The Last Adventure
(Takes place a few months after the events told in Might Makes Right.)
Chapter One
"Are we seriously doing this?" Alina squealed in excitement.
Phina turned from where she was crouched next to her best friend and glared. "We won't be doing it for long if you keep squealing like that!"
Alina scrunched up her beautiful face in disgust. "I was not squealing! I was asking a question."
Phina shook her short, dark-haired head in amazement. "Alina, you were squealing. Like a Yollin bistok."
Her friend's mouth dropped, her eyes opening in horror. "No!"
"Yes."
Alina's blue eyes, normally sunny in nature, turned angry as she punched Phina in the arm. "Then why am I only hearing about this now? We've been friends since we were toddlers! Phina!" She ended in a growling huff that was rather adorable.
Rubbing her arm, as Alina's punch was harder than she had expected, Phina pursed her lips for a moment then shrugged. "It never came up."
Alina's face went completely blank, then her eyes blinked a few times, as if her brain was trying to comprehend something it really couldn't understand. Shaking her head, Alina's perfectly curled blond hair slid back and forth along her shoulders. "You are a horrible friend."
Phina glanced around the corner of the alcove they were hiding in, eying her target down the corridor. Fudgeballs. The men were both looking in their direction, their thin armor and JD weapons causing them to look rather intimidating.
Quickly assessing and making a strategic decision, Phina smoothly pushed herself up, motioning to Alina to do the same. Alina moaned as she pulled herself up to her feet, grabbing onto Phina's black jacket to steady herself. Phina rolled her eyes.
She couldn't believe Alina thought red three-inch heels, with straps winding up her calves, were an appropriate choice for their current preoccupation- though she supposed she should be glad it wasn't evening yet as then it would have been four or five inches.
Phina much preferred her own soft black boots. Paired with black jeans and a soft dark green shirt? Stylish and practical. Alina's own white dress with off the shoulder arm sleeves and a flirty mid-thigh swing skirt was stylish, but practical was definitely not anywhere in the picture.
Waiting for the opportune moment, when the men were looking at each other instead of towards them, Phina pulled Alina after her as they left without a backwards glance. On Phina's part, anyway. She looked at her friend with exasperation. First squealing and now sighing while she fanned herself. Honestly, sometimes it was embarrassing.
"On the contrary, I'm a very good friend." Phina announced, as they began to mix with the humans and aliens in the corridors leading to the main concourse of the QBBS Meredith Richards.
"I don't see how." Alina said sourly. "Especially when we are walking away from all the yummy candy."
Phina pulled her friend to a stop in the middle of the walking traffic. Feeling someone barely avoid hitting her before the tall gangly being moved to the side, Phina began to look around, realizing those she was blocking were quickly gaining irritated looks. "Fudge!" She guided an amused Alina over towards a cross corridor that didn't have as much traffic and faced her friend in exasperation.
"Candy? What candy are we talking about? I've been trying to get you in to see the Marine's workout and training room, as that was when they all took their shirts off, and that was the one thing you most wanted to try to sneak into before we had to be all mature adults once we turn eighteen." Phina's voice was slightly raised by this time as she was completely exasperated, and growing quickly out of breath. "But now you want to change it to something else? Fudge!"
Phina's green eyes glared frustration and confusion at Alina, while her friend tilted her head and calmly said, "Eye candy, Phina. I was talking about yummy eye candy."
They stood there another moment staring at each other, Phina's chest still heaving slightly, till Alina started snickering. Phina's mouth twitched. They both started giggling at the same time, pressing their hands against their mouths to try to muffle the sound, and moved to outright laughter when neither of them could stop.
Honestly, it was both from relief as well as finding the situation amusing. Phina and Alina were going to be alright, even though the two of them were moving on to wherever life took them next. Phina rubbed her belly as she caught her breath. She hadn't laughed that hard in far too long. Probably the last time she completely missed something simple like this and over reacted.
Alina grinned at her. "You know, you are turning eighteen in three weeks. You can start using the real words."
Phina shook her head. "You know how my aunt feels about that. If I let up now it will slip out at the worst possible time." Phina had tried it before, so she knew it would happen; she just couldn't compartmentalize all that well yet.
Her aunt had raised Phina ever since she was eleven years old- when her parents had died in the first few battles with the Karillians against the Leath, each deployed in a different location. Well, her aunt Rochelle had been helping to raise Phina even before then as, being marines, her parents had been gone a lot to train and fight.
She didn't care that the Empress herself cursed like a fudging sailor, Aunt Rochelle was adamant that Phina would keep her language clean. Her parenting style was a combination of strict and neglectful, which caused Phina no end of confusion. She dealt with situations better when she understood where the boundaries and rules are, and her aunt kept changing those on her. The language issue was one of the few things that were practically set in stone.
After her parent's funeral Phina had only one burning question- Why had both her parents died? Phina learned things very easily, and determined the steps she needed to take to get the information she needed. Once she had developed enough skill by the age of fourteen, Phina had hacked into the systems to find information on what had really happened on Karillia. The hacking wasn't hard to learn, being only a matter of logic, puzzles, and learning the right language.
