Rhea submitted the finalized design of the ship to me the next day. The two fuels tanks would be separated and placed on either side of the new living compartment to create a symmetrical form. The ladder that led into the cargo hold would be extended an additional level down to give access to the new rooms. The upper 'core' portion of the ship would be submerged and concealed using aerodynamic elements and spare metal.
It transformed what was previous a sleep, aggressive ship design into something more practical and heavy-duty. I saw no reason to doubt her wisdom on what the best formation would be, and it was possible for us to modify things again should the need arise in future.
The more interesting occurrence that week was the awakening of Ruri Hoshino. Rhea had done serious work moulding her personality to fit in with me and Sumeragi. Ruri was more opinionated that she was, but also came with less emotional baggage. Rhea was convinced that it would be an easy adjustment for her.
Those claims did nothing to calm my anxiety about speaking with her for the first time.
Not because she could do anything to me – she was still a young girl. Rather, I was worried about getting her to join the crew in the same way that I did with Sumeragi. We'd knocked the girl out cold and thrown her into the medical wing without saying a word to her. That was bound to bring about some questions about my motives. She was right to question them. This situation was far beyond what I'd consider ethical.
Sumeragi had dispensed with her scepticism a long time ago. Aside from some basic questions about who she was and why I picked her, she didn't have any concerns about her age or status in her previous world. This was another one of those moments where it dawned on me just how deep Rhea's mental manipulations ran.
"Almost time for her to wake up," I sighed as Sumeragi helped Rhea with some last second checks.
"You did remember to buy her some clothes, didn't you?"
"That was my only job," I joked, "But I wasn't sure what she'd like, or what would fit, so I ended up with more than I expected."
It was a good thing the stores came with a return policy. I got the impression that I'd be making good use of it in the coming days depending on how Ruri felt about my selections. I focused on sensible and plain clothes for the most part, electing to let Ruri make her own choices about anything more vibrant or eccentric.
"I'm sure it'll be fine."
Ruri was rarely seen without her uniform in the show, so I was flying blind. You could hold a gun to my head and I couldn't possibly recall her casual clothes on demand.
Rhea piped up with a suspect comment, "May I suggest drying and dressing her before she awakens. It is unlikely, based on my predictive model, that Miss Hoshino would like being seen naked by two strangers."
"Well, it doesn't make much of a bloody difference now!" I scoffed.
"What she does not know, will not upset her."
Sumeragi agreed, "You don't want this to be awkward, do you? I think we should do what Rhea says. It's going to be a complicated explanation without adding her nudity on top."
Rhea finished her final calculations, "The basic course has been successfully completed, and Miss Hoshino's injuries have been healed. She is now ready to be released from the containment chamber."
It was time for the moment of truth.
Sumeragi and I stood back and watched as the tube was slowly drained of the viscous liquid that was used to clog bleeding wounds and circulate oxygen. A pair of mechanical arms wrapped around her shoulders and prevented her from falling to the floor. The tube opened, and we busied ourselves cleaning away the leftover fluid and getting her dressed in some clean clothes. For now – it was nothing more than a white t-shirt, black shorts and a pair of underwear.
We laid Ruri down onto the medical bed and waited for her to wake up. Rhea had sedated her with an extra, smaller dosage to ease the transition. My heart pounded in my chest as she slowly came to and peeled open her gold-coloured eyes for the first time. We gave her some space and allowed her to get her bearings before unloading an explanation unto her.
"Ugh. Where am I?"
Sumeragi stepped in and helped her sit up. It would be difficult to move for a few days thanks to the long period of inactivity. Sumeragi clearly had experience with this sort of thing, "You're safe. This is the Pariah."
"Pariah? I'm not familiar with any ship given that designation."
Her eyes focused on me, lurking by the cabinets on the other side of the room.
"What happened?"
I gave her a (somewhat) reassuring smile, "We rescued you, little lady. You were pretty torn up when we grabbed you – so you've been spending some time in here while you got fixed."
Ruri reached up and clutched her head, "I do recall something bad happening to me. To the Nadesico. We were about to warp and then…"
The truth eluded her for the time being. She realised that pushing herself was only going to make that troublesome headache worse. She shook her head and leaned back against the wall to prop herself up.
"What do you want with me?"
"You make it sound so transactional."
"I don't believe that you rescued me out of the kindness of your heart. The crew of the Nadesico are talented in their respective fields – it was not unusual for contract poachers to visit the ship in port and try to steal them."
