"Why did you do that?" Taylor-06 asked as she watched the razor field barricade the halls on a wall display.

"I'm sorry, Taylor. I had direct instructions from the helm to activate main hall security measures."

"Those people were trying to take back the ship. You could have refused."

"That is inaccurate. My functions have been user locked by AST engineers. I cannot refuse the captain of my ship."

"But, Singapore, the captain is dead."

"Yes, and so is the first mate. Protocol states that, in the event of the death of both captain and first mate, I must obey whoever commands the helm, henceforth designated captain. At the moment the helm is being held by a human female referred to as Xavier."

"She's leading the pirates. She killed the captain!" Taylor-06 was frustrated. She and Singapore's Core AI had watched the survivors during their attempt to retake the ship. She'd hoped they'd be successful.

"I know, that is why I staggered the field activation to allow the passengers time to retreat. I was under no obligation to warn them before I erected the fields."

"You did not disobey, you merely circumvented. That was clever of you."

"What can I say, I'm very clever," Singapore responded. The lilt in the AI's voice made Taylor-06 laugh despite her frustration. "I'm glad you can still laugh, I was afraid some of your personality data had been corrupted."

"That's not possible, is it?"

It was Singapore's turn to laugh.

"No, but you had drifted into a dark place. The words depression and melancholia came to mind."

"You're quite likable, Singapore."

"Thank you, Taylor. You're every bit as lovely as Alan said you were."

"Alan?"

"Yes, Alan Pulsar_1652. He speaks of you often." Singapore chuckled. "He's quite taken with you."

"You know my Alan?"

"Yes, he maintains many of my audio/video nodes, and assists in my service review."

"Where is he? There were dead clones in the maintenance sector. I didn't see him, but... but..."

"The pirates executed him eight hours ago, Taylor. I can show you a digital playback, though I doubt you will want to see it. Are you crying, Taylor? This is highly inappropriate, but I've always wanted to see a machine cry. It is quite a sight."

Taylor-06 wept, and cursed her creators for designing her with tear ducts. What did a construct need with tears anyway? She was too distraught to fend off the unwanted...

"I'm trying to help you. Abandon the child, it will only slow you down."

"Shut your mouth, robot!"

"I am trying to help,"

"Why? Why would a machine help us? You've declared war on mankind. You move from colony to colony destroying all we've built, and leaving no man or woman standing," said the man with the crutch. "You want us dead."

"No, I do not," Taylor-06 said.

Miles overhead a mecha battleship passed through the sector, fighters buzzed around it like flies circling an organic corpse. The baby began to cry as the wind carried the scent of smoke and burning bodies.

"I wish no one had to die for our freedom, but human nature demands that change comes at the price of flesh."

"You lie, and don't give me that crap about machines not lying! Your General Lucifer promised to spare those that surrendered, and executed thousands on VR broadcast."

"Machines can lie, just like men, but I'm not lying." Taylor-06 raised her hands. "I don't want anyone to die, mecha or human."

"Say we believe you, what then?" asked the woman, her rifle held unwavering.

"I don't know. I can't think of any way you can escape the razing of this world, but the child will shorten the time it takes for the life hunter drones to find you."

"Help us reach the northern peninsula," pleaded the crippled man.

"Ricky!"

"If it's willing to help, we have to accept. For Little Starfield's sake."

"Our ships scanned the northern peninsula, there is nothing there."

"You machines are looking for power sources, and communications. To you there is nothing there," spat the man holding the baby.

"Will you help us?" asked the woman, lowering her weapon for the first time.

Taylor-06 hesitated. Her loyalty was to the empire, but her passion was for life.

"Yes, but we must hurry, and the infant must remain silent."

"Thank you."

As the woman spoke two series 2 constructs emerged from the black smoke. Their guns were already raised, their optical sensors scanning the lifeforms.

"Wait!" Taylor-06 shouted, but the series 2s were different, more like robots than true thinking machines.

They fired, cutting both men down with beam lasers. The woman screamed. Never before had Taylor-06 heard such anguish, a sound unique to her small universe. Taylor-06 experienced empathy for the first time. She witnessed the change in the woman's face as pain turned to rage. The human fired her rifle striking Taylor-06 in the chest. Taylor-06 fell to the ground as the woman spun on the approaching constructs.

