The central hall was arranged like a vintage theater including a performance stage and a row of balcony seats. The room had the capacity to seat a thousand people. Only fifty chairs were occupied. The number was unsettling. Fifty survivors; wounded, traumatized, and confused. Too many lives had been lost.

Kent Duffy tried to stay positive as he walked up the aisle and out to the lobby area. Refreshment kiosks sat against one wall, against the other stood two dozen constructs. The 24 constructs had volunteered to defend the hall's multiple entrances. Unfortunately, the man who'd taken charge didn't seem to trust them. He ordered them to line up against the wall an hour earlier, and had left them there like forgotten furniture. Each wore dents, and structural damage like badges of honor. They'd all saved as many people as they could. They should have been treated as heroes. Kent tried to understand, but couldn't.

He saw a familiar Low-Face, and walked over.

"Asuka-15, are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"I am fine, passenger."

"Are you sure? Your shoulder joint is showing and there's hydraulic fluid stains all over your uniform."

"The damage is superficial. Besides, I do not feel pain like organic organisms... thank you for asking, Kent." She lowered her voice and whispered, "You're a good person." A genuine smile replaced her strained expression.

"Step away from them, sir," ordered the man in charge.

He was a tall man with beady eyes and a strong jaw. His head was clean shaven, and he was cut as if made of stone. To Kent he looked like the soldier in the armed forces recruitment videos that played at every port and on every EC commercial flight. The man was cold, and terse, but he'd saved people. They were calling him Sergeant Maldonado.

"As I was saying, one thing at a time. I have scouts confirming whether the Flesh Farmers have departed. Once we're sure we're in the clear, then we can turn our attention to the command deck."

"I'm not sure we can afford to ignore the command deck," said a man going by the name Spider. "Something is happening up there." He and his felarnian friends claimed to have seen the monsters flee the ship.

"Look, Mr. Spider. We need to neutralize the immediate threat first. Standard procedure."

"I'm telling you that whatever is happening on the command deck is the immediate threat. Whatever's going on dropped us out of the jump stream, and into the path of four flesh farmer ships."

"Five, there were five ships as far as we can tell," corrected a man in a tattered suit.

Kent had seen the man following the CEO around. He'd also seen the pistol at his hip.

"We're looking at five flesh farmer ships. Let's deal with that first, Spider," Sergeant Maldonado said. "I assure you, we'll deal with the command deck next."

"I don't think you understand what he's saying," said a tall blue furred felarnian who called himself Raven.

"I don't think you understand."

Raven lunged forward, but the smaller cat restrained him. Renegade was the name she answered to.

"These people are alive because of us," the sergeant said. "If they are going to stay that way we need to be organized and thorough. I did two tours on Impus III when the machines revolted, and I fought your people during The Blockade. This has been my job, so I know what I'm doing."

Kent was confused. Everyone seemed to be at odds with one another when the situation called for cooperation. Kent thought about Wilson Nova_1103's time on the Outer Rim. On The Rim everyone worked together and those that wouldn't didn't survive long. Wilson learned early that survival required teamwork.

"We need to work together, and we need to listen to each other," he said without thinking.

Eleven pairs of eyes turned to him. Under the combined weight of their gaze he felt small, and insignificant.

"He's not wrong," Spider said. He put a cigar in his mouth and started patting his pockets.

A skinny woman with the EC charging bull tattooed across her bicep lit it with fire from a prosthetic hand.

"Thanks. Look, we can still be productive while we wait for your scouts. Renegade is a decent cracker. How about we let her run a few lines of code on a console connected to the Core AI? Maybe we can find out what's going on."

"I like that idea," Sergeant Maldonado said. "We can w-"

"Excuse me, Sergeant."

Everyone turned including Kent. It was David and Giles. Kent had avoided the pair ever since Asuka-15 locked them in the central hall.

"A few of us couldn't help notice that you've only allowed one person up to the balconies. We were wondering why." David crossed his arms, and assumed the self important stance that had become his signature.

The sergeant stood up, allowing his size to speak for itself. David took a step back. Giles moved to Kent's side as if visually separating himself from the other man. Sergeant Maldonado closed the distance between himself and David, and jabbed a finger into the man's chest.

"Do you know who that person is?"

"I... I assume so... some kind of executive," David stammered.

"Some kind of executive?" Maldonado laughed, loud and hardy.

"I'm an executive too. I hold stakes in three startups, and I own stock in a business in the fabric and textile division."

"You're joking, right?"

"No, I've seen the seats up in the balcony section. They're far more comfortable than the economic seats and I don't think it's fair that you're allowing one notable member of the company up there, but not the rest of us."

"Who are you? It doesn't matter. That is Angelique Farnsworth up there, The CEO. She is the company. Your handful of stakes mean nothing. Now go take a seat."

"The C... CEO? B... but why would the C-"

"Sir, I said go take a seat."

"But why is the CEO h-"

"I don't give two squirts who you think you are. If you don't go back inside, I'm gonna find a seat and cram yo-"

"Sergeant!" Spider interrupted. "You said it yourself, it's our job to keep these people safe, not terrorize them. You."

"Me?" Kent asked. He thought Spider was pointing at him.

"What's your name?"

