Interstellar Cruise Ship Scorpio - Earthbound IC

[Enigma]

Zodiac Lines - Scorpio; Local time 09:27:12 AM.

A gentle chime rang out over the ship's public announcement system.

"Gentles, good morning to you! Our captain wishes to inform you that the Scorpio is now in orbit over the planet Beylix, the site of Humanity's first contact with not one, but several alien races who were stranded on the planet for over two decades. Shuttles will be departing on the hour for Perseverance City."

"There are many popular tourist destinations on Beylix - the interplanetary famed Alien Market, where you never know just what you'll find; The Brotherhood of Man Main Temple with its equally famed gardens and healers; and of course the mysterious Statue of the Digger, the statue of a man who built Perseverance City's famous canal before humans made contact. There are also tours to visit the Crystal Falls, a lovely tropical location and the source of the canal's water. Passengers who would like to join a Tour Group, please contact the Reception Desk on Deck 8, the Life Deck."

"Zodiac Lines is pleased to announce that the Scorpio has been selected to convey the Wanderer, the sacred leader of the Brotherhood of Man, on her first trip to Earth...."


"Hah!" grumbled Captain Sharp. "Last time that girl was on board, not only did two of my crew go crazy trying to shoot her and anyone else that got in their way, that bastard Paris had the nerve to show up - at my dinner table, no less."

"So, what are we going to do to make sure nothing crazy happens when she comes on board?"

"Well Captain," the Scorpio's Security Chief said, waving to the deck one layout in the holographic display, "two adjacent Port-side Nova cabins have been reserved for the Wanderer's use and that of her security team. Since at this time we have only one Nova passenger occupying one of the starboard cabins, we are able to isolate the Port-side passageway with additional security."
"What about attendants?"
"The Wanderer's Security Team says they will be bringing their own attendants to see to the Wanderer's needs. Our people will bring the supplies to her security team, and they will get them to their people."
"Well, not so bad. She still runnin' around saying 'butterfly' or some such nonsense?"
"Erm," coughed the Security Chief at Captain Sharp's less than political correctness, "Well sir, that is her name. But I am assured that she's improved somewhat since her last visit."
"So when are they bringing her aboard?"
"This afternoon sir, in a special shuttle which is scheduled to arrive at 16:30 hours. We're placing it in Hanger One, with direct security feeds. Then there will be a brief reception."
"So I gotta get dress up in the full monkey suit before supper,"Captain Sharp scowled. "So, what are my standing orders if Paris shows up?"
"'Clap that bastard in irons, strip him naked, and shove him in the deepest, darkest hole in the brig', sir," the Security Chief quoted. "You do know he's a principal stockholder, sir?"
"All they can do is fire me. And that would be worth it."


The Brotherhood of Man Temple, Beylix - 09:35:43 AM

"Brothers and Sisters," Master Hand, the Brotherhood's Chief of Security said, bowing his head. "I welcome you. All is prepared, we await only the Companions."
"Sir," one of the initiates said, raising his head. "Are we sure havin' them along is such a grand idea?"
"That would depend. Are you planning to carry out your threat the last time they were here?"
"No sir, we're a peaceful order."
"This is an imperfect universe. We strive for peace and harmony despite those who seek to remove it."
"So what's the real reason th' Wanderer's goin' ta Earth?"
"Earth has extended an invitation to the Wanderer to meet with them, she has chosen to accept."
"And why did they 'extend' this 'invitation'?"
"Unfortunately," Master Hand sighed, looking at the others in the room before returning his gaze to the Initiate, "Your guess is as good as ours, which is why we must plan for the worse."

"Sir," one of the older monks asked, "Do we really believe that they would harm the Sacred Butterfly?"
"The tears of a Wanderer is a medicine like no other that cannot be synthesized. That alone makes her a threat to pharmaceutical companies, as well as the desperate. But now they know she is a Zayan? We can tell them her people made sure everything she knew was stripped from her mind before they cast her adrift in the universe, but it does not mean they believe us."
"It's because of the Botah, isn't it?"
"Yes. And a secret Zayan lab, now a melted pit on their world. Someone may be hoping there are others."


Perseverance City, Old Town, Junkai's

The dark-haired girl moved unnoticed thoruough the crowd in Digger's Square. Their attention was on the Main Gate of the Brotherhood temple, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Wanderer, the Sacred Butterfly. She paused for a moment to stare up at the stone copy of herself standing there next to the Digger.

Her first instinct was to destroy it - but then there would be questions. And, she had to admit, she was sort of pleased there was at least one remembrance of her that wasn't hidden away.

Still, humans might think it was a coincidence she looked like an old statue. The locals, however, would not. She could have disguised herself - at least changed her clothes so she at least looked like a tourist lost in Old Town. Except she wasn't lost.


The bell hanging from the spring on the door rang as it opened - a copied design from Earth that made Junkai's hearts swell each time he heard it. Glancing up from his counter, the aging Quad caught a glimpse of street clothes and sighed. At least it wasn't some angry human still sore over events that happened a hundred years ago when the first humans arrived.

"Pethat!" he ordered, using the local word for the kid gangs. "This is my shop! I do not take kindly to attempts to steal from me! Come here now, before I summoned...."

The dark haired girl stopped at his counter and smiled up at him.

"You!" Junkai moaned, then dropped down on all four legs behind the counter. The girl glanced curiously around the corner where the ancient alien had his head buried in one pair of blue hand while he hugged himself with his other set. Looking up, he caught sight of her and moaned again.

"<Why are you here?>" he demanded, slipping into the Trade tongue.
The girl sighed, then pulled out a coin that she tossed to him. He caught it with his upper right hand and stared at it for a long moment, then balled up his fist around it.
"<The Pax Confederation is no more,>" he said angrily, shaking his head. "<There is no Bureau...>"

The dark haired girl raised her right eyebrow. Junkai flushed a pale blue, then tossed the coin back at her. She caught it and tucked it back in its usual place. She then pulled out an envelope containing two flimsies, which she passed to him. He took them irritably, spreading them out and reading the text.
"These are two silver-star tickets for the Scorpio," he said, switching to English. "One for the both of us? Why me?"
She tapped her left shoulder. He flushed a pale blue again.

"That was a long time ago. You don't expect me to honor that now, do you?"
She nodded.
Junkai groaned, then pulled himself upright. "This is foolishness, you know. How can I explain this to anyone why I of all peoples am escorting a human child to Earth?"
The girl shrugged.
"You do realize how frustrating it is that you cannot talk?"

[Black]

Gabriels Safehouse - Beylix - 04:00:01


Incoming Transmission . . .

Incoming Transmission . . .

Incoming Transmission . . .

"Accept call" a gruff voice.


. . .


A small screen flared to life, a hazy white screen of static and a dim figure. Eventually the signals settled and the man could be seen. He spoke first.

"Greetings Operator Gabriel, how are you this lovely morning?"

"Shut up Rodez, you know damn well it's high noon in your system,"

"True enough Gabriel. Lets get down to business so you can get some more of that useless beauty rest,"

"Fuck you Rodez,"

A chuckle from the figure on the screen.

"New orders Gabriel. It's different from your usual missions,"

"How so,?"

"It requires some brains for one,"

"Shut up cock breath, give me the details,"

"Well for one this order comes from the Top. And I don't mean that useless pig fucker they have as our General. It comes straight from the top brass of the Terran Military,"

Gabriel sat back for a moment, his brain running through who could have possibly given an order to a lowly surf such as him. You didn't just give an order and have it accidentally land on an operators desk. You had to request the Operator by call sign and name. Both are impossible to find unless you're top of the top. Even the First Commander of the Terran Military Intelligence branch didn't know Gabriels real name. The First Commander didn't even known Gabriels fake name for that matter. He had no knowledge of any operators existence.

"They want me to babysit the Wanderer on her travels," Gabriel said after a while.

"Yeah,"

"What's the catch?"

"They don't want anyone but the Captain and the Wanderer to know of your existance. You're to feed the Captian a bucketful of horseshit about who you are, but the Wanderer is to know you by name and call sign. It is to be a courtesy extended to Her and Her alone,"

"Meaning that I have only one superior officer on this mission,"

"Aye. Unless it directly influences her safety in a negative way you're to do anything and everything she asks short of killing yourself,"

"Obviously. Alright, Ill do it,"

"As if you had a choice,"

"Dick,"

Gabriel ended the transmission and sat back. Not a minute later his military-grade copy machine spat out a S-class Ticket for the voyage. At least they gave him the courtesy of an upgraded ticket. The perks of being on Operator seemed to be endless.

He would have to pack a wonderful bag of toys . . .


Hauling his naked ass out of his bed Gabriel stumbled his way into some sweatpants and began his preparations for the voyage.


Perseverance City, Old Town, Junkai's - Beylix - 9:37:32


Gabriel strolled into the merchants shop, his eyes passing over all the trivial items. What he was here for wasn't any conventional trinket or touristy attraction. His eyes settled on the alien and noticed that he was distraught. Gabriel didn't care overly much. He was here on business and he had to get it completed before the Scorpio . . . 'set sail' as it were.

"Junkai, you crazy bastard, I need some 'gear' for a trip im going to be taking," Gabriel stressed the word gear a bit more than the rest of the statement. And his language was as crass as a sailors, despite the young street urchin standing at the counter. In fact it was as if the girl didn't exist at all.

It was a guise, Gabriel was watching her carefully. He didn't know who she was but she obviously had the merchant pretty wound up. It didn't concern him, at least not yet, and Gabriel had enough on his plate without getting into every slum merchants shady dealings.

Junkai was one of the few beings on the planet who knew that Gabriel was more than a simple lumberjack. However Junkai knew Gabriel as Joseph, the Fortune Seeker.

[Enigma]

When the human entered the store, Junkai almost jumped out of his blue skin. He relaxed when he recognized Gabriel.

"Mister-Joseph," Junkai said very rapidly, "How-very-nice-to-see-you-again!"

His brain implant kicked in, and he parted his lips in what he hoped was a welcoming smile. Instead, it was a slightly off-putting rictus of pointed teeth.

"Are you headed for another of the outlying mining camps? Or has the city finally granted you a license to salvage from one of the space wrecks?"

The last was a sore point with Junkai - in the very first meeting with the newly arrived scientists, they had told the city council that they wished to study the dead Red and Blue warships. The Council then turned around and announced that in future, you had to purchase a very expensive license from them, and then could only salvage from 'certain' ships - usually one of the passenger transports, which had less usable parts - when before anyone who had a shuttle and the inclination could take whatever they wanted!

Then after it was discovered he had stolen control crystals from the humans (to save one of the humans' own) - his license was taken without refund! And he hadn't even gotten to use it yet! It was years before he was allowed to purchase a new one, and the price had tripled by then!

It was on a Blue warship he had found the girl, asleep in a hybernation pod, one or two years before the Humans came. He thought at first she was a Wilder like the Port Commander or Digger, rescued by chance. Only if she was a plant by the Bureau, why Beylix? Unless they knew the Humans were coming? Why would they care?

His eyes flared slightly. The Girl. He'd almost forgotten about her. How to explain her to Joseph..?

Junkai looked back at the girl and waved her forward with both right arms.

"Allow me to introduce..." he said, his implant racing through Human names, "...Penny. My apprentice."
'Penny' gave Gabriel a polite smile and curtseyed.

"So Joseph," Junkai asked faintly, "How can I..er, WE, help you today?"

[Azazeal849]

"Yes. And a secret Zayan lab, now a melted pit on their world. Someone may be hoping there are others."

"Not just hoping, actively looking." said a voice, "Something that the governments of Earth, Londinium, and I daresay Zayas are understandably worried about."

Master Hand turned, to see a strong-jawed, straight-nosed man standing in the doorway with one of the younger monks at his side. The man was slightly taller than the young monk, if only because he carried himself straighter. He wore a plain, dark suit and was carrying a modestly-sized case.

"Mr Doverton-Hawke to see you, Master Hand." the young monk introduced the newcomer, "He said that you'd be expecting him."

"Master Hand." said the newcomer, offering the Brotherhood's security chief a measured bow.

"No codename, Daniel?" Master Hand asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Fortunately," said Daniel as he crossed the room with economical strides. "The only people who found me out during our last jaunt on the Scorpio are either on our side, back on Zayas, or...otherwise taken care of. I must say, Master Hand - while I appreciate the difficulty of keeping Butterfly a secret, couldn't you have done a little less of pushing her directly into the spotlight?"

"She's th' sacred wanderer!" one of the initiates broke in indignantly, "Th' faithful across th' known worlds had a right ta know."

Master Hand calmed the brother with a gently raised hand. "This trip to Earth wasn't the Brotherhood's idea, Daniel."

"I know." Daniel said, smiling slightly, "And like you I agree that we should hope for the best and plan for the worst. How is Butterfly, by the way?"

"She is well." nodded Master Hand.

"I look forward to seeing her befire we go." Daniel smiled. "What about her guardian? Is he here?"

"He is."

"Splendid." said Daniel, "In that case, if you'll excuse me?"

The Londinian agent nodded towards Master Hand and his fellow monks in turn, and left the room to look for Schizo.

[Potatrobot]

The Brotherhood of Man Temple, Beylix - 09:37:00 AM

"Isn't this exciting!" The electronic voice was patronisingly cheerful. It belonged to the S.C.H.I.Z.O unit standing by the wardrobe, picking out an outfit to wear to the occasion. The remark was directed at Butterfly, whom it was his turn to watch over before departing the Brotherhood Temple. She sat on the bed in her room, the corner of which played host to a man-sized, cylindrical recharging pod with a single, narrow window set at head height; undoubtedly where Schizo and Eachert spent many of the nights. Butterfly seemed like she had something to say, but the words were quiet; too quiet for Schizo to hear.

Sometimes Schizo frightened the young mind. While his standard persona — a cheerful, optimistic and encouraging yes man — often helped her relax, some of his other identities and the erratic method he switched to them had a tendency to frighten her.

Schizo was picking out something to wear to the special occasion: Butterfly was leaving the Temple and travelling to Earth, and on no other than the Scorpio, his assigned Cruise Liner! The six months had gone by quickly, what with Lord Eachert taking control of his body at least once every hour, but the time had finally come for Butterfly to leave planet Beylix.

"Ah, this looks presentable!" Schizo had picked out a black and white suit with a white Ace-of-Spades emblem on the left breast, some black leather shoes with white insteps, and a black trilby hat with a white band and a smaller version of the Ace emblem on the left side.

As if there was anything else he could possibly have picked. The casino suit was the only outfit he owned, still clean and fresh ever since the day after he arrived on Beylix. Naturally, with nothing else to do in the spare time Eachert granted him, Schizo had the suite cleaned and practically preserved it in the wardrobe like some museum exhibit. Strangely, the outfit came with a pistol holster that was strapped to the ankle. After all, the suit had been taken from the then-late Mr. John Paris junior; stockholder, diplomat, part-time assassin.

Schizo was dressed in just over a minute, holster and hat included. Hidden beneath the suit lay three of Schizo's possessions: a deck of Star's End playing cards, kept in the left sleeve pocket; a rubber duck, in the right inside pocket; and an old radio headset, almost completely hidden under the hat. The round earpiece and microphone weren't easy to hide, though.

There were three objects left on the floor of the wardrobe: a very old grenade, a bladed gauntlet with retractable blades, and a small, black laser pistol, hooked up the the most out-of-proportion form of electrical ammunition: two large Leyden jars with a smaller jar inside each, attached side-by-side and connected to a series of straps that allowed them to be carried like a backpack. Schizo had tasked himself with smuggling these three weapons through a security checkpoint once before, using only the suit to hide them.

The laser pistol he detached from the thick cable that led to the top of the jars and stowed into the holster on his right ankle. The gauntlet was strapped to the right arm, under the sleeves of both the shirt and jacket of the outfit. It was slim enough not to cause much suspicion. The grenade he simply dropped down the front of his pants. Detached from the gun, the two large jars could be openly worn, as they were no longer weapons. He shouldered them and turned to face Butterfly. Judging by her expression, he was almost unrecognisable under the suit, hat, shoes, and jars. Only his deep set, white glowing eyes and human-like face seemed to betray who he was. That, and he never left the room. And he was the only S.C.H.I.Z.O unit on planet Beylix.

"Oh, this is wonderful!" he remarked, the prospect of returning to the Scorpio taking priority on his mental to-do list again. For most of the six months, that task had been pushed down under Butterfly's care, playing host to her mentor, Lord Eachert, and getting to know the locals on Beylix and taking part in all sorts of activities with them — short of shopping for clothes. Schizo had become an invaluable aspect of Butterfly's re-education, when he was in a persona that could actually help her, of course, but that was often enough to be useful. He also served as her night guard, standing dormant in the closed charging pod in the corner of her room; and of course wherever he went, Lord Eachert went.

He waited before saying anything else. Surely, Eachert himself would have something to say, marked by the change of colour of Schizo's eyes from bright white to light-absorbing black.

[Oak Berbark]

The crowd in Digger's square were crazy. Nothing but a mix of hopeful aliens and humans all hoping to spot the "wanderer", Slish had never seen so much excitement about a little girl since the naming of the 64th Matriarch, then again he was only 5 then so the details might be a little fuzzy. As Slish shifted past onlookers he got nothing but a quick glance before the person returned their gaze to the gates of the Brotherhood of Man Temple. This anonymity was something he loved about this planet so far. Unlike the other worlds he was on, here on Beylix a lanky bugman was something of the norm, he had even spotted a few other Sajikis earlier on their way to the square. Maybe he should care about this "wanderer"....