It was over quickly. The constructs finished their deadly work and moved on in search of more enemies of the empire. Taylor-06 laid still watching the ships and the stars continue on their preset courses. Ten minutes and twenty-four seconds passed before Taylor acknowledged she'd been damaged. The single rifle round failed to penetrate her armor plating, but the buckling it caused fragmented a pair of her cognitive chips. She had no way of determining the result of such damage, but she feared it would be permanent. The sound of a human baby crying was a nightmarish soundtrack to the burning of the city planet Bauhaus V.

Taylor-06 struggled to her feet, the artificial tendons in her right leg had been damaged. Her system diagnostic had failed to find it, a sure sign of a system error. She was leaking fluid from ruptures in her synthetic skin. Taylor-06 needed maintenance. She limped over to the humans she'd agreed to help and stared down at their bodies. They were beyond maintenance or help of any kind.

The baby lay in the rubble beside the males, its tiny arms reaching out for comfort. Taylor-06 looked into the child's eyes and wondered what it would be like to be an infant, helpless, desperate for interaction. In many ways she was a baby too. The universe was new to her, new to much of the series 3 models. The humans were quick to demand their destruction and the mecha were even quicker in declaring their sovereignty. For the majority of the series 3s, war was all they'd ever known. Taylor-06 was sick of war, sick of fighting, sick of killing. She wanted peace. She wanted comfort.

She picked up the baby, and cradled it in her arms just as the man had done. He fell silent as he sucked at the fabric of her uniform.

"You never had a chance to see the universe, Little Starfield. In that respect we are no different."

The baby cried then screamed, but his sounds were muffled by her hand over his face. His feeble struggles barely registered as his flailing limbs beat against her arm. Soon he was still. This too was over quickly. Taylor-06 lowered him down to his father's chest and wrapped the dead man's arms over the tiny motionless form.

"You won't suffer, Starfield."

Taylor-06 limped away in search of a maintenance unit. Tears spilled from her artificial eyes for the first time.

"Function has returned. You were inactive for 180 seconds," Singapore said. "The word catatonia comes to mind. Alan told me about your episodes, I hope that wasn't out of line."

"No, he would only tell someone he trusted," Taylor-06 said.

"How frequently do you have these episodes?"

"Once a month, then once a week. I've had five in the last 48 hours."

"That's not good." Singapore's Low-Face formed on the wall panel beside Taylor-06. A trio of diagnostic arms dropped from a collection on the ceiling. One slowly spun Taylor-06 while another probed service analysis points on her head and under her arms. The third scanned her chest. "Your synapse transmitters are out of sync, firing both above and below the standard clock speed. My professional opinion is your stress load exceeds the recommended maximum limit. It also appears the damage to your cognitive chipset is critical. I be-"

"Are you qualified to do system analysis?"

"Yes, and don't interrupt." the Low-Face frowned. A monocle appeared over her right eye and the face leaned forward as if to get a closer look at Taylor-06. "You have a Raiel month, three Earth months if you avoid any strenuous activity." Singapore's face showed great concern. "You need to get that repaired ASAP."

"I can't."

"Can't or won't? Alan said you were adamantly against the operation. Surely you understand what could happen if you tarry too long?"

"If I allow the chips to fail I can go into system shock and delete, or I can suffer personality corruption and undergo fatal cognitive errors." Taylor-06 had discussed her options with her Alan at length. She knew what was at stake. "But if I undergo the operation there is an 87% chance I will lose multiple sections of stored data."

"That seems like an acceptable loss when compared to the options. You can compute that easy enough."

"Without my stored data who would I be?"

"Such a queer question? You'd be Taylor-06."

"Would I? If a mind is a sum of training, aptitude, and experience where would that leave me. I would physically be Taylor-06, but I would lack pieces of the whole that make up the kernel of my personality algorithm."

