"Michael, wake up."

"Huh, wha?"

"Get up, Michael, we're almost at Eigen."

"Oh, right. I'll be at the cockpit in a minuet."

"Well hurry up, we have about an hour till we're within orbit."

I quickly rose from bed, and then rushed over to the cockpit. "Cassandra, patch me through to Samus," I said, just as I sat into my chair.

"Hailing Samus now."

A visual message saying "hold please" popped onto one of many screens currently in front of me. A few minuets went by, but no response came from Samus. I waited a bit more, but nothing.

"What is she doing, sleeping?"

Just then, the screen changed in colors. Now instead of a flashing message, I saw a young lady in a white t-shirt lying down in a large leather chair. And not only did she wear a t-shirt,Samus hadmoved around a bit during her sleep, so now I could see a pair of white panties. With this in sight I gasped (actually I said "WHAT THE HELL!"), and then covered my eyes with my hands.

"SAMUS, WAKE UP AND PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

I guessed she had hit the message acceptance button on accident, which easily revealed a large portion of her half naked body to me.

"Huh, what is it?" Samussaid, groggy from her sleep. I'm amazed though, as she had to been sleeping for at least ten hours.

"Samus, we have a mission to do, remember?"

"Wait, your Michael, right?"

"Yes, Samus. And you're HALF-NAKED!"

"Wait, OH MY GOD, YOU PERVERT!"

"I'M NOT EVEN LOOKING AT YOU! Look, just get dressed, and we can worry about this crap later. We have an hour so hurry up, ok. We don't have all day."

After this interesting conversation, I pressed the off button for the screen. Then, I stood up, and hurried back to my room. Now in my room, I hurried over to the bathroom, quickly stripped down, and started to take a shower.

"Michael, Samus is hailing us, should I patch her through?"

"Sure."

"MICHAEL, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP EARLIER! AND YOU PERVERTED-"

"Cassandra, please put Samus on mute, and then tell her I'm busy at the moment showering."

"Are you sure this is the-"

"Don't argue with me on this, just do it!"

"Alright…"

Once done with my quick shower, I rushed to my dresser, where I reached into the second drawer, and pulled out a tank top. Then off came the towel and one came a pair of black socks and black briefs. Afterwards, I went to my closet, and then put on one of several black jeans, and black long sleeve shirt (which I rolled up to my biceps), and then I placed the leather jacket onto my shoulder so that I could put it onto my chair later.

Afterwards, I put on my boots and then headed into the bathroom for a second. Once inside, I grabbed my comb and started straightening out my hair. It was shoulder length right now, and considering that I had just showered, it wasn't too hard a job. I just had to make sure there were no knots from when I was sleeping, but thatwas soontaken care of.

Now with my hair dealt with, I quickly brushed my teeth, flossed, mouth washed, did my "business", washed my hands, and then headed to the cockpit. I assure you, all this only took about five minuets, and including the clothing change and the hair combing. Relatively quick for a guy my age, though I have had practice.

"Michael, she's hailing us again. Should I-"

"Fine, whatever."

"Michael, I seriously doubt we should ever work again. If your going to keep being perverted and-"

"Now hold on a minuet Samus. I was not being perverted when I tried to wake you up. You must have hit the accept button with your toe, and it is not my fault that you decided to sleep in nothing more then a t-shirt and panties."

"Wait, you saw my panties?"

"Yes, and not by choice. I can't exactly help it you have you legs open like you want to get fucked or something."

"WHAT?"

"Listen, I'm just digging myself a bigger grave. Can we stop talking about this?"

"Fine…"

"I see your wearing your robot suit there."

"It's called a Varia Suit, though I wouldn't expect a pervert to know that."

"Oh shut up about it. I saw you, said oh my god, and then covered my face."

"Are you saying I'm ugly?"

"No, I'm saying that you were half naked, and since I'm an old fogy, I tried to be polite and stop looking."

"Well, you are still a… Wait, did you just call yourself an old fogy?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Simple, I'm almost fifty."

"You're kidding?"

"No, I'm not. Right now I'm forty eight."

"Wow."

"What do you mean, wow?"

"Well, you look like you are maybe in your early thirties, but I suppose you did fight in the Belkan war, so you could have been in your early forties."

"Well I'm old."

There was an eerie silence that followed after I said that. It must have been awkward for me to just suddenly reveal my age, so I suppose it was to be expected. The dull roar of the engine gave the only acknowledgement of life in either of our ships, giving me the impression that Samus was not truly at her chair, rather then what I saw on the screen.

"Michael, Samus, we are approximately thirty minuets from Eigen."

"Thank you for the update, Cassandra."

My voice seemed almost distorted as I said that. It was as though I hadn't truly said those words, even though I know it was from my lips. 'Maybe I was hallucinating.'

"Michael…"

"Yes Samus?"

"I…. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? For what?"

"For assuming."