After nearly getting crushed by a group trying to push their way towards the front Slish decided to satisfy his curiosity and see this "wanderer". Slish took a spot between an estatic human and a bored looking alien. Using a psychic link Slish felt just as excited as the human, so excited he could just smile! Sure his mentors would look down on this act of "mental vampirism" but what did they know, today he would see the wanderer!

[Black]

Junkai was nervous. That was for certain. The Quad nearly jumped out of his skin when Gabriel addressed him. And his story about the girl, the hesitations and nervous twitch of his manner... Something curious was going on here, that was for certain... However...

Gabriel let the obvious lie pass uncontested. It didn't concern him right now, and the merchant had always treated Gabriel semi-fairly. Not counting that one time the quad had mistaken Gabriel as a tourist from beaumonte. Gabriel had righted the situation and no permanent harm had been done to anyone's pride.

"I'm going on a vacation for unforeseeable feature. I need you to make a few hundred rounds of ammunition for me if it is at all possible to get it done in the next few hours. Double the usual rate for the rush, as well as many micro-cams you can get me. I also need the usual set of tools for hacking scanners. These damned junker ships have some damned good security on them," Gabriel laughed mirthlessly. While true enough that the ships had deadly securities on them at times, the hacking equipment would be used to infiltrate the more... private... sections of the ships infrastructure.

He still intended to get a crew's outfit from the captain and an electronic pass, but that would only get him so far. Getting into the Wanderer's quarters would probably something much harder. Breaking into the Wanderer's rooms would require a lot of finesse, tact, skill, lies, and guile. Gabriel had done wet-work before, in his world he was so skilled that calling him an assassin was an insult punishable by death. Assassins had targets, people who would soon be dead. Operators had corpses. People who were dead the moment the warrant went out.

This was something entirely new. Never before had Gabriel heard of an Operator protecting someone. The concept was interesting. He had killed many important men CEO's, Terrorist Leaders, Corrupt political figures and politicians. But in this universe there were few so important as the Wanderer. He could list several first-hand names of medical CEO's who would pay a fortune for an ounce of her blood.

But Gabriel didn't do things for money. He did them for two reasons, one that he would tell to any stranger who bought him a beer and knew who he was, and another he kept to himself. That part of him had died ages ago and that was where he kept the true reason he was an Operator.

Still. This job was more than intriguing. Gabriel found that people who protected others tended to be in danger more than people who killed others. Gabriel also dealt with people who were always corrupted, or had blood on their hands, or were warriors. This Wanderer was supposed to be 'pure', and 'innocent', a foreign concept.

"The rounds are for the usual weaponry. Benneli M1014. Triple Ought Buck, Slugs, Rubber Shot, and Rock Salt if you could. Additionally I need some .45 APC rounds for a SIG 1911. Enough for two pistols. Once again, double the rate for the rushed jobs,"

Gabriel waited for the merchant to respond before going on.

[Enigma]

The Brotherhood of Man Temple, Beylix - 09:37:15 AM

"Isn't this exciting!" Schizo said. Butterfly frowned - at this angle, she could not see his eyes.
"Exciting, yes," she replied.

It was different. Her first month was spent in a small room over at the Temple Hospital. In the mornings, she would sit in a wheelchair and be taken to the Neural Suite, where she sit in a chair that made her head itch until she fell asleep. Then she would wake up in her bed and have lunch under Schizo's watchful eyes. Then a monk would come in the afternoon and he would have her try to fit shapes in holes, identify colors or numbers. At first the monk made no sense to her, but slowly she began to understand. Sometimes they would leave her room to sit in the garden, feeling the warm breeze.

Then one morning several monks appeared and they bowed to her, then carried her to this much larger room and told her this was hers. She cried - and the monks produced tiny vials to collect her tears. But she liked the balcony - it overlooked the front gate and Digger's Square. Sometimes there were people who waved at her.

More monks came to teach her different things while her sessions with in the Neural Suite dwindled - but today there were no teaching monks. It was different. Butterfly got up from the bed and stepped out on to the balcony - and stared in shock at all the people. Hesitantly, she waved - and the crowd cheered, a sudden forest of arms of all shapes and sizes waving back at her.

"Sacred Butterfly?" she heard Master Hand call out.
"Master Hand, there are so many people here today!" she yelled back, thrilled. "They're all waving!"
"There is someone to see you, Sacred Butterfly," he said.

Butterfly whirled around and smiled at Daniel.

"I know you!" she said, thrilled. She stepped back inside to give Daniel a hug, then remembered. She looked over his shoulder and frowned, then looked around the room.
"Where is Big Man?" Butterfly asked, frowning slightly.

"I'm afraid he couldn't make it," Eachert said, taking control from the current personality.


Perseverance City, Old Town, Junkai's - Beylix - 9:39:11 AM


"I have two pocket packs of microcams with repeaters," Junkai nodded. "And the hacking tools. I have one hundred rounds each of the buck and slug for your gun here. The rock salt and rubber I do not, nor do I have your pistol ammo, but I can get that for you in a few hours."

His implant pulled up template files and contacted the machines in the basement. Quietly, they turned on and started to work. "I can deliver in three hours, yes. Do you want what I have now, or shall I wrap for later?"


Perseverance City - Alien Market - Nick's Terran Cafe

"Rene! Rene!"

With a frown, the head chef at Nick's Terran Cafe turned as the restaurant manager rushed into the kitchen.

"Rene, he's here!"
"Who's here?"
"Tourdain."
"Let me guess. He wants his favorite dishes?"
"For lunch!"
"Lunch?" Rene snorted, mentally rifling through his memories. "I can do most of it if I start now, but we're all out of Sajiki eggs, thanks to that crackdown. Maybe if I had a few hours more to prepare.... No. I'll have to substitute."
"But Rene - you know that's what he comes for!"
"Well, he's gonna have to do without!"
"He's gonna be angry."
"Yeah. Not my problem. He likes me better."

[Potatrobot]

Schizo wrested control from Eachert the moment they laid his eyes on Daniel, switching them back to white, if only for a short time. They immediately began to change colours as he flipped quickly through various personae.

"Price check on prune juice, price check."
"You're correct, sir!"
"My life is like a farce!"
"Oh! Mister Daniel Doverton-Hawke, it's good to-"
"-ain't enough rounds for the two-"
"I do so much to keep you a secret."
"-see you here!"

His episode ended, allowing him to resume normal conversation in his normal, optimistic tone.
"It has certainly been a long time since the last time you were here with us! Lord Eachert seems to have stopped the counter I've kept running since, but that's completely irrelevant; you're here! And just in time for the special occasion, too."

A quick glance at a vase of flowers turned him temporarily into a florist.
"But, who is this Big Man whom couldn't make it?" said the calm, womanly voice. "Are we speaking of Mister Caesaro?"

[Azazeal849]

"I know you!" she said, thrilled. She stepped back inside to give Daniel a hug.

The Zayan girl's endearing innocence caused a genuine smile to flicker across the Londinian's face.

“At your service, as always miss.” he said, inclining his head.

Their previous time together had been eventful, but this time his mission was specifically to keep her safe. Innocent naivete could be a two-edged sword.

Butterfly's smile evaporated as she remembered. She looked over Daniel's shoulder and frowned, then looked around the room.

"Where is Big Man?" Butterfly asked, frowning slightly.

"I'm afraid he couldn't make it," Eachert said, taking control from the current personality.

"But, who is this Big Man whom couldn't make it?" said the calm, womanly voice. "Are we speaking of Mister Caesaro?"

Daniel carefully avoided showing any signs of discomfort. The last he had heard Kes Caesaro was in cryo-stasis, on his way to Earth to stand trial after the joint TID / SIS sting on Gr'enia. For Butterfly's sake, he decided to be tactful.

“I'm afraid so.” he said neutrally. “But I am given to understand that he sends his warmest regards to the both of you.”

He put his case down on the floor and changed the subject.

“But I'm getting unforgivably ahead of myself.” he said with a touch of humour, “Mr. Schizo and Lord Eachert, it's good to see you both. I see that neither of you have changed!”

He crossed over to one of the room's cushioned chairs and sat down.

“I'm glad that you've been keeping an eye on the lovely miss Butterfly, although,” He raised one eyebrow slightly. “After everything that happened on Santos I'm surprised that the Brotherhood didn't do more to ensure her safety by keeping her anonymous.”

[Oak Berbark]

Slish nearly jumped out of his exoskeleton when the wanderer waved to the crowd, he was among those who waved their arms hopelessly trying to gain her attention before the child disappeared. It wasn't long after that the wait was getting boring, Slish could tell he wasn't alone as the human started to become bored as well, probably because of the link. Once Slish broke the link the human's mood returned to it's earlier excitement. "When is this wanderer to arrive?" Slish finally asked now confident he would receive a joyful answer. The man turned, shocked at what was standing next to him, after a speedy recollection he answered nearly hopping with every syllable. " She is to board the Scorpio at 4:30 today, but if we are lucky she may appear many more times to greet her followers." The man clasped his hands together as if praying while keeping his eyes locked on the balcony. "If we are lucky she may even bless one of us," He wished aloud. Slish couldn't help but roll his eyes, luckily he didn't have visible pupils for the human to see. "If you excuse me I have an appointment" Slish muttered before sliding his way through the crowd.

[Enigma]

"You do not understand," Master Hand said, shaking his head. "This is the Wanderer! They are a gift for humanity! Not something to be hidden away and used!"

"Well, I may have pushed that a bit hard," Eachert admitted. "But really there was little choice. After you left, we got a visit from that reporter, Brown. Had pictures from Santos, demanded an exclusive. To hold him off, we went public. When those pictures of the Santos facility outside the lab came out, things went a bit... ballistic."

"We had to peel people off of the walls," Master Hand said. "And one of the largest increases in converts."

"Ambassadors from every world have seen her, doctors have examined the readings from the Neural Theatre and are conviced that she's suffered significant mental trauma - there is nothing left in her mind that anyone can use to find Zaya. Still, there are a few nuts who believe she's somehow holding something back," Eachert sighed.

"In a way, publicity helps us. She's now a minor celebrity. If she was to drop out of sight now, everyone would be up in arms to find her. It's not the best way, but it's the situation we have."

[Azazeal849]

"True." admitted Daniel, who had politely waited for them to stop speaking but had been looking at Schizo/Eachert fixedly from the moment he had mentioned Harris Brown. "You said the reporter Brown was here, my lord - how recently was that, and what kind of photos did he have from Santos?"

The agent noticed Master Hand's confused expression and folded his hands.

"Harris Brown has been implicated in some exceedingly shady stuff, Master Hand. My department has been actively looking for him for the last six months."

[Oak Berbark]

"Something tells Al'Maal you don't want his ticket" hissed a voice from the alley. It was Slish's contact, the serpentine creature Al'maal. "I do want the ticket, I'm just having trouble finding the funds for it..." Slish weakly replied before slipping into the alley. "I find it strange how you found me, even after you were very specific on the time and place we were to meet." Al'Maal let out a disgusting cackle that made it sound like he was choking. "You should know Al'Maal never stay in one place, Al'Maal wanted man on this planet, maybe Al'Maal take ticket if Slish no want." Slish was about to speak before the creature continued. "Al'Maal know way for Slish to pay Al'Maal, take this." The serpent handed Slish a small device with one of his tiny arms. "Al'maal speak to you when you on ship, do what Al'Maal say or Al'Maal hurt Slish." With that word Slish felt a prick on his right lower arm as Al'Maal's other arm stealthily injected something into him. "You take ticket now, and remember pain, it only get worst more Al'Maal get angry." Slish snatched his ticket and hurried out of the alley way rubbing his smaller arm with it's partner. These parasites are going to only muck things up more for him.

[Enigma]

Perseverance City - Alien Market - Nick's Terran Cafe

Phelps scowled irritably as someone sat down at his table.

"Excuse me...." he began, lowering his paper, then turned pale. "Are you bloody insane? What are you doing here?"
"Why, having lunch with an old friend," Harris Brown grinned. "Sorry, did I come at a bad time?"
"Have you any idea how much trouble you're in?" Phelps whispered, glad that his usual table was tucked in a corner away from the tourists, screened by bioplastic plants.
"What, that thing with the Ambassador's daughter still? I told you, she invited me into her room."
"What? No, not that! MI6 is looking for you!"
"Well, you're MI6 and you've found me," Harris shrugged, picking up a menu. "Congratulations. What's good here?"
"This is not a joke!" Phelps snarled, batting the menu aside. "Very serious people at MI6 are looking for you!"
"Whatever for?" Harris demanded, frowning. "I'm just a freelance reporter...."
"You're a bloody nuisance, that's what you are!"
"Goes with the job. So why are your people looking for me?"

"I don't know," Phelps admitted, leaning back. "It's above my pay grade, but it's part of that fallout from Santos...."
"What, the pictures?" Harris blinked.
"I only hope it's those bloody pictures," Phelps sighed, shoving his paper away. He looked up at Harris worriedly. "How did you know? What Santos was up to?"
"Bit of luck. Some very good chilled vodka made its way into a Santos General, who proved to be very talkative."
"And into their secret camp?"
"Oh, the general signed some orders assigning me as a security guard to the camp."
"But you're no soldier!"
"Funny, there was this sergeant at the camp who said that very thing to me...."
"Are you working for Santos?" Phelps demanded.
"At their rates?" Harris scoffed. "News pays better and I go wherever I like, nobody gives me orders. Alright, look - with those signed papers from the general and a stolen uniform, I had no problem getting on a transport. They don't ask a lot of questions in the Santos Army, they're too busy keeping their own heads down. Pass around a few eCigs, a little smuggled vodka, and I got assigned all over the camp where I could take all the secret pictures I wanted."

"So you were just lucky, is that what you're telling me?" Phelps scoffed.
"Yeah," Harris shrugged. "There I was in the camp, watching the broadcasts on the Santosian State News about that girl from the cruise ship needing emergency care, cursing my luck, when she and that robot of hers dropped right into my lap."
"So you know what went on down there?"
"Not as much as I'd like to. Someone turned on that machine the Santosians built and the next thing you know, the sheep are talking and there's a big glowing hole in the ground. I heard the girl came here, so I came here too."
"You think they built that machine?!?"
"I'm supposed to believe that garbage the Brotherhood put out about mythical aliens building it? On the word of girl who can only say 'butterfly' and a whacked-out robot that could out-Sybil Sybil?" Harris scoffed, sliding out of the booth. "Look, there's a story here, and I'm gonna be the one to break it. We still have freedom of the press, so tell your bosses at MI6 to back off. Be seeing you."

Phelps watched as Harris made his way to the door before rising after him. Harris might had saved his life once, but he couldn't just let him go. Only when he made it outside, Harris was no where to be seen. Phelps scowled, debating with himself if he should report the contact and if he did so, just how much trouble he'd be in for letting the most wanted man in Human Space get away? And who the hell was Sybil?

The Brotherhood of Man Temple, Beylix

"Mr. Harris showed up here about a month after you left," Master Hand said, "about five months ago. He wanted to know what happened inside the sacred workplace."

"He thinks the Santosians built my lab," Eachert shrugged. "I admit I was a little busy keeping Schizo from tearing him apart."

"Wanderer, Sirs and Robot," Master Hand interrupted with a raised hand. "We must depart now for the shuttle. Questions can wait once we are safely aboard."

[Potatrobot]

Zodiac Headquarters, Australis

The computer technician pushed his trapezium-framed glasses back onto the ridge of his nose and continued to stare at the screen. If he hadn't been working at the computer for five hours already he'd have noticed the improvement in focus. However, that was not the case.

He sat back into his office chair again, rubbing his eyes under the black-rimmed glasses and running his hands through his full head of black hair that retained its tousled shape for all the hair gel that normally kept it slicked back. He pulled a sanitary wipe out of the almost-empty box on his desk, cleaned the gel off his hands, and tossed it into the bin, where it bounced off the several dozen others that filled it to the brim.

Six months ago he'd located the infamously discordant mainline feed from the famous S.C.H.I.Z.O unit on Santos. Not two minutes later did the feed disappear altogether, along with the unit. They double — triple — even quadruple checked for any errors in the transmitting equipment to desperately find the robot. Eventually, Zodiac gave up, and returned to its usual business. As much as he appreciated his pay rise from the spending boom caused by the "Schizo rush", the technician was happy to stop looking for the unit. He didn't study for a masters in information technology just to track down a broken robot.

But then they found it.

Beylix. The site of humanity's first ever contact with aliens. How the unit had jumped from Santos to Beylix was unknown, but that was the least of Zodiac's concerns when the CEO learned that the Schizo unit itself had become heavily involved in events surrounding what was quickly researched and found to be the discovery of a new 'Wanderer' of the Brotherhood of Man. It had made itself famous again and Zodiac corporation wasn't making a cent off it, since the unit had failed to endorse Zodiac or even its own model. It was just 'The Wanderer's Robot' as far as Beylix went.

But that was yesterday. Today, the high powered transmitters, which looked more like elongated laser cannons than communications devices, were all pointed at Beylix, just like they were at Santos six months ago. The technician, being the one unfortunate enough to have found the units feed back then, was in charge of doing it again today.


Brotherhood of Man Temple, Beylix

"Mister Harris was very persistent with his questioning," Schizo agreed, "although he seemed to have his sources mixed up."

"Wanderer, Sirs and Robot," Master Hand interrupted with a raised hand. "We must depart now for the shuttle. Questions can wait once we are safely aboard."

"Sounds like a plan!" Schizo chimed, leading the way out of Butterfly's room.

