They had taken to calling the thing "The Mothership", but conceptually it was closer to a mobile space station. All around the pitch-black sphere buzzed thousands of starships like a swarm of insects protecting the hive.
For the moment the Mothership was in orbit around the closest star to the UFO that Exigencia could be sure was outside the thing's field range. At least as sure as one could be of anything anymore.
Inside was a flurry of activity. Sparkle could see six different Exigencia holograms, all walking and talking with various different members of Exigency. Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson were being shown to their ships by one, while another explained tactics to an octopus floating in a bubble of water. Zhuge Liang absent-mindedly waved a crane feather fan and cast sideways glances at the octopus as another Exigencia ushered him deeper into the station. Sparkle wondered how many instance of herself she was running at once.
Exigencia had been recreating an impressive array of pre-Singularity strategic minds, and there were whispers that the addition of so many was starting to affect her personality. Whatever the case, Exigency was drifting further and further from the Consensus mainstream.
A seventh Exigencia stood just in front of Sparkle and Caesar, leading them towards one of the docking bays.
"Here we are," said Exigency, arriving at a row of airlocks "Sparkle, for now we're going to try you with Xialongnu. Caesar, you're with Nash Equilibrium.7.0.1."
"But..." began Sparkle.
"If you'll let me finish," said Exigencia "You're both in the same squadron. You'll be within range of your boosted signal implants the whole time. As I know you're aware you will not have any opportunities for physical closeness during battle so there would be no practical benefit to wasting resources by having you both on the same ship."
"It'll be fine," said Caesar "We'll just do our part in the heroic defeat of the enemies of humanity and then go somewhere to have loud, inconsiderate sex."
"I'm holding you to that," said Sparkle.
They exchanged goofy grins.
"These are the new design ships," Exigencia powered on "They have artificially stabilized neutronium hulls, and weaponized industrial EMFMs take up approximately 90% of the interior space. There has never been a more dangerous machine built by humans. I implore you both to treat this with the utmost seriousness. You could sterilize a world of all life with one of these by mistake."
"That's why we're doing the war games, though, right? For practice?" asked Sparkle.
"The equipment is live," said Exigencia "The war games are to acclimate you to it. The moment you decide to get reckless I'll know and you'll be out. No second chances. This is the greatest responsibility anyone here has ever had. Treat it as such."
"You don't have to tell me," said Sparkle "Give a dog a job and watch how seriously we take it."
"I'm going to see to some other things," said Exigencia "Go meet your co-pilots. They'll let you know when the games are about to begin."
Sparkle gave Exigencia a Chuldoonian salute, something that could be pretty well approximated using human appendages, and the hologram shrank into non-existence.
"What was that?" asked Caesar.
"It's something they do on Chuldoss," she explained "It's a signal of obedience to heirarchy."
"I love how morbid you are," laughed Caesar.
"That wasn't morbid, it was cute," said Sparkle "I'm cute."
"Yes you are," said Caesar.
The two kissed, basked in each-other for a moment, and then entered their respective airlocks.
* * *
"Hi!" Sparkle virtually shouted as soon as she came aboard "I'm Sparkle! I'm a guard dog!"
The cockpit, such as it was, wasn't nearly as roomy as those found in the typical starship. There was enough room for the co-pilot's chair, but that was about it.
"Hello Sparkle," replied a disembodied voice. The pitch marked it as human-female "I'm called Xiaolongnu. I suppose I'm a spaceship at the moment."
"You're not an AI, though, right?" asked Sparkle.
"I don't believe that's a meaningful distinction," replied Xiaolongnu "I may not have been born to virtuality but it adopted me. I have modified myself beyond my flesh-anchor heritage. I'm no less capable nor quick thinking than any artifical mind you'll meet. It's all the meat world can do to contain my shine. If they had put me in a human body I would have cooked it from the inside from sheer white hot aptitude."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," said Sparkle "Let's start over. I want to be friends."
"Let's continue from where we are," replied Xiaolongnu "I'll get back to you about the friendship."
"Deal!" Sparkle exclaimed, happily.
She lowered herself into the chair, leaned back, and allowed the ship to override her senses.
<Let's get this over with,> signaled Xialongnu <The oppressive realness of this place is weighing on me.>
<Whatever you say, new friend,> signaled Sparkle
* * *
<Is Nash a usual AI name?> asked Caesar, as he settled into the co-pilot's chair.
<The Equilibrium lineage is known for our sense of whimsy,> Nash explained.
<Ah, so it IS a game theory thing?>
<Indeed,> replied Nash <That is the extent of the whimsy.>