Part Three: Coincidence
The Magno Pirates steered clear from a certain purple-eyed, green haired Dread pilot.
"Uh-oh, Barnette-san's on the warpath," the female pirates whispered amongst themselves.
Indeed, Barnette Orangello stormed angrily down the hallways towards the Dread registry with an antiquated pistol in her tightly gripped fist.
The Registry, as usual, was a scene of intense activity as the waitress-like pirates guided the pilots home after the battle against the enemy. From behind her desk, the calm figure of Gascogne Rheigau directed traffic.
"...Status on the Dreads?" Gascogne asked as she tapped her console.
"Jura and Meia have safely docked at the men's section. Parfet says that the, uh..." one of the Registry girls hesitated.
"Vandread?" Gascogne suggested.
"Yes... the Vandread... it's being brought in now. She says Dita and the Taraak man are both fine," the girl reported.
"Good. Now lets get our Dreads back..." Gascogne paused when she noticed Barnette's arrival for the first time. "Well well, what are you doing here?" Gascogne asked her conversationally.
Barnette folded her arms. "You know why I'm here. How could you give our Dreads to those filthy men!?"
Gascogne shrugged. "Hey, it was the chief's orders. If you don't like it, take it up with her," she said.
"But why give –my- Dread!?" Barnette demanded.
"Yours was one of the ones available," Gascogne said. "Besides, it was not as if you could get out from the showers in time for the battle," she added with a grin.
Barnette glared at the taller woman. She, like most of the assault personnel involved in the Taraak raid, was confined in a bacterial shower by Paiway fight after their raid on the men's ship. Paiway ignored their cries of anger (and later, for mercy) even when they were under attack.
"I swear Paiway will pay for that," Barnette muttered.
"Sure. Now if you'll excuse me, I have something else to do," Gascogne said. She clapped her hands at her gawking charges, who were eavesdropping at their conversation. Abruptly the Registry became noisy once more.
"At least they were helpful," Gascogne reminded the Dread pilot as she went out of the Registry.
Barnette sighed, knowing that the taller woman was right. From all accounts the two men did well in protecting the ship, allowing time for the miracle fusion between Dita's Dread and the Taraak's Vanguard to defeat the enemy. Maybe Gascogne was right, maybe they really were helpful...
Barnette went to one of the observation windows to watch the two Dreads slowly entering the hangar. To her anger, her Dread was the more heavily damaged one.
She spun on her feet and stomped out of the Registry, all thoughts of being civil to the men vanished as she headed towards the hangar with a snarl on her lips.
---
"Whoooo!" Eadric Lee exulted as he jumped out from his battered Dread. His enthusiasm caused several of the maintenance crew to back away in fear.
He patted the Dread affectionately, oblivious to the girls' fearful reaction. The Dread was damaged, scars of battle were visible but it was still battle-worthy, and that was important in Eadric Lee's book.
"What a ride! I haven't had this much fun for a long time!" he said loudly.
Then Eadric gave the maintenance crew a grin and a thumb's up. "Hey, take care of her," he nodded at his Dread. The crew was bewildered by his nonchalance. He was about to say something when one of them gasped in horror, pointing behind him.
He turned around to see Arion's Dread limping in to land. To his consternation, the Dread was heavily damaged, leaking fumes and whatnot as it shuddered in an uneasy landing.
"Holy sheep, that's one ugly ship," Eadric said.
"It's –my- ship," a female voice snarled behind him.
Eadric turned found himself face-to-face with the barrel of a 9MM pistol pointed straight at him, held by a visibly angry Barnette Orangello.
"Nice gun," Eadric commented and raised his hands. He eyed Barnette's weapon with a raised eyebrow.
Barnette was about to say something unflattering to him when the seals on the just-landed Dread's cockpit popped open with a hiss.
"Hey Arion, get a load of her gun," Eadric said with a broad smile, expecting to see his friend leaping out from the cockpit with accustomed bravado.
When that didn't happen, Eadric got concerned.
As the cockpit fully opened, he could see Arion struggling to climb out. He failed and slumped back into the cockpit, one arm draped over the fuselage limply.
"No..." Eadric said in rising panic. Heedless of the gun pointed at him, he broke into a run towards Arion's Dread. A maintenance crew had already wheeled a ladder to the cockpit as they crawled over and under the Dread for repairs.