[Azazeal849]

"Mister Harris was very persistent with his questioning," Schizo agreed, "Although he seemed to have his sources mixed up."

"He probably did." Daniel shrugged, "Our old friend Paris told him about every machine part he had shipped over there, but we all know what an adept liar Mr Paris was."

"Wanderer, Sirs and Robot," Master Hand interrupted with a raised hand. "We must depart now for the shuttle. Questions can wait once we are safely aboard."

"Sounds like a plan!" Schizo chimed, leading the way out of Butterfly's room.

Daniel nodded. "After you, miss." he said politely, standing back to allow Butterfly through the door.

[Black]

Gabriel smiled at the old merchant and nodded his head. "I'll take the lot," he said cheerily and snagged them out of the merchants hand when he offered them over, then turned over his money for the jobs to be done. "Ill be back before my shuttle is planned to leave, I have a few other preparations to make before the journey so ill have to come back," Gabriel turned and left the shop without really waiting for a reply and with a casual wave. He stepped out into the low town merchant crowd and gazed around for the tell tale white domes of the Brotherhood of Man.

Thirty two minutes later Gabriel was perched on top of the Brotherhoods main dome, hidden from the crowds below as his boots acted like sea snails on glass and kept him stuck to the slick surface of the dome. With a pair of glasses that detected cool air currents he scanned the dome until he found a small service hatch he was looking for, the kind that allowed repairmen and painters to get onto the dome and let in miscreants like Gabriel.

Pulling out a Slim Jim - an old invention from Earth used to break into cars - Gabriel stuck it into the hatch and used it to pry the hatch open enough for him to get a larger crowbar into it. Then he used his considerable strength and weight to force the door back until eventually the lock snapped with an audible pop. Without waiting for someone to scamper by and notice the vandalism Gabriel hopped into the hole and landed heavily on a metal walkway over looking what appeared to be a massive cathedral. Gabriel stole stealthily along the sky-walk until he came to an enclosure that hid the ladder down. Clicking his heels together like Dorothy Gabriel deactivated the suction-like-grip of his shoes and grabbed the ladder then swung down and slid fire-man style down one side, his gloves allowing him to glide down the right pole of the ladder without burning himself. As he neared the bottom he gripped the ladder harder and clicked his heels again, setting them against the wall and bringing himself to a dead stop an instant before he splattered against the cold stone floor. Checking his watch he updated his position on his map and the watch told him the rest of the directions.

Sprinting at top speed down a corridor Gabriel was surprisingly quiet as he slid to a stop in front of a vent and pulled out a micro-screw driver that he used to loose the screws. Then he wedged himself into the venting system and pulled the grate on behind him. Having to crawl backwards until he got to an intersection so he could turn around Gabriel painstakingly pushed his massive frame through the vent systems with surprising stealth until he was directly over his target - - the Wanderer's rooms. Conversations were going on below and he listened intently, storing them away for future use and getting his first glimpse of the wanderer... or second it would seem.

The girl from the shop? Curious.

Then none too soon they had all left the room. Gabriel pushed the grate down and dropped into the room itself, noting the interior to get a feel for who the wanderer was, exactly. Then he slipped an audio-video-speaker cam against the base of the Wanderer's bed for future use and slipped quietly out of the room behind the group. Gabriel walked only inches away from them yet none seemed to notice the massive man. By the time one of them checked behind them Gabriel was gone like a ghost, back up an access hatch and out onto the roof.



Gabriel returned to the merchants shop at a run and burst through the door. Seeing his merchandise he swiped it off the counter and nodded to the shopkeeper, having already paid him Gabriel didn't worry about pleasantries. In an instant he was gone again, back into a land-crawler and hauling ass towards a port and a ship that would carry him to the Cruise liner.

[Potatrobot]

Zodiac Headquarters, planet Australis - 2:00 PM local time

"Uh, Jackson?!" The painful squawk of a voice had not left him alone for more than five minutes. Yes. Being in charge of finding Schizo meant, unfortunately, being in charge of the interns and giving them the "best authentic experience possible". It was a shit idea to try and teach the interns now that actual computing skills were needed.

Jackson got up before the intern could call him again, since he had run out of headache tablets. The rotund, sweaty pig of a man was really giving the durability of his office chair a run for its money.
"What do I do now that I'm here?" He pointed at his computer screen. Jackson had spent five minutes showing the rest of the interns how to access a digital file that was hosted on an external server and they had it down-pat by the sixth minute. This one, however, was still trying to work out what a directory was.

"Jackson!" Called out a much more developed, and comparatively, pleasant voice. The technician wheeled around before the intern could finish taking his wheezing, constrained breath and hurried over to his addresser. Michael, from development. He entrusted him with a prototype Omni to test about two weeks ago. As always, Michael wore a black suit and carried a briefcase, no matter what the weather or what his job actually was. Today, Jackson figured he'd be asking for the Omni back, along with an evaluation, neither of which he wanted to give.

"You got a sec?" Michael asked as Jackson entered conversation range. He was already half-turning himself around.
"Yeah." Jackson said, walking with him as they set off through the offices, half-finished trigonometry jokes flipping through his head.

Their journey lasted ten minutes, four of which were spent in elevators that took them to higher levels of the building, and the other six were spent just walking through the various offices and corridors at an unusually quick pace. All around him, the various cogs of the enormous clock that was Zodiac corporation were working furiously in preparation for another Schizo campaign, unless of course said cog was required to continue working its designated purpose. Advertising teams were getting the brunt of the workload, followed by marketing and then the IT department for tracking down Schizo, now that he was out in the open again. Perhaps a more conclusive diagnostic could be made as soon as he sets foot on his assigned cruise liner, back under Zodiac roofs.

"Uh, Michael?" Jackson said, looking around himself, "Where are we going?"
"CEO's conference room." Michael replied monotonously, keeping his gaze forward. "Top floor."
A stab of panic caught Jackson in the ribs. Why was he being taken to the head honcho?
"You're not in trouble." Michael assured, reading his mind.
"So I didn't get the memo for this conference, then?"
"The conference room is empty today, Jackson. That's why I'm taking you there."
Jackson's left eyebrow furrowed while his right arced high onto his forehead.

Two elevators and a gargantuan hall of office cubicles later, they arrived at the CEO's conference room. Michael held his wrist Omni up to a scanner by the wall. The Omni beeped, followed closely by the scanner, and the double doors unlocked themselves with a loud click. Jackson followed him in.

The conference room was unnecessarily wide. It was long enough to comfortably accommodate the twenty-metre long conference table, but to the left and right of it was a further twenty metres of empty room. The wall at the far end of the table was actually a massive window, but the blinds were drawn, giving the room a dark gloom that would be suited for video presentations. As the hydraulics on the doors reluctantly hissed themselves closed, Michael turned to Jackson.

"How's the Omni been?" he asked.
"You brought me all the way up here to talk about the Omni?" Jackson said, his monotonous tone belying his bewilderment. Jackson was often tasked to test out prototype products when the development team was too cheep or lazy to hire real testers. The prototype Omni was a drastic step up from wrist-mounted dongles or earplugs with 5% more efficiency, since it was the most advanced piece of portable technology he'd ever seen. It was a sheet of green-tinged carbon film, fully versatile and flexible, 10cm wide and 20cm long. Along the top edge was a 2cm thick black rectangular prism that contained an extremely compressed incarnation of a regular Omni, only the sheet of carbon film was the touch screen. The miniature Omni computer projected images onto the screen, no matter what shape it was bent into, and it detected places where it was touched. And to maintain its title of 'Wrist-mounted', the screen could be wrapped around the user's wrist and clipped into the other side of the mini-Omni, turning into a fully-functional wristband. He loved it.

"This isn't like the other products, Jackson. We can hire any tech-savvy ten year old to test out any little gadget, but this is different. It's a really important project and we need someone like you to make sure it works the way it should. It's Zodiac's first Omni."
"Who's the 'we' in all this?" Jackson wanted to know who was pulling the strings.
"Mainly me, the development division, and the CEO." Michael divulged without hesitation.

Jackson tried to get a bearing on what was happening. "So... what makes it so important that we need to have a secret meeting, and why's the CEO behind this one? I don't know what you're getting at, Michael, you've skipped something important."

Michael paused for thought, and put his briefcase on the table so he didn't have to carry it any more.
"The CEO's backing this one because it's not just a prototype wrist comp. It's a special tool that we as a company have use for in the field, and we needed you to put it through its paces before we can put it out there. It has more than a normal Omni."
"You mean the 'Access-All' infiltration system." Jackson said, quoting the system's exact product name.
"Yes."
"The one that went into the third-gen Schizos, for whatever reason."
"Well, yes. Did you test it out?"
"It works fine," Jackson said, thinking back, "because it's already a part of the robots, but I suppose the challenge was making a human interface for it."
"And how did it go?" Michael pressed.
"Pretty well, I used it to unlock an intern's computer about five times, and I focused the projector remotely with it. I liked the hierarchical view of the target's directories, it's really easy to get."
"Well that's brilliant!" Michael said optimistically. "Would you care to demonstrate it for me?"
"Sure." Shrugged Jackson.

Michael opened his briefcase and took out a laptop computer. There was nothing else inside. He set it on the conference table and opened it; it was already turned on. As its screen cast a white glow over Jackson, the IT technician saw what state it was in: the owner had been locked out due to incorrect password attempts.

Jackson lifted up his left arm where he kept the Omni and unclipped it so that he could take it off his wrist, and the screen popped into a flat position. Now he held it sideways by the black strip, and began tapping away at the screen. Soon enough he'd accessed the computer, and after rooting around through its system, the lockdown pop-up on the laptop disappeared.

"Right." Michael said, impressed. "I can give that back to my nephew now."
"The password was 'pen fifteen', by the way." Jackson added. "Now that I'm done fixing your nephew's computer, is there anything else I can do for your family?"
"No, but there's something you can do for the company. Long story short, we can't get a proper diagnostic on the rouge Schizo unit with what we already have. So we made that Omni for the very purpose. For you."

Jackson looked around the room for the more qualified person whom Michael was actually talking to, and would get to keep the one piece of technology he could not bare to part with.
"Like I said, this conference room is empty. I'm talking to you, Jackson Garnet."
"Are you serious? You want me to get a diagnostic of the Schizo in person? Why not the team that actually made the mark three firmware?"

"They don't know how almost every Zodiac-made computer system works." Michael explained. "As head of IT, you do. So who would it make sense to give a device capable of accessing them all to? Them, or you?"
"Me, yeah," Jackson admitted, "but why would that be necessary if I'm just going to use this on the Schizo?"

Michael took a deep breath and sighed with it. "It's because our cruise liners aren't exactly the safest places. Real shady stuff like espionage and kidnappings end up happening on them. Remember everything that went down on the Scorpio six months ago? Two employees went mad and started shooting people, that Wanderer girl appeared out of nowhere, one of our stockholders John Paris junior tried to hunt her down, and after all that she ended up on his ship with four other passengers and the Schizo.

"Now they've got a profile higher than God, and they're making a return journey on the same ship. What are the odds that something will happen like the first time? Because now we'll have the media badgering them for interviews, pictures, stories and stuff like that. The CEO knows that the chances of some sort of kidnapping or assassination are through the roof, so security will be tight, but that also means that you could get caught up in it. For both those reasons, you'll need an edge. That Omni will unlock any system on the Scorpio short of the critical ones."

Jackson's eyes widened. This wasn't just some errand, it was a secret mission. And not only did he have the ultimate electronic skeleton key, he had permission to use it.

"So now you see." Michael went on. "What we need is to get you on the Scorpio so you can get a diagnostic of the Schizo unit for us. With any luck, the team that made the mark three can figure out what made it so erratic, and if we can carry that over to any other products. Whad'ya say?"

Jackson was quiet for a moment, staring down at the floor with a hand on his chin. Then,
"I'm in. So, when am I getting to the Scorpio? And how? And what will I do for work while I'm out?"
"Jackson, don't worry. Let's just say that you've been feeling pretty stressed lately, and we've decided to give you a holiday on the Scorpio to recuperate. Just for the paperwork. As for how you'll get there, we've got a transit shuttle departing in..." he checked his Omni. "Three hours. You'd better pack, Jackson, or you'll miss your holiday."
With those last words, Michael pulled a white envelope out of his blazer pocket and held it out for Jackson — his ticket.
"Blue Star cabin," he said with prestige, "same floor as the bar the Schizo used to work at. No doubt he'll be revisiting that, so you should hang around, wait for him to turn up. If he doesn't, well I'm sure you'll find a way." He winked.

Jackson slowly took the ticket, but Michael held a firm grip on it.
"Another thing." He said darkly. "The Schizo's downgrade must remain a secret. If that gets out to the wrong ears, we could be sued for all we've made so far. Do you understand?"
Jackson nodded. Michael let go of the envelope.

"You hurry home now." He said. "The transit shuttle will dock with the Scorpio just after it leaves Beylix."

Jackson took his leave. Ten minutes later, he was back at IT support, packing up his things to take home. Another twenty minutes later, he was leaving Zodiac HQ. An hour later, he was dragging his luggage out of his home and catching a bus to the space port. An hour and a half later, he was sitting on a transit shuttle as it took off from Australis, left the atmosphere, and entered interspace to catch up with the Scorpio.

[Enigma]

"Greetings, Gentles!" sang out the conductor of the cable car, his muscles rippling in anticipation. "Arriving we are at Beylix Interstellar Starport. Please to gather your things and any children you wish to keep, we are not responsible for anything or anyone you have lost."

Harris Brown grinned, glancing back at the conductor. The cable cars of Beylix, refitted ore cars used by the miners was a charming reminder of the early days. Often the idea of a more modern monorail would come up, only to be voted down.

He frowned as he caught a glimpse of a blue head with gray hairs bobbing on the other side of the conductor, making him lean forward so he could get a better look past the other passengers. Wasn't that Junkai sitting on the outside bench? The blue alien was talking to a dark-haired girl that, for some reason, looked oddly familiar.

Harris sat back quickly, giving his seat-mate an apologetic grin. One of the older systems must have broken, so they must have summoned Junkai to fix it, especially since the Wanderer was due to depart soon. Of all the days to be sharing a cable car! This was not the time to be noticed.

"Gentles!" sang out the conductor, gripping the brake lever. "Please hold on, now!"

Muscles rippling, the alien squeezed the handle and pulled back, the cable car shivered but slowed as it slid under the protective concrete awning of the Terminal building. As soon as it stopped, Harris was on his feet, slipping out of the little front cabin and joining the small throng of passengers heading inside. He did not look behind him.

The air conditioning inside gave most people a chill, coming in from the hot sun beating outside, but Harris strode through the door unaffected, heading towards the bathroom. Inside the stall, he stood facing the squat toilet, universal for the various alien species that lived on Beylix, and concentrated.

His face squirmed and rippled, his trademark reddish-brown hair turning black, his tan fading from his skin turning white with a reddish tinge as if slightly burned from the sun as his cheeks filled out and his nose flattened. Even the eyes changed, in a blink no longer a jade green but a colder gray. Even a retina scan would fail, as tiny particles shifted into a new pattern. Harris Brown wasn't standing in the stall, Nigel Peabody was. Height, weight and general build still the same, but a completely different face staring back.

Of course, this new face would not fool Junkai - the alien had programmed it, after all. One of his better creations, he called it. But who cared? In a few minutes, Harris would be on board the shuttle on his way back to the Scorpio, leaving Beylix and Junkai far behind.


At the boarding gate, "Nigel" presented his pass to the flight attendant. It chirped, and he slipped by her, taking a seat about mid-way down the aisle on the left, 9A. He gave a sigh as he settled in, waiting for the other passengers to board.


The long limousines carrying the Wanderer and her entourage were waved through a security gate towards a second shuttle waiting on the tarmac, well away from the terminal and surrounded by the brotherhood.

Master Hand was the first out, striding towards the nearest brother who nodded in acknowledgement.
"We are secure?"
"Yes, Master. No one has come near the craft since it landed, we have checked the interior and exterior most carefully."
"Good," Master Hand nodded, turning towards the limousine that held Butterfly, Schizo and Daniel. He gave them a wave with his hand, beckoning them out.

"We are secure here. Once we're aboard, the shuttle will take off for the Scorpio and the regular passenger shuttle will follow. Only when we arrive, instead of docking at the LifeDeck, we will instead use the VIP access port on Deck One, just a short walk to our cabins. Any questions?"

[Oak Berbark]

The trip to the spaceport was the same as any others for Slish. Flash passport here, hand over luggage there, "anything to declare?". The Sajiki had been through it all too many times in his short life, his race's idea of a passport always requiring an accompanying document stating he was a missionary and the stone was his race's form of passport. At the bottom was an ugly stamped list of information, much like what one would find on a normal passport, placed there by an annoyed spaceport worker who "Didn't want to hear more alien bullshit".

At the gate Slish held up the chained missionary stones, glowing from his touch. in his other large arm he held up the piece of paper, moving the "stamp" over the sensor causing it to chirp with approval. Inside, the shuttle only had a few other passengers. Passing by the empty 9A seat Slish felt a shiver go down his antennae, probably shouldn't have eaten that strange lizard...

Taking the seat 5B near the window Slish "got to know" his passengers with a friendly mind link. What came to him was the usual mix of anxiety, sadness, and joy he came to expect from a shuttle filled with travelers. The only one he quickly broke the link with was the passenger feeling especially amorous today, Slish tried to especially avoid linking with those types, they had a tendency to make a Sajiki angry.

