I worked long, difficult shifts, just as I had when I was with the Others. Dr. Ita caught onto my need for less sleep and insisted that I work as much as I could. So I spent many hours with him or his assistants, creating the new PEDs. Each bounty hunter had a vastly different body structure, so each PED had to be built almost from the beginning. I did not even go to the eating place while I worked; an assistant would bring me cheeseburgers during mealtimes.

Samus's PED was the trickiest. It had to work in tandem with Samus's suit, and of course nobody there was familiar with Chozo technology. A lot of it came down to trial and error, with Dr. Ita and I frequently at odds over her safety.

I caught him once using a cellular welder before I had given permission. On Chozo armor a mistake would have no ill effects, but of course Samus's core was human and Dr. Ita kept forgetting that. "What are you doing?" I demanded, looking around for Dr. Jamison. He never seemed to be around when Dr. Ita did these things.

Dr. Ita didn't look up from Samus's arm. "Implementing the next stage, of course."

"You are too close to her artery!" I snapped, pointing to the screen that displayed her vital signs and body structure. "See, this one, that carries blood to the heart from her arm."

He ignored me. "You're not an authority on hominid anatomy."

"Then where is Dr. Jamison?"

"He had to sleep. He can't work as long as you, and this needs to get finished quickly."

"You will stop now!" I ordered. Several assistants looked up from the patients they tended. "You do not have Dr. Jamison's permission!"

Dr. Ita gave me an irate look. He pulled out his own hand-computer and gave it to me. "This is an order from the Federation head," he told me. "It gives me the authority to do what needs to be done to complete the PEDs, by any means necessary."

I carefully read every word. It confirmed what he had said. "I don't understand. Why could you not wait for me to do it?"

"You were asleep."

"I only sleep for three hours in a 48-hour cycle!"

He sighed. "Dr. B, the quicker this is finished, the better off she will be." Turning back to Samus and the cellular welder, he said, "You're becoming a distraction. If you cannot follow orders, I'll have you escorted back to your quarters."

Such arrogance! I could not remember feeling so much anger. I deliberately stood in silence, watching. He could not make me leave if I stayed this way and if he made a mistake, I could catch it. Something told me that he would not take responsibility for Samus's injuries. Finally, he finished, and gave me a look I did not like before starting the next stage. I did not recognize it and later described it to one of the assistants, who said it was 'smug'.

As a Dilphii, he had no need to make this face unless he wanted me to see it.

Maybe halfway through the process, I got a message on my hand-computer from Siskin at Ceres. My new arm was complete and ready for installation! I immediately asked Dr. Ita for leave. Just like the Others, the Federation required its members to let their superiors know if they were going to leave their post for any period of time.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until this project is finished," said Dr. Ita.

This did not make sense. "Surely I would be able to get more work done with two arms instead of one."

"Yes, but it will take time to go there, get it installed, and most importantly get used to the new arm. We don't have time for that."

"My adaptation ability is different from that of hominids, or Amadeans, or Dilphii," I argued, starting to get angry. I could see no reason for his reticence. "The Others and myself have been engineered over time to accept modifications quickly and easily."

"Regardless, I am your supervisor and I am telling you that you will stay here."

His attitude bore a disturbing similarity to that of the Others. For the rest of the day I continued my work in silence, only communicating with him when absolutely necessary.

Finally, when we had almost finished Samus' PED (she had been the last to recover and therefore the last to receive her PED), Dr. Ita told me that I could get my new arm at Ceres. "There's not much delicate work to be done at this point," he said, and tapped the screen on my hand-computer until it stated that I was granted leave from Federation Headquarters. I said nothing to him and instead walked directly from the lab to the hangar where the commuter ships were kept. Of course I had nothing to "pack"; my one personal item, the Elite shielding, now had a hole in it and was no longer useful for its original purpose.

No one else was going to Ceres that day, so I got a ship to myself. This was just fine with me, as the stares from the other bio-forms not familiar with my history always made me uneasy. It hadn't bothered me when I first came; I attributed this self-consciousness to my ever-growing I. The small commuter ship had Ceres' location programmed into its navigation software, so all I had to do was sit and wait until I arrived.