Eadric climbed up the ladder quickly, Barnette hot on his heels. Eadric was concerned for his friend, while Barnette was more worried about her Dread.
They saw Arion lying in the cockpit, breathing heavily. A quick survey of the interior showed several broken screens and short-circuited controls.
"My Dread!" Barnette yelled.
"Sorry... 'bout... the mess," Arion said slowly, his eyes half-lidded and blinking slowly in pain. One hand clutched his abdomen, his fingers twitching.
"You can't be serious," Eadric said, unable to believe the sight. There was no bleeding, but internal injuries were not uncommon for pilots.
"Huh," Arion merely said. Then his head lolled to a side as he groaned.
"He's... he's not dying, is he?" Barnette whispered. Not that she cared about the man, but to watch a death was uncomfortable. Not to mention that it was happening in –her- Dread.
"That's impossible!" Eadric snapped angrily as he grabbed Arion and shook him roughly.
"Leave me, please..." Arion started.
"You gotta be joking!" his friend yelled as tears threatened to spring. Even Barnette was affected by the scene.
"...it's embarrassing," Arion finished.
"Huh?" Eadric and Barnette chorused.
Arion's stomach growled loudly for a long second.
"Sorry, I haven't eaten... since I came to Taraak..." Arion said weakly. Even though he was genuinely sorry, his eyes were twinkling with laughter.
Eadric released his hold on Arion. He took a deep breath and faced the equally annoyed Barnette.
"I'm going to hit him now. Or do you want to do it?" he asked conversationally.
"I'm not touching him," Barnette scowled.
Eadric nodded and cracked his knuckles.
"Hey, come on..." Arion started to protest weakly.
"WAAAAA-CAAAAAAAA!!"
Arion received a karate chop straight down on the skull.
'It was worth it,' Arion thought even as his level of awareness and perception was extinguished like a karate chop straight down on the skull.
As Arion blacked out, Eadric dusted off his hands in a show of satisfaction.
"Bloody hell, still can joke at the wrong time," he muttered with disgust. Then he grinned. "Still the same ass after so many years..."
A metallic object poking hard at the small of his back stopped his grinning. Glancing warily over a shoulder, he saw Barnette glaring at him.
"Get him out of my Dread," she hissed.
Eadric sighed.
---
In the briefing room of the heavily changed pirate ship, Magno listened moodily as BC gave the "butcher's bill" of the battle.
"There are a few minor injuries among the crew from the attack, nothing serious. But like most of our systems, the medical support is currently offline," the silver-haired, tanned-skinned woman reported.
At the end of the table, Meia Gisborn listened without reaction, awaiting her turn to give her own report. With the absence of Gascogne, the three of them represented the 'senior' staff of the pirate ship.
The room (and the entire ship) was getting warmer, and the elderly captain Magno was a little annoyed to see her vice-captain and the wing commander were both seemingly unaffected by the rising heat.
"Boss?" BC enquired.
"Ah, go on," Magno said, a little irritably as she fanned herself with a traditional hand fan.
BC nodded, oblivious to the captain's discomfort.
"Our ship had fused with the old module and currently remains inseparable. Most of the original systems in life support, engineering and the bridge were completely swallowed up by the pexis pragma crystals. The Dread launch platform and registry section remained untouched. Fortunately, growth of those crystals and further changes to the ship have ceased for the moment," she said evenly and nodded towards Meia.
"Thank you, Buzam," the blue-haired woman said as she took her turn. Facing the captain, Meia explained the current situation.
"The Dreads of Jura, Dita and mine were transformed drastically by the pexis pragma, both internally and externally. As such, they cannot fit our launch platform. Parfet had an engineering team modify the men's module for storage. While doing so, they found that the module had been abandoned for quite some time."
"Typical men, they never take care of precious things," Magno commented.
"We have another concern," BC interjected. "It's hard to believe, but we are currently very far away from Mejale. Main navigation systems are still down, but what data we have suggests that we are in uncharted territories."
"So, we're blind, helpless and don't even know where we are," Magno summed up glumly.
BC nodded in agreement.
"And to have such mysterious technology forced on us... at least those men we capture were quite useful," Magno said. She remembered about the mysterious pool in the bridge. It ejected Bart out after the battle and the ship remained immobile thereafter.
"Speaking of which," Meia cut in, "what do we do about the men?"