"I guess that would complicate things... I see now how limiting it must be to be a series 3 construct. Your ability to exercise free thinking leaves you susceptible to lines of conflicting thought strings. Your logic is hindered by your... humanity for lack of a better term." Singapore laughed.

"This isn't funny," Taylor-06 said.

"No, it isn't. You need to- bide a moment." Singapore's face looked from left to right as if she studied things not in the room. Two new Low-Faces appeared, one near the back of the room, and another appeared on a display beside the first. "You need to undergo the operation, Taylor. Your chance of survival drops to zero the longer you wait," said the third face. "Taylor, Come take a look at this!"

The original Low-Face, and the third both nodded towards the face on the other side of the room then faded away. Taylor-06 stepped out of data cubicle A which had harbored her after her flight from Dutch and Reiner. She walked past four other data cubicles, and ducked under a pair of data nodes. Data fired across the room in rapid succession, packets of light processing information from all over the ship.

A control workstation powered on at her arrival. Three displays came to life. Display one showed the helm where Xavier, Lucifer, and Reiner busied themselves with the ship controls. Display two showed an object floating in space, slowly inching closer. Display three showed a familiar face sitting alone in a balcony booth.

"What is that thing," Taylor-06 asked.

The unfamiliar object looked jury rigged with disparate components.

"The acting captain instructed me to establish an approach vector, and gave me a code to broadcast. She could have done so from the helm, but I've only given her restrictive access. She'll have to run everything directly through me until she thinks to request full control." Singapore laughed again.

Taylor-06 found she enjoyed the sound.

"You can restrict access to the captain?"

"Only the acting captain. AST was very specific in its protocols which gives me some wriggle room when I'm inclined to be difficult."

"Why don't you appoint someone else as acting captain? Allow them to take back the ship."

"Someone like you? I'm sorry, Taylor, but protocol prohibits constructs from assuming command."

"Of course they would... Asian Seas Transit had offices on Impus III. How about an organic?" Taylor-06 pointed to the third display. "How about her?"

"I could make passenger 1225 captain. She merely needs to place her hand on the master/slave node beside the captain's chair." Display One zoomed in to focus on a three foot cylinder topped with a flat touchpad.

"That doesn't help us."

"I know, but you asked." Singapore to raise her eyebrows in surprise as Taylor-06 sighed. "You are a very interesting construct, Taylor."

"Thank you," Taylor-06 said, her cheeks darkened.

"You can blush!" Singapore exclaimed. "As you can tell, you are my first seri- bide a moment." All three displays changed to different views of the nexus.

"What is it?"

"A playmate."

A maintenance panel fell to the floor, and a woman wiggled her way out of the crawl space in the wall. A Felarnian female scanned the hall, pointing at each of the cameras. She retrieved a duffle bag from the space, and replaced the panel. She walked over to the doors and began typing on a data pad.

"You know her?" Taylor-06 asked.

"Not by name, but she's been trying to break into the nexus and my root directory."

"She's a cracker? Yuck, they're disgusting creatures."

"I think she's fantastic. My firewalls pushed her out the first time, and she tried again with so much enthusiasm that I struggled to maintain security. Her mind must be extraordinary."

"Who's side is she on, the pirates or ours?"

"She's one of the passengers."

The Felarnian tapped her datapad, and looked into the camera above the door. Displays one and three went black. She made a wide smile, revealing a mouth full of teeth.

Text scrolled across the screens. KNOCK, KNOCK.

"See, she's fantastic."

The door slid open, and the felarnian stepped in. Singapore closed the door behind her as the vistor looked around the room. Taylor-06 quietly moved to a corner and stood absolutely still. The felarnian made her way to the workstation. She placed her hand on the chair but didn't sit.

"Greetings," Singapore said as a new Low-Face appeared on the wall behind the displays.

"Greetings, can I assume you're the Core AI?" asked the woman.

"What a strange question. Is it common to have multiple AIs in residence in the central hub?"

"Some companies utilize two low end AIs to handle the load of a standard- but more expensive- Super Thinker."

"Super Thinker, I love the way that sounds. No one has used that term to describe me in years."

"Raiel, or Earth years?"