While "socializing" he scratched his smaller right arm, the parasites weren't bothersome right now, but damn the injection site was itchy! Using his larger arms he took out his cryo capsule and placed it on his lap, it's humming device made Slish "sigh" with relief. If the eggs had matured any further it would become a hassle to get rid of them, anyway from what his black market companion had told them: "The younger the better!"

[Black]

Gabriel blended in with the crowd seamlessly. It made it easier that there were much larger aliens than him there so no one noticed the massive hulking frame, because it wasn't massive compared to others. He slipped through the security gates with no problem, flashing his fake civilian passport, which he discarded the moment he was out of sight. While moving he noticed a crew member standing alone looking a little unsure of himself. Being the kind caring civilian that he is Gabriel stopped next to the man and asked him what was wrong.

The man twitched nervously and looked up at the hulking human. "Uhm, erm, I missed my shuttle last night. All non boarding-essential personnel were to be on the Scorpio already! If they catch me out then i'll end up getting a reprimand."

"Say no more my friend, Im going to help get your clothes on that ship!"

"My.. Clothes?"

"Figure of speech friend, follow me,"

And the foolish crew-member followed Gabriel. Once they were far enough out of the way Gabriel spun on the man and brought a massive hand down over the terrified crew-members mouth. Pulling him forward by the jaw Gabriel stepped around the man and slipped behind him, using his other hand to pinch the mans nose. Then he lifted and pushed the head downward to cut off air. After a minute or so he let go of the nose and checked the poor unfortunates' pulse. Still alive at least.

Gabriel stripped him down and left him in a blanket and left him a sizable lump of cash, enough to survive the next year or so at least. Then he pulled him out of the way and left him in a dark and unnoticed corner of the busy terminal. Security would find him after closing time at the very latest, and by then the ship would be gone. Finding the nearest bathroom Gabriel ducked into it.

Then he left the stall and exited the bathroom, getting onto a shuttle he strolled casually down the isle until he came to the mid-point, where he leaned down next to "nigel" and whispered "Can I get by mate," he adopted a fake Londinium accent as he spoke, "I was a bit late last night and i'd like to slip onto the ship unnoticed. Wouldn't want to spend the entire cruise under reprimand for missing the crew shuttle," he laughed a little uneasily, as if a reprimand was the scariest thing he could think of.

[Enigma]

'Nigel' glanced up at the stranger, then around him. Most of the seats were already full of tourists.

"Certainly," he smiled, grudgingly. 'Nigel' twisted in his seat to get his knees out of Gabriel's way.

"Gentles, there will be a slight delay in our departure for a final passenger," the flight attendant announced, her voice coming over the cabin speakers overhead.

'Nigel' took a glance around the cabin as Gabriel slipped past him. He paused for a moment on Slish's head. Briefly he wondered if the alien was telepathic. When he moved by 'Nigel', the Sajiki had a curious reaction, a sort of shiver.

A commotion up front caught his attention - Junkai and the dark-haired girl he'd caught a glimpse of had just boarded the shuttle. The flight attendant was waving the pair to the back of the shuttle - and here he was in an aisle seat! 'Nigel' reached into his shirt pocket and slipped on a pair of data-glasses. Maybe the alien wouldn't recognize him? It had been a few years....

"Say," he gushed, fishing out a block of reddish-brown bioplastic as he turned towards Gabriel. "I know you didn't expect a sales pitch on board a shuttle, but I'm a distributor of these pocket-handy multi-form bioplast units, it can take up to ten programmed shapes...."


The dark-haired girl paused as she drew level to row 9, glancing past Nigel to Gabriel.
"There are no open seats here," Junkai complained, glancing curiously at the two men - and froze as his auxiliary memory locked on the two.

"Pardon us, Gentles," Junkai breathed, bowing his head slightly as he gave her a nudge towards the rear of the shuttle. "It is her first time on such a shuttle."

The blue quad let her slide in to the last seat, the shuttle's tiny bathroom on the other side of the row. She threw an angry glance at Junkai as she assumed her seat. The blue alien shrugged both sets of shoulders. "An unexpected pleasure, to see old customer again."


On board the Wander's shuttle, Master Hand finally got Butterfly secured in her seat. "We are ready to depart now," he told the Flight Attendant, making sure his brothers were fastened in their seats before sitting down nearby.


It was a trip of several minutes before the Wanderer's shuttle clamped against the airlock for Deck One, next to a rack of inflating lifeboats. Meanwhile, seven decks below, the regular tourist shuttle was docking as well.

"We are near our assigned cabins," Master Hand smiled, turning towards Daniel and Schizo. "Are you two ready to run the media gauntlet?"

[Black]

Gabriel smiled, then the smile froze on his face as he saw Junkai. He swiftly reached up and yanked off his crew's ID. As Junkai walked past he nodded in his direction as if it were completely normal for him to be on the shuttle.

Junkai left and Gabriel returned his attention back to Nigel. He calmly slipped his name badge back on and regarded Nigel and thought about how he reacted to Junkai. They both knew the Merchant and both had something to hide form Junkai. Considering the nature of Junkai's business Gabriel guessed that 'Nigel' also had a shady past.

The question was, who is this guy? Was he a potential foe sent here by some shady operation, like he was, to protect the Wanderer? Or maybe he was an Assassin. If Gabriel found a convenient excuse to get him towards the back end of the shuttle then he could eliminate him before it became a problem.

Gabriel glanced around slightly and decided against it. There would be no place to dispose of the body without suspicion. He would just have to try and keep tabs on this guy. It would be impossible thought due to the sheer size of the cruiser they would be getting on. To many variables, to many things happening to fast.

"Tell me more about the product," Gabriel said to Nigel.

[Potatrobot]

Schizo was thrilling softly as the shuttle finally docked with the Scorpio. He was back at last. Six months ago he was waking up in the wardrobe of John Paris's ship, spirited away from his assigned cruise liner. Now, he had finally returned, a prodigal son. On Schizo's digital priority list, the task of returning to the Scorpio was finally checked off with great satisfaction before disappearing and yielding to the tasks concerning the protection of Butterfly and Lord Eachert.

"We are near our assigned cabins," Master Hand smiled, turning towards Daniel and Schizo. "Are you two ready to run the media gauntlet?"

"Man, I am so ready they should name a battery after me!" Declared the comedian that Schizo had become as he unfastened his own seatbelt and stood up.
"Oh, wait." He said comically, his eyebrows and sly grin slightly squinting his bright pink eyes. Nobody ever said he was a funny comedian.

He picked up the Leyden jar pack he had stowed in front of his seat and slung it onto his back.
"These cats have been waiting for a close up for six months. Let's give 'em one."
He adjusted his trilby hat, pulling the rim a little lower over his eyes, tightened his tie, and brushed his blazer shoulders off with the back of his fingers. He was ready for the reception of a lifetime.


(Passenger shuttle, interspace)

Jackson shifted in his chair for the umptieth time. His rear always cramped when he sat in chairs for so long, despite his job of almost constantly sitting down. At least in an office he had the mobility to properly stand up and stretch like workplace health and safety required. Here, even though he had the aisle seat, he could do nothing but lift himself as far off the thoroughly-warmed seat his seatbelt would allow, wait for the cramp to fade away, and then sit back down to bring it back almost immediately.

Interspace travel was a marvellous technology for its achievements, but it was painful to sit through journeys for so long without rest stops or proper room to stretch. At least the food was good; who could afford to get sick in the middle of interspace with parsecs between them and the nearest civilised planet?

This is what flitted through Jackson's head for the sixth time as he continued to twirl his fork through a bowl of chicken pesto fettuccine. It tasted as good as the last forkload, and he wagered that future forkloads would not fail to keep up the practise. He was grateful for dehydration packaging, because it meant that all food was prepared en masse by actual cooks, before it was flash-dried, sealed in air-tight bags and then stowed away for the next shuttle trip, where it was steamed back into glorious perfection again.

He looked back at his new toy again. He'd had the Omni out for the entire trip, promising to keep wireless communications off during take-off and docking. Before he left for the spaceport, he'd swiped his old Wrist-One from his home. The Wrist-One was a much older model of what would later become an Omni, released around ten years ago by Zodiac before another company leaped off the idea and brought the Omni into existence. What Jackson had sitting on the tray table next to his bowl of pesto wasn't just Zodiac's own little hacking tool, it was technically Zodiac's first Omni. He'd spent the first half-hour trying to transfer all of his contacts and information from the Wrist-One into the Omni, before giving up and outright hacking into the former with the latter and stealing them from it. He was considering naming his new gadget the OmniPotent.

But after that, it had been hours of fiddling around with the features, seeing the differences between this Omni and garden varieties, and fine-tuning every adjustable setting until he was satisfied that there was no aspect of it he didn't know of. It didn't seem new to him after that, which was saddening.

If there was one major complaint besides the limited freedom of actions within the passenger shuttle, it was the people who abused that freedom. A teenager with a music player far too expensive for him to afford himself had music blaring as loud as the speakers would allow, not only disturbing everyone else in the shuttle but making a baby cry. Not cool. Not on passenger shuttles.

It took Jackson only a minute to pick up the Omni, pop the screen into a flat position and begin browsing nearby electronics. Once he found the boy's player, he started by pausing the music remotely. Heads turned to see the boy look startled at his player, and sighs of relief went about the cabin. Even the baby's piercing wails began to ease.

Before the boy could start it up again, Jackson muted it, not just by the media player's volume control but by the system volume as well. While the boy investigated the device with an ever-increasingly worried look on his face, Jackson sealed the deal by deleting the songs from the player. He had never ever done something so cruel, but with a remote-control skeleton key at his and only his fingertips, it was a power he couldn't help but exploit. A childish grin grew on his face as the shuttle remained silent. This was going to be a fun trip.

[Azazeal849]

"We are near our assigned cabins," Master Hand smiled, turning towards Daniel and Schizo. "Are you two ready to run the media gauntlet?"

"They still managed to arrange a welcome for us?" Daniel said as he drained the last of his tea from its zero-gee foil pouch and stood up to let his legs adjust to the Earth-standard gravity of the Scorpio. "How tenacious of them."

The SIS agent buttoned up his suit jacket with one hand and reached up with the other, pulling his briefcase down from the storage locker above his head. Checking that the false bottom was still secure, he retrieved a notepad and pen before snapping the catches closed again. The notepad was indeed just a notepad, but the pen contained a sophisticated bug jammer. He activated it with a twist of the top and dropped both articles into his inside pocket. These media types weren't above attempting to plant listening devices on people or in their rooms, and while he was sure that the Scorpio's own security had done a sterling job of sweeping Butterfly's room before they arrived, Daniel liked to confirm these things himself. Of course, the jammer wouldn't stop bugs designed to passively record data until their user returned to pick them up, but he could deal with any of them once they got to the suite.

Schizo picked up the Leyden jar pack he had stowed in front of his seat and slung it onto his back. "These cats have been waiting for a close up for six months. Let's give 'em one."

"Quite." Daniel said with a slight smile, taking position beside Schizo and protectively in front of Butterfly, while Master Hand took rearguard. "I doubt many people get to see the Holy Wanderer and the famous dancing robot from Santos together in one day."

[Enigma]

Passenger Shuttle

"By pressing on this button, you can switch the bio-plastic from a sheep foot blade," 'Nigel' smiled as he pushed the circular recess, causing a blunted blade to appear, "We have a sheepsfoot blade for basic cutting, fork, spoon, chopstick, comb, toothbrush, and two different sizes of regular and Phillips screwdriver."

It was only simple shapes, but those were the most effective. "All powered by a common button-cell. I also have ones that turn into various size wrenches, perfect for the traveler."

"Gentles, please ensure your seatbelts are fastened securely, we are making our approach to the Scorpio's Starboard LifeDeck Passenger hatch," muttered the voice of the Flight Attendant.


Scorpio, Deck One

As the hatch opened, everyone on board heard girls squealing in excitement and reporters asking questions - until they realized their floating cameras hadn't moved from the general cloud overhead.

Captain Sharp stepped forward.
"Miss," he smiled, offering his hand, "You're looking better than the last time we saw you."
"Oh," Butterfly smiled, confused.
"Right this way, Lady and gentlemen," the Captain said, waving them towards the cabins.

[Potatrobot]

Scorpio, deck 1

There were fans of Butterfly and Schizo alike screaming, some holding banners with short messages painted onto them. It wasn't a massive crowd, but the number of people gathered was still sizeable. Schizo gave wide, two-armed waves at them all, his eyes still glowing pink, as he passed by them while following Captain Sharp. He started out in front of the group, but eventually found himself taking up the rear by walking slowly to keep himself with the fans for as long as possible. He was content to follow through with this, until he was addressed by a name barely anyone knew about.

"Mic!"

Schizo turned his head immediately towards the source of the call: another Schizo unit loitering around the edge of the crowd closest to Butterfly's destination, only it was dramatically different to any other unit in that its body was feminine, rather than masculine like all the Schizos had been ever since they were a part of neural suite training programs. She waved him over, and as Schizo approached, his eyes — still glowing pink — squinted inquisitively.
"Ciara? That isn't you, is it?"

Ciara smiled warmly as Schizo finally drew close. "It's been a long time, Mic."
"It is you! But since when did you have a chassis like that?" He looked her down and up again, and gave a quick wolf whistle. She did, to her credit, have a knock-out figure now. But why?
"You like it?" She teased. "And I have you to thank for it."
"Don't kid me, girl," he said, almost in disbelief, putting an arm up and leaning across Ciara against the wall she was standing by.
"Since you made our line famous, Mic," she explained, "Zodiac corporation has been allocating a lot more money into keeping us pristine and updated. That also means a new, less 'discriminating' chassis for the ones with more feminine traits. I swapped out my old one just a month after you left, Mic."

"Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!" Chuckled Schizo, the comedian finally expiring and yielding to a cowboy.
"I've missed that about you," Ciara noted, "your little glitch. Everyone's missed you, and now you're back. You've been a celebrity around here even though you've been gone."
"Well obviously there's a load of catching up for me to do." Schizo observed as the sly smuggler who'd sneaked his dangerous equipment into the hospital on Santos.
"We can start right now, in fact." Ciara said, holding out her hand. Schizo took it, still leaning against the wall with his other arm, and held it for a few seconds.

What looked very romantic was a guise for the standard greeting between Schizo units: an identity exchange. Through their linked hands, countless personae flitted back and forth, securing new places on each other's storage banks or updating existing ones. In honour of Ciara gaining a strictly feminine body, Schizo sent over all of his female personae, and Ciara all of her male ones. Once the exchange ended, Schizo let go of her hand.

"I'll be seeing you later." he said, making no effort to disguise the sleaze in his voice. She giggled softly as he winked and departed and walked quickly to catch up to Daniel, Butterfly, and the Brotherhood hands.
"Ain't she a doll, eh Eachert?"

[Azazeal849]

"Right this way, Lady and gentlemen." the captain said, waving them towards the cabins.

"Much obliged to you, captain." said Daniel cheerfully as they began walking. "It's an honour to see you again, especially given the circumstances - I can only apologise for that awful fiasco last time we were all aboard."

Looking behind, Daniel saw Schizo stopping to converse flamboyantly with another android which had been standing to one side in the crowd. He chuckled to himself and left Schizo to it, reasoning that the robot could handle itself, and was drawing some of the crowd's attention away from Butterfly.

Captain Sharp merely grunted at Daniel's reference to the events of six months ago, and led them towards their cabins.

"Your suite, my lady." he said to Butterfly, unlocking the door with his omni and holding it open, indicating that she should go in with a polite sweep of his arm. "Your escorts' cabins are directly to the right and left, I have your keycards here. Now the en-suite is just through here..."

Daniel clasped his hands in front of him and looked around the room as the captain completed his short tour. The facilities were equipped with the very best that the Scorpio had to offer - even a video-linked screen on the opposite wall showing a panoramic hull camera's view of Beylix turning slowly below them - but Daniel was not just admiring the decor. He was scanning for points of potential infiltration.

"There is a reception scheduled in your honour at 6:30." captain Sharp said as he finished exchanging polite words with Master Hand and retreated to the cabin doorway. "People will be along later to escort you. Until then, please enjoy your stay."

Daniel inclined his head to the captain as he stepped out. As the door slid quietly closed he turned back into the cabin, opened the false bottom of his briefcase, and used the devices within to quickly and methodically spy-proof the cabin. He dialled the bug jammer pen up to maximum and left it on the central work table next to a sheaf of Master Hand's notes and a paperweight stamped with the Zodiac Line logo. He fitted a laser tripwire to the inside of the cabin door, and secreted a thumbnail-sized camera on the wall outside, transmitting a video feed of the whole corridor to his omni. The camera's tiny internal chip was designed to scan for and highlight specific shapes, such as weapons, and even pulsed a metal detecting x-ray every time it sensed new movement within the corridor. He placed a chemical detector and a motion sensor inside both air circulation vents to guard against gas attack or remote drones being sent through the ducts, then replaced the louvred vent covers and made sure that all the screws were tight. He even attached water purity sensors to the insides of the taps and showerheads in the en-suite. Then, with the help of Schizo's internal sensors, he scoured the room for any snooping devices that the ship's crew had missed.

[Black]

"That could be useful," Gabriel said thinking about other uses he could make with such a morphing gel.



"Gentles, please ensure your seatbelts are fastened securely, we are making our approach to the Scorpio's Starboard LifeDeck Passenger hatch,"



"How much do they cost good sir?," Gabriel asked whilst checking his seatbelt to ensure that it was actually even on - - It wasn't, so he clicked it into place and casually glanced around the cabin again. His mind went back to the mission at hand. He would have to go and bug the Wanderer's cabins - - but to find them he'd have to talk to the captain first. Then he'd have to wait a day or two whilst the Wanderer's security teams did their sweeps of the room to check for bugs and cams. Then Gabriel would go in and bug the debugged room, leaving a few to be found and putting others in places where no one would find them.

