The Star Pirate's Folly

Chapter 36: Zee

Myra sat her projection across from Bee as the girl devoured her meal of spice sausage buns and hash brown scramble. She'd tried to ease Bee into the rest of the tale a little at a time. First, her former life and her relationship with Victor. Not so hard a pill to swallow for Buttercup, it seemed.

Truly didn't believe her at all when she told him years before. He'd said if it could really be done then anyone who could afford to would do it. Myra told him he was exactly right. Many did—and she was far from the first reconstructed consciousness in the system. Shortly after that conversation Truly asked Victor to put him down in cryo when he wasn't needed, just ferry him along inside Wanderlust and wake him for trouble.

Myra guessed she'd rattled him. Coming to terms with what he'd do, maybe, if he had the chance. Another life after his own? Some new kind of existence? He and the Captain had long conversations about it as time wore on, but Truly withdrew from Myra for a while after he found out. He never quite felt comfortable with her presence the same way he did when she was just an artificial intelligence. They worked together as crewmates but Truly kept his distance.

That was why Bee's reaction so delighted Myra. The girl was fascinated. All during breakfast she kept glancing up at the projection.

"Can you pick anything up?" Bee asked.

"Nope." Myra reached out to grab Bee's cup. As she tried to lift it her skin slipped along the length of the cup, unable to grip it between her fingers. "Hardlight can only exert enough force to provide haptic feedback—like when you press a button on one of my screens. Safety reasons."

"Can you feel it?"

"Not in the way you do, but I suppose so. I know where I'm touching it."

Bee shoved her empty plate aside and took Myra's hand in both of her own, inspecting it.

"What happened to you?" she asked, looking into the projection's eyes.

There it was, Myra thought, that connection. Trust. Closeness. It didn't matter that when Bee looked into the hologram's eyes there was nothing really looking back—the illusion of humanity was all Myra needed. Human feedback, more than just the sound of her voice. Only so much could be communicated effectively without a body. Eye contact, body language—every detail mattered.

"We made it safely to one of Ymir's moon bases, on the far side of the planet from the gate. The raiders were on their way and Victor couldn't stand by and do nothing," Myra said. "But he knew anyone who went out after them might not come back. I was no fighter. I stayed with the rest of our passengers on the moon. Victor left with every other war-worthy ship he could convince to join him and intercepted the raiding parties before they got to Ymir."

"But he didn't get them all," Bee guessed.

A sad smile touched Myra's face. "The pirates weren't expecting a preemptive attack. At first things went well. But after Victor's volunteers gained the upper hand some of the pirates made a break for the moon base. If he'd had more ships he might have been able to do it. There were just too many. Without everything he had his little fleet would've crumbled. He couldn't chase the attackers without losing everything."

"He had to choose," Bee whispered.

"It was the only choice besides total defeat. Victor managed a slim victory over the main group of raiders and they sped back to the moon base, but it took hours. With no defenses the base had long since been overrun. We fought to the end with what we had, but it didn't take long for them to... well, they killed all the men."

Bee looked away and swallowed, swiped a tear from her cheek.

"Victor and the rest came back and retook the base. They found me and a few others barely alive, managed to get me stable in a cryo tube. My injuries were fatal, though, given time—they could only delay my death. So that's what he did. Loaded me up on Wanderlust, kept me frozen for the next ten years. That's how long it took him to kill Dreadstar. He knew no one would be safe until then."