"Perhaps they might know what happened to the pexis-pragma," BC suggested. She then told Magno and Meia how the Exodusians were distracted by the blue light, with Eadric blurting about a 'reflex engine'.
"Bring them here, we'll interrogate them," Magno nodded.
Meia frowned. "We should just get rid of all of them. They might turn this technology against us."
"Then it's important for us to know whatever they know. They are just small potatoes at the moment," Magno said dismissively, "and we have bigger problems to deal with. What did you find out about the enemy?"
"We're facing a shortage in my team; everyone qualified is busy restoring the ship's systems. I had some volunteers investigate the enemy remains now," Meia answered.
"Volunteers?"
---
"It's incredible! Wow wow wow!" Dita bubbled with exhilaration.
In the cramped seat behind her, Gascogne sighed and questioned to herself why she volunteered for this duty.
They were both in Dita's pexis-modified Dread as it flew into the debris that remained from the battle.
Gascogne knew the answer to her own question; she wanted to see their new enemies herself. Plus, a little spacewalk was a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of the Registry.
The battlefield was littered with twisted metal and strangely organic-looking components. Some of the smaller enemies that had fought so ferociously in the battle now floated silently as Dita's Dread flew past.
Gascogne mulled dispassionately at the remains while Dita punctuated her thrill by snapping photos every now and then.
'This girl... those things were trying to kill her earlier and now she's behaving as if she's in a sight-seeing tour,' Gascogne thought to herself without malice, a grin on her lips.
"There! Did you see that, Miss Gasco?" Dita exclaimed excitedly.
Gascogne's grin disappeared.
"My name is GascoGNE!"
---
Back on the bridge of the pirate ship, the bridge controllers were visibly hot and fanning themselves to cool off.
"Ezra, are you alright?" one of them asked worriedly.
Ezra was part of the trio led by BC that had captured Arion and Eadric. Her face was lined with sweat, but she smiled to relieve their concern.
"I'm fine. Thank you, Amarone," she said.
"Well I'm not. Just what is wrong with this ship?" Amarone sighed as she fanned herself harder. She glanced around the bridge, everything had changed. The pexis pragma had pushed the entire bridge section so that it now hung over the garden. The navigation pool that Bart had stumbled into hummed languidly in the forward center of the bridge.
"It's getting so warm, even Celtic is not wearing her costume," Amarone noted. Incongruously, a full-sized, teddy-bear costume with a 'Reserved' sign around its neck was seated at one of the bridge stations. The occupant was presumably away to escape the heat.
Amarone turned to look at the last bridge bunny. "Hey Belvedere, check the engineers," she suggested.
Belvedere nodded and tapped into the internal communication. The face of one of the bespectacled engineers appeared on the screen.
"Hey, it's getting too hot in here," Belvedere whined the moment the engineer appeared.
"It is four degrees hotter over here!" the engineer retorted and gestured at the pexis pragma in the background. The huge ball of glowing white pulsed irregularly, humming with energy.
"Fix the air-conditioning first please," Belvedere pleaded as she ended the call.
The engineer went to the observation window and contacted Parfet Balbair, who was suited up and within walking distance of the pulsing pexis.
"Parfet, how does it look over there?"
Parfet was examining the systems overlooking the pexis.
"Everything's so old, it must be a prototype of some sort," she said.
The engineer sighed. At the other side of the room, two of her colleagues wrestled to hold down Pyoro the Navigation droid, trying to plug cables into the machine.
The droid beeped and buzzed angrily. "Don't touch me! Hey!" it protested.
"Come on, cooperate a little! We need all the data and help we can get!" the engineer said.
---
"Good God but you're heavy," Eadric grumbled as he struggled to carry the unconscious Arion Wong on his back. A few steps behind him was Barnette, still pointing the gun, still having a scowl on her face.
"Turn left at the next junction," Barnette commanded.
Eadric grunted. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing Barnette to immediately backpedal two steps and gripped her pistol with both hands.
"What are you doing? Keep moving!" she demanded.
"Wait, this isn't working," Eadric complained. He stood up straight and released Arion from his back.
Arion managed a dreamy "Huh?" before he slid off Eadric's back, dropped to the floor and bounced his head on the cold, hard surface; knocking himself out again.
As Barnette watched incredulously, Eadric grabbed one of Arion's legs and pulled, dragging the insentient man as he walked.