While logic sometimes, and only sometimes, escaped her, she was a whiz with puzzles. Her language skills weren't too shabby either as she already had learned binary, several coding languages, Yollin, Karillian, and she could get by in Ixtali. Phina had never been formally tested, but she knew she was smart. No one else did, though, since Phina had made sure of it.
No, the hard part in gaining the information had been making it through all the systems' security. It was fiendishly difficult, as at times it seemed like it was fighting back. She was very proud of herself when she made it through, both to the location and through the system itself.
From the documents she had read, it was Phina's understanding that her parents might not have died on Karillia had there been better intelligence on the Leath and their Kurtherian 'gods' before the battles, and had there been better communication between Bethany Anne and her inner circle. Her anger had raged at the knowledge.
Phina made a vow on her parent's memory that she would do her best to make sure those kinds of mistakes never happened again. She would become a stealthy information acquirer who dispensed information to prevent death and atrocities. In other words, a spy. Her dad had read secret agent and spy stories to her in the past, when he was home from deployment, and when he was gone she chose it as her future. Somehow, she didn't think he would have been surprised. Though, Phina much preferred the phrase, "stealthy information acquisitions" than "spy." It just seemed more accurate.
Alina's high, soft voice cut through her memories. "So, what's the plan now? Are we giving up?"
Phina eyed her friend's anxious face, as one side of Phina's mouth turned up into her signature smirk smile. "No way."
Alina grinned. "I knew you would eventually discover the joys of manshopping!"
It was Phina's turn for a face scrunch of disgust. "Uh, no." She shook her head. "This is all for you, Alina."
Her face fell. "Why not? You've never shown any interest in boys. I was hoping you were just waiting to be old enough for a man." Alina eyed her. "Do you like girls? Why wouldn't I have known this?" She put her hands on her hips.
Phina blinked in thought. "No, I'm pretty sure any interest I had would be for a guy, I just haven't found one interesting enough yet."
Alina's mouth opened and shut while she waved her arms, seemingly trying to encompass the whole of the 180,000 plus souls on the Meredith Reynolds. She finally found her voice. "Out of all the yummy man candy on this station, you can't find even one you think is attractive?"
Phina shrugged. She was fairly sure if there was ever a man Phina found appealing, the man would have to be pretty extraordinary in his interests and abilities, not just his appearance. She would be bored very quickly, otherwise. "Looks aren't everything."
Alina shook her head, seeming to wonder why they were even friends. "Well, yeah, but they sure help!" She clapped her hands, trying to forget her friend's appalling lack of interest in one of her favorite subjects.
"So, what's next?"
Chapter Two
Phina wondered if Alina had stopped cursing her yet. Alina didn't have a problem using the real words should the occasion called for it, and had been on a tirade when Phina finally left her in the Open Court. She alternated between snickering and feeling just a little bad for leaving Alina out of it. There was no changing it, though, as Alina wouldn't be able to keep up with her now.
She slid through the tunnel on her belly as fast as she could, while also remaining completely silent. She wore nothing that would catch on a bolt or sharp seam, her dark clothing soft and molded to her body. Her soft boots had no rubber or ridges on the edges that might catch and cause those awful squeaks. She had been through this area numerous times over the past few years as Phina often used the ventilation to sneak around to the different parts of the space station. Phina hadn't been caught once, she thought proudly.
Her mind turned to the first time she had used the ventilation shafts to travel around the station, in preparation for her first self-assigned mission. Phina knew she wouldn't get to her target location by going through the regular corridors as there had been far too much security, as well as people going about their business.
The problem she had encountered was that the only path to her destination required her to walk up a 200 foot shaft, with air corridors every 25 feet. She had been filled with confidence that she could make the climb, resting in each air corridor when needed. That is, up until she slid back down after only five feet in the air. Quickening her pace only served to tire her out faster and faster. Panting with frustration as well as resignation, Phina determined to strengthen her muscles as quickly as possible.
Finding the corridors to storage areas that were accessed only once or twice a week, Phina ran twice a day, as many days of the week as she could manage. She toned her body through push ups, jumping jacks, squats, and anything else she could think of to try. Twice a week she also tried to climb the air shaft again, gaining a higher distance each time. Placing her socks, and the sneakers she had at the time, into her pack enabled her to grip the material more easily than with them on, so she got used to that as well, developing callouses on her hands and feet.
Her months of mental and physical preparation had been worth it the day she finally climbed those 200 ft. up to the correct air corridor. Phina had lain on the floor of the air corridor for a few moments, resting and congratulating herself, before moving down to the correct ventilation access, planning to dance on her way back down in celebration. Three short hours later she had returned, her mission to discover the truth about her parents complete, but she was too angry and sad to dance.
Now, pulled out of her thoughts by hearing the air change, she pushed herself flat against the bottom, her face to the side. The repair drone crossed her field of vision and disappeared behind her.