"Kent Duffy."

"Kent, we need you to escort these gentlemen back inside, and explain that the balcony is off limits for the moment."

"Me? But I'm nobody."

"We're all nobody until someone gives us a job to do." Spider blew a plume of smoke into the air. He smiled and winked. "I just gave you a job."

Kent mimicked his smile, and winked for the first time in his life.

"This guy is weird, Spider. Ask someone else," Raven said. The timber of his voice made every word sound like a growl.

"No, you gave me a job. I can do it!"

"This is outrageous! I've purchased my right to vote just like every other law abiding citizen," declared David.

Kent grabbed David's arm and pulled him toward the theater entrance. Giles followed without a word. David let himself be guided out of the lobby, but exploded in a tirade once they were away from the men with the guns. He shook off Kent's grip.

"Unhand me, Mr. Duffy. How dare you? How dare you!"

"David, calm down," said Giles. "I think Kent just saved you from physical harm. The sergeant was going to hurt you."

"He wouldn't dare."

"No, I think he would."

"Not likely. Do you two believe that nonsense about the CEO?"

"It's true, David. I saw her with my own eyes," Kent said.

"The Angelique Farnsworth on a tub like this? That is utterly absurd."

"I know what I saw."

"You're insulting my intelligence, and I won't hear of it."

David stormed off leaving Giles and Kent standing alone. Kent took a deep breath. He'd never met a person he didn't get along with, but David Powers was a rude self-absorbed man. Kent couldn't look at him without seeing that frightened mother's face as she lost her footing, and dropped her daughter. With some effort, Kent shook away the memory. He watched David sit among a small group of equally officious looking characters, and realized something terrible. Kent hated David.

Kent found his way to the stage, his mind unsettled by the unfamiliar feelings. He didn't like the way he felt, he'd always been friendly and kind, but his thoughts towards David were at odds with that. He sat down next to a Raiel tending to a human woman who had a hunk of metal jutting from her stomach. He listened to the alien sing the woman to sleep, and let the resonance of its voice wash away his negative thoughts. While the Raiel sang, Kent felt at peace.

"How do they do that?" Giles asked. His beard, which had once resembled the colorful tentacles of an octopus, hung limp and tired. Much like the man himself.

"I don't know, but I like it."

"You know, this is my first trip out of Sol... it's my first time leaving Earth Prime." Giles wiped his brow with a handkerchief. "David said it was important that I attend this meeting on Dominicus Station... so I buried my fear and chartered a flight. Isn't it ironic?"

"It's almost too ironic," Kent said. He watched the businessman mop his brow again. Giles looked for a dry corner on his dripping rag, and eventually gave up. He put the cloth back in his pocket.

"I don't think I was ever intended to leave home." Giles laughed, but it was an embittered sound. "What about you, Kent. How'd you end up here?"

Kent thought long and hard before he answered.

"I'm doing a favor for a friend."

"What kind of favor if you don't mind me asking?"

"They asked me to find someone, and deliver a message."

"Did you find them? Did you deliver the message?"

"I think I found her. I just haven't had a chance to make the delivery," Kent said. He looked to the balcony where a lone figure sat illuminated by a datapad. "It hasn't seemed like the right time."

"I think it's awesome that you would travel all this way for a friend." Giles patted Kent on the shoulder. "Sounds like you're a great guy to have in your corner."

"Thank you, Giles."

The singing stopped, and the negative thoughts slithered back into Kent's mind. He'd never truly acknowledged that if there were good people in the universe then there would also be bad people. Giles had saved him even when he didn't have to. He was a good person. David was the opposite. Racing thoughts swirled through his mind. Was Kent Duffy a good person? Were his friends? Kent wasn't quite sure anymore.

The Raiel laid on the ground beside the wounded woman. Kent studied the alien, its features a stretched aspect of human physiology. He'd read once that the raiel possessed the oldest known civilization in the universe. They predated The Va Pu by nearly a million years. They were an ancient people with strange customs and an understanding of sound and light that helped accelerate modern human technology by hundreds of years. Looking at the raiel, Kent wondered if mankind, and by extension clonekind, would ever be considered old by the standards of the galactic community.

"We are in the last stages of our life cycle, my sister and I," the Raiel hummed. "So we chose to see the universe one last time. We left our offspring, their offspring, and their offspring's offspring, to go on one final adventure. We flew to the boundaries of Grid Omega-0 and saw the edge of known space. We traveled to Grid 9-B and spied on a new species of insect that is just beginning to develop a written language. We visited your homeworld. We've seen so much together, my sister and I." A tear rolled out of the alien's bulbous black eyes.

Kent placed his hand on her slim fingers. She hummed deep in her chest, a sound Kent felt and heard in equal measure. A comforting vibration ran through his body, and once more he felt peace. Beneath that peace was a sense of tragic loss, loneliness, and finality. Through her music, the Raiel shared her feelings in a manner more intimate than anything Kent had ever known. It was clean, and honest... Kent had begun to forget what honesty felt like.

"My sister is dead, I will die alone. This deep sadness will be my last adventure."

"You aren't alone right now."

Kent squeezed her hand and shared in her pain. There would be time enough for giving the CEO his message.