"Turn left eh?" Eadric asked nonchalantly. Without waiting for her confirmation, Eadric took the left turn and continued walking, dragging his friend by the leg as he did so.
Barnette stood there open-mouthed even as Eadric took the turn and disappeared from her view. With a start, she shook her head and ran to chase the two Exodusians.
"Hey! What are you doing? You can't drag him around like that!" she yelled as she caught up.
"But he's heavy!" Eadric whined.
"He's your friend, isn't he?" the green-haired woman asked in disbelief.
"Well, yeah. But technically, he's still a wanted criminal. I still hafta turn him in for a proper trial," Eadric shrugged.
"You two are the strangest people I've ever met," Barnette said with incredulity.
Eadric grinned, still walking, still dragging. "Yeap, we hear that often. Where do I turn next?" he asked as they approached yet another crossroads in the hallways.
"Ah, good, I've found you," BC interrupted as she came up.
"Hi," Eadric greeted the tanned, exotic-looking woman.
BC took a moment to look at him, taking in the fact that he was literally pulling Arion's leg. She gave Barnette an arched eyebrow.
"What's happening here?" she asked.
"I'm escorting them back to their cell. He, uh, fainted," Barnette hastily explained.
"I'll take charge of them now," BC said. "You, bring your friend and follow me," she then commanded to Eadric.
Barnette stood there, her eyes blinking. "Vice-commander! Are you sure it's safe without an escort?" she asked. Despite Barnette's belief in the silver-haired woman's skills, she was still unarmed.
"There is no where for them to run," BC replied as she turned to walk away. Then she stopped and gave Barnette a backward glance. "Oh, you might want to get back to your quarters. I heard the pexis crystals stopped just where your room was," she added.
"Oh no!" Barnette cried in alarm and ran in the opposite direction.
BC waited for her to get away from earshot before saying to Eadric, "The captain wishes to see you."
"I'm getting hungry myself. Got anything to eat?" Eadric asked.
"Maybe, if you cooperate," BC answered noncommittally.
Eadric shrugged. "Yeah, why not? We already helped to save your ship."
---
Inside the remains of the destroyed enemy ship, Gascogne and Dita searched for clues; clad in their multi-purpose suits that were also used in the raid against Taraak.
As they drifted further into the gutted remains, Gasogne's eyes drank in the sheer strangeness of the sight. Inside, as was the exterior, the ship seemed to have been made from organic-like materials. But components of circuitry and metal could still be seen embedded within.
Gascogne wondered if there was anything sentient that had actually controlled the enemy ship. There was no evidence of life, as if everything was fully automated.
"Heh, very spooky," Gascogne commented to herself. A sudden flash of light from the side startled her. As quickly as she could, she turned to face the source, ready to bring her suit's in-built weapons to bear.
And discovered it was unnecessary, for the flash came from Dita's camera as she happily snapped photos of the interior.
"This is so exciting!" Dita exclaimed.
"Hey!" Gascogne said exasperatedly, "we're looking for the ship's main system for a data download, this isn't a field trip."
"But, Miss Gasco... what does it look like?" Dita asked naively.
"I don't know, but hopefully there's something that can fit this," Gascogne spun a rectangular data retriever in the weightless vacuum.
"Oh, something like that?" Dita pointed towards a console. It was floating by itself, pried loose from the walls but still connected to the ship via exposed wires and circuits. There were still several lights blinking softly on it.
"Sometimes, you have the best of luck," Gascogne marveled as she snatched the data retriever and headed to the battered console.
---
"Boss, I've brought them here," BC reported as she entered the briefing room. Magno nodded in acknowledgement as Eadric Lee walked in.
Magno noticed that Meia's green-tinged eyes widened with mild surprise. The elderly captain then glanced down to see Arion being dragged into the room by the leg.
"Wake him up," she said genially, unfazed by the scene.
"Sure," Eadric nonchalantly shrugged. He gave Arion a non-too-gentle kick in the chest, immediately causing his friend to sit up and cough.
"I'm awake, I'm awake," Arion grumbled as he struggled to stand. Eadric helped him to a seat and sat beside him.
"Well now, wassup?" Eadric asked, opening the dialogue.
"We were just wondering what to do with you two," Magno began casually.
"Oh, that's nice," Eadric replied.
"Gruh," Arion groaned as he laid his head on the table. "How about feeding us for a change?" he complained.
Magno smirked. "Actually, we might."
"Ah?"
