I try to put on a reassuring face, but the prospect of
having strangers in my ship bothers me. 
I have already begun running thorough background checks on the two
arbiters and they seem acceptable, but I cannot help thinking this is the final
step in some elaborate trick by Khal… it
kind of makes sense, at least.

As the small docking craft with the arbiters and their
sensor equipment approach, the main one begins interacting with me via
neural.  I reluctantly give him clearance
and the ship docks.  After they pass
through the security airlock, I lead them via neural to the main room, Sol and
Danther in the makeshift operations area.

“Greetings, racers,” says man with a blonde mustache and a
somewhat bored expression, he accompanied by a younger, more eager compatriot
with an exited air.  “My name is Tavin
Jorr.  I will be your onboard senior
arbiter and this is Miln Hornsvether, junior arbiter,” he says as he looks
around.  “Hmm, cozy,” he adds, before Sol
has a chance to speak.  “Traditional,
single plane layout—that’s inefficient, but well suited for first flyers.”

“Excuse me?” I ask over comm., indignant at the man’s
indecent bluntness.

“Hm, that’ll be the ship’s A.I. then?  What mod—.”

“I’m not the ship’s A.I.,
Tavin; the ship is mine.”

“It sounds as though your A.I. has personality,” he says with a grin.

“I—,” I begin, but then growl, annoyed.  I manifest before him. 

He looks at me, letting out a patronizing little “hm.”

I kick him in the shin.

The man spews a litany of profanity I filter away.  He stumbles after me, but I dissolve the
hologram.  The other man tries to speak
up, but Tavin, furious and unable to find me, rounds on Sol, pushing his way
through the overgrown path, bamboo creaking. 
The other one—Miln—rushes in front of Tavin, putting a hand on the older
man’s chest.  Tavin tries to get past
him, but Miln shoves him.  “Do you have any idea where we are, you
idiot?” Miln asks in a terse whisper, Sol and Danther staring in
bewilderment.

Tavin’s eyes widen. 
“How dare—!”

“This is the ENS
Legacy—bloody Alexander Reynard’s
ship.”

The man freezes and I reappear.  “I’m glad someone
has manners at least.”

Tavin stars at me. 
“I’m so sorry, Soma—the Soma—I…
I didn’t know!  I—.”

“Just maybe try not to be such a… a…,” I say, waving my hand
like the humans do.

“Dick?” Sol asks.

I turn around, narrowing my eyes.  “Sol, language.”

He smirks.

When I turn back, Tavin’s right in front of me, inspecting
me; I take a jerky step back, uncomfortable. 

“I—oh, sorry!”

Completely weirded out now, I disappear again, content to
watch without being ogled. 

The four talk as the two arbiters set up their scanning
devices and Sol fabricates seats for the guests, Miln telling everyone how the
junior arbiters had set up a bidding war to see who could be on this ship.  Tavin, meanwhile takes on an almost reverent
aura, though only barely follows along as Danther and Miln chatter about the
ship, I having to contact Danther via neural several times to keep him from sharing
anything too important in his zeal.  I—.

“Soma?” Sol asks,
a silent question made audible to me through neural. 

“Yeah?”

“Well, for one,
there’s a lot about you and this ship I didn’t realize,” he says with mild,
amused accusation.

“I… well….”

“Don’t worry about it,”
he says, warm.  “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah.”  I smile. 
He can feel it.  “I like people.”

[NOT HER PERSPECTIVE]

“You shouldn’t trust
him, Sol,” a voice says over neural.

I open my eyes to blackness, the room remaining dark despite
my commands otherwise. 

“Who is this?” I
ask back, hand clasping the pistol under my pillow.

“Look to your left.”

Despite myself, I do and see noth—.  No… a small speck—far beyond….  I zoom and…. 
“W…walnut?”

“The A.I. inside, nugget, and I do wish you would stop
calling my ship that,” she—she—says,
a little annoyed.

That voice.

“What would you like
me to call the ship?”

She pauses.  “I’m not sure.”

“It doesn’t have a
name?”

“It does,” she
replies, this time contemplative.  “I just don’t wish to share it yet.”

“What about you, then?”

“I don’t want to share
my name, either.”

“Okay, Voice,”
I answer.  I… I already think I recognize
the voice, but… well sometimes you let….

“What?” she says,
but sounds a little amused.

“Well you were Walnut—your
ship was Walnut—when all I had to go on was stories.  Now I have a voice.”  I make reflexive gesture she probably can’t
see—then again, the lights in my room won’t work, so who knows.  “Voice,” I conclude, mind getting back on
point.

I can almost feel her in my mind—like a guest AI—rolling her
eyes at me.  “I like you, Sol.  You remind me
of someone.”

“Do I?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you
someday.”  She pauses again, somehow
both amused and serious.  “That is another secret.”

I don’t know what to say. 

“You and Danther,”
she says, voice trailing off. 

“Yeah?”

“You’re… friends,
right?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh… okay.”  She grows silent for a minute.  “Can…?  I just wanted to know…?”

“‘Can an A.I. have
friends?’” I offer.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t see why not,”
I say, laying back as I think.  “No—purge that—they absolutely can.”

“I—o-okay!” she
says, voice bubbling with joy. 

I laugh. 

“What?”

“Oh, it’s just you
remind me of someone too, is all.”

“Who?”

“A little girl I used
to know.  Her name was Luna.”

“You’re very nice,
Sol,” she says and I look up out of habit, realizing there’s no one
there.  I relax again.

“Why’s that?”

“You told me your
name, even though I won’t tell you mine. 
You told me about who I reminded you of, even though I wouldn’t say who
you reminded me of.”  She
pauses.  “I’m sorry, it’s just—.”

“Don’t worry about it,”
I say, laughing a little.  “Sometimes it’s good to keep secrets.”

“Like how you and
Danther were hiding from the bad man—Mr. Khal?”

I look up again and, again, realize there’s no one to look
at.  “How
do you know Khal?”

“He’s tried to get in
my ship over a dozen times,” she says, sounding afraid.

“That man terrifies me,”
I whisper, truth of the words heavy.

“Me too,” she
says, the words almost a whisper.  “He tried to cut his way in and I defended
myself.  After that, he tried to destroy
me.”

“Well, he didn’t
succeed,” I say, warm with pride.  “Good for you.”

 “Yeah.”  She laughs, but it
dies away.  “He’s lost interest for now, but I don’t think he’s the type to let
things go.”

I chuckle, but it also fades quickly.  “Yeah,
that’s the truth of it.”

She is silent for a while. 
“I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“Don’t worry, Voice.”

“Stop calling me that!”
she says, but I can tell she doesn’t mean it.

“Sure thing, Voice.”

“Will you come see me
tomorrow?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Good, it’s just—well
you said….”

“That it might be the
last time I came back?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry.  Something happened and… well, our situation’s
different now.”

“Okay.”  She pauses. 
“Sol?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you not tell
anyone I was talking to you?”

“Why?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“You’re afraid, aren’t
you?”

“I …yeah.”

“Okay,” I say,
pausing.  “I won’t.”