Leaving a few to be found would put them on their toes early on in, more so that they already were, because it would confirm that someone has an interest in them that may or may not be civil. For his current mission, Gabriel wanted the Wanderer's security team to be constantly on high alert. If ever he saw their stances and vigil start to slacken he would leave them disastrous gifts to be found in the nick of time, thus putting them back on a high alert.

This was definitely going to be different than his usual gig.

[Enigma]

Scorpio: Deck 1: Skylight Park
"A very interesting friend you've got there," Eachert replied internally to Schizo, noting how quickly the robot had sorted out the exchanged personas.

It also emphasized how much room he was taking up inside the robot's system, even after the adjustments.

As Daniel began his scans in the wake of the Captain's departure while Butterfly and the younger brothers of the Brotherhood explored this new miniature palace, Eachert paused to reflect on his situation. The demands he put on the robot's systems was considerable - but what else could he do? Short of transferring to another matrix, he was stuck! His only chance was to find a blank system and take it over - but where was he going to find a blank system?

Deck Eight: Life Deck
"Fifteen for one, twenty-five for a pair," 'Nigel' beamed, looking like a hopeful after a sale.

It was part of his cover on ship, after all - selling simple programmable bio-plastic devices. He had a shipping container down on Deck Twelve, a few drums of inactive bio-plastic and two programmers that could quickly churn out the Original Traveler's Bioplastic Multitools by the caseload - a staple in many planets' swap meets and small markets. It paid for itself and his travel expenses, a tidy little revenue generator.

Everyone knew what 'Nigel' was doing down there, so aside from a little polite interest and the occasional safety inspection, he and the container was left alone. Not that anyone looking inside would realize what the tiny factory was actually for. Junkai had helped him set it up, years ago, after the story first broke. Damn that blue alien! Ever since First Contact, Junkai had remained in the Beylix system, afraid of what might happen if the Earth Authorities ever got a hold of him. Did he figure that everyone had forgotten that mess over the theft and that Wilder girl...?

He froze, eyes wide, fighting the urge to stand up and look towards the back of the shuttle to where Junkai and that dark-haired girl were. It couldn't be her, that was over a hundred years ago! Even with the lost Pax extension treatments, she would look older! But who else could it be? And if it was really her, it would be a bigger story than the Wanderer!

"So....," he managed, smiling at Gabriel, "interested?"


"<You do know I cannot go down there>," Junkai whispered in Trade-speech to the dark-haired girl. "<As soon as they find out I'm traveling on this ship, they're going to go crazy!>"
The girl frowned at him, then with her index finger she mimed writing on her open palm.
"<It's all classified, even now,>" the blue alien told her. "<More important to protect their secrets than to care about you or me. What better way to protect them than to lock me up the moment I step foot on their vile little planet? Distract everyone with their jumping-tailed-mammal-show, then lock me up in some secret prison where they can ask all their questions?>"

The girl raised her right eyebrow questioningly.
"<Can you tell me your people would not do the same?>" Junkai gruffed.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, but Junkai grabbed her arm with his smaller right.
"<Sit down>," he said. "<Let's wait for the others to exit before we do. We're less likely to be noticed.>"

[Oak Berbark]

The trip to the cruise ship must have been eventful, Slish could practically taste the swell of emotion from the passengers. Of course maybe it was just him being used to more open spaces, usually in a corner or the far side of said area.

Slish's fellow seat mate immediately got up and walked down the aisle towards the exit, happy to be away from Slish could only guess was him. Slish couldn't blame him, the entire journey Slish had entered a meditative state which tends to disturb other races as he remains perfectly still, with his eyes wide open, gnashing his mandibles at odd intervals, it even creeped him out when other Sajikis did so.

Now alone in his seat Slish stood up to stretch sending a dry cracking noise through the cabin as he stretched his two pairs of arms, right before he plopped back into his seat and bent his head below the arm rests. He "woke up" with a terrible hunger and forgot his usual rocks back planetside. Making a quick glance to make sure no one was looking directly at him from the aisle Slish started to gnaw at his neighbor's armrest. It tasted terrible, something akin to sweaty rags but sated his stomachs need to digest. With his snack done with Slish hurried out into the aisle and off the shuttle, bumping into a few passengers on the way out, He could have sworn he just knocked over a kid; that would probably explain the crying...

[Enigma]

"Well," 'Nigel' smiled regretfully at Gabriel as he pocketed his demo unit, "We're on board and you probably need to get to your duty station. Perhaps we'll see each other around?"

"Good luck," 'Nigel' nodded, slipping out of his seat and down the short aisle to the open hatch where a flight attendant gave him a well-practiced plastic smile.

"Please be careful over the threshold sir, and thank you for flying with the Zodiac Line!"
"Why, thank you, Beth," he smiled back.
"Not while I'm working, you twit!" she hissed, thumping him in the arm. With a laugh, he stepped over the threshold onto the Scorpio's tiled deck plates. It was just a few paces through the air lock, then he was walking into the center reception area for the Scorpio.

A passageway ran to the left and right, covered with hatches for the Scorpio's primary life pods, enough for one and a half times the passengers and crew should misfortune demand it, while the reception area occupied the middle area. Forward in the central compartments was the ship's sickbay - a proper hospital, really - as well as the gift shop/cafe at the bow end of the ship. Aft was the security area where the ship's security officers monitored all the public and private areas of the ship.

"Welcome aboard the Zodiac Line's star liner, the Scorpio!" a young woman said enthusiastically over the reception speakers. "Passengers who have checked in may proceed directly to the elevators. Visitors and newly arriving passengers, please report to the Reception Desks for your cabin assignments."

With a nod, 'Nigel' gave the reception desks a miss and headed for the midship's elevator bank. Minutes later, he stepped off the elevator at Deck 6, Red Star cabins for the budget-conscious traveler. Taking a right off the elevator, he glanced down the Port passageway a crowd of new-arrivals heading aft towards the Gagarin Berths - your most basic accommodation on board any ship or station, the sleep pod. He had used them in the beginning, but a few close calls made him decide to use a Red-Star cabin instead.

His was the first door past the Crew Service door. A covered tray was already waiting for him by his door. Perfect! He waved his Omni over the door sensor plate, then opened the door. Kneeling down, he gathered up the tray and brought it inside, nudging the door shut with his foot.

"Computer, set my status to 'Do not Disturb', indefinite,then go into privacy mode," he ordered, putting the tray down on the small bureau.
"Your status has been set. Privacy mode engaged. You will need to use the room terminal to reactivate voice commands."

"Computer, play Beethoven's Fifth."
Silence reigned. 'Nigel' relaxed, uncovering the tray to reveal his usual Transition Night order - a TravelRation box meal. A not-uncommon request. With a sigh, he slid open the closet door and stacked it with the others.

[Potatrobot]

The beige sphere called Beylix was steadily taking over the entire view of the left-hand passenger windows as the transit shuttle scuttled towards the cruise liner that had long since pulled away from the planet's orbit and was on its way to Earth. The rendezvous with the Scorpio was originally going to take place a matter of hours after its departure from Beylix, but delays on its part and swiftness on the shuttle's had cut that time short. The planet began to move out of view as the shuttle began to veer starboard to line itself up with the Scorpio, and a soft 'bong' from the overhead speakers telegraphed an announcement. At the same time, the screen at the front of the passenger section and the smaller screens on the backs of the seats switched themselves on.

"On the forward viewscreens, you can see the Zodiac line's Interstellar Cruise Ship Scorpio," came the captain's voice over the speakers. "Very shortly, we will be docking on the ship's starboard or 'right' side at Amidship's Reception on Deck 8, called the 'Life Deck'."

Jackson closed his eyes as the standard preamble played over the shuttle's speakers. Sometimes he thought that it was just a recorded message, or one of several. It always sounded the same; still it rambled on.

"...Gravity is maintained in all public areas at Earth Standard, but you can set your cabin gravity anywhere from 0.5 to 1.3 metres-per-second-squared for your comfort."

Jackson began to doze. What felt like seconds later, he was jolted wide awake by the twin 'thump's of magnetic grapples latching onto the port side of the shuttle, giving him enough time to grab his armrests before it lurched to the right as the Scorpio reeled it in. Another soft 'bong' from the overhead speakers sounded.

"Gentles, this is your pilot speaking again. The time is now 12:20, we have docked with the Scorpio. You may now unfasten your seat belts and move freely about the cabin. We ask everyone to check and make sure you have all your hand-carried bags and possessions with you when you exit the shuttle, the Zodiac Line will not be held liable for any lost or missing items..."

Jackson peered down, expecting to see his Omni sitting on the tray table. Every part of his body jolted as one when he saw that it was missing. Panic was quick to sink in.
Where is it?! he mentally screamed, his hands flicking at triple speed through pouches and pockets where the Omni may have been put. Shit-shit-shit!

He met resistance as his right hand brushed over his left wrist, and he immediately stopped moving. The Omni was on his wrist. His face went bright red as he recalled putting it there and covering it with the sleeve. As he sank slowly back into his seat, he glanced sheepishly around from under the rims of his glasses. Thankfully, nobody seemed to have noticed. He quickly collected his things and left the shuttle with the other passengers.

Through the airlock and into the reception area Jackson trotted, mindful of the distinct line between the shuttle's artificial gravity and the Scorpio's. There was a fleeting instant of unease as Jackson's inner ears threatened to throw off his balance, but nothing came of it for its brevity. As he approached the line to the reception desks, he took his beige and black pinchecked jacket from its place slung over his shoulder and took the ticket out of the inside pocket. Cabin 521 it read, framed in a border of blue stars. He checked his Omni — set to display like a watch — and kept doing that until he was in front of the line. Ten minutes seemed to have taken twenty to pass by, but after a moment, he was checked in and on the elevator to Deck 5.

He was advised that Deck 5 was the also the home to the Star's End bar, which Schizo had somehow employed himself at before departing for his misadventure. In the off chance that he resumed work there, Jackson would have a short trip between the bar and his cabin, and he'd be able to keep an eye on the robot. However, it hadn't crossed his mind how he was actually going to approach the robot. Doubtless, he would be surrounded by the ship's security, even if he chose to wander, and if he didn't then all the worse. Jackson didn't know how the Schizo unit might react if he tried to get a diagnostic on it without a forewarning. His eyes widened when he considered persuading another unit to do it for him. After all, the Schizo's had his Omni's access-all function, so maybe another unit could get close enough to get a reading for him.

The elevator arrived at Deck 5 and the doors glided apart to reveal the hallway. Directly in front of him was cabin 502. Cabin 504 was to the left, so he went left and began counting up to 521. The even numbers were on the side of the corridor opposite the elevator, and the odds were adjacent, so he quickly found his room. After inputting the door's security code into his Omni so that it would act like a keycard, as was the standard practise, he entered the cabin.

The word 'soft' came to mind when he saw the inside, which was much larger than he thought it would be. The bioplastic carpet hugging the floor was almost fluffy in texture, the bed was cloaked in an excessive number of blankets, and the built in wardrobe opposite the door was hidden by a felt curtain rather than a sliding mirror door like most were. There was a mirror mounted on the wall just next to it, so that was alright. His luggage seemed to have beaten him to his room, thanks to the mechanical services on-board the Scorpio.

He shut the door, draped his jacket over his suitcase and started looking for the cabin's control panel, which for aesthetics was usually hidden behind a panel of wall. But before he took two steps, he stopped himself, lifted his left arm up and pulled back the sleeve.

"Omni," he said, uncertain if his idea would work, "access the cabin's control panel."
"Cabin five-two-one resident interface detected." droned the Omni. "Synchronising..." The device beeped and the screen flashed green, before assuming a green-and-black digital impersonation of the cabin's control panel. Jackson unclipped the Omni and flattened the screen to get a better look at everything available. Everything was there: lights, air conditioner, gravity, security, room service and even the setting for the carpet, all represented by their respective dials, sliders and buttons, lovingly recreated in back and green pixels. Jackson selected the carpet settings and began browsing through the surprisingly long list of aspects he could customise. There was a field named 'thread length', represented by a slider. Jackson jumped onto the bed before slowly moving the slider to the left.

At first, nothing happened. He wasn't expecting to see the carpet shoot back into the floor like startled coral, but as he kept looking at it, he noticed that the carpet was gradually becoming less fluffy, and that the threads were becoming a lot shorter. When they stopped changing shape, Jackson tentatively stepped down from the bed onto the — much firmer — carpet.

"Programmable bioplastics." he laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Brilliant."

[Enigma]

There was an urgent buzz at the door of Captain Sharp's cabin. He was still struggling with his formal boots, so grunted, "Come!"

In stepped his head of Security, Commander Cooper.
"Cooper, come ta help me with these damned boots?" Sharp growled.
"No sir, we have a security matter."
"What happened to the Wanderer?!"
"Oh, nothing sir! She's fine!. The guards I have stationed have reported no problems."
"Then what's the damned emergency?" Sharp asked, relaxing. His boot suddenly slipped on.
"Well, two matters, sir. One of our men was assaulted on the Beylix, in the terminal."
"They get his Omni?" Sharp asked, struggling now with the other boot.
"They took his clothes too. We have him checked on board at 15:12 - but he was found dazed in the terminal at 15:49."
"Have we found the imposter yet?"
"No sir, but we did find the stolen clothes and omni."
"Smart bugger, knew we'd trace those right off. Better inform the Wanderer's Security Detail."
"Of course sir," Cooper said, turning to leave.
"Wait, you said there were two things?"
"The second is really a minor matter that can wait..."
"Out with it," Sharp growled.
"The most wanted alien on Earth also came aboard the three o'clock shuttle, sir."
"Junkai?!? We break something I wasn't told about?" Sharp demanded, leaning towards the secure comm console.
"He's a passenger," Cooper said, holding up a hand. "We have him down in holding with a young woman that he claims he's escorting to Earth."
"Hah!" Sharp exclaimed, pulling the boot on. "What cabin?"
"Red Star 339, sir. Shall I have him and his companion escorted off the ship?"
"You'll do no such thing!" Sharp ordered. "The Zodiac Line owes far too much to that blue-skinned Quad! It's his improved dampers we use in our engines, it's his early work with S.C.H.I.Z.O.s' that made them more than just some neural-suite trainer. And the H.A.N.D.Y.s'! Every engineer and robot would go on strike!"
"But sir, we can't leave him down on Deck Six! What if someone recognizes him?"
"You have a point. Very well, we need to move him. What's the most secure area of the ship?"
"The High Security Brig," Cooper nodded.
"I was thinking of something a little more comfortable just aft of here."
"Aft?" Cooper blinked. "Sir, the only cabins aft of yours is....!"
"It's already guarded. Why not put all our eggs in one very hard basket?"
"There's a few open cabins on the other side of the Wanderer," Cooper winced. "I'll put him in there."
"Very good. Oh, and Cooper?"
"Sir?"
"Invite Junkai and his friend to the Wanderer's Reception. Separate escort, I think."


At 18:20 hours, Junkai found himself in human-styled formal attire - actual cloth tailored to fit his multi-limb form, not hastily assembled bioplas. He adjusted his collar with his main right hand. It wasn't the armed escort riding the elevator that worried him. He glanced to his side where the dark-haired girl glared at him from a frilly pink tutu and silk jacket.
"<Do not blame me,>" Junkai sniffed. "<I wasn't the one who dragged me on here!>"

She kicked his fore-left shin. He yelped, startling the guards.
"Okay, is okay," he managed, waving three of his four hands at them.

The elevator dinged, settling to a stop, then slid open to reveal the elegant appointments of Deck Three. The escorts shuffled them out and up the hallway to the Constellation Dining Room. Junkai's grin slipped as he saw the image displayed by the doors.

"Wanderer?" he managed. "Here are we for to meet Wanderer?"
"Yeah, didn't you know?" one of the guards asked with a smirk.
Junkai shot the dark-haired girl a worried look - she had a slightly satisfied smirk on her face.
"Perhaps room is best?" he asked.
"Captain's orders is he wants you down here, so here we are!" the guard who spoke before said. "We definitely ain't leaving until I get a look at her."

18:30, there was a precise rap on the door. Cooper and his men, shined to the nines and carrying holstered Bass Stunners at their sides stood ready to escort the Wanderer and her party downstairs.

"Well," Eachert said, standing back to give Butterfly a look at her in her formal robes, making sure all her hairs were brushed and sprayed into place, "It'll do for the ship. Hopefully we can get one of the Salon teams up here before we arrive at Earth. Daniel? Schizo? We're ready!"

The blackness faded from Schizo's eyes as the Persona File known as Eachert gave up control to the robot's random personality.

"Party?" Butterfly grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping. "This is going to be fun!"

[Potatrobot]

"Party?" Butterfly grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping. "This is going to be fun!"

"Oh, it most certainly will be!" Schizo beamed, "And it's all for you!"

Prior to Butterfly's makeover at the hands of Schizo controlled by Eachert, the robot had gotten changed into an outfit of formal attire for both of them to wear. Naturally, with a cruise ship's wardrobe at his disposal, Schizo — in a reasonable state of mind — figured there was no need to dress as if he worked at a casino. He'd chosen a dinner tuxedo, perfect for the occasion, with a white blazer and black bow tie. While it came with a handsome black handkerchief for the breast pocket, it lacked several things that the suit he had pilfered from John Paris' wardrobe six months ago had: the Ace of Spades motif was absent, but it also had no matching trilby hat, no ankle holster, and no hidden pockets in the sleeves. As a result, Schizo opted to leave behind the assortment of weapons and miscellaneous objects he usually carried, with the exception of the rubber duck. While the squeaky, yellow bath toy seemed vital to only Schizo, everyone else had learned to roll with it.