"That was close." She pulled in deep breaths, relaxing in relief.
The drones were a more recent addition, added two years before, after there had been an issue with one of the shafts being improperly connected, causing air to vent into the wrong area. The build-up over time had become a strain on the entire system that could have resulted in a massive problem.
An anonymous report and a week later, the problem had been fixed. Within two weeks, the drones had shown up, likely developed by R&D- possibly even BMW, the elite engineering team. This made moving around the ventilation shafts much more tricky, as the drones contained sensors and cameras, so Phina made her body suit.
She had no trouble with the drones after coating the outside of her suit with a compound she had created specifically for fabric that worked similarly to the anti-radar paint that had been developed before she was born; she just had to be as flat as possible and not move for it to work properly. The irony in all this was that Phina had been the one to send the anonymous report of the problem. Phina mentally shrugged, knowing that avoiding drones was better than having whole sections of the station blow up.
After listening another moment to make sure the drone was gone, Phina continued towards the laundry and clothing storage area. She was ready to get moving on this part of the mission. She could see the end, taking the small tool out of a hidden pocket so she could remove the screen. A few turns, some gentle probes to loosen the seal, and the screen was laying against the wall.
"May I ask what you are intending to do?"
Her head lifted in surprise, just as she was stepping out of the ventilation, and hit the sharp edge with a thunk. "Fudge!" She tentatively probed the area on her head and was relieved there didn't seem to be any bleeding. It still hurt like a fudgebear. She looked around to find the owner of the voice, but didn't see anyone in the large room since it was after hours, a fact she had purposely exploited.
"Uh, where are you? Come out so I can see you, please." She was slightly scared as this was the first time anyone had seen her on a mission, but more so she was frustrated as this guy was interfering in her last mission with Phina.
"I'm not in the room with you. I'm speaking to you through your implant."
Phina sighed in exasperation, mentally wondering why life seemed to conspire against her. "I won't ask how as I can figure that out, though that takes some pretty fancy skills." She crossed her arms. "So, may I ask why you are wondering about my intentions and how you discovered me in the first place?"
"Oh, I've been watching you."
Phina closed her eyes. Fudging crumbs on pickle toast! She started moving quickly as the voice continued, finding the clothing she needed and placing them in the thin bag that had been folded and tucked into her pocket.
"As for why I am wondering, well, I guess you would say I got impatient as I monitored you and thought I would just ask." The voice paused. "Are you not aware that stealing is morally wrong?"
Phina moved back towards the ventilation shaft, done with this area, and especially done with this guy and his voice that seemed to be judging her. "I'm not stealing. I'm borrowing. I'm bringing them back after I'm finished with them."
"I see."
"And as for what I'm doing, I'm helping my friend with something." She paused a moment before entering, an eyebrow raised. "Will you please be quiet now? Any noise in here causes huge echoes."
She had just crawled into the tunnel when the voice told her. "Oh, I'm not speaking out loud, remember? I'm speaking to you through your implant. You are the only one talking out loud. If you think it with your mind I will still hear you."
Her head ached in pain as it hit the top of the tunnel. "Fudging…" She shut her mouth as the word was already echoing and just gritted her teeth. She formed the thought very carefully.
Can you please stop doing that at the times I have something hard and metal right above my head?
She had double the headache now. Perfect. She moved very slowly down the air corridor.
"Logic suggests that you should be more careful in your reactions."
Being logical all the time is for computers, EIs, and processing engines. Humans have emotions and can't help responding with them.
The voice paused for a long moment. "You have a point. I really can't argue with that assessment."
Good. Now please let me focus. It's really hard to concentrate with this headache I now have.
As she focused on moving as quickly and quietly as possible, she couldn't help wondering, who was this guy? She wanted to focus on the mission for Alina now, but she was going to check him out tomorrow. Assuming they weren't caught.
Chapter Three
Alina was practically jumping up and down when Phina entered the Burke family residence the next day. "Do you have everything? Are you ready now?"
Feeling achiness, Phina patted the back of her head where a small knot had formed since she hit the ventilation opening earlier. At least Alina had gotten over her mad from being left out of the supply gathering stage. Phina figured her excitement had caused her to let her anger go, which was a very good thing for all concerned. Alina could hold onto her mad for days.
"Yes." Phina opened the thin bag she had carried the supplies in, pulling out and handing Alina the clothing meant for her. "Get dressed in that, then I will give you the rest of your things."
Phina laid out the area passes, socks, and shoes on the bed, along with her own change of clothes. The shoes were another acquisition… err, borrowed item. The passes Phina had created on her own, the physical copy based on the ones she had seen as she snuck around, while the coding she found in secure-to-most-people locations on the system.
The voice in her head had interrupted her again when he realized what she was making, thankfully at a time when she didn't have something to hit her head on.
"Is it appropriate for you to be using this code to get into those locations, and using it for your own purposes?"
