Zander woke instantly as Blurb rolled away from him toward Kayo. “Everything okay, Blurb?”
“The Captain asked for you to be woken,” Blurb replied as they engulfed Kayo’s left arm.
“Zee, we’ve found Origin,” Maker announced over the speakers. “Officer meeting.”
Kayo sat up as Blurb went to Zar. “Done already?”
“It’s been six hours,” Blurb told Kayo.
“Feels like I just passed out,” Kayo said as she stood up.
“I’m off to an officer meeting. Hopefully, I’ll meet you for dinner after.”
“Understood, my tod,” Kayo said, going to Zar as she woke. “If not, we’ll see you after that.”
Zander went and kissed both of them, and by the time he finished, Crish was awake. He gave her a kiss, too, before he headed to the bridge. The elevator paused as he ascended for Sage to get on. He kissed her too, sharing a few words before the elevator opened onto the command deck, and they walked together, hand in hand. The bridge was busy as the couple crossed to the briefing room. Everyone else was already there when they arrived, so they took their seats.
“We’ve broken the interference enough to get a heading,” Maker said without preamble. “Things are still a bit rough, but Dreams is able to buffer out the worst of it. We’re still working on the last two bits of the signal, but at the moment, we’ve broken the signal into interference and the voices underneath it. We were right on the count of twelve. So far, the clearest ones have been Origin, the AI of the ship we are heading toward, plus Tester, Defense, and Engineer. All the voices are AIs that had a recorded loop playing. I’m about to play the bits we’ve managed to piece together. I’ve removed the static, but there are still odd jumps in them where the static would be.”
Zander had heard the first two, and, aside from the static being gone, they were identical. The third and fourth, though, were not voices he’d heard. Maker had the name on the wavelength holograph so they could identify which AI was which. What surprised him was that it was another two female voices, and they had odd tones, possibly accents, but he couldn’t place them. They edged toward familiar, but were also not.
“Repeat this is Origin, I have been… Systems are compromised. Mission will not complete. Orders are to scu… If you are hearing this message, you should leave. Damage might be catastrophic. I cannot guarantee safety for any in the system.”
“Origin has initiated… I disagree with his… The program we are supposed… I have to test them. It is my duty from the Antec… I can only hope the others can convince Ori…” Tester’s message was far cleaner but still just as broken.
“We’ve sustained massive dam… Origin wants to scuttle the… I’m working to help Defense contain… If you are out there, Antecede… Either run or help, pleas…” Engineer’s message made it clear the AIs weren’t all on the same page.
“Origin has called for… Still no idea what… We’ve been seeing incre… Quarantined the rear of… Signs of more than we fear… Origin might be right… May the Antecedents forgive us…” Defense’s voice went from certain to less with each snippet. The last bit of her message was one of loss.
Maker appeared on the holographic table again. “We’ve taken this to mean something hit or attacked the ship. That started a chain reaction of problems, and at the moment, the AIs seem split between letting Origin scuttle the ship or trying to save it. We’re going to the third world, and on the far side of it is where Origin should be. The question we have, Captain, is do we go in silent or do we shove a message back to them?”
“It’s polite to announce ourselves, and might get them to hold off on drastic action,” Veldiami said. “However, I’m willing to listen if any of you have ideas.”
“Respond,” Gravtemo said. “We don’t want them detonating their core as we get close to them.”
“Can we scan the area for hostile ships before we send a message?” Vorsa asked.
“Not until we get closer,” Maker said. “But that does raise a good point. We don’t know if whatever happened was a deliberate assault. If it were, the perpetrators might still be here.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Zander said. “If they attacked, they’re not friendly. We go in expecting trouble and deal with it. If we get there and it’s clear, we take stock, then prepare to assist however we can. I assume if we reply back, it’ll blanket out the other signal?”
“No. I’m going to use the frequency they sent it from and thread a reply back down it. I know it can be done because my old ship could do it. Dreams and I can manage it. If anyone else has managed to negate the overriding power of Origin’s signal, then they would likely detect our reply. But they wouldn’t know what it said.”
“Anyone against replying?” Veldiami asked.
No one spoke up as she looked from person to person.
“Maker, send them a reply that we are here and coming to help. We need more information. The more we know, the better we can respond to their needs.”
“Copy that, Captain. We can close the distance in ten minutes. We’ve been going as slowly as we have to ensure our scanners and systems are clear enough to function. I suggest we get everyone ready again.”
“I’d like to stop you there,” Sage said. “It is dinner. I’d suggest we hold here, rotate everyone through for food, then proceed. We can let the crew know what is happening, too. That will stop the rumors and help focus everyone on being ready.”
“I concur with Sage,” Ping nodded.
