Dearest Starryeyedrin, your birthday twoshot has become a multi-chapter story XD Part of the reason why this was taking so long to get up is I had no idea how to divide it. So, because it was taking a while and I didn't want to cram a bunch of information into two parts, you get a multi-chapter story with part 1 today~ So sorry if it's not want I originally promised, but I suppose you could say the story is in control right now, not me! ^^"

Anyway, for any other readers, this story is a sci-fi/murder mystery with a few twists and yuri undertones between Rin and IA/Aria. It is based on the incredible indie game Analogue: A Hate Story (one of the best video game stories I have ever seen in my life, I would recommend this a million times if I could). The base plotline is similar, but I've tweaked and changed some key elements around so the story is different-including the fate of the characters. ALSO, this is the kind of story that cautious readers will benefit from, as I hide foreshadowing in the dialogue. The ending will also be rather subjective, since it's up to the reader to decide who the true "villain" of the story is. Also, this is rated T, as the story gets a bit dark towards the end. Without further ado, I hope you all enjoy~

Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid or any Crypton-afflicted characters

Date: XXXXX

Subject: Re: Re: "Heavenbound" Mission

Miss Kagamine,

We have successfully contacted the database in the "Heavenbound" generation spaceship, and will be connecting your monitor to it shortly. As you know, this particular ship went missing nearly a century ago and was only discovered recently, drifting freely in space near the Alpha Crux star. The ship itself was carrying two royal families, the Planetes and the Altos, but not much is known of them beside the fact they all mysteriously died aboard and never reached their final destination. The ship was completely sterile, so the possibility of a killer virus has been ruled out. In addition, it appears to be in perfect shape and a scan of the interior shows no sign of struggle. So, it is your job to hack into the database, learn as much as you can about the ship's occupants, and discover exactly what went wrong that resulted in the mass death. If possible, seek the help of *Lapis, the artificial intelligence and main security guard of the ship. Best of luck.

"Alright, let's make this quick." Rin grumbled, dragging the email to the trash. She leaned back in her chair and munched on a few sticks of Pocky, awaiting for the large monitor in front of her to establish a connection with the ship. In a generation heavily ruled by cyberspace and intergalactic exploration, being an employed hacker like Rin was a coveted position. She'd done plenty of missions similar to this; hacking into databases, combing through files and letters, and ultimately solving unexplained mysteries or catching cyber-thieves. With all the intergalactic colonies established and occasional chaos on her own planet Earth, her job was never a boring one.

"Connection successfully made!" The monitor announced, and the screen turned black, filling up with green blocks of code and HTML. Rin sat forward, cracking her knuckles eagerly. To most it was a bunch of gibberish, but to Rin it was just another language. It was like a puzzle to her, dying to be solved. Move this over here, change the letter in that code…Rin was well on her way within minutes. Unsurprisingly, however, the security on the ship was strong and Rin began trouble navigating through the chains of letters and numbers. Just when she decided to give it a break, the screen suddenly rearranged itself and an empty box popped up.

"A password is needed to access this area." The voice informed her.

"Dammit." She cursed under her breath. Usually getting around passwords was no trouble for her, but this database was a particularly pesky one: one incorrect move could send her right back to where she started.

"I suppose I could contact headquarters." She mused. But that would require talking to someone, and Rin wasn't sure it was worth it. In fact, she'd never had friends, or a boyfriend, but it never really bothered her. As an anti-social, she excelled at hacking because it didn't involve much communication with others;at least, most of the time.

"Message alert!" The monitor suddenly chirped as a small blue dot began blinking in the corner of the screen. "AI Unit 2 wishes to speak with you! Do you accept? Audio will be enabled upon acceptance."

"AI Unit 2?" Rin muttered. She remembered the mention of an AI in her mission email. There was a pretty good chance it might have some ideas about the password, if she could get it to cooperate. The last artificial intelligence she communicated with spoke in broken phrases, and had trouble understanding her commands. With a sigh, she moved the mouse over the blue dot and clicked it. Almost immediately, the screen turned completely white. Rin stared at the blank screen intently, waiting for something to show up. Almost immediately, a single line of code began rapidly filling into the screen. Rin squinted, scanning the string of letters, and froze when she found a single, coherent word amidst the coding: "help". Before she could even press a key, however, the code vanished and the screen became blank again. Rin shifted a bit, feeling a bit uneasy.

"This is getting weird." She thought, considering disconnecting herself from the database. But she stopped herself, knowing that doing so would result in the failure of her mission. Suddenly, a voice was heard.

"Um…hello?" It was small, and robotic, but clear. "Human? Are you there?"

"Who's this?" Rin questioned, fingers instantly brushing the power button in case it was something hostile.

"O-oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me! Hold on." Nearly an instant later, a girl appeared on the screen in front of Rin. Rin drew back, impressed that the AI's creator had put so much detail into her design. Her outfit consisted of black and pink, her eyes were a light shade of torquoise, and her long white hair flowed just to her waist. To anyone, she could easily pass as a human.

"Oh! I can see you now!" The girl suddenly explained, grinning broadly. "Your eyes are so pretty! Are they real, or are you wearing blue contact lens?"