Phina had scowled as her fingers tapped quickly on her tablet, her eyes scanning the text that streamed by on the screen. "Mystery Man, this is getting old fast. I'm not doing anything damaging or hurtful to anyone, and neither is my friend. All we are doing is walking into that location, observing for as long as possible, and then leaving. That is it, and that is all. Nothing for you to worry about."
"You aren't concerned that someone could take this pass from you and use it for their own purposes?"
She had put her hands up, unconsciously hoping he would stop. "Ok, MM, I'm done talking to you. No more questions. So that you don't worry your little brains, you can rest easy. I already added code in the passes so that they can't be used after today. Now, will you please shut it?"
Her patience level now down to zero, due to lack of sleep and needing to focus, she was extremely happy the voice had been quiet after that! Hearing Alina finish changing her clothes, she turned to see how they fit.
"Wow! I love the way this feels on me! Can I keep them?" Alina's eager face fell when she was told no.
Phina shrugged. "Sorry, I'm only borrowing them. They do look great on you." She smiled as she realized that almost all the clothes Alina tried on looked great on her. These clothes were a little different than the norm for her, though.
The clothing Phina had acquired was the standard active wear all the marines wore when training. Since there were so many people of various sizes needing these types of clothing, it was easier just to make a lot of the same stretchy, breathable fabric. It fit Alina like a glove and made her body look amazing.
Phina changed, then they quickly put on the shoes, grabbing the passes and inserting each one in the small pocket of their shorts that was placed for exactly this purpose.
Alina's face turned excited again as she walked towards the door.
"Alina?"
She turned back to Phina with a questioning look on her face.
"Just remember not to act too much like a fangirl, ok?"
Alina posed with a toss of her head, her curls disappointingly confined by an elastic. "I am a fangirl!"
Phina smiled even as she inwardly sighed. She didn't think Alina would ever be as serious about life as she herself was, which was absolutely fine, Phina reminded herself. Alina's plan was to go into the fashion and beauty industry. She had wanted to create her own lines of perfume and cologne for both humans and aliens, until Phina told Alina that required a knowledge of chemistry, and reminded Alina of her lack of good grades, or basic skills, in that class. Alina hadn't brought it up since. Still, Alina was the best and only friend Phina had ever had. Phina's mind had turned to their upcoming birthdays, and being so close to following her own goals and dreams, when she had a thought.
"Alina, you should do it."
She looked confused. "We are doing it. You haven't changed your mind, have you?"
Phina shook her head, smiling. "No, I mean if you still want to create your own perfume. You should do it. Or whatever your dream is now. If it's something that requires skills or knowledge you don't have, then find someone who does and partner with them. I just think you should do it."
Alina's face had brightened as Phina talked until it was beaming. She ran over and hugged her friend so tight that Phina had a hard time breathing. Still, she hugged Alina back. It was worth it. Alina let go and backed up a step, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Thank you, Phina! Really, thank you. That means so much to me. I know it isn't as big a deal or as important as being a spy, or saving the earth and the empire like Bethany Anne, but it's what I want to do."
Phina raised her eyebrow. "You mean stealthy information acquirer."
Alina rolled her eyes even as she smiled and laughed, since this was a common exchange. "Whatever, Phina."
She looked seriously at her friend. "If it's your dream, then you should do it. Besides, I've become convinced you are right. There were far too many people that stunk in the main corridor yesterday. Add in deodorant for various species to your line of products, and I think you've got the makings of saving all our noses." Phina finished with a grin.
Alina's eyes sparkled and her face shone with excitement. "Yes! That's perfect!"
Phina reached forward and nudged her towards the door. "Come on, let's go. Just remember to tone down the squealing."
Alina smacked Phina's arm but still smiled as she turned to walk out. She raised a fist in the air. "Phinalina is leaving the building!"
Phina smirked at hearing the name. When they were in grade school they were teased about their names rhyming and being together so much instead of playing with the other kids. Rather than being offended, the girls thought it was awesome and adopted it, using it as their code name for embarking on their adventures.
As this was their last childhood adventure, it was very fitting. She caught up to her friend outside the door as they began to walk a few miles to their target location. She reached over with her fist.
"Phinalina forever."
Alina grinned and brought her own fist up. "Phinalina forever!"
Chapter Four
"So, which of you would like to spar first?" The man in front of them smiled knowingly. What exactly he knew Phina wasn't sure. Probably that what they knew about sparring could fill a tea cup. Crumbs, maybe more like a shot glass.
The girls had gotten through the guarded door without a problem, thanks to her well-made passes. The armored men gave Phina curious glances and Alina admiring ones, while Alina looked and flirted back. That was fine with her as she was used to it. Phina often would just do her thing, while Alina tagged along attracting attention and drawing people in. It's a good thing flirting her way in somewhere was never required as an option since Phina would have failed miserably. Alina was fairly masterful, even when she wasn't trying.
The two girls were the same height, and close to the same weight, but where Alina's weight was in her curves, Phina's was mostly in her muscles. Her body had become very toned from climbing all over the space station, among other activities, but any curves she had were more of a definition of muscle. She was never jealous about Alina's looks, or the attention she got; it was rather a relief, in fact, that the attention was diverted.