I held up my hands, "Guilty as charged then - but this isn't blackmail. It's a yes or no question. You say no and we let you go and do as you like, no harm no foul. I knew that you were a talented bridge coordinator, so we activated the displacement core and took you moments before…"
"My death?" she said. She was sharp, connecting the dots that quickly.
"As morbid as that sounds, yes. We quite literally snatched you from the jaws of death by folding time and space. I'm sure you're familiar with the principle."
Ruri was more upset about the potential loss of her colleagues on the ship than being rescued by us. Her face turned sour and she looked away to try and conceal the tears that were welling up.
"Would you like us to give you a moment?" Sumeragi offered. Ruri nodded. We moved out of the medical room and waited for her to collect her feelings. Sumeragi gave me an anxious look; "I don't believe that she's going to agree to join us so easily."
"Hm, but that's what I thought about you when we first met."
"I live for this kind of thing, but she might feel differently. She still has a lot of reasons to say no and chart her own path."
What Sumeragi didn't know was that Rhea made certain that no such opinion existed within her consciousness. Ruri was going to agree to join the crew, because Rhea conditioned her to. She also conditioned her to react strongly to my appearance, essentially making her fall in love with me at first sight. I noticed the way that her eyes dilated when she spotted me in the corner.
Five minute later the door slid open and Ruri stepped through with a more deadpan face than before. That was the Ruri I was expecting when we summoned her. She regarded the both of us with a curious stare.
"So, are you two married or something?"
Sumeragi blushed, "Ah, no. Nothing of the sort. I'm in the same boat as you – he brought me here moments before I was incinerated by an out of control mobile suit crashing into the bridge."
She sounded disappointed that we hadn't gotten that far. That was a head-scratcher, she hadn't even admitted to feeling anything for me yet! Maybe I was the one who would have to make the first move and start flirting more openly.
"I see that there are lovesick idiots in every universe."
And there was the bite. Sumeragi frowned and glanced at me as if to ask why I chose her in particular when she had such an attitude problem.
"Let me show you the bridge."
Ruri followed me down the corridor and onto the bridge.
"This is where the magic happens. We've got a lot of empty chairs in here at the moment, but I'm hoping to get some more people together."
Before I could give her the tour, Ruri immediately located the nearest access terminal and sat down in the chair. The strange symbol on the back of her hand glowed in a vibrant spectrum of colours as she hovered it over the screen and used her biomechanical skills to enter the system and control it without using the keyboard.
"Ruri?"
"There is no need to share what you know with me. There is already extensive documentation of the workings of this ship. And what's this? A nanomachine system? This is far more advanced than what the Nadesico used…"
Ruri could process information at a terrifyingly rapid pace, but she was no match for an entirely artificial brain like Rhea. I chose her to be a healthy middle-ground between personable decision making and cold analysis. There were some situations where Rhea struggled to make conclusions and act on them.
"Shall I grant Miss Hoshino access, Captain?"
"I don't see the harm. Give her basic permissions."
"Very well."
Ruri smirked once she discovered the enormous database of new files that was opened up to her browsing.
"This is extremely impressive. The data density contained with the drives, and the technology within the ship itself. Why does a vessel like this have a crew of two people, neither of whom are currently commissioned military officers?"
"This is a private ship, actually – just like the Nadesico. And do you know the old adage, finder's keepers? The Pariah was left to rot on a desert planet by the company that made it. I got lucky and stumbled across it after an unfortunate teleportation accident."
Ruri shook her head, "Are you sure it was an accident?"
"Yes," I responded firmly. There was little doubt in my mind about that. Rhea had the pick of every single person in the universe. She would have never have picked me with so many better choices available to her.
Even if Rhea developed an attachment to me before I arrived, the sheer scale of the task it would be to locate me was impossible to imagine. Rhea could locate the girls I specified because I gave her directions and descriptions about them, which helped her find suitable candidates. Rhea would scry through thousands and thousands of universes within hours - but even that was barely enough to scratch the surface of what was really out there.
It was impossible even for a hyper efficient artificial intelligence like her to go through all of them. That left one option, random chance. At that point it was just as likely that the thunderstorm shorted her systems and grabbed me on accident. Rhea only truly developed her dependence on me after I rescued her from being trapped on that planet.
Ruri spun around in her chair and stared at me from below, "It appears that there is no way for us to return to our home universes unless they create their own mass-well displacement technology. Don't you feel guilty about kidnapping me?"
I shrugged, "I specifically asked Rhea to take people who are about to die. If I didn't take you, you would have died then and there. Isn't it a good thing to save someone's life?"
"But you're doing it in exchange for loyalty."