"Who are you?" Rin asked warily, ignoring the question. The AI blinked for a moment, then resumed her smile.

"My name is *IA. I'm a resident aboard this ship!" She replied.

"Wait, I thought all the residents of this ship were dead?" Rin questioned. Although she was rather suspicious of this girl being an AI: her speech ability and appearance was unlike anything Rin had encountered before in an AI. Another pause. Her figure flickered for a moment before *IA leaned in.

"Oh, of course, I forgot to mention," She laughed apologetically. "I'm not a human, I'm an artificial intelligence. In specific, I'm the security AI for this ship."

"Do you also go by *Lapis?" Rin asked, putting her suspicion aside for now.

"I suppose you can call me that, if you want." *IA replied slowly, her voice giving out into static for a moment. She shook her head, leaning closer to the screen eagerly. "But I want to know more about you! I haven't spoken to anyone for ages, it's so nice to be in contact again!" Rin fought the urge to cringe. She hated how chatty this particular AI was, even if she was impressed by her capability to communicate.

"I don't like talking." Rin replied dully. "Listen, I'm doing this mission because I like to keep human contact-or any contact-to the minimum. Now, if you'd like to help me-"

"But of course!" *IA replied eagerly, nodding her head. "I'm sorry, I tend to speak before I think. It's just that it's so nice to be able to speak again, it's been so lonely and-oh, dear, I'm doing it again. I'm sorry, I'm probably annoying you. Maybe I should just go." Her image flickered off and Rin was left with a blank screen.

"H-hey, wait!" Rin cried out, suddenly flustered with losing her only hope to getting the password. "I-I need your help with something!"

"What?" *IA appeared back on screen, head tilted curiously.

"Do you know the password to the central database?"

"Oh, of course I do!" *IA nodded. "Commander Leon kept it pretty well hidden, though. I think I was-" Her voice faded into static for a moment. "Er, am, the only one who knows it!"

"I need to get through to the central database as part of my mission." Rin explained.

"I need to access the old entries of the ship's residents."

"Then the password won't help you much." *IA admitted with a sigh. "Beyond it are a series of tough firewalls. Commander Leon obviously wanted his words to be kept hidden from potential viewers." Her voice grew dark at the last sentence.

"I'm a professional hacker." Rin explained. "I don't think-"

"Wait, you're a girl, and a hacker?" *IA looked both surprised and impressed. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah, that's how I got to the password page in the first place." Rin muttered.

"But even so, a professional hacker like yourself would have trouble with these firewalls." *IA explained. "See, there were a lot of hackers, all male, aboard this ship back when it was still operatin, and they helped the commander design his security."

"So there's no way I can get in?" Rin asked, clenching her fists in frustration.

"Well, there is one way…" *IA trailed.

"Yes?"

"I could help you." She offered in a quiet voice. "Because I'm an AI, I can pass through the firewalls and bring back pieces of data, once you enter the password."

"You'd be willing to do that?" Rin stared incredulously, genuinely surprised at how willing the girl on the screen was to help her. Of course, she wasn't too excited to partner up with the virtual chatterbox; but it was likely the only way she could complete her mission.

"Sure!" *IA nodded eagerly. "I'd like to help you with your mission in any way I can. I haven't spoken to someone in a hundred years, you know." She beamed broadly at Rin. "The fact you're speaking with me right now means so much to me!"

"Great." Rin murmured, uncomfortable at how casual the AI had become with her.

"Awesome! I'll try my best!" *IA promised, giving a salute. Rin let her gaze drop, flustered at the girl's devotion to her cause.

"Um, so…how about that password." She asked softly, looking back up to her.

"Oh. Password. Right." *IA mused. She disappeared a moment later.

"*IA?" Rin questioned, feeling a bit of panic that the AI had decided to leave her.

"Ariaplanetes." *IA's voice informed her.

"What?"

"Ariaplanetes. That's the password." The empty box from before appeared in front of her.

"Oh. Right." Rin keyed it in, and heard a distinct unlocking sound. The screen was white for a few more moments, before a few boxes of blue, readable text appeared. A little blue dot at the bottom also showed up.

"Here's what I've got to start." *IA explained to Rin. "I turned into coherent text for you. They're a few entries about Commander Leon by some of the passengers, which I assume is what you're look for. Oh, and if you want to speak with me face to face, just click the blue dot on the bottom of the screen. Likewise, if I want to talk to you, I'll make it light up."

"Got it." Rin replied, opening up the files and preparing to read. She paused when it occurred to her that she had yet to mention exactly what her mission was-discover the death of the ship's residents-to her assistant. She moved her mouse to the blue dot and prepared to click, but stopped herself. That would require further discussion, and the chances of the ditsy robot knowing anything about what probably happened while she was in sleep mode seemed unlikely. Besides, now that she was in the database she no longer needed help, so she saw no reason for telling her her complete motives. Not yet, at least.

Well, there's part one! For anyone who thinks it's weird that *IA just randomly started helping Rin, it will make more sense once I put up more content ;) Reviews are always appreciated~ Also, I hope everything's ok where you live, Starryeyedrin! (the wildfires and stuff). Hopefully part 1 of this story can cheer you up a bit :)