Siskin actually met me right outside the docking bay. "Welcome back!" he said. "If you'll follow me to the cybernetics department, we'll get your new arm installed right away."

As I followed him through the halls, a number of Ceres employees I did not recognize smiled and waved by way of greeting. I returned the gesture, wondering where the sudden attention came from. Inevitably, Lydia found us before we reached the cybernetics department. "Hey, Dr. B!" she called out as she ran up to us. "How's your post at Federation Headquarters? I'm jealous!"

"It is very difficult," I told her. "My supervisor is often irrational and there is no Code of Ethics for me to follow."

She laughed. "I guess that would seem pretty strange at first. But you get much more freedom, don't you?"

"Not really. I have been working steadily almost since I arrived. I have not had time for any leisure activities." Not that I ever participated in leisure activities, but I knew hominids often did.

"Oh, that's a pain. Still, I wish I could get a post at HQ. They let you do so much more there in terms of experimentation."

Siskin had to nearly shut the door in her face to get her to go away. "I'm sorry, Lydia, I can't have anyone in the room while Dr. B is having his new arm installed."

Her face fell. "Oh, okay." She immediately brightened again. "See you later!"

Siskin let out an audible sigh after he shut the door. I wondered if he felt as relieved as I did.

His hominid assistant brought in the cybernetic arm. I was impressed; it had been molded in such a way to form a striking resemblance to my other arm. He placed the lower half on a small sterile table and locked the shoulder part in place, immediately after removing the caps that covered my bare nerve endings. Once he finished that delicate operation, he and the assistant made a series of adjustments to the outside clasps, in some areas using a cellular welder to keep it in place.

`"There!" he said at last. "It's powered by your body's electrical impulses, so give it a try and see what you can do."

I attempted to raise my arm. The lower part jerked up, a little quickly but not too much. Siskin watched in amazement as I flexed my fingers, slowly, as if they were made out of some ancient clockwork mechanism. "It's a little difficult," I told him.

Siskin shook his head. "That's an awful lot more than we've seen anyone else do, even after months of physical therapy." He snatched up his hand computer. "You have no idea how useful this is to us; now we can finally prove that the mechanism itself is of considerable quality, it's the level of adaptation and dexterity in the host that's the problem."

The assistant gave me a little rubber ball. I clasped my long digits around it and gave it a squeeze at her direction. I squeezed a little too hard and the tip of one of my digits punctured it. "I'm sorry, but I can't think of a way to improve hominid nerve dexterity."

"Don't be. You've helped us out a lot as is, Dr. B. Thank you so much."

"Thank you. I'm the one getting the new arm, after all."

Lydia, Dr. Reyman, Oltar, and Tirza were waiting for me outside the cybernetics department. "Welcome back, Dr. B! How's the arm working out for you?" Dr. Reyman asked.

I raised my hand in greeting and flexed the fingers a little. All of their faces registered surprise except for Oltar's. "I would hope a former Space Pirate would be able to put that to use, he said with a grunt.

"Are you hungry, Dr. B?" Tirza asked. "We were all about to go to lunch."

I answered in the affirmative. Once we arrived at the eating place, I decided to try some of the foods that required the metal tools, now that I could use both hands.

"Would you like me to get you a cheeseburger?" Lydia asked.

To my great surprise, I felt the need to decline. After eating nothing but cheeseburgers for several weeks straight, I was starting to get sick of them.


I planned to stay only a few hours, explaining that I needed to get back to HQ and to Samus. Unfortunately, there was some sort of mix-up with the commuter ships and I ended up staying the night. Night or day, it made no difference to me, but the colony was organized around hominid sleep cycles and therefore so were its commuter craft.

The next day, I was dismayed to find that there was still some problem with the commuter craft. They would not tell me what it was, other than a mechanical problem. Annoyed, I walked back toward the lab, hoping to ask Dr. Reyman for something to do while I waited. As I passed one of the recreation centers, Tirza hailed me from inside.