Of course, if Phina ever did find that mythical, extremely talented, and interesting man, she might change her mind.
After a wrong turn past the men on duty, they had finally made it into the Marine's sparring area and workout room. Phina had poked Alina again after entering to remind her not to squeal. They were recruits today, not fangirls. Being new recruits was the only way Phina could think of to get them both into this restricted room.
It was a struggle, but Alina did keep the squeal inside as her eyes grew wider, realizing just how many tall, strong, and attractive men were in this large room with her. There were dozens in various positions and locations around the mats and workout equipment. Oh, there were women there too, of course, but Alina's eyes lingered only on the men. Phina sighed inside even as she was happy that she could help her friend's wish come true.
After being greeted and ushered over to an open mat by Todd, the tall over-muscled man now before them, he had asked them the question Phina was now considering. She looked over towards Alina. Her friend looked like she was having spasms between being thrilled to be there, leering at the men working out across the room, and being terrified that she would be called on first.
Phina pursed her lips a moment, then looked towards the man in front of them, who sported a short crew cut. "I will." She volunteered. She might as well give Alina a few more minutes before they were found out and quickly moved out of the area.
Todd moved towards the middle of the mat next to them and gestured for her to follow. As she walked over to where he had pointed to, she heard the voice in her head again.
"Phina, are you sure you want to do this? That man is over a hundred pounds heavier and half a foot taller than you are."
Not the time, MM!
"I would like to help you, if you let me."
I'm trying to concentrate!
"I am merely expressing concern for your continued health and well-being. Just say the word and I will tell the appropriate persons."
Thank you. Seriously, thank you, but stop talking to me. I could just tell this guy myself and be done with it. I want to give Alina as much time as possible. Please don't distract me!
"Understood."
Phina stood facing the large man and copied his stance, bringing her arms up and fisting her hands. It felt awkward. Todd's face was now assessing and distant. His blue eyes probably saw more than Phina wanted him to know. She waited.
He moved quickly, his fist reaching for her head. She flung herself backwards in reflex when her muscle memory took over, hands reaching behind her for the mat, completing a backwards summersault, and popping back up a few feet from where she started.
Phina had started to brace herself for another blow when she realized that the man still stood there, watching her with an interested look on his face.
She was quickly coming to the realization that this interest wasn't necessarily a good thing when Todd came forward more quickly, this time with a low kick to sweep her feet. Phina jumped up, higher and more quickly than she expected. With Todd crouching and moving in towards her for the sweep, she found the perfect spot to move next.
She vaulted off his head, pushing off with the heel of her hands, but with his own hand catching her ankle and then slipping away as she flipped, Phina found her motion stalled. Instead of landing on the floor, she landed on his back, pushing him down. She considered herself lucky that she could complete the flip at all.
Immediately realizing she needed to get off before he recovered and grabbed her or rolled her off, Phina quickly flung herself forward into a summersault, twisting around so that she landed facing her opponent, rather than away from him. She sighed in relief that she had landed that move, since it was tricky jumping off a static, but shifting and precarious starting point.
From the corner of her eye she saw Alina both smiling and looking amazed, as well as the sudden quiet in the whole room. She had a feeling all those many eyes were now looking in this direction, and not resting on Alina, unfortunately. Phina nervously assessed Todd as he finished standing up after her hasty move. His face looked surprised, curious, and determined. Uh oh! Fudging piles of…
He moved even faster now, closing the distance, her mind barely responding in time to the danger she was in. Somehow, Phina managed to block the strike to her face with her arms- though it hurt so bad she wondered if he had broken something. She failed to block the immediate second punch to her belly and she quickly fell onto the floor. Fudge in a bucket! That hurt so bad!
As Phina lay on the mat, catching her breath and wishing she had thought to train herself in martial arts, as well as spycraft, she heard a noise and lifted her chin to see who was walking up behind her. The view was upside down, but she knew it wasn't the man who had just put her on the floor. She tilted her head to the side as she couldn't comprehend what her brain was telling her. Recognizing the man, perhaps she just didn't want to.
Yes, she knew that face. Fudging crumbs! Her head dropped onto the mat as she moaned. She was dead.
"Come with me." He looked towards Alina. "Both of you." She paled, but walked towards him while Phina pushed herself up, wincing a bit as her stomach muscles protested.
When John Grimes tells you to move, you immediately comply.
As they walked back down the corridor, Phina had whispered, asking Alina if their mission was worth it. Alina looked anxious, but gave a shaky smile and made the Phinalina hand motion meaning mission accomplished. Phina grinned even as she rubbed the aching muscles in her belly.
After exiting the area, the large man told Alina to go back home. She looked back towards Phina with a stricken look on her face, as if she would never see her again. Phina wasn't sure Alina was wrong, but she gave her a reassuring smile.
John Grimes then brought Phina to another part of the station. This area held the offices of Bethany Anne, General Lance Reynolds, and other members of The Empress' inner circle. Phina grew more nervous and her face paled. Whoever she was going to see was important.