"I'm curious. What did you mean when you said 'reflex engine'?" BC asked.
"Who said it?"
"You did. Back on the shuttle."
"Nah, I didn't, just forget about it," Eadric waved dismissively.
Meia was not amused. She made a show of touching the ring on the finger on her right hand. The Exodusian recognized it as the same type of 'weapon' the women had threatened to use on them before.
"Oh that," Eadric said as if suddenly remembering. "Why you wanna know?"
"It might have a clue on how we got here," BC said.
"Where's 'here' actually?"
Nobody answered.
"You mean you don't know where we are?" Arion asked incredulously.
"Our navigation systems don't recognize the stars," BC admitted.
"What? Just how backward are you people!?" Arion demanded as he started to rise.
Eadric held up an arm across Arion to prevent him. Arion saw that Meia had aimed her ring at him. Snarling, Arion sat back down angrily.
"Hey man, relax," Eadric said soothingly. "Remember, Taraak and Mejale are at the Periphery... they were abandoned by the UPG."
"Incorrect," BC said sharply, "Taraak and Mejale were offered to join the UPG and we declined."
"Can't blame 'em," Arion muttered.
"Huh, and now we see the result of –that-," Eadric countered.
"Enough with the history," Magno interrupted. "You two did help us, but that was because our pilots were unavailable. Suffice to say, you two are nothing but excess baggage now."
"Suppose if I can help determine our location? Will you then give us a ride back to Taraak?" Eadric suggested, causing Arion to give him a look.
"We'll consider it," Magno said.
"Alright, good enough. You have a console to the navigation system that I can use?" Eadric asked.
Magno motioned at BC who nodded. She went to one of the walls and pressed several buttons to reveal a large, flat-screen and a control panel. She tapped several keys on the panel and the screen came to life.
A few flickers later, a view of the outside space came on. An overlay of grids and computed constellations appeared in quick succession, trying to match the stars in view, beeping with error with every try.
"As you can see, our navigational charts are unable to match any of the constellations to those in our database," BC explained.
Eadric nodded. He stood up and went to the console. Raising his wrist slowly to show his intent, he twisted the top off his wristwatch and pulled out a thin cable. He then plugged the cable into the console's port.
"What are you doing?" Meia demanded warily.
"Allowing my assistant to interface with the star charts," Eadric replied calmly.
"I see you got more gadgets again," Arion grumbled enviously.
"Benefits of being the commander-in-chief," his friend grinned, annoying him further.
Seconds later, to the Mejale pirates' surprise, a childish girl's face appeared on the screen. She had emotionless brown eyes, her green hair in a bowl cut with curls twirling down the sides of her face. Oversized (compared to her face) red spheres were behind each ear, placed like head ornaments.
"Good day, Commander Eadric," the girl said in a monotone. Her image flickered once in a while, like a bad signal in a television program.
"Oh, it's Tenho[i]," Arion said in surprise, recognizing the face.
"Mr. Arion Wong, nice to see you again," the digital girl greeted with considerably more emotion than how she greeted Eadric.
"Nice to see you too, Tenho," Arion replied with a smile.
"Who is that?" Magno managed to ask. BC and Meia stared at the digital girl in the screen.
"This is Tenho, my digital assistant," Eadric proclaimed proudly. He turned to face the screen.
"Hiya Tenho. How are ya?"
The girl blinked several times, taking her time to answer as her program ran a diagnostic.
"My systems are nominal, commander."
"How's the accommodations?"
She blinked once more, and then the distortions disappeared completely, giving the viewers a very clear and sharp view of her. To the Mejale pirates, Tenho became extremely lifelike. It was as if Eadric was talking to a real person.
"Host system is... unidentified. I assume that this is not the Little Dragon Lady," Tenho said.
"Yup. Can you find the star charts and augment their data?"
"Processing... Nominal systems detected; compatibility at 47 percent... Yes, I can," Tenho replied and waited.
After several seconds, Eadric frowned when Tenho stared back at him impassively.
"Er, what are you waiting for?"
"You asked if I can, and I answered in the affirmative. You did not request me to actually do it," Tenho replied.
"Hah! That's a good one," Arion chuckled. Even the Mejale pirates were grinning.
Eadric sighed. "Sorry Tenho... Can you please augment their data now?"
"No."
"Huh?" Eadric's jaw dropped.