"Aren't you supposed to be going back to HQ?" She sat with Oltar at a little table, with three tiers of boards and little oddly-shaped pieces on them.

"Of course. But the ships are delayed again." I took a quick glance at the thing between them. "What is that?"

"A hominid game, used to pass the time," Oltar explained. "It is a strategy game."

"Do you want to try it?" Tirza asked. "It sounds like you have time to kill. And I'm tired of Oltar always winning," she added with a laugh.

I sat down in Oltar's place as Tirza explained the purpose of the "game". The different colored pieces represented two warring states, and each piece could only move about the board in a specific manner. If a piece moved in such a way to occupy its enemy's space, that enemy piece was "taken" and out of the game. The goal of the game was to corner the head of state until it could no longer move. There was much more to it, but that was the essence of the game. When we finally began to play, Oltar stayed to watch, as if curious to know how well I would do.

It made much more sense than most "games" I had heard about, which usually involved chance occurrences or arranging shapes in specific patterns. I carefully formulated my plan of attack and set it in motion. But it was over quickly. Oltar laughed as Tirza groaned in disgust.

"I'm sorry," I said. I thought games were supposed to be enjoyable.

"Don't be sorry," Tirza told me. "I had no idea you'd pick it up so quickly, after all."

"But I just used logic," I protested. "It is really quite simple…the pieces always move in a certain way,…they are not like organic beings, which are erratic just as often as they follow patterns…"

Oltar motioned for Tirza to get up. "Now, you and I will play," he announced. Soon after we started I realized he had much more skill. He started putting up blocks to my plans, and I had to keep working around them.

"So who are you working under at HQ?" Tirza asked absently as she watched.

"I am working under Dr. Ita,"

Both Amadeans exchanged looks. "That fool is your supervisor?" Oltar demanded. "Watch out for him."

"He's tricky," Tirza said. "He'll take all the work you did and pass it on to the higher-ups as if it was all his own idea."

"I know someone whom he accused of stealing just to get his work," said Oltar. "Completely unfounded."

"I don't care so much about someone taking credit for my work," I said. "The Others always did that anyway. I just want to make sure he doesn't hurt Samus."

"He won't. That won't give him any prestige," Tirza said grimly. "He'll keep her safe for his own sake, though he might be a little rough."

My hand computer beeped. I picked it up to see a message stating that the commuter ship had finally arrived. "I have to go now," I said as I stood. "Thank you for teaching me how to play the game."

I walked out the door, and just as I did, Oltar called after me. "Dr. B! When you return, we well play another game. And then we will see who is the better player!" He spoke as if it was an order, but the tone of his voice sounded more like an invitation.

"Agreed," I said, and then hurried on to the docking bay.


Upon arrival, I immediately made my way back to the medical wing. Samus wasn't there.

Figuring she had healed after my departure, I walked over to the temporary quarters that visitors to Federation HQ and asked which room she was staying in. The young hominid female at the reception terminal tapped in Samus' name, then frowned at the screen. "I'm sorry, but there's no one here by that name."

"You mean, she is not in her room now?"

"No, I mean no one under the name Samus Aran ever registered here."

Perhaps she had been given special accommodations. I returned to Research and Development to inquire about her progress. I found one of the assistants that had been working with us on her PED. "Excuse me, but where is Samus?"

All the color drained from the male hominid's face. "I'm sorry, Dr, B, I don't know."

Puzzled by his reaction, I said, "I don't need to know where she is right now. What is her current condition? Has she tested her PED yet?"

His eyes darted around the room. "I think you'd better talk to Dr. Ita," he said in a rush, then pointed down the hall to one of the labs. As soon as I turned away, he scampered off in the opposite direction.

Mystified, I opened the lab door and found Dr. Ita with a small group, working with some chemicals. "Is the last PED finished?" I asked.

Dr. Ita looked up. "Ah, Dr. B. How is your new arm working for you?"