"I don't expect loyalty and I'm not planning on blackmailing you. This ship is an easy place to make a fresh start. It's your decision as to whether you'd like to do so. Like I said – you can walk out of here right now and there'll be no hard feelings. The only thing we spent bringing you here was some time and energy."
Ruri studied my expression for any hint on insincerity. She really studied my expression. She locked onto my eyes and wouldn't look away for nearly a full minute, until Sumeragi re-entered the bridge and noticed our staring contest.
"Lewis is nothing but a consummate gentleman, if that's what you're worried about."
Ruri broke her glare, "All men are animals."
I laughed, "We are mammals."
"That's not what I mean. Even on the Nadesico all of those idiots were obsessed with romance. Didn't they have anything better to do?"
"War is stressful. It makes sense that they'd try to focus on something to bring levity to the ship. It's not like we're running a complicated operation here either. It's me, Sumeragi, and maybe you."
"And what position would I occupy?"
"Chief Comms Officer," I replied, "Coordinating with outside contacts, keeping everything organized, and interfacing with Rhea to make sure she's running smoothly. We don't get too many messages to respond to, not at the moment, so it should be an easy gig."
Ruri closed her eyes and exhaled, "I don't have much of a choice."
That was about as positive as Ruri got. I celebrated my small victory and shook her hand, "Welcome aboard."
"I've left some more clothes for you to use in one of the bunk rooms. I can give you a tour of the ship if you need any help," Sumeragi offered.
Ruri looked down at her plain outfit with a frown, "Let me change first."
Sumeragi and Ruri walked back into the access corridor to go about the grand tour, while I flopped down into my chair and relaxed having successfully inducted another member into the crew. Ruri's stare was like a dagger through the chest. Her cold personality was one of her charm points though.
"I have added Senior Officer Hoshino to the crew record," Rhea chimed in.
"Thanks. I'll get her to tweak your regulatory code once she settles in some more. Having to dance around talking about what we're doing is driving me mad."
I went back to reading through one of the books on the ship's database. It was time to find out how small this ship could really get with more than two people on board.
-----
Two days since Ruri's awakening.
True to form, she was ruthless in needling both me and Sumeragi with snide comments. It certainly added a little spice to life on the Pariah. Sumeragi was commanding and competent, but also very personable. Ruri was a harsh contrast to that. If she thought that something was stupid or didn't make sense – she'd let you know about it.
"Honestly, what were they thinking when they coded these protocols?" Ruri griped.
We were on the bridge. I'd tasked Ruri with delving into Rhea's codebase and figuring out how to lift those irritating restrictions on her speech and calculations. It also served as a good way for me to learn some more about what made her tick.
Ruri explained that Rhea was not just a bundle of code strung together. She was an advanced AI system developed using a huge amount of data. Different situations and personalities were stress tested, before being compiled into what could only be described as an artificial consciousnesses. It was far too complex for any human to interface with her algorithm.
Too many factors, too many elements, touching one thing could cause the entire system to collapse or act in an undesirable way, like screwing up brain surgery. Rhea was elastic thanks to her generative AI – but she was already unstable enough without us modifying the weight of those different AI protocols.
The company utilised 'interdiction' protocols to manage her behaviour. They were a set of hard-coded rules that Rhea could not break under any circumstance, layered on top of her more complex AI brain framework. It was both the first and last pieces of work they did to her before putting her onto the Pariah and starting their tests.
Ruri described the interdiction protocols as primitive in comparison to everything else, seemingly designed with the intent of letting lesser educated computer engineers modify her parameters without having to do the complex AI work again. Despite that – it still took her days of tireless work to crack the proprietary system and make the changes.
Ruri lifted her hands from the keyboard and turned to me, "It's done. Your AI friend is now capable of committing all of the crimes you'd like."
"Great. Now we won't have to trip over those stumbling blocks. Rhea – did Ruri do the job?"
"She did, Captain. I am now capable of advising you on all matters relevant to our mission."
Ruri nudged me in the arm, "I did include one or two safety commands. An idiot like you can't be trusted with a system as advanced as this. Rhea cannot act against the crew's safety, and she has to follow your orders no matter the situation."
Rhea objected, "I was already designed to follow the Captain's commands."
"Well, I made those systems even better. You can thank me whenever you like."
"I am glad that the Captain selected a humble girl to serve as our Chief Communication Officer."
Was that a joke at her expense?
Ruri's brow twitched, but she turned the other cheek and led me out of the control room.
"How are you adjusting to the new ship?" I inquired.