He stood there for a moment, just taking in Butterfly with a smile on his metal and plastic face. His eyes remained resolutely white, and no random identity shattered the serenity of the moment.

"I'm very proud of you," he said, the rapt cheeriness in his voice wavering and giving way to honest solicitude. "According to my internal clock, it was so long ago that I woke up in a strange man's wardrobe to find you sleeping in his bed and asked you for directions. And now here we are, back on the Scorpio, about to have dinner with the Captain himself! You've come a long way, Butterfly, and you've learned so much."

Chances dictated that a fair portion of his words flew over the Zayan's head, but the tone of his voice must have been enough to get the message across. He stepped back to brace himself as she threw her arms around him and squeezed tight, the pressure squeaking the rubber duck in his pocket. She giggled a little as Schizo put his arms around her too. The embrace lasted a few, quiet moments before Schizo pulled away.

"Come on now," he said, the unbending optimism returned, "let's go to that dinner!"



Four decks below, and some distance closer to the prow of the Scorpio, another man was dressed in a dapper outfit and ready to set out for dinner. Jackson had all but perfected the carpet so that it resembled the blue threadbare of Zodiac headquarters — which in hindsight was completely depressing — and had familiarised himself with all the basic security measures of the cruise ship with his Omni, should the need to access them arise. He felt he'd need them because he had resolved to try and get close to the Schizo unit when it left the Wanderer's chamber. Rumours had gotten out that the Wanderer and her companions were joining the Captain for dinner, rumours he'd overheard while getting a bite to eat at the Scorpio's MacDonald's earlier in the evening. He wasn't wearing this suit at the fast food restaurant, though.

Jackson didn't attend so many formal events and so did not own a wide selection of formal clothes. Even now he was having second thoughts about the appropriateness of his attire: he wore a black suit over a white shirt and a light grey vest, decorated with a silver bow tie. As much as he preferred the selection of foods on Deck 4, he'd have to head up to Deck 3 if he wanted to be as close as possible to the Wanderer's cabin, and sneak up the next two decks. He also knew that the suit was way too much for the more casual restaurants on Deck 4, so he'd be seeking out the Constellation Dining on Deck 3 to truly be incognito. It was well within his budget, though.

He double checked that he had everything he thought he'd need for the job, patting each item as he murmured their names. "Glasses, suit, wallet, Omni... huh. That's it..."

He headed for the door, but then it occurred to him that he might want to keep the Omni a secret. It was already so obscure that nobody would know what it was on sight, and his blazer sleeve hid it fairly well, but if anyone asked what device he used, he may well need a decoy to avoid showing anyone. He fished through his pinchecked jacket for his Wrist-One and pocketed it.

"Right," he assured himself, "off we go."

The trip to Deck 3 was as uneventful as it was long, since he had no idea how to get there and nobody else used the paths he happened to pick. But as he climbed up the last few velvet-coated stairs and entered the subtle, alluring atmosphere of the elusive deck, he allowed himself a little victory smile. The decor of the deck was mostly upheld by the dark yet colourful velvet carpet, but also by the tiny, sparsely-placed ceiling lights that gave the entire place the illusion of a night sky. It was approaching that time, anyway; if it were earlier, the lighting would have reflected the concept of a setting sun. The smell of the air was invigorating; the unique mix of diluted cigarette smoke, bistro food, perfume and cologne, and various forms of alcohol. The entire deck seemed to snooze to the soft buzz of spoken conversation and a lulling piano ambience. The areas around the edges of the deck were taken up by tables and chairs with various forms of dinner dates taking place on them, and the restaurants that catered for each section of furnished floor space. He peered at many of the men on the deck, hoping to see a few that were dressed as well as him. A few people wore vests, but he figured they were waiters. It didn't matter. People wore suits, and that was good enough for him.

Jackson's mind was a blank for a moment. He couldn't remember why exactly he'd come to the deck altogether if he was sneaking up to Deck 1 anyway. Rather than remember the reasons he had, he thought of them anew: for plausible deniability should he get caught in the above decks, for a fall-back if he'd need to back away or if he failed to get to the Schizo unit in time, and because he was getting hungry.

He set off across the deck, avoiding the odd waiter or group of people to stay out of their way, making his way to the aft-most area of the deck. There he hoped to find an elevator that would take him closer to the Wanderer's chamber.

[Azazeal849]

Daniel was already dressed, in a black dinner suit that was clearly expensive but understated enough not to be ostentatious, and had been sitting in one of the lounge armchairs, his legs crossed at the ankles. He was passing the time with a data-pad, reviewing his case notes on Harris Brown. The man who John Paris’ records had implicated as a criminal mastermind was still an enigma to the Secret Intelligence Service. One of the working theories among Daniel’s colleagues was that he too was a Zayan, although that line of reasoning had some pretty glaring holes. For one thing, the Zayan agent Helenne had not recognised him. For another, when he had tried to interview Master Hand he had apparently not known that Eachert’s lab was Zayan rather than Santosian. Nevertheless, the SIS didn’t like enigmas, and they wanted to question the man who had used to file reports to their own liaison. With so much alarming but uncorroborated evidence on the man, Daniel had sometimes wondered if Brown was merely a fall guy for Vargas and Paris. He had already made a lot of enemies as a journalist, and it would be just like Paris to lead them all on one last wild goose chase.

Daniel’s Omni bleeped quietly, a subtly different tone from normal. Daniel turned his wrist, keyed in a passcode with his other hand, and watched as the small screen lit up with an image that was being transmitted by the micro-camera he had placed out in the hall. Four men in Zodiac security uniforms were coming up the corridor, and as Daniel watched the camera’s threat ID system painted four blinking rhomboids over the bass stunners holstered at their waists. Their escort was here, and right on time according to the clock on the wall.

Satisfied that his security devices were working, Daniel dismissed the video feed and pushed up out of the chair to join the others, just as Eachert called him through. Sliding a disguised dart-pen into his inside pocket as he stepped into the communal area, he arrived just in time to see Butterfly pull back from hugging Schizo, a strange but touching sight that brought a slight smile to the agent’s face.

"Come on now," the robot said, the unbending optimism returned, "Let's go to that dinner!"

“Indeed lets.” Daniel nodded, checking his cufflinks and then walking to the door which he opened just as Cooper and his men rapped smartly on the other side. “Gentlemen.” he nodded to the security detail with a winning smile, before stepping out into the hall and flicking his eyes up and down the wood-panelled corridor.

[Enigma]

"Mr. Doverton-Hawke? Commander Cooper, Ship's Security," the security chief introduced himself as he stepped forward. "Some new intelligence. One of our men was mugged in the Beylix terminal below. Our system shows him returning with the planetary shuttle before he was discovered below. It could be nothing, a stowaway perhaps - but I hate coincidences."

"We're doing security sweeps, but there's a lot of internal volume and I have a strained staff already," he continued. "Not to mention your new neighbor, Junkai of Beylix. He's got a girl of his own he's escorting to Earth. Captain had him moved up here in case someone wants to stir up that ancient mess. I have him on the other side next to Club Nova, about as far as I can get him from the Wanderer's cabin, with a guard on his door."

"Our plan is tonight is to cut a path through Skylight Park to the forward elevator bank, then take Car 1 down to Deck Three, then it's a short walk to the Constellation Dining Room for the Grand Reception. On our return, we'll go up to Deck Two, cut across to the Aft Elevator Bank, then ride the freight elevator up. Any problems with that?"

"Jun-kai? That's a funny name," Butterfly giggled, still amused by Schizo's praise. She'd come up behind Daniel, eager to get out of the cabin. "Can we go now?"

"Not without us, surely?" Master Hand said, accompanied by some of the brother monks. To the eye, with the exception of their bo staffs they each carried, none of them looked armed or with the exception of Master Hand, particularly threatening.

"The youthful manner of the Wanderer may confuse them," one of the brothers said, bowing slightly. "And this is her first time out of the temple and surrounded by strangers. We shall stay close in case she should have any problems."

[Azazeal849]

"It could be nothing, a stowaway perhaps - but I hate coincidences."

"Indeed." Daniel replied, his face neutral. "I assume you're searching for the culprit?"

"We're doing security sweeps, but there's a lot of internal volume and I have a strained staff already." Cooper replied. "Not to mention your new neighbour, Junkai of Beylix."

"Junkai?" Daniel repeated, raising an eyebrow. The quad was a figure of some notoriety following his alleged theft of a derelict Pax star-drive during Earth's first contact with Beylix. The interplanetary incident he had caused made him a very wanted man by the Earth authorities, and although Daniel's own government did not charge him with any crime per se, the Londinian alliance with Earth made such issues thorny.

"He's got a girl of his own he's escorting to Earth. Captain had him moved up here in case someone wants to stir up that ancient mess. I have him on the other side next to Club Nova, about as far as I can get him from the Wanderer's cabin, with a guard on his door."

Daniel nodded. Captain Sharp was doing the right thing by trying to keep the alien's presence quiet. But Junkai's actions were surprising - why would he risk going to a planet where he was a wanted man? Beylix had no extradition treaties with Earth, but as soon as he set foot on Earth itself he was practically guaranteeing his own arrest. Of course, Daniel himself had no orders regarding Junkai - he was not considered a threat to Londinium - but this kernel of information might be something his superiors would want to hear about.

"Our plan tonight is to cut a path through Skylight Park to the forward elevator bank, then take Car 1 down to Deck Three, then it's a short walk to the Constellation Dining Room for the Grand Reception. On our return, we'll go up to Deck Two, cut across to the Aft Elevator Bank, then ride the freight elevator up. Any problems with that?"

Daniel thought for a moment. "Who knows about the route?"

"Just us. And the Captain told us in person rather than over the radio."

"Excellent. Keep an eye out around the park." A smile tugged at the corner of Daniel's mouth. "If not for threats, then for fans."

The walk however proved to be uneventful, and a smooth ride down to Deck Three culminated in the tight-knit group strolling through the ornate sliding doors into the Constellation Dining Hall, a grand gallery domed by a transparisteel canopy looking out into the starfield above, and thronged with well-dressed men and women who were all waiting expectantly for the Wanderer. All eyes were on the small procession as they entered, and Daniel scanned the guests in return, noting faces, stances, and whose eyes remained fixed on Butterfly and whose glanced away.

[England]

Dr. Thorne was one of the guests that had already been present at the reception. He had managed to dress himself appropriately for the occasion to the extent that he would have blended into the crowd if not for having brought one of his smaller robots with him that took the form of a boutonniere. It sat on his diner jacket's left lapel as a silver metal rose and spent its entire existence coordinating the flight of minuscule holographic butterflies that flew around the flower in a seemingly random pattern. He had debated bringing in one of his larger experiments that could just walk itself in, but that would have been ostentatious.

He had spent most of his time up until this point allowing dull people to bombard him with trivial words while Dr. Thorne just nodded or gave a short response at the appropriate times, just enough to make the people he encountered feel like they were having an interesting conversation with him as most people enjoyed talking such that they hardly noticed when they were doing all of it.

He, therefore, felt a bit of gratitude towards whoever it was that seemed to be attracting everyone's attention in the Constellation Dining Hall. He turned to see a small precession that he assumed consisted of the princess of one of the lesser colonies along with her escort. Dr. Thorne wouldn't recognize a Wanderer even though he was looking at one right now and wouldn't know what was so important as this was something that hardly impacted his life.

He was about to glance away when he noticed that the precession also consisted of a robot that was dressed like it was a guest. Now THAT was something that Dr. Thorne found highly interesting such that his attention was fixated with interest not on the young woman, but entirely on the machine that accompanied her.

[Enigma]

There was a sound not unlike a vacuum cleaner trying to swallow a bagpipe and choking on it behind Tatya. A moment later, one of her aids leaned forward.
"Komerad-Major Bakhvalova, the Envoy is having another panic attack."
"Of course she is," she said, smiling as if everything was normal as she turned to look at the trembling Botah. "Is something troubling you, Envoy?"
"I.... ready for this am not," the sentient sheep uttered, then sat down on the floor, bursting into tears. "Why me?"
"Not this again," Tatya sighed, shaking her head.
"Forced into this I was! My body this is not!"
"Is this really the time to get into this?"
"Sent among hostile aliens! Misery is everywhere!"
"Komerad-sergeant Grigory, I think the Envoy is overheated. Did you bring the clippers?"
"Dare you would not!" the Botah protested shrilly, jerking upright.
"You wish to test me again? Komerad-Sergeant?"
"People there are!"
"The Santosians are please to offer aid to our new neighbors. If the Envoy is too warm, we are most willing to offer assistance. I will then have sweaters made for the men from your fur. Do you believe me!"
"Dracosians would dare not!"
"Would the Envoy wish to see?"
"Deliver me you must to Earth! Kill you dare not!"
"I have no intention of killing you, Envoy. There are after all many ways to ensure compliance. We are understood, yes?"
The Botah stared wildly at Tatya, then nodded.
"Good. Komerad-Sergeant, I think the Envoy would wish to graze on something green. Low blood sugar. Please arrange it."
"At once Komerad-Major!"
"Rose petals!"
"No, rose petals give you gas. I save those for later."
"Eeep!"

There was a stirring at one of the entrances. It was the Wanderer's party - and the Londinium spy, Daniel Doverton-Hawke.

"Komerad-Major, Dr. Thorne seems interested in the Wanderer too," another man offered.
"I suspect it is because of the robot," sniffed Tatya dismissively.
"Shall I order the men to go now?"
"No, there is no need to rush things. I would prefer to meet Mr. Doverton-Hawke first."


"Ah, there she is," beamed Captain Sharp as Butterfly and her companions entered the room. He put down his drink and began clapping. Others started clapping too. Butterfly blushed at the people staring back at her.

"My dear, let me welcome you again aboard the Zodiac ship Scorpio!" he said loudly for the benefit of the crowd. "I'd like to you meet a famous reporter, Jason Parker."

Jason Parker smiled, offering his hand to the Wanderer. He was a balding older man with a paunch.
"Not so famous anymore, Captain," he sighed, a distinct Londinium lilt to his voice, "I'm retired, but it's kind of you to say so."

He gave the others a curious but pleasant nod.

[Azazeal849]

Daniel clocked the Botah envoy out of the corner of his eye while he was still scanning the crowd. Rather a lot of sensitive people on this cruise, he reflected, and all headed for Earth. The Wanderer...Junkai...and now a Botah. Interesting.

The Botah seemed to be in some sort of distress, and was accompanied by a group of severe-looking Santosians, all in military dress uniforms. Daniel felt his heart rate rise, just slightly. After the affair with the Machine six months ago, Santosian military or - god forbid - members of their intelligence bureau were the most likely people on the Scorpio to blow his cover or make his life otherwise difficult.

Daniel turned to Schizo, tilting his head towards a random woman on the opposite side of the crowd as if pointing out an old friend or dignitary that he recognised.

"One of Lord Eachert's little friends, on the right near the drinks table and the woman with the blue dress." he said quietly to the robot. "Good to see them being publically recognised, but I'm a trifle worried by her escort..."

"My dear, let me welcome you again aboard the Zodiac ship Scorpio!" captain Sharp said loudly for the benefit of the crowd. "I'd like you to meet a famous reporter, Jason Parker."

Jason Parker smiled, offering his hand to the Wanderer. He was a balding older man with a paunch.

"Not so famous anymore, Captain," he sighed, a distinct Londinium lilt to his voice, "I'm retired, but it's kind of you to say so."

He gave the others a curious but pleasant nod. Daniel returned it. He had an appreciation for journalists - mostly because their line of work and his crossed over more often than most people realised. People with interplanetary journalism degrees were one of the SIS' favourite recruiting pools, because at the most basic level both were seekers of information; not to mention that foreign journalism was the perfect cover for a spy. The SIS even used journalist reports to supplement their own information gathering on occasion. Of course, the flipside was that journalists could also sell their stories to the other side, and foreign journalism also made a perfect cover for enemy spies. Daniel recalled one of his first assignments, tracing back stories that a Jiangyin agent had planted in the Londinium papers.

Thinking of journalists inevitably made Daniel think of Harris Brown. The freelancer had brought several reports to John Paris Sr when the latter had worked as the Security Service's liaison officer. That was not the only link - after Brown had become a person of interest to the SIS following Daniel's report on the Santos case, Daniel's fellow agents had begun looking back at the freelancer's earlier work, right back to his first big story on the Ariel shipyards scandal. Two of the biggest shipbuilding conglomerates had conspired to fix prices between them for a series of government contracts, and Brown had blown the secret deal wide open. However, he had apparently received a great deal of his information on the scoop from none other than Jason Parker.

Londinian agents looking for Brown had interviewed Parker on the subject, but he had claimed that they were mistaken. That was a lie of course, but Daniel liked lies - sometimes they revealed more than the truth. Now he had a golden opportunity to let Parker question Butterfly and, in turn, perhaps question Parker on the whereabouts of Harris Brown.

"I think you do yourself too little credit, Mr Parker." he spoke up, playing the part of polite host as he addressed the aged reporter. Out of the corner of his eye, he was still watching the Santosians. "They don't hand out Pulitzer Prizes lightly, especially to people who weren't born on Earth. We're flattered that our charming friend here was able to tempt you out of retirement."