I raised my hand to demonstrate it to him, but didn't waver from my line of questioning. "Did you finish the last PED? Has Samus tested it yet?"

"Yes, it worked out quite well for her."

I felt relieved. With all the strange behavior and unanswered questions, I had begun to worry if he had injured her in some way. "I am glad to hear that. Where is she? I would like to speak to her."

"I'm sorry, Dr. B, but she's already left on her next mission."

"What?" The assistants fled to the other side of the room at the sound of my voice. I marched over to Dr. Ita, towering over him. "What mission is this?"

"Why, her mission to eliminate the Levithian Seeds, restore the corrupted Federation's Aurora Units, and eliminate Dark Samus…of course."

"Dark what?" Dr. Ita handed me his hand computer. I scrolled through the massive amounts of new information quickly. "This is Metroid Prime," I said angrily, as I reached the segment on Dark Samus. "I have already helped her fight it once. Why did you not wait for me to return?"

Dr. Ita spoke in an abnormally calm manner that needled at my anger. "Samus doesn't need you, Dr. B. Besides, I want to test the PED's effectiveness without any outside interference. We have to know if her survival was dependent on the PED alone, if we want to use it with Federation soldiers."

"You are using her as a test subject!" I reached for him.

I don't remember much about the next few moments. For a few brief seconds, it was as if I was with the Others again, zeroing in on some threat that needed to be eliminated. Suddenly I had trouble breathing, and realized that Dr. Ita had wrapped one of his appendages around my throat, even though I had him pinned up against the wall. I struggled free and the translator ripped loose from around my neck. The assistants fled, shoving each other in panic through the doors as I lost my gift of speech and Space Pirate screeches echoed through the room.

My I was confused. I could not ask it for help. Half of it wanted to pull me back, and the other half wanted to lash out at Dr. Ita for what he had done. The second half drew strength from what little of the Others was left in me and tipped the scales. I chased Dr. Ita around the room, blocking the door and throwing tables out of the way, glassware shattering all over the floor.

The doors burst open, and five Federation Marines ran in. They raised their weapons, and I recognized them as nonlethal energy interrupters - used to stun. My divided I could not decide whether to admit my folly and stand down, or laugh at the fact that they had brought nothing that could kill.

Dr. Ita shouted something, probably an order for them to shoot, his calm voice shaken for once.

"Why should they obey you, when you are just as likely to send them to their death?" I demanded. Of course, all they heard was angry shrieks. There was a flash of light, a blinding pain, and suddenly I lay on the ground, awake and aware but completely unable to move. My cybernetic arm twitched slightly.

They carried me to the brig, surrounded by a large escort. We passed through a lot of doors, each one thicker than the last. Finally I was thrown into a tiny room with no light, not even through cracks in the door, which sealed tight. As I waited for the effects of the energy interrupter to wear off, sense and reason returned. I realized I was in a lot of trouble.

A holographic screen appeared out of thin air. A white-haired, stern-faced hominid male stared at me out of emotionless brown eyes. "Dr. B, I am Warden Maestrom. You are under arrest for assault of a Federation Scientist. I don't mind telling you that as a Space Pirate, your life is forfeit unless your bounty hunter friend comes back for you and takes you off our hands. Take from that what you will."

"I am not a Space Pirate!" I insisted, but of course it was pointless for me to say anything. The little screen disappeared and left me in the dark again.

I knew that someone in that station probably had a way of translating my Space Pirate speech., if I could understand what one of them had said. I also realized that likely nobody wanted to hear what I had to say. There were those in the Federation who had been waiting for me to show any kind of Pirate-like behavior, and I had foolishly given in to instinct. Now that I had calmed down, I felt ashamed and worried. They had not killed me on sight, as they would any other Space Pirate…that was a good sign. But only one in a myriad of bad ones. I had a feeling only the Federation's respect for Samus was keeping me alive.

Both our lives now depended on Dr. Ita's Phazon Enhancement Device. It was not a comforting thought.