Episode 114, Eye to the past
09 Oct 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Episode 114, Eye to the past
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Tara was stunned. "The more I learn about the core systems, the more I dislike humanity. Your notoriety is raised to 5, with a meager 12,000-credit bounty for taking out wanted criminals—criminals you scanned—at a tourist facility? There’s no logic in that. It’s like they’re protecting the people who deserve punishment while penalizing the one claiming their bounty."
Ryuko’s voice came through the comm, steady, amused. “Exactly.” He leaned back in the pilot’s seat, his grin practically audible. “That’s why I took their power regulator and sealed the rest of them inside their buildings, leaving them to ride out the lunar cold until someone flies a replacement in. I’ll sell that regulator for 5 million credits on top of what I made from the bounties. The 12,000? That’ll vanish when my notoriety drops.”
Tara’s fists clenched as she shook her head, incredulous. “It’s insane! The same people who put the bounty on you, who raised your notoriety, are the same ones who paid you for taking down their criminals. The human race somehow evolved from rocks and sticks into… this.”
Ryuko’s laugh was low, knowing. “That’s the duality. They can’t see the flaws in their own system. Welcome to being a pirate my dear. They fleece people under the cover of their ignorant laws and we fleece the ones who fleece under the cover of our own courage.”
“You knew this would happen,” Tara said, her voice edged with frustration. “That’s why you parked so far out here in the hinter regions. It’s just like before—when you were exiled to Colonia. This is what you had planned.”
Ryuko’s grin spread wider. “Of course. But this is only the beginning. Gary’s faction is desperate, practically bleeding credits. He’s asking for million-credit donations now. Naturally, I ‘contributed.’ Now he owes me, but we both know he will never repay. I’m not worried about that minor annoyance as he will end up paying me far more than what I have given him.”
Tara paused, uncertain whether the eye-roll that followed was a programmed response or the byproduct of her evolving emotional matrix. That disembodied voice echoed through her systems once again: “Your companion has a nice touch.”
Instinctively, Tara let out a chuckle. “To borrow a human expression, I’m almost afraid to ask.”
Ryuko, still grinning, programmed a new waypoint into the ship’s navigational computer. “I need to check on a couple of systems. I’ll be back within the hour. Then we’ll be ready for the next phase.”
Tara’s smile lingered as she watched Ryuko’s holographic image fade. The moment it disappeared, so did the smile, replaced by a look of focused contemplation. Her neurological matrix whirred, processing endless scenarios, though she knew she didn’t have all the variables.
Ryuko's distaste for Gary was clear—what happened during the split of his clan had left a deep scar. But she understood he couldn't strike directly at Gary, not with Tzafrir in the picture. That much, at least, seemed certain. Still, it was an assumption. No one had explicitly stated it.
Is that why he’s choosing to brand his late mentor’s legacy here? She wondered. Here, in this distant system, rather than where it all came to an end?
The pieces were there, but she didn’t yet see the whole picture.
The stars shifting beyond the reinforced window broke her internal calculations as the carrier changed its heading, pointing toward its next distant destination.
She linked with the ship’s AI to determine the why and where of the sudden change. Ryuko gave the command moments after their communique. He was positioning the ship to retrieve the Coteries, who would shortly return with their new ships. Their destination was the outer rim system they had inhabited in the not-too-distant past, one system removed from where Gary and his failed clan were located.
A grin lifted the corners of her mouth as she rolled her eyes.
Ceri remained still, her pulse quickening as the hyperspace transition began. She felt the familiar and uncomfortable sensation of the ship being pulled into a bubble of relative time and space, which elongated as it was dragged into the shimmering tunnel of hyperspace. The room around her rippled, the walls seeming to flex and shudder, like the world itself was being stretched and compressed in uneven pulses.
Her inner ear throbbed with the disorienting shift as the ship’s bubble bounced within the tunnel, mimicking the sensation of skipping across the surface of an invisible wave. Ceri focused on keeping her breathing steady, though the sensation was nauseating. She had always found hyperspace travel unsettling—it was like reality itself was rebelling against what was natural.
In the midst of the spatial turbulence, Aby, the android, stood unwavering, as if the laws of physics didn’t apply to him. His eyes, unsettlingly doll-like, remained fixed on her.
“I apologize for the unannounced abruptness of my arrival,” Aby said in his monotonous voice, “but I have been assigned to you, to ensure your well-being.”
Ceri stared at him, the ripple effect of hyperspace tugging at her senses. Her instincts screamed at her to move, to do something, but she knew better than to try and rise in the middle of the jump. She could feel her body tethered to the strange physics of the transition.
The countdown alert still echoed faintly in her ears, a reminder of how strange it was that he had entered right before the jump—a moment when every human would have secured themselves. She stared up at Aby, unsure whether to feel comforted or unnerved by his sudden presence.
As if reading her thoughts, Aby’s head tilted to the side, his eyes never leaving hers. “Please remain in your current position during the transition. This will all be over shortly.”
Ceri's eyes darted to the door. Why was Aby here? And why now, during the hyperspace jump?
Her body felt heavy, as though gravity itself was warping in small waves beneath her. Her mind struggled to process it all—the disorienting physics of hyperspace, the strange timing of Aby’s arrival, and most of all, the fact that Ryuko had apparently assigned him to her. To ensure her well-being?
She closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to ride out the transition, her mind racing. Was this really about her safety? Or something more?