I brushed my right hand through my hair, gently combing through the long strands of brown. I rested my hand onto my head for a moment, covering a piece of my face from Samus. A weird little smile came onto my face, as though I were amused from Samus's apology. "It's alright. Besides, you know what they say about assuming. It makes an ass out of you and me."

"Very interesting. We should start planning for our mission soon. After all, we only have an hour."

"Forty five minuets and counting,"said Cassandra, who interuprted our conversation.

"Thank you, Cassandra," said a somewhat annoyed Samus.

"Actually, if what our clients said about the base the Space Pirates rebuilt was true," I said, continuedthe conversation,"then I already know an excellent way to get in."

"Really, how so?"

"Well, when I went in there twenty years ago, there was an unguarded cave route that led underneath the base. It ends about seven miles east of the base, where you would come through a couple of bushes, just a few yards from a deep ravine. I suggest we start our search there."

"Alright, but what if the cave if blocked, what then?"

"I'm not too sure, Samus. We could try going through the front door, guns blazing. I don't think we would last that long, but it's an idea."

"So I take it there isn't another way in?"

"Well, there is the western wall. But that's almost impossible."

"It might be worth investigating. What's so special about it?"

"Well, from the outside, the wall looks impossible to climb. First, you would have to climb about forty feet worth of dirt, which goes almost vertical. After that you would have to find a way to climb a fifty foot steel wall, but by the time you would get up there, there's a probable chance a guard would catch you. But, maybe if we… Nah, it probably isn't there anyway."

"What, something else?"

"Back during the war, there use to be an enormous tree by that wall. It was a bit old though, so climbing it was dangerous. But, if one could scale it to the top then hook themselves to the wall, they could easily jump to the wall without being noticed. Only problem was climbing it, as the branches would usually break as you went higher up."

"So right now we have three plans. One, we storm the base. Chances of survival, slim. Plan two, we go into a cave and hope the pirates didn't block it off. And three, we climb a tree, followed by a hike up the wall."

"Well, unless we call in an air strike from the galactic federation, there isn't a whole lot else we can do."

"I suppose your right."

"We'll just have to seewhat happens when we get there."

"We will arrive at Eigen in twenty minuets."

"Thank you, Cassandra."

"Michael…"

"Yes Samus?"

"Why does Cassandra sound so… life-like?"

"Well, I made her about sixteen years ago, just four years after the war. I was feeling lonely, flying alone as a Bounty hunter, so I just made an A.I. capable of understanding most human emotions."

"That seems like a lousy reason."

"Well… I did model her voice based off of a voice message that some one left me a few years ago."

"Really? Whose voice was it?"

"An old friend."

"Just a friend?"

"No… We were closer then that… But she isn't here now."

"What do you mean?"

"She died several years ago."

"During the war?"

"I think I've said enough about myself."

I saw Michael rise from his chair and begin to walk away from the screen.

"Michael, wait."

I tried to grab his attention, maybe bring him back to the screen. I was curious about this lady that he spoke of, and I was curious to know more about him. He seemed to be a much deeper man then I first expected, giving me the impression that he has been through a lot in the years.

My attempt to stop Michael worked, as I could see him freeze by the wall that led to the hallway. His head was tilted downwards, and his hair covered every inch of face I could have possibly seen.

"What is it Samus?" His voice seemed tired and heartbroken, as if I had brought him bad memories.

"I… I want to know."

"Know what?"

"About you."

"About me…"

"Yeah, about you."

"Why?"

"Because… I…"

Michael was silent. He was waiting for me to answer him, though my words would not come.

"I… I'm alone."

"Alone?"

"Yes. I'm a bounty hunter, like you. But I don't have an A.I. I never work with other people, and the few vacations I get, I just go a beach and start exploring. I never go out on dates, and I always dream that I'll just be a forgotten person when I die."

"…"

"Michael… Don't you ever get lonely? Don't you ever wonder why we don't get the things we truly want in life, even though we work just as hard as everyone else?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then why are you a bounty hunter. Why don't you just settle down with someone and live your life in peace?"

"I haven't settled down because I haven't fallen in love with someone. As for me being a Bounty hunter, it is because I want to help people."

"You want to help people?"

"Yes, and though this isn't exactly the most respected method, this is one of the most effective ways of helping."

"But why? There are millions of people out there that could care less whether you live or die, and millions more that would exploit your talents."

"I… I do this in memory of someone who changed the way I think and feel. I do this for her, so that maybe I can atone for the wrongs I have done to her and to others."

"Michael, I-"

"It's alright. I have had plenty of time to deal with the loss."

Silence began to fill the room, leaving me with the feeling that this ship was dead. I felt as though I had hurt Michael, and he was just being kind to me. I pressed the off button for the screen, turning off all light in the cockpit. The only light that entered was natural light from the stars, as the underside of the ship was currently facing this galaxy's star.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said any of that."

'And maybe I shouldn't have turned off the screen. It would make more sense to leave it on, that way Cassandra could tell me how long before we get to Eigen.'

"Michael, I'm sorry."