As if John Grimes showing up wasn't already proof of that. It couldn't be Bethany Anne as she had far more important things to do. Right? Phina thought this was a hundred times worse than going to the principal's office, but she really couldn't protest as she and Alina had been in a restricted area. She was just happy they had let Alina go.
The huge man stopped next to a door and nodded his head towards it. "In there, please."
Phina nodded as she swallowed. "Thank you." She whispered.
He gave her a small smile as he palmed the door open and gestured.
"Come in." The voice came from inside the room.
Chapter Five
Phina walked in, eyes immediately looking to the man on the other side of the desk. Holy crumbs! It was General Lance Reynolds, Bethany Anne's father. The door shut behind her, so she couldn't run if she wanted to- she was stuck.
He pointed with his cigar to a metal ergonomic chair on the other side of his desk. "Sit down, please."
As Phina sat on the surprisingly comfortable seat, the man put the end of the cigar back in his mouth and looked at her. She was feeling uneasy, certain he was assessing everything, and wished she had the ability to read minds that Bethany Anne was rumored to possess.
He took the cigar out and pointed it at her. So…. Seraphina Waters." He tilted the tip up as he tilted his head back and considered. "Phina Waters. Sera Waters. Pretty name."
She sat very still, and tried to keep her face from reacting to cover her surprise. Phina wondered if he was trying to point out that he knew all the variations of identification and passes she had made for herself over the past several years. If so, touché, General.
"Thanks, but I can't take any credit for it. That was all my parents."
The deceptively young-looking man smiled appreciatively. "True." He sobered and looked regretful. "I'm sorry you lost both your mom and dad. We do try to keep from deploying both parents at the same time. I'm not sure how we missed them."
Phina nodded, appreciating the thought, and shrugged. "It was what they wanted. They had different last names and both wanted to serve in the marines. They knew what they were signing up for. They could have asked for a reassignment of some kind if they wanted it."
"Well, we appreciate their service and sacrifice." He looked at her sharply, but with a note of understanding. "Just as we also appreciate the fact that you no longer hold Bethany Anne or the rest of us to blame for the mistakes that happened."
Phina was surprised. Just how much did they know about her? She began to feel even more uneasy. The General nodded and put the cigar back in his mouth for a moment before gesturing up and around the room.
"This isn't the first time you've been in this office, is it Phina?"
Her breath caught slightly, then she let it out very slowly while thinking that the General was a very smart and dangerous man. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"You are very intelligent, and a clever girl. But, there's one thing you forgot as you were doing your research, practicing your skills, and having your adventures."
Phina swallowed. It was possible, of course, especially considering where she was sitting- not that she liked to think about potential areas of failure. It irritated her, causing her to research and practice more so she didn't fail again.
"What did I forget?"
He grinned. "Meredith and ADAM are always watching."
Phina blinked, remembering that Meredith was an EI for the station. Had she turned into an AI? It had been long enough that she might have switched over. ADAM she had only heard rumors about, and stray pieces of information and coding while she moved through the systems. She felt completely stupid, though, for not thinking at least Meredith might have noticed. She had thought the EI would have been too busy running the rest of the station to pay attention to her. Her thoughts ran quickly even as General Reynolds had continued.
"Say hello, you two."
"Hello, Seraphina." A light woman's voice came from the speaker.
"Hello, Phina." That male voice sounded very familiar. Phina's eyes narrowed as she looked up.
"Hey! You're the one that kept distracting me with my implant!"
"Yes, that was me."
Phina rubbed the knot she still had on her head as she scowled at the ceiling.
"You're an AI?"
"Yes, I am."
She couldn't help wondering. "So, why didn't you tell someone about me? Why did you let me continue?"
"I did inform Bethany Anne and the General. They told me to monitor you to see what you were doing. Actually, I've been watching you for some time now."
Phina had visibly paled when ADAM mentioned Bethany Anne, but recovered and grew indignant when she realized what he was telling her.
"So, you've been watching me for how long?"
There was only a brief hesitation before he responded. "I have been watching you ever since you accessed the main systems through Meredith when you were researching your parents."
Fudge in a bucket! She was appalled, but more so completely confused. "But, that was years ago! Why didn't anyone say or do anything? I didn't think anyone caught me, or even noticed."
ADAM voice had remained calm throughout the exchange. She wondered if he ever spoke any other way, as since he was an AI he must have more humanlike experiences than even EIs do. So, ADAM must experience emotion in some way. Her thoughts kept moving in this direction until his voice pulled her back.
"I am always watching."
The General cut in to bring the conversation more on track. "We wanted to see what you would do if given the opportunity. Speaking of which, ADAM told me something very interesting, as a result of his search on your school records, when you came up in our conversations." He waved his cigar. "Want to explain, ADAM?"
"Of course. As I searched and analyzed your school records, Phina, I found an anomaly that warranted further study. When I examined these records more closely, I discovered that you received a B level grade in every class and on every document handed in for grading." He paused as if waiting for a response.
