10: Symbolism, Alpha

I awoke first and watched her sleep. She seemed so innocent and cute like that. I wondered what situations her subconscious was displaying for her. She awoke slowly, like her subconscious had faded into consciousness.

"Hey angel. You know, you're really cute when you're sleeping."

"I was seeing the environments of Aether. Was the fortress very technologically advanced?"

"Yes, it did not seem to fit with the natural environments of Agon and Torvus." "Where do we go? Like I said mission success."

I reengaged my suit, than we called our ships.

"Are you still nervous about using the warp?"

"Yes, but I'm just nervous about being separated from you. It does not matter where we end up, just that we're together."

"You're so sweet. Why can't we fuse our ships together? If your suit's modular, why shouldn't your ship be as well. There will be no chance we could be separated, we're in a single vessel."

I entered my ship to scan hers for viable means of fusion. It suggested taking her ship and making itself more geometric in design with claws and a 'W' shaped aft. I approved it to auto-fuse, than exited.

"What's it going to do?"

"It's going to use your ship to make itself more geometric in design with claws, giving the aft a 'W' shape."

"All on its own, we don't have to assist at all?'

"No, its that good."

The ship worked to fuse its self with hers over an hour and a half. To keep boredom at bay, I played Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. It started with 'Tarkus.' We did not talk during the 20 minute piece, but just listened and analysed it in our heads. We listened through the albums 'Trilogy' and 'Brain Salad Surgery.' Just as the robot said "I'm perfect, are you?" the ship had told me that reconfiguration was complete. The new ship had dramatically shifted from an organic shape, to one more geometric with claws.

"What should we christen this 'new' ship?"

"The Huntress, or The Gemtroid. Because you're the Gemini leader and I hunt metroids."

"The Gemtroid Huntress. Wait, we don't have champagne, or any liquid in glass. We can't christen it."

"Not officially, no, but it can letter itself."

I jumped in our ship and scanned Vela to access the facilities.

"User codex-genome recognized. Vela Gemini, added as an administrator. Would you like to sync a command technology?"

Vela 'called' her ship. The Huntress accepted the signal as a valid beacon.

"Would you like the honour of having the ship letter itself? Just access the menu, select self-paint, than custom lettering, select font style, and type 'The Gemtroid Huntress' and hit accept."

"Armour pattern and genome recognized. Welcome Miss Gemini. Do you need health or munitions?"

"Does your AI have a code name?"

"Virginia, or Mrs. Aran. For my mother."

"No thank you Mrs. Aran."

The ship sprung an airbrush and soon the words 'The Gemtroid Huntress' appeared in Monotype Corsiva. Vela came out from the ship.

"I had the AI recognize Cassandra as a code name. In honour of my partner and former lover, when the militia was whole."

"Were things sour with Cassandra before her death? Back on Mizar's Palace, it seemed like you had not had a sexual release for a very long time."

"Yes we had hit a rough patch and had split."

She started crying and I knew that she had feelings for Cassandra when she died.

:"I called her a bisexual cunt because she was hitting on and occasionally kissing Juno while we were together. Sure she was being untrue, but I loved her like I love you. We even got as far as we got, and did it several times. I did not want her to die on negative terms, but than you and I would just have a professional relationship that Cassie might take the wrong way."

She leaned on me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and cried out. She stepped back from me and I saw rage ignite in her eyes. She made a fist, sprinted at me, and turned her momentum into force behind her fist. She contacted my torso and there was a crack.

"FUCK! God that hurt."

"Hold still and let me X-ray your hand. You don't want to agitate a fracture."

I clicked the visor wheel on my helmet until I could see in the X-ray spectrum. Her knuckles had cracked and there were fractures running down all four of her metacarpals.

"Its broken. All four knuckles and the bones that connect them to your wrist, all have fractures. Get in the ship, I cant do anything out here."

We entered the ship. She sat down in the med bay.

"Virginia, Vela, in the med bay needs her right hand immobilized. She has fractures running down her metacarpals."

Virginia went to work and immobilized Vela's hand. Only her thumb could articulate. Virginia had given Vela a pain killer and some calcium to assist in the healing.

"You should be able to use that hand in a week. Now rest Vela."

A set of head phones came down over Vela. She pulled them on her head and my music library played through its play list randomly. I set our ship to leave Rith Essa and when we entered orbit, I set the warp to Daiban hoping it would take us there. I pulled down an audio jack and plugged it in to my nape so I could listen to music privately. I set it to the most ancient of electronic music and half-slept listening to the almost creepy sounds of John Cage.