"I'm not coming out of retirement, I'm afraid." Parker corrected him, with another sigh. Daniel noted from the slight flush of the man's face that he had been drinking, with the broken capillaries on his nose and cheeks suggesting that he did so often. That was good - at least, from the perspective of his plan.

"Still," Daniel countered off-handedly, "It makes a nice change to be talking to a professional instead of those tabloid sensationalists. I for one wouldn't mind if you were to sit with us and talk with Miss Butterfly." He glanced back at Butterfly and Master Hand for their assent before continuing. "Nothing formal of course. But if someone was to write a publicity piece I'd sleep much better knowing that it was a writer whose name carried respect."

Taking a seat between Schizo and one of the Brotherhood monks at the round table that had been set aside for them, Daniel let the conversation flow naturally for ten minutes or so, while smiling waitresses in crisp black uniforms topped up their wine glasses.

"So tell me, Mr Parker." Daniel interjected after the current topic had reached a natural conclusion, "Do you still keep in contact with many people in the journalism circle? It seems to me that an awful lot of the best reporters have been retiring these last few years." He put down his wine glass and picked a bread roll from the basket in the centre of the table. "I used to enjoy reading Harris Brown's column, but I haven't seen an article of his in the Independent for months."

[England]

His attention was pulled away from the fascinating machine that had walked into the room as another dull person droned on about one thing or another. After the bare minimum amount of time passed to ensure politeness was maintained, he excused himself then began to walk towards the table where the young woman with her robot now sat.

Dr. Thorne didn't question why the stick-wielding gentlemen accompanying her just let him walk past them without so much as a word. Where it be because his attention was still more on the robot than anything else, the fact that he still looked at her with no sign of recognition, if someone already there saw him coming signaled to let him through or if they were just allowing anyone near her. None of these things really mattered and as such, he wasn't even thinking about it.

It was only when he was at the table that he finally spoke. "Surely we were not all gathered here to watch this young lady be thrown to the wolves." Dr. Thorne spoke in that same lilt as every other Londiniums but still managed to make that last word sound unpleasant. He had a special apprehension when it came to all journalists ever since the Londinium tabloids had their little fun at his expense running their articles about how Dr. Thorne failed to recognize his own colony's prime minister at a dinner party.

His gaze drifted over to the interesting robot, dwelled there for a bit, then was back to Butterfly.

[Enigma]

Jason blinked, glancing at Daniel in surprise at his suggestion about the publicity peice. "Well, I do have a rather unavoidable abundance of spare time, as it were. And I never say 'no' to pretty girls. They're much more in the habit of saying that to me."

"So tell me, Mr Parker." Daniel interjected after the current topic had reached a natural conclusion, "Do you still keep in contact with many people in the journalism circle? It seems to me that an awful lot of the best reporters have been retiring these last few years." He put down his wine glass and picked a bread roll from the basket in the centre of the table. "I used to enjoy reading Harris Brown's column, but I haven't seen an article of his in the Independent for months."

"And you're not likely to for quite a while yet," Jason sighed, putting down his glass. "Harris seems to have stepped into another spot of bother. Last I heard from the boy, he was looking into some secret the Santosians were keeping on that sister planet of theirs they pulled all their colonists off of."

"Then a few months ago, when we docked at the Heathrow Beanstalk, I stepped off ship for a long awaited reservation at my favorite restaurant, only to be met by unnamed agents of her Majesty's government where I got cold, soggy fish and chips while they tried to pump me for everything I knew about the boy. I can still taste that bitter coffee they gave me. What sort of world is it when an Londinium citizen can't get a decent cup of tea on his own planet, I ask you? And of course, no telling me why they're suddenly so keen to lay a hand on the lad."

As the newcomer approached, the monks glanced at Master Hand, who gave a subtle nod while appearing to pay no attention at all. It was, after all, a reception. Everyone in the room had been thoroughly checked. A robotics scientist who spent most of his time below decks in a portable computer lab or a forcibly retired journalist who drank heavily each night and spent most of his time in his rooms presumably sleeping it off were not likely to physically threaten the Wanderer, and the young man could hopefully make her forget about the missing space pirate.

"Surely we were not all gathered here to watch this young lady be thrown to the wolves." Dr. Thorne spoke in that same lilt as every other Londiniums but still managed to make that last word sound unpleasant.

"What are wolves?" Butterfly asked, blinking up at Dr. Thorne. She glanced at the others. "Is it a bad thing?"

Schizo's eyes flashed black as Eachert perked up.
"Excuse me," he asked. "Aren't you Dr. Thorne, the Robotics Scientist?"

"This one could help us," he said internally to the gestalt that was Schizo. "He can make some simple modifications to the body to keep me from overwhelming your systems."

[Potatrobot]

Deck 1, outside the Wanderer's cabin

The hallway was completely still and quiet, but well-lit and warm. At least, as far as the bauble-shaped security camera on the ceiling could see, it was. It couldn't see the man crouched behind the corner of another hallway, focused intently on a small device in his hands. But that wouldn't be a concern for it; if there was a threat hiding behind that corner, it's nearby brethren would spot it.

If only this security camera had any idea that the some of its kin between this hallway and the aft elevator bank had been remotely infiltrated — commanded to feed ten seconds of recorded footage of their empty hallways continuously so that they would not see the perpetrator emerge from a hiding spot behind a corner. But it remained blissfully unaware that it was now being targeted as the last obstacle between some unseen threat and the Wanderer's cabin.

Getting to Deck 1 was no feat of stealth for Jackson; all he needed to do was take an elevator up from the aft end of Deck 3. However, before leaving the elevator, he used his Omni to scout out the hallways digital surveillance system. The cameras themselves weren't wireless or directly connected to the security system that handled the visual feed that they generated, but said system was nearby for ease of access. He infiltrated the system and recorded ten seconds of footage with the nearest camera, and then programmed the camera to feed the system this footage continuously. He opened the elevator doors, which would not be seen by the camera he had just hacked harmless, and moved closer to the next one. It was better to take out each camera one by one because he couldn't be sure if all of the hallways between him and his destination were empty or not, and if they weren't, then the ten seconds of footage recorded with them might contain some noticeable movement. It was also better to move closer to the computer that the cameras were connected to, which was closer to the Wanderer's cabin than he was, to improve the signal strength. Accessing far away systems put a lot of strain on the device's battery, and made the process take a lot longer.

Five cameras later, he was kneeling at the corner of the hallway that led to the Wanderer's cabin, accessing the system for one last time to fool the last camera. He listened, and once he was sure there was nothing moving in the hallway, he started the recording. Ten whole seconds wasn't really necessary, but it was safer than a shorter recording. The footage recorded, Jackson changed the camera's feed to a loop of the footage. He was now practically invisible to the last camera, and thus got up and freely rounded the corner. He wasn't aware of Daniel's security measures, however.

The door to the cabin was shut, and no sounds came from within. Jackson figured that he may have missed the group altogether, but that didn't deter him from trying to check the cabin first. Using the Omni again, he scanned the area around him for any security cameras inside the cabin, but there weren't any on the list that appeared on the device. Jackson sighed quietly at this, figuring that to install cameras in a cabin would be a terrible invasion of privacy. Scrolling down through the list, Jackson found no trace of any Schizo units whatsoever.

Jackson sighed again. The unit wasn't here, and this was a waste of time. On the bright side, he figured, he had a chance to practice manipulating the security on the Scorpio. That was, after all, the reason he was given the wonderful device. He made his way back to the elevator he came from, still invisible to all the cameras along the way. Inside the elevator, he reset the cameras to work properly again. He pressed the button for Deck 3 and felt the elevator descend.

Deck 3, Constellation Dining

Daniel turned to Schizo as they arrived at their table, tilting his head towards a random woman on the opposite side of the crowd as if pointing out an old friend or dignitary that he recognised.
"One of Lord Eachert's little friends, on the right near the drinks table and the woman with the blue dress." he said quietly to the robot. If he was sporting an identity that was even partly aware of Daniel's attempt to point them out without looking like it, he would have kept his attention on the woman he had physically indicated. But he wasn't. His head swivelled around without subtlety to find the group Daniel spoke of, his bright white eyes certainly drawing their attention if they were looking at him, and still quite possibly even if they weren't.

"Good to see them being publically recognised," the spy went on, "but I'm a trifle worried by her escort..."
Schizo peered at the group. "Wow! A Botah!" he remarked. "I haven't seen one of them in six months; good to see they're still around. Although the Santosians in her company sure are suspicious. I guess we need to keep an eye on them."

The obvious sufficiently stated, Schizo took a seat at the table, leaving a space for Daniel next to himself and the Brotherhood monks. Under normal circumstances — if indeed normal was an appropriate descriptor — he would be among the people, doing his job of socially interacting with them. Indeed, at such a social event, other units were about, engaged deep in conversation with guests, with eyes glowing a unique colour. Some were even interacting with each other, gripping each other's hands and transferring identities between them like children trading baseball cards. He spotted Ciara among the ranks, and she him, waving happily. He returned the gesture, before noticing that in fact quite a few of the units were also waving at him. He was, after all, somewhat of a celebrity among them. Most of the attention he received came from 'female' Schizos, no doubt grateful for his part in the development of their new, shapely bodies.

His idle sitting and occasional waving only lasted as long as it took Dr. Thorne to approach the table, whereupon he politely diverted his attention to the man and his unique boutonniere. He seemed to be focused on Schizo, after all.
"Surely we were not all gathered here to watch this young lady be thrown to the wolves." he said, the lilt in his voice almost calling up an identity in Schizo with a similar British accent; such was the way external factors stimulated a response from Schizo's glitch.

The doctor's gaze drifted directly onto the robot as Butterfly spoke up. "What are wolves?" she asked, facing the newcomer, then the rest of her assembled companions. "Is it a bad thing?"

Schizo almost answered himself when Eachert cut in, seizing control of the body and causing his eyes and running lights to absorb the light around them, effectively 'glowing' black. Since they were designed to convert excess heat into light, the unexplained reversing of their function worked to slowly heat up the robot while Eachert remained dominant.
"Excuse me," he asked. "Aren't you Dr. Thorne, the Robotics Scientist?"
This one could help us, he said internally. He can make some simple modifications to the body to keep me from overwhelming your systems.
That sure would be nice, Schizo replied in a similar fashion, but it's alright if he can't. I'm certain we'll be fine, just like the last six months.

[Azazeal849]

“Then a few months ago, when we docked at the Heathrow Beanstalk, I stepped off ship for a long awaited reservation at my favorite restaurant, only to be met by unnamed agents of her Majesty's government where I got cold, soggy fish and chips while they tried to pump me for everything I knew about the boy. I can still taste that bitter coffee they gave me. What sort of world is it when an Londinium citizen can't get a decent cup of tea on his own planet, I ask you? And of course, no telling me why they're suddenly so keen to lay a hand on the lad.”

“I daresay they want to know the full story of what happened on that planet as well.” Daniel said as he cracked open the roll and carefully spread a layer of butter onto it. “They tried to interview me as well, and most of the other people at this table! That's why I've had to spend the last few months on Beylix. I don't pretend to know everything that was happening on that wretched planet, but I'm not telling what I do know to the people at MI6!”

He used the organisation's street name deliberately – few people outside of the Secret Intelligence Service itself referred to it as the SIS; most people knew it by the defunct but still fashionable title of MI6 that had been popularised by holovids dating back for several centuries. Legacy franchises such as James Bond which had been revived several times since the days of Old Earth still brought a smile to Daniel's face. They were always wildly inaccurate but he never minded – after all, the more false preconceptions about spies the general public had, the easier it was for one to pass under their radar. Daniel recalled one of his earliest training classes, where the instructor had asked them all what they thought were the qualities that a good spy needed. Answers both accurate and wildly wrong had been shouted out, but the instructor had laughed and pointed out that, if the traits of a good spy were so obvious, they wouldn't make very good spies!

“If it's to be told at all,” Daniel went on emphatically, “It should be told by the press – the independent press. The Wanderer's story is for the people, not for a government to hide and hand out in carefully-censored portions. So if you do happen to see the good Mr Brown, tell him I might have quite the exclusive for him.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw Master Hand's attention flick sharply towards him. This was not the agreed plan – Daniel and Schizo hadn't even told the Brotherhood the full story of their exploits on the Botah world, much to Master Hand's chagrin, and it seemed reckless to now be offering up such information freely. But Daniel had a plan, and he moved one hand to make a soothing gesture to the chief monk – under the table and out of Parker's view, even though the retired reporter was already distracted by the smiling waitress offering to refill his glass.

Brown had proven elusive, but there was now a small chance that Daniel could make the wanted man come to him. And who better to find a rogue reporter than another reporter, who also happened to be the former's old friend? Yes, Daniel thought, chuckling inwardly even as he let Parker's attention turn away from him towards the newly arrived Dr Thorne – there was a lot of crossover between journalists and spies.

The doctor's gaze drifted directly onto the robot as Butterfly spoke up. "What are wolves?" she asked, facing the newcomer, then the rest of her assembled companions. "Is it a bad thing?"

“Big, dangerous dogs, my dear.” Daniel said cheerfully, letting his seriousness from the previous topic fall away as if it was of no consequence. “But I would hardly call Mr Parker a wolf; more a trusty old bloodhound.”

“Excuse me,” Eachert asked, speaking through Schizo, “Aren't you Dr. Thorne, the Robotics Scientist?”

“By jove, I believe you are.” said Daniel, raising an eyebrow. Despite the fact that Master Hand and the monks had already done so, he gave the newcomer a discreet look up and down, noting the lack of signs of any concealed weaponry, and the unlikelihood that the man was wearing a recording device. Someone might have slipped a bug into his pocket of course, but the jammers carried by several of the monks would take care of that. He did recall from an old news program that the renowned cybernetics doctor had a data port installed in his left hand, but if he recalled correctly - and he did; his memory was as close to eidetic as a human's got - it was not a wireless device. Satisfied, he shot a questioning look at the others. “Shall we allow the good doctor to join us for a moment?”

[Enigma]

Down in the Scorpio's holds, two men had finally breached the door and its security - only to find themselves staring at a bunch of shipping containers, each connected to ship's power.

"Hard to believe they have shops like these down here," one said, eyeing the row suspiciously. "Which one is it? We're not going to fool ship's security for long."
"They'll be more concerned with the party Komerade-Major is at. It's number 11, right here."

He walked over and raised his pocket-omni, pressing the button. And again.
"You sure this is it?"
"Yeah."
"So why didn't it unlock?"
"He must have changed the code!"
"Or this isn't it."
"What are you saying?"
"Nova Kiev. Remember how we went to grab that reporter, Harris Brown, only we broke into the wrong room?"
"Did you have to bring that up? This is the right container!"
"So how are we going to get inside?"
"Like this!" Drawing his gun, he shot three rounds at the locking pad, which exploded into a shower of sparks and smoke, but the door swung open.
"Komerade-Major's not going to like this, she didn't want us to be obvious!"
"She wants whatever the good doctor is hiding inside here!" the second insisted, pushing open the door - and paused. "What the...?"
"'The Original Traveler's Pocket Companion'," the first read on the side of a block of stamped bioplastic he fished out of a open cardboard box. He glanced up sourly at the spout of the small bioplas factory with its tanks. "This isn't Doctor Thorne's computer lab! This is someone's sideline!"
"Yeah, then what's that set up in the back?"

The bioplast factory took up only a third of the container. In the back along the sides was racks of robot parts, two server stacks hooked up to a second factory feeding into a man-sized former - and three pale, fleshy-colored robots resting in a rack.
"What is that?"
"I think they're robots made out of bioplas."
"Do you think that's what he's working on? Why bioplas robots?"
"Doesn't this robot look familiar to you...?"

Their omnis suddenly beeped.
"Someone's headed this way, we gotta bail! Grab some pictures so we have something to show Komerade-Major!"


The Chief of Ship's Security listened intently to his omni, then crossed over to where Captain Sharp was sitting with the rest of the party. Across the room, Komerade-Major Bakhvalova's eyes narrowed ominously.

"Idiots," she muttered.

"Sir, there's been some kind of security breach in the below decks cargo hold."
"Security breach?" Captain Sharp demanded, glancing up at him.
"A passenger-leased workshop was broken into."

[Aureyon]

Constellation Dining Room

Helena had been on the ship when the Wanderer arrived, however she was busy negotiating with an alien market dealer for some technology to take back home with her. This ship was quite alien to her, and despite its easy navigation, it was still difficult to remember how to get around. There were so many decks, and different compartments that sometimes it was easy to get lost. Helena, since arriving on this ship has made, quite a few wrong turns and ended up in some odd places. Though, this was the easiest to find, for it was the most popular destination; The Constellation Dining Room.

A short while ago, she had received her invitation to meet the Wanderer tonight in the dining room. She had long since changed into a flowing greek toga -a silky black that hanged from her skin like feathers- and golden bracelets upon her wrist and arm near her shoulder. Approaching the door to the entrance of the Dining Room she was stopped by security..

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave your weapons with me miss." a member of the security team said to her gruffly, ensuring that she got the point that force would be used if it was required.

Helena did not argue, for the time being, and relinquished her weapons to the security team outside the doors. She was then let into the Dining Room, and immediately she spotted the Wanderer, mainly because there was quite a few people standing around a young child, and many more staring from afar. Helena paused and just stood roughly ten feet away from the table, and just remained silent; Listening to the conversation that was being discussed.

[Azazeal849]

The Chief of Ship's Security listened intently to his omni, then crossed over to where Captain Sharp was sittling with the rest of the party. That grabbed Daniel's interest, an interest that quickly translated into alarm bells when he noticed the Santosian major's eyes narrowing ominously at the edge of his vision.