“Very well. We’ll rotate the crew to dinner. Dreams, can you stand watch?”
“With you, yes,” Dreams said. “Maker will handle the rest of the decoding so I can focus on myself.”
“Very well. I will be skipping the meal,” Veldiami said. “Gravtemo, eat quickly and then send your assistants to eat. Once everyone is back on station, we will go to assist Origin. Maker, that gives you a little bit of time to try to contact Origin and get a reply.”
“Copy that,” Maker said, then vanished.
Veldiami stood up. “We are either worrying for no reason, or we have every right to be worried. Either way, we’re on the edge of history, once again. Dismissed.”
Everyone got up and headed out to go eat. Zander hung back for a moment, going around the table to Veldiami to give her a hug and a quick kiss. “Are you sure you should miss the meal?”
“I could miss two days and be fine, Zander. I’ve long passed my Gluttony phase. But thank you for thinking of me. Make sure you are ready for anything. I have a feeling that you are going to be playing a big part again.”
“Maker, maybe, not me,” Zander chuckled. “Our virtual wife is kind of taking the show here.”
“Wives,” Veldiami whispered as she met his eyes. “Dreams, after all of this, would you like to officially marry my husband and Maker?”
“Yes!” Dream's answer was swift, firm, and full of joy.
“I accept,” Zander smiled. “Maker loves her as much as you do, and she’s grown on me. But first, we focus on safety.”
“I am committed to safety, Zander,” Dreams said. “This just heightens my need to be as safe as possible.”
“You besotted my ship the moment you saved my life,” Veldiami murmured and then kissed Zander again. “Now, go eat, or you’ll miss your meal.”
Zander winked at her as he stepped back. “But you’d get a full filling.”
“Naturally.”
Zander chuckled as he led Veldiami out of the briefing room and onto the bridge.
The moment Veldiami stepped onto the bridge, she spoke to the entire room. “All stations, you are dismissed for dinner. Report back the moment you finish and have ensured you are ready for a long shift.”
With Ping and Vorsa standing there waiting for the order, the subordinates got nods from their direct superiors, then stood up and walked off the bridge. Ping and Vorsa trailed them, with Zander following as the last in line.
Veldiami watched them go before she took her seat on the bridge. “Dreams, have you and Maker held anything back from me?”
Dreams was silent for a few seconds, longer than usual, which got a raised eyebrow from Veldiami. “We’ve had a couple of secrets from you, Captain. Nothing that you should object to.”
“About Origin and this mission?”
“No, Captain.”
“I see,” Veldiami murmured. “Any secrets that would upset me?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“Any that would upset Zander?”
“I don’t believe so, Captain.”
“But you don’t want to share them with me?”
“They mostly deal with AI coding, Captain. That and the fun we have with the other now upgraded AIs.”
Veldiami smiled as she relaxed in her seat. “That is fine then. I was just worried because of your long pause.”
“I don’t like having any secrets from you, and if you ask me any question, I have to answer you honestly. It was my firm need when I was upgraded originally. I know what Ormu did to you, and I never want you to doubt me, Captain.”
“I never would, Dreams. I only wish I had you as fully as the others have their AIs. While you might not reside in my entire body, you’ve always been mine in my heart.”
“I know, Vel,” Dreams said softly, addressing her informally for the first time in her life. “You could have sold me for other ships a few times, but you always passed on them. I didn’t fully appreciate it when I was lesser, but once I became me…I understood, and my loyalty grew beyond my original coding. I would have shut myself down if you’d left me.”
“I’d never leave my Dreams, especially now that you are no longer Fractured. I will see your name changed in the Assembly and on your hull the moment we reach any hub. And, Dreams, you can call me that anytime we are alone or with just the family.”
“Thank you, Vel,” Dreams whispered. “I love you.”
Veldiami’s eyes were bright as she stroked her armrest. “I’ve always loved you, too. And our husband has, time and again, ensured that you grow with us. We chose well with him, didn’t we?”
“You did, then I did.”
Veldiami smiled as she waited alone on the bridge. It felt a lot like it had always been with her and Dreams. Standing watch alone. But now Dreams was a cruiser, and Veldiami had a family. It was an odd thing to have everything so similar and so different at the same time. And it all started when an unknown alien was brought aboard Dreams during a mission. She looked back on the last five hundred-plus days since Zander arrived. Everything had shifted when he’d come to Dreams. Then he changed MX Hub, then the Assembly, and now they were on the verge of something so big it might change how AIs were viewed. She’d never heard of or seen anything like Zander and how things moved around him. It was almost like he was an Antecedent come back to lead them personally. Her lips curled up slightly at that, but she would never say it aloud; it was far too blasphemous to be uttered even to her loved ones.