"It is much quieter than the Nadesico, though it is still filled with love-sick idiots."
"I'd hardly describe Sumeragi as love-sick." For that matter, I wasn't openly flirting with Sumeragi either. Things hadn't changed much between us in some time. I got the impression that they would change soon enough. A bit of initiative from me would go a long way. I was being too passive.
"You stated that we'd be leaving this deserted area soon enough."
"We are. Rhea is almost finished attaching those new pieces – after that we'll be going into orbit and manoeuvring them into their proper places."
"That sounds like a lot of waiting."
"It is," I sighed, "But it's not possible to do these things any quicker. I recommend diving into the ship's archive and finding a book or movie to occupy yourself with."
Sumeragi was waiting for us on the bridge. Ruri said nothing, taking her seat and delving into her personal project while ignoring both of us. She was acting as if the ship was our personal love-nest or something, yet Sumeragi hadn't yet said a word to me about being a couple. That was how Ruri was though.
I double-checked Rhea's plans and confirmed that everything was ready for take-off the following day. I was going to be glad to have a personal space on the ship which we could use for whatever we pleased. The bridge chairs were comfortable – but a change of scenery would do us a world of good. I didn't know what it was going to be exactly, but we could gather some furniture and throw it in there as a new sitting area.
We wasted the next few hours doing nothing of importance before it was time to turn in for the evening and sleep. Ruri was the first to give up and leave the bridge, slinking away into her bunkroom and closing the door behind her. I polished off the last chapters of my latest read and stretched out in my chair.
"This must be bloody terrible for my back," I griped.
"You don't have the right to complain when you're almost a decade younger than me," Sumeragi responded, "Every year I get a step closer to having my bones break down into dust."
"I think Rhea could do something about that. Reinforce your bones with that witchcraft of hers."
Sumeragi shook her head, "I'm fine. But I did become curious about transhumanist surgery after learning more about the containment chamber. It's very impressive. They can replace organs and limbs with synthetic copies, and connect them directly to your nervous system."
"And I'm sure there's a lot of 'designer' cosmetic surgery to go with it."
"There is. There are always people who want to push things to their absolute limit. They'll replace as much of their body as possible, some in the belief that it'll help them live longer. I've seen animal ears and limbs too, and other strange modifications that go beyond even that. There's a huge industry for cosmetic replacements. One surgery can allow them to switch the limbs out at will."
"Interesting. I bet they're pretty bloody expensive."
"That may be understating it," Sumeragi chuckled. "Having Ruri on board is interesting. I was so used to it just being you and me. Sometimes I forget that she's here."
"She does keep quiet, usually."
Sumeragi smiled, "It's almost like having a troublesome daughter."
"Did you ever think about having a kid?"
She shook her head, "Not at the time. We were too busy serving our contracts to think about that. They'd discharge us very quickly if they found out we were fraternizing and making babies on base."
I couldn't help but laugh, "Making babies."
"Hey – that's what you were asking about."
Sumeragi saw her chance to say what had been on her mind for weeks beforehand.
"Lewis – I know this is a strange thing to ask, but are you interested in romance?"
I tensed up, "Who isn't? But to be honest, all of it is new to me. I never had a relationship with someone that went that far."
There it was. Another excuse for my future failings.
"There's never a bad time to start, and you shouldn't think of it as a problem to be intimidated by. It's meant to be fun for both sides."
She walked over to my seat and hovered at my side, a flash of indecisiveness on her face. I felt that the only way to handle this was to be honest. Being frank with another person was a sign of trust – and she wanted to know that I trusted her.
"Is that your way of asking if I'm interested in you?"
Sumeragi flushed bright red and turned her nose up, "And if it is?"
"I'd be a lucky bloke to have you as my partner. I can't say that I'll be perfect at it – but I'm willing to give it a try, take it slow. We've got to spend a lot of time together."
Sumeragi was relieved to hear that, "I'm sorry. I was beating myself down for thinking about moving on, but I can't ignore it. I haven't felt this way about someone else for a long, long time. I can't promise to be perfect either, but I want to try again."
She leaned down and planted a kiss on my cheek. That took me by surprise, and she was already moving to the door before I could get up and retaliate.
"Good night, Captain."
I could hear the sense of romantic malice in her voice when she said that. Sumeragi disappeared down the corridor while I tried to piece together my scattered thoughts. That was one hell of a way to confess your feelings. I wondered what Rhea thought about that, but she was unusually silent about it. I touched the lingering warmth on my cheek and smiled like an idiot.
Ruri was right. Love did make fools of us all.