"Security breach?" he heard Captain Sharp demand from two tables down as the Security Chief bent to tell him something.

"A passenger-leased workshop was broken into." he heard the Chief reply.

The coincidences continued to pile up when the security chief came striding over to the table where they sat. He caught the eye of the doctor who had just joined them, and stopped.

"Excuse me, sir." he said, "There's been an incident. A break-in at your cargo module..."

"Go with him." Daniel murmured, so low that he was sure only Schizo's audio-sensors would pick it up, and hoping that the robot would be more circumspect this time when the subject of his covert message was actually within earshot.

This was a big coincidence - perhaps too big. Daniel couldn't leave with Dr Thorne himself; for one thing he didn't have the ready-made excuse to remain in the stranger's company that Schizo did, and for another he suspected some sort of trick. This might be a distraction to draw them away from the Wanderer, and from her oddly-timed reaction the Botah's Santosian escort had something to do with it.

He wouldn't advocate moving Butterfly back to her room. Not just yet. The journey back to their secure cabin would be risky, but any enemy would have to be very audacious to try something in the Constellation Dining Room, with so many guests and ship's security present.

"A break in?" Daniel said, louder this time and addressed to the Security Chief, "Which hold is Dr Thorne's module in?"

"I'm sorry sir, that's confidential." the Chief replied, maintaining commendable professionalism. "But we are looking into it and there's no reason for alarm."

"I hope you don't mind me checking on the status of my own baggage?" Daniel countered, raising his eyebrows. He pushed his hands into the tablecloth to lever himself up and backed into a quieter corner of the room - conveniently, one close to the Botah and her escorts - and began typing hurriedly on the touchscreen of his omni. It looked like he was accessing his personal cargo manifest to check the status of the Wanderer escorts' communal module. In fact, he was composing a cyber-mail to Master Hand sitting back at their table.

Watch Butterfly. Possible distraction. Santosian major near me possibly involved. Also, the Athenian behind Mr Parker has been hovering near our table for the past 2 minutes.

Although seemingly engrossed with his omni, Daniel listened carefully to the Botah's escorts behind him as they conversed in Santosian.

[Potatrobot]

Schizo's head swivelled around to face Captain Sharp, whose voice he was programmed to recognise above all others, as he uttered the words 'security breach'. Even entertainer robots like the S.C.H.I.Z.O units were expected to protect the passengers around them in the event of an emergency due to their obligation to the three laws, while Schizo's adjustable loyalty to those laws due to his downgrade ensured that his concern was for Butterfly and her company alone. As such, hearing the captain of their cruise ship mention a security breach caused the heads of several other nearby units to spin around to face the man. It was only after the initial precautionary diversion of attention that the situation proved to be moot in regards to danger, so they turned back to their respective conversations and Schizo was able to return his attention to the doctor and the Chief of Security.

"Go with him." Daniel murmured, not even looking at the robot for the sake of discretion. Unlike the last time Daniel attempted subtlety with the defunct machine, Schizo picked up on his behaviour and mimicked it as per his programming, slipping into a quieter, more observant persona with crimson eyes and running lights. Part of the reason he didn't blurt out some excessive confirmation like his mention of the Botah was the increased vigilance his defensive protocol had brought on. Even as he leant forward onto the tabletop to push himself into a standing position, he seemed to hide a curt nod in the action.

"Doctor Thorne," he said politely in a smooth, even tone, with his fingers pursed together in front of him, "would you like me to escort you to the cargo hold? I would like to continue our conversation on the way down, if you will."

Some time alone with him would be a good idea. He said internally to Eachert. Maybe we can sort out this hardware problem you mentioned.



Jackson meanwhile stepped out of the aft elevators, adjusting his bowtie and trying to decide on what sort of cuisine he was most in the mood for. He was already starting to feel his stomach growl impatiently, and with his pursuit of the Schizo unit abandoned for the night, he was going to take the time to select a nice restaurant to eat at. He'd had his fill of chicken pesto on the journey to the Scorpio, so perhaps not an Italian restaurant, but rather one that served something lighter, like seafood. He had, after all, wanted to try baby octopus. He knew Greek cuisine had a strong emphasis on seafood, so he began to peruse the outlets in search of a Greek restaurant.

A few minutes of walking the perimeter of the aft end of Deck 3 had passed and Jackson was beginning to wonder if the Scorpio even had a Greek restaurant. He doubted there wasn't one, but he couldn't argue with what he was seeing, or rather, what he was not seeing. He was about to use his Omni to find one when he noticed the cluster of people near the centre of the deck, and he couldn't believe his eyes. The Wanderer's party, including the robot, were on Deck 3 all along. There was an agonising moment of annoyance when Jackson realised that he must have just missed them when he went off in search of their cabin, and that a simple matter of timing would have saved him all the fuss of sneaking through Deck 1. When he heard that they were having dinner with the captain, he assumed that it would take place in the captain's dining room. That would teach him to take more notice of the cruise liner's itinerary, especially when it would obviously point out what its celebrity guests would be doing.

Jackson's hunger disappeared as his former ambitions for getting that diagnostic on the robot returned. While it was in a position where the public might freely approach it, as seemed to be the case with several people, Jackson wagered that taking out his obscure device and digitally intruding it would ring some bells with security and the robot's own company. He decided to get closer and see what he might be able to do; standing perfectly still in a deck full of activity and staring from a distance was not the definition of incognito.

His stomach groaned at him, almost begging him to leave the robot alone and go have dinner. Thinking quickly, he diverted his path so that it passed by an unoccupied table with a basket of bread and serves of butter. He quickly assembled a buttered bread roll before any restaurant staff informed him that they were only for customers and resumed his course; he should at least have his stomach on his side if he was going to spend the evening sneaking around. Hunger made buttered bread taste like four star cuisine, but he couldn't help but feel disappointed that he would be skipping baby octopus when he had worked up such an appetite for it.

The robot was right in amongst the Wanderer's party and several other strangers, including a woman wearing a black toga — another reminder of his disappointed appetite. But it was standing up, and as he passed close by — not too close to arouse suspicion — he heard words of escorting somebody somewhere. That sure sounded like it would be leaving their company, so maybe this cloud had a silver lining.

[Aureyon]

Helena listened silently as the people assembled at the table discussed an intrusion upon a passengers cargo on the lower decks. Her eyes raised in question and she stepped forward directly past the Doctor, and in front of Daniel, her eyes focusing on the Wanderer. She had many questions passing through her head as quick as a rushing river, and it was a bit disorienting. She eyed the wanderer and then she spoke slowly "Is..It..True?"

Awaiting an answer she looked around the room and surveyed the various members of the crowd that had gathered in the dining area. She eyed a great many of them with eyes filled with prospect; Many were of the foreign type, and they surely had technologies to offer her. She eyed the Bathosians, and the apparent robot talking to the one he called Doctor. What a strange group, she mused to herself awaiting an answer from the child.

[Enigma]

"Is what true?" Butterfly asked, blinking up at Helena curiously. Master Hand nodded slightly, and one of the bodyguard monks, a plump fellow who moved with light grace that belied his bulk, stepped up beside Butterfly and bowed.

"Please excuse this worthless one," he said, bowing his head. "Perhaps I may be of assistance? The Wanderer, you see, is the Great Innocent, who asks the questions we assume we already know."
"What?" Butterfly frowned, turning to look at the monk. "What is 'innocent'?"
"You are," the monk told her, bowing slightly, then smiled at Helena. "As you can see."

Butterfly frowned, completely lost.


"My module?!?" Dr. Thorne yelped when Daniel mentioned it. "Captain, I'm engaging in vital research down there! I must insist on inspecting the module immediately!"

"Captain, we can't let an unescorted man down there, we haven't found the intruders yet!"

"Doctor Thorne," Schizo said politely in a smooth, even tone, with his fingers pursed together in front of him, "would you like me to escort you to the cargo hold? I would like to continue our conversation on the way down, if you will."

"Yes! Thank you! You see, I won't be going down there alone! I'd be going with him!" Dr. Thorne beamed.

"Well, I don't know..." the Captain began.

"Well, this is more excitement than I usually see most nights," Jason Parker sighed, hauling himself upright. He paused for a moment, swaying slightly, then managed a slight bow. "My dear, it was wonderful to meet you, but I'm afraid I may have started the celebrations a little bit too early today. I shall contact your staff sometime tomorrow about that interview. Good evening to you all!"

With a smile on his rosy cheeks and a carefree wave, the retired journalist headed off towards his cabin.

Captain Sharp grunted, staring after him. "A rare early night!"

"Sir, about Doctor Thorne...?"
"I'm sure your men have everything in hand, Chief. Dr. Thorne, I'll let you and the robot go down on my authorization. See to it."
"Well, I suppose you two should come with me!" the Chief of Security said, unhappily.

[Azazeal849]

Seeing Parker suddenly get up from the table and shrug on his coat, Daniel crossed the room to intercept te reporter as he began to move unsteadily towards the door.

"You're leaving so soon?" he asked, injecting a note of surprise into his voice.

Parker nodded, his face flushed with alcohol. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to call it a night."

"Ah." Daniel said, and prised something small and black free from the bottom of his omni with a thumbnail. "Very well, Mr Parker. I hope that we shall meet again soon."

He shook Parker's hand. An eye for detail had revealed to him a small hole in the lining of Parker's coat, and as he used his other hand to steady the inebriated reporter, he dropped the small black something into it. The tiny microphone disappeared into the gap between the coat's inner and outer lining.

"Goodnight." Daniel said with a friendly nod, and went back to his table.

[Aureyon]

Helena nodded at having her suspicions confirmed; Now that she had seen the Wanderer with her own eyes, she could find it more believable. Nevertheless, it seemed that she had arrived at an opportune time. If she had been listening correctly, there was some action in the lower areas of the ship; something concerning this "Doctor Thorne", and something he had in the cargo hold. She took this as her signal to leave, as it seemed the dinner that had been planned was not going to happen.

"Well, thank you for confirming my suspicions. I appreciate your time.", Helena gave a formal bow to the assembled group and then turned towards the exit.

Let's hope it will be easier to find my way back to my cabin than it was to get to it in the first place., she thought to herself as she made her way to the exit of the Constellation Dining Room. Despite the fact that events seemed to be escalating at a progressively slow rate, she felt that it was best to stay out of it for the time being; Seeing as it didn't involve her.

However, on her way out of the dining room, she managed to plow into a man (Jackson), and she looked up in suprise, "Forgive Me, I hadn't meant to do that", a slight hint of a blush crept into her cheeks as the warm sensation of embarrassment flooded her body.

[Black]

Gabriel retrieved his bag of magic tricks and made his way with the bustling crowds towards his assigned quarters. It took him the better part of thirty minutes to make it to the crews quarters he was assigned to. Room S. 241. Opening the door to the room and throwing his back on the bed Gabriel took stock of his surroundings. A business class cabin offered moderate comfort, with a couch and a T.V. nestled nicely in the corner, a full queen bed at the north end of the cabin, a sizable bathroom and a closet for storage. Gabriel noticed a control panel by the door and walked over to it.

"Hmm, not bad," he murmured running his hands over the smooth computer inlay and sleek design. Immediately Gabriel went over to his bag of toys and opened it, pulling out a set of old-fashioned lock picks, a jimmy for hi-jacking cars, and a high-tech looking PDA with several cords hanging out of it. Poking his head out of the hall Gabriel checked up and down. He noticed no one in the hallway and stepped calmly out, sliding up to room S 240 directly across from him. Knocking rather loudly he waited for a reply. When he got none he slid the door open and stepped inside. It was exactly identical to his down to the last detail, including the computer control panel.

He stepped over to the panel and slid his hand along the underside until it connected very briefly with a welcome feel. Getting on his knees he squished himself under the console and set to work taking apart the maintenance hatch with his set of lock picks. Four minutes later and it popped off with a satisfied click. Gabriel took his PDA and nestled it securely into the computer system, hooking it up to the motherboard and then putting the console backing back in place. This complete he slid out of the room and back into his.

After putting away those specific toys Gabriel looked at his furnishings with a critical eye and stepped over to them. He lifted the couch easily and began a spot inspection of any bugs within the furnishings. Afterwards he checked the T.V. and followed through for the rest of the humble abode. When he found nothing Gabriel pulled out a sniffer which detected and sorted all manner of video-audio listening devices as well as a number of other types of sensors.

Gabriel listened to and watched the machine for a couple of minutes before giving a satisfied grunt and laying it on the bed. Afterwards he took out all his toys and dumped them rather carelessly and unceremoniously onto the bed. Pocketing a handful, in the case of Gabriel's massive hand it was more like two handfuls, and grabbing up his slim jim and lock picks Gabriel slouched out of his stolen clothing and slipped on his touristy garb.

Having left his apartment Gabriel moved very casually along the systems byways until he was standing casually before two armed guards who looked at the man in front of them quizzically.

"Sir, this part of the ship is restricted, you may go no further," one stated in a surly voice.

Gabriel made no motion to leave, just continued to stare at the two.

"Sir, you need to leave now," the same surly man stated again, this time more forcefully and stepping forward. He stepped forward again with a threatening gesture, drawing a stun baton at his waist and pointing it at Gabriel.

"Move little man," Gabriel growled, stepping forward with surprising speed and catching the guards hand before it could come down and touch him with the baton. Gabriel squeezed the hand very forcefully and felt it begin to crack before letting go and dropping the man to his knees with a quick jab to the solar plexus. Then he stepped back and raised his arms, dropping to his knees as the second guard advanced on him with a taser.

Gabriel received an unpleasant shock and arched forward, forced to the ground by an unseen guard who had advanced on him. In moments he was in cuffs and lead into the room the other two guards had denied him access to, taking him to a senior officer-- and incidentally closer to the Wanderer

[Enigma]

"Sir, a passenger just tried to assault us outside the Constellation Dining Room," panted the first guard into his wrist omni.
"Got it on camera. You just had to use the taser on him, huh?"
"Last time that girl was on board, the steward who went crazy kept fighting after being hit by a bass stunner, sir."
"I'm dispatching two men to your location. Once they arrive, escort our friend down to Sick Bay to get checked out before bringing him to the Security Office. Then we're gonna have a little talk about that toy of yours."


Junkai was helping himself at the buffet table with plates in both left hands when Penny suddenly tugged on his right ancillary arm, making him squawk in alarm. "<Child, can we not stop for food?>"

Penny glared at him, then pointed at the Wanderer's table.
"<This cannot wait?>" Junkai wailed, then reared away when she glared up at him. "<...If such is your wish, then I shall pass for the moment on my repast.>"

He put his plate down on the buffet table, shrugging at the human server nervously. "Sorry I, go must I!"

Penny grabbed his primary right arm and began dragging him towards the Captain's table.


The Chief of Security started to lead the way for SCHIZO and Dr. Thorne when he suddenly paused, listening intently before returning back to the Captain's table, giving Helena and Jackson an annoyed look as he stepped around them.

"Captain, someone just tried to assault two guards in the hallway. It may be nothing, but I believe it would be best if we send the Wanderer back to her cabin under escort, then lock down the corridor."

"Is something happening?" Butterfly asked, looking worriedly at Daniel and the monks.

"No, just a lot of butt covering," sighed the captain, tossing his napkin onto the table. He blinked and smiled warmly at the blue alien being dragged towards the table by a dark-haired human girl. "Greetings, my friend! Well, you saved us a trip!"

"Beylix return we?" Junkai asked, his ears pricking up. Penny paused, glancing around the table with a frown.
"No, just your cabin. Might be a problem, don't know yet."
"Eaten not have I," the blue alien slumped.
"Let the steward know, they'll take care of you as you go through the kitchen. Say, who is this young lady?"
"Eh? Penny!" Junkai winced as the girl stomped on his right fore instep. "I... promised a friend I'd see her to Earth."
"Doesn't talk much, does she?"
"Dread day sure to be," Junkai muttered sourly, glancing down at her.

"Well, we'll all go together. Chief, give me a report on both situations as soon as you can. My dears, would you be interested in a quick tour of our kitchen, followed by a tour of the service elevator?"

[Azazeal849]

Daniel looked at Butterfly, who just gave a shy smile and shrugged.

"Why not?" he said to the captain, clasping his hands, and pretending to be ignorant of the fact that stealing out through the kitchens was a shrewd move by the captain to keep Butterfly out of harm's way. With the corner of his eye he watched Schizo and Dr Thorne hurry out of the door, followed a few moments later by the Athenian woman in the green toga.

A strange woman to be sure, but not a spy. A spy would have been more subtle. Probably not worth worrying about unless she starts turning up in places she shouldn't.

As the woman bumped into someone going the other way, Daniel glanced one last time at the Botah and its Santosian escorts before following the others through into the kitchens behind the main dining tables. The room beyond was hot, and busy with chefs in white aprons who were shouting updates to each other as they laboured to get food from several different planets out for the ongoing buffet. Daniel took in details out of habit as the captain began to show them around. This chef was married and possibly from the planet Lilac, judging by the tattoo of a native simivulpa on his arm. That chef was left-handed, judging by the plaster over a knife cut on her right thumb.

As they threaded round the edge of the cooking area, past a chef who was grilling fish while another tossed a vegetable medley in a giant wok, Daniel found himself next to Junkai and his mute apprentice.

"Did you say you were travelling all the way to Earth, master Junkai?" he asked - partly to make conversation, and partly to satisfy his own curiosity. "Are you not...well, forgive me, a wanted man there?"