Crumbs! She shrugged nonchalantly. "So, what? I got B equivalents. No big. I'm just not that smart."
ADAM continued. "On first analysis that might have been my conclusion, but your record consistency was actually inconsistent, requiring a more in-depth analysis."
Phina squinted her eyes. Did he mean…?
The General nodded. "Yes, you got the equivalent of B's all the time, on every assignment. No one does that. Everyone moves around in the numbers and it averages out to be a certain grade level. So, you earning all B levels was a flag someone should have caught onto, but no one ever did."
She straightened, beginning to throw a glare when ADAM's next question stopped her cold.
"I find it curious that you also purposely failed the entrance test to the Etheric Academy. I've spent many hours trying to determine your reasoning and have yet to come to a satisfying conclusion."
Flaming buckets of fudge! No one knew that, not even Alina! Phina focused on keeping her face blank and breathing steadily when her lungs wanted to heave in distress. She didn't think she was very successful at either.
The General waved his cigar towards her. "Please explain this to us, my dear. I realize we are prying and poking at your personal life and secrets, but we need to understand what makes you tick before we move on, and this is a big piece of that."
She tried one more time. "What makes you think I purposely failed the test? You could be mistaken. There could have been any number of reasons why I didn't make it."
Leaning forward, the General looked at her straight on. "There could have been any number of reasons, but there weren't. Your very inconsistently consistent B levels? That's very suggestive. Failing the test to the Academy just one point below the fail line, Phina? That's conclusive."
He sat back in his chair, now a little more relaxed. "The only way to have failed that test just one point below is to have known every single answer on the test and purposely choosing just the right questions to get wrong, as their point values were all different. That's not just smart, that's genius level. Those tests are purposely difficult for a reason, and you could have answered them all correctly."
She felt a little stunned. She had thought she was being clever and no one would ever notice. Trust an AI to figure it out.
"No, Phina, we aren't mistaking you for anything but an extremely bored genius who tends to sneak around places she isn't authorized to be in, and is curiously quick enough to dodge one of the toughest fighters we have. How did you do those acrobatics, by the way?"
"Gymnastics." Phina and ADAM responded at the same time. Phina glanced up for a second then gave a big sigh. Fudgebears. They knew just about everything already, anyway. She took a deep breath.
"When I was a girl, there was a woman in our Residential Section who used to be an Olympic gymnast."
Fudge. ADAM spoke only in her implant, surprising her by sounding amused and a little regretful. I didn't look back far enough in your records.
Fudge, huh?
It seemed to work for you. I thought I would try it out.
What did you think?
I think I need to try it a few more times.
Go for it. Hey, I was wondering why you kept asking me all those morality type questions. It was kind of annoying. What was up with that?
We knew what you were doing, but we weren't sure of your motivation or reason for doing it. We needed to know you weren't going to turn to The Dark Side and try to sabotage Meredith, or any other critical systems.
Why do I get the feeling those words were in capital letters?
Because they were. The Dark Side. His mental voice drew it out in her head so it echoed slightly and sounded deeper.
Has anyone ever told you that you're weird for an AI?
Only Bethany Anne.
Phina realized the General was looking at her with an amused expression on his face. "I'm used to it, young lady. I know the signs of someone talking to a voice in their head." He grinned and waved her on.
Clearing her throat a little, but feeling slightly more comfortable with both of them, she remembered where she had stopped and continued on. "I loved learning gymnastics, and practiced all the time. After my parents died we didn't have the money for lessons anymore, though I still practiced every so often. Not as much as before, since my focus had changed."
The General nodded for her to continue. "And the tests?"
"When my parents died, I was confused and angry. I had to know why they died, so I figured out what I needed to learn to find the answers. After I realized that a lot of the issues involved were lack of information and severe miscommunication I was very angry at everyone here." She swallowed nervously. "Which you apparently already knew about."
The General nodded and motioned to keep going.
"After months of being angry, I realized that what had happened on Karillia was several problems coming together to create tragedy. Events just happened to combine in just that exact way, and there was little to be done. Also, continuing to be angry, and especially to blame you all, would just demean their choice and sacrifice. I don't ever want to do that."
The General nodded. "Well done." Phina blushed under his praise as it had been a long time since anyone had indicated they were proud of her, for any reason. Bolstered a little more, she continued.
"However, I made a vow on my parent's memory that I would do everything I could to make sure a lack of information, and miscommunication of goals and agendas, never happened again. Life is too precious to waste when it could be prevented."
Phina finished that last part awkwardly, but rather proudly. She was verbally taking a stand in front of rather powerful people that could either help her vow, or hinder it in the worst way.
"So, I decided to go into stealthy information acquisitions…"
"You mean become a spy." The General interrupted.
Phina eyed him sternly. "I mean stealthy information acquisitions."
He grinned. "Just call it what it is, girl. We aren't formal around here."