Tenho actually showed displeasure, displaying very real emotions.
"I was in that wristwatch for the past five days, seven hours and sixteen minutes. In that time, you have not called on me once, leaving me in that cramped data storage," Tenho said, her monotone voice actually conveying a sense of sulkiness.
"Haha, this is rich!" Arion laughed loudly as Eadric stared at her in shock.
"The fact that this is not the Little Dragon Lady and that Mr. Arion is with you here... I assume this is the Arcadia?" Tenho asked, referring to Arion's infamous pirate ship.
"Not quite, though this –is- a pirate ship," Arion said, looking pointedly at Magno, BC and Meia.
"I see. Commander Eadric, you were captured by him? How disappointing," Tenho said reproachfully.
"As if he can capture –me-," Eadric scoffed.
"Sorry Tenho, we're –both- captured by -them-," Arion grimaced and jerked a thumb at the women.
"You, a pirate, captured by pirates?" Tenho asked dubiously. This time, Eadric laughed at Arion's expense.
"Gah," Arion said in disgust. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Tenho, we're in a... special situation... please help us," he finally said.
"I understand," Tenho nodded, "I will merge my database with the existing data available and display it for you. Please wait a moment."
Her face disappeared and a spinning logo bearing the initials G.U.M.[ii] spun around in its place on the screen.
Arion noticed that the pirate women were still showing some degree of surprise.
"What's wrong with you people? Haven't you seen an AI before?" he demanded.
"We... we haven't seen anything as sophisticated as that," BC replied.
"Huh. Well, you ain't seen nothing yet," Arion said and winked knowingly at Eadric. "I can't wait to see their faces when they meet an Autobot."
Eadric chuckled. The women were about to ask about what he meant when Tenho's face reappeared.
"Data augmentation successful," she reported.
"Good, display our location please," Eadric said.
A blueprint of the pirate ship appeared. The screen focused onto the top half of the fused vessel, then zooming in further to highlight a room just behind the bridge.
"Very funny," Eadric said sarcastically, knowing that Tenho was displaying their current briefing room within the ship.
"I like her sense of humor," Magno commented.
"Don't encourage her," Eadric admonished. "Tenho, relate our current position to the star system of Taraak and Mejale."
"Afirmative."
The blueprint disappeared and was replaced by a map of the known galaxy.
To the Mejale pirates, the sight was baffling. To the Exodusians, they wonder how many stars in the galaxy that they had already visited in their long adventures.
'We have interesting lives,' Arion reflected.
Then the map zoomed into the bottom left corner several times, at the very edge of known human colonization. Several zooms later, a symbol labeled 'Taraak and Mejale' could be seen.
From there, a red line emerged and grew longer, forcing the map to zoom out again several times. The red line went so long that it actually went off the map of the known galaxy.
"What the..." Arion started.
Eventually, the line stopped in an empty space outside of the galaxy, surrounded by a smattering of rogue stars and space anomalies.
"We're actually at the end of the galaxy," Eadric exclaimed.
"Gah. At the exit of the Milky War, this must be a record," Arion said and shook his head in wonder.
"Just how far away we are from Mejale?" Meia asked. She, like the other women, was unfazed by their reactions.
"We are approximately 270 days away from Mejale and Taraak," Tenho replied.
"What?" Meia gasped.
"270 days..." BC repeated.
"Blown all the way here, what did we do to deserve this?" Magno complained.
Arion frowned at their reaction. "What's the problem? 270 days isn't a problem. We'll get there quickly with a warp."
"Ah, Arion..." Eadric began.
"Warp?" Meia asked.
"Oh no," Arion said, horrified. "They are a pre-warp civilization!?" he yelled at Eadric, who nodded miserably.
"Yeah. They don't even have hyper-drive or jump-gate technology... That's one of the reasons I was invited to Taraak in the first place. I'm to offer Taraak and Mejale another chance to rejoin the UPG..." Eadric said as he stared at the map.
"Great, just great... 270 days of traveling at sub-light speeds," Arion grumbled and threw his hands up in disgust.
He eyed the trio of women who weren't really pleased at the situation themselves.
"This is going to be one hell of a roadtrip," Arion muttered.
[i] Tenho – this is of course, a real Vandread character that only appeared in the manga. In it, Tenho is a real flesh & blood girl who can communicate with machines directly.
[ii] G.U.M. – General Utility Mechanics corporation.