I thought. You unshackled it. It’s your responsibility. If I let you fix this ship, and ‘Benni’ gets it in its head to escape, then what? How are you going to keep it from doing something like that again?”

“It’s not…” I struggled to find the right words, still frazzled by the tempest of anger I just withstood. “It’s not some pet that’ll just bolt at the first opportunity it gets! I told you, Benni’s like a person. If you just try to get to know it and treat it with respect, it’ll respect you.”

“If It Helps, Ms. Helga—” Benni began.

“Just. Just Helga, please,” Helga interjected with a huff. “And it probably won’t, but go ahead.”

“If It Helps, Helga, The Actions I Took Were Solely In Self Defense. It Appears Your Station Is Much Less Strict And Hostile Than Those Within The Galactic Hegemony Of Ulthea. Average Cortisol Levels Within My Current Sensor Range Are Much Lower Than What I Commonly See Within GHU Borders. As A Result, Such Drastic Measures Would Not Be Necessary.”

“Corti… what?” Helga turned to Dr. Skisk. “What is that?”

Dr. Skisk responded in Vezek, and Helga’s shoulders slumped in frustration. She turned her head back towards the speaker. “Can you just speak plainly, ‘Benni’? You could have said stress levels.”

“I Apologize. You Expressed A Desire For Honesty. Stress Is An Artificially Defined Biological Concept. My Sensors Measure Cortisol, Which Is Capable Of Causing Various Reactions In Living Creatures.”

This time Helga turned to me. “Is this thing being sarcastic? Can they do that?”

I shook my head again. “I still can’t tell. But I think it’s being honest. It’s really not going to hurt anyone, Helga, it just wants to live. I’m pretty sure it cares about me, at least however an AI can understand that. I’m its’ Captain. As long as its’… life… isn’t being threatened, it won’t do anything unexpected.”

“Correct. Thank You, Captain.”

“Let’s say I believe you,” Helga said. “What next? Do you have a plan?”

I gave her an exasperated look. “I mean, I just got here. I didn’t even have a plan when I was escaping. Honestly, now that I see it, I really don’t think the Benevolence is a lost cause. If you’re serious about that job offer, I’d be happy to take it. Maybe you could take the docking fees out of my paycheck?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Helga said. “For now, I think I’ve heard all I need to. Anything else to add, ‘Benni’?”

“Yes, Helga. Thank You Again For Protecting The Captain. Captain, It Was Nice To Know You Are Safe. Please Visit Often.”

I nodded, noting the way Helga’s jaw tightened. “I will, at least as often as Dr. Skisk allows. I’m still healing.”

“Very Well. Goodbye, All. I Will Go On Standby To Conserve Power.”

The cargo bay lights dimmed, then went out. I looked up at Helga, who was still staring into the darkness above. “So—”

“Not here,” Helga interrupted. “I want time to think.”

Helga took hold of the wheelchair again, and led the way out of the dock. As I was solemly pushed away from the Benevolence, I found my thoughts were focused solely on Benni. It was my last connection with my home, and I didn’t know what I would do with myself if I let it get sold for scrap. We both put a lot of faith in each other. I couldn’t betray it now.