Phina wanted to roll her eyes, but she was afraid that might be a career ending move- if she still had the option for a career. She didn't think the man would take offence, but then, Bethany Anne was the General's daughter. Phina didn't want to push him unnecessarily.
"Fine. I decided to become a spy as a way to gain information, and learn skills that would be useful, as a means to fulfill the vow I made years ago. Since then, I've been learning and practicing as much as possible. I threw the test to the Academy because going through all the rounds of learning engineering, weapons, R&D, and all the rest, as interesting as they would be, would mostly be a waste of time towards fulfilling my vow."
The General's head nodded slowly as he processed everything.
"So why even try to take the test then?"
Phina's mouth twisted. "My aunt."
"Ah." The General seemed to find that enough, so maybe he had already met her aunt. Phina winced at the thought.
"A question, Phina."
She wasn't sure where to look. "Yes, ADAM?"
"In all my reviews of your private missions or adventures, you always had an exit plan. However, today, no matter how much I go over the possibilities based on my observations, I have not been able to determine what your exit plan could be. Could you clarify this confusion for me?"
Phina drew a breath. Well, now the last cat was out of the bag, as her gymnast teacher used to say. "It's simple, ADAM. I didn't have one."
There was a long pause. "I don't feel clarified."
The General grinned. He circled his cigar around, indicating she should explain.
"The mission we took over the previous day was mainly as a last adventure to accomplish with my best friend, Alina. She had a goal she really wanted, but no matter how much I searched, studied, and planned, I couldn't figure out a way to exit the area before being caught if she was with me. I could have been there for hours by myself, and no one would have noticed me at all before I left." She glanced up and then mumbled. "Well, almost no one."
She continued. "I decided that I wanted to do this for her and it was the only way. So, when we got caught, as I knew we would eventually, I planned to explain that it was all my idea and that I did all the spying…" She looked pointedly at the General. "to plan and acquire everything. I hoped that they would let Alina go without too much trouble."
"So, you were expecting to be…"
"Caught, yes, and brought to someone for reprimanding, arresting, incarceration, deporting, or whatever was deemed necessary." Phina shrugged. She had made her choice.
The General looked slightly stunned at the list she reeled out, his cigar frozen for a moment.
Now that it was all explained and she felt her stress level was lower, Phina remembered and looked up, regret showing in her eyes. "By the way, ADAM, I'm sorry I snapped at you several times. I know you were just asking questions and at one point trying to help me. When I'm in various spaces for the missions I've decided on, I'm used to being by myself and completely focused on what I'm doing. Having someone, even just in voice form, show up unexpectedly in the middle was stressful, making it more difficult to think. Even still, I'm sorry."
"You are forgiven, Phina."
Phina gave a small smile in relief.
The General nodded, having formed his own conclusions. "Thank you Phina. I think I've heard enough now." Phina's relief faded rapidly as she watched him. "What do you think, Meredith?"
"I agree, General."
"ADAM?"
"Also agree, General."
"So." The General dragged the word out for a while as he eyed her, then shrugged. "The question becomes what to do with you."
Phina cleared her throat nervously as she watched him put his cigar in his mouth. "What are you going to do with me, sir?"
He tilted his head as he took the cigar back out. "I thought, as smart as you are, that answer was obvious. You are a bored genius in need of a challenge, yet also possessing a fair sense of compassion, loyalty, ethics, and morality. You need to be trained more, and trained hard in a number of different areas, but then we are going to give you a job."
Phina's eyes widened and her heart began to race in excitement. "May I ask what kind of job?" She asked tentatively, afraid to hope for her dream so she could fulfill her vow.
The general grinned. "What else? Stealthy information acquisitions."
Phina grinned back.
The End… or is it?
Author's Notes
(Because I can!)
Thank you for reading my short story! :) I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it!
There's a little bit of a funny backstory with how this story came about.
I used to write when I was younger, but it never went anywhere. In April (5 months ago by this point), I decided that I really wanted to write, and it just wasn't going to happen until I actually sat down to do it. I've been writing my own book since then, and loving the process of not only creating a world that has only ever before existed in my own head, but also putting it into a form that others can enjoy too. Who else can do that, but writers and artists? :) It's an amazing thing!
One night I took a break from writing to read a book, in the KGU of course, which happened to have the blurb about a new fanfic anthology. I was sure it was too late to submit anything and went to move on. Well, my brain decided not to listen (it does that), because all of a sudden I had this story in my head with these two characters that were best friends, and basically everything that I put in my story you just read.
So, I decided I was just going to write it and see if it was too late later. Inspiration should never be wasted! :) Seriously, it feels like magic as the words just stream right out onto the page. Two furious writing days later, I had just over 6k words- the fastest I've ever written in my life! The inspiration even fueled a few furious writing days in my book later! ;)
Alina took me by surprise though, as I usually don't write or want to read girls that are that... Mm... focused on those sorts of things. I had a whole conversation in my head with her about it, and she just insisted that was how she was, so I would just have to go with it. :D She did make it more fun, I think, and hope you agree!
Thank you, again, for reading!