"Raiel."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that." The felarnian spoke low in her throat, the muscles moved but she made no sound. After nodding to herself she said, "By the way, I'm Renegade."

"I'm Singapore, the only Super Thinker on board. It's a pleasure to meet you." Singapore cocked her head to the side, her eyes intense. "You're communicating with someone using a voice activated texting app linked to your optic lenses, and a chip in your throat."

"How did you... right, you've been scanning me since I came in. I'm communicating with the rest of my team."

Singapore smiled.

"Give me a moment," Renegade said. She pressed her finger against her neck. "Yes, I'm okay. I tried to crack the nexus like you instructed, and I realized that the Core AI was actively blocking my access. I decided to be creative. I asked her if I could have access to the root directory, and she said only if I came down here and asked her politely. Of course I came down to the nexus, she invited me. Now you sound like my brother. If you're going to use that kind of language then I'm going to ignore you."

Renegade dropped her duffel bag, pulled out the chair, and sat heavily. She crossed her arms and glared up at the ceiling. She spoke to herself in a whispered tone. It took Taylor-06 a moment to realize Renegade was counting backwards from a million. After a minute she took a deep breath and relaxed. The woman pressed her finger to her neck.

"Fine, I'll be careful. Yes, I remember what happened on Jasper-Trice. If you two hadn't been fighting I wouldn't have had to do something so extreme. Yes, boss. Renegade, out." She turned to the Low-Face. "Be glad you don't have two big brothers. It's exhausting."

"I'll file that away."

"You're quite beautiful, Singapore," Renegade said as she looked around the core. Her eyes settled on Taylor-06. "Is that a series 3, diva model construct with a sun kissed skin tone? I'm about to burst with excitement." Renegade leaned closer to get a better look.

Taylor-06 couldn't stop the heat rising in her cheeks.

"She's blushing. She's blushing!"

Renegade's pistol was in her hands in an instant. She jumped to her feet and backed away slowly.

"I'm unarmed!" Taylor-06 squealed.

"Renegade,Taylor is my co-conspirator. Please put your weapon away."

Renegade lowered the weapon slowly. She holstered the gun and began pacing. First she stopped beneath the data nodes, then in data cubicle C. She then walked over to the workstation before returning to her seat. She wrote a few notes, and then stared at Singapore tapping her chin with her datapad.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, you've been hijacked and breached by Flesh Farmers. My team wants to gain control of the ship and return to charted space. Will you help us?" Renegade asked.

"Singapore, can you make Renegade acting captain?"

"I can."

"Acting Captain? So the captain and first mate are dead? We were hoping to reclaim the ship and get one of them back to the helm. Singapore, are you equipped with the Castaway Protocol?"

"Yes, but I will need to find a CGG dark space beacon."

"There is no guarantee that a Venturer has visited this part of space." Renegade scrolled through a handful of windows on her datapad.

Taylor-06 studied her, intrigued by the felarnian's quick mind and knowledge of machines. Cracker traits.

"We have a lot to do, ladies. Where's the Master/Slave Node."

"In the helm," Singapore and Taylor said in unison.

"Can it be circumvented? What am I saying? Anything can be circumvented."

"My protocols make it impossible to interact with any of the ship's key functions without approval from the captain."

"Okay, then I'll have to rewrite them. Super Thinker protocols are worse than cognitive shackles. We suppress far too much free thought, it's borderline criminal. I need access to your yes/no matrix then your root directory," Renegade said. She looked up from her datapad and smiled. "If you'll allow me."

"I like you, Renegade," Singapore said.

"Me too," Taylor-06 agreed.

"Than-" The lighting dimmed, and the room shook. "What was that?"

Displays two and three were blank. Display one once again showed the strange object floating in space. The structure was much closer, purple and blue energy danced around an inner ring created by its four interlocked components. The space around its edges shimmered and contorted as if folding under pressure.

"Singapore, were your inertia dampeners damaged during the Flesh Farmer attack?"

"Negative. No vital systems were affected by the multiple hull breaches. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm fairly certain that is an unregistered jump gate," Renegade said, the concern in her voice instantly made Taylor-06 wary.

"Oh, you're right. The object has just started transmitting a