DMARC Fun

DMARC Fun

MJV

My Blog ~ DMARC Fun

 

One of the biggest problems newsletter authors have is their handily crafted periodicals ending up in the Spam folder or otherwise marked as less desirable. We depend on a relationship of trust and reliability with our members. Ending up in their Spam folder or with our messages marked as unsafe is a catastrophe for us.

We have thankfully been given tools to help prevent that. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. For those of us who have full control over their hosting, it is trivial to insert entries for each of these into our Zone settings, verifying our domain to the global email transit system. A trusted email is less likely to find its way to the Spam folder or worse. 

However, the settings can be tricky when dealing with the tolerances of various mail systems. For instance, Google is notorious for labeling legit emails as “Dangerous.” I had set my ASPF and ADKIM to Strict, and it appears that Google didn’t like that, especially when it came to emails generated by MailerLite. Despite the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings passing exhaustive and exhausting validation tests, Google found an anomalous reason to reject my SPF setting. Suddenly, emails going to Gmail accounts from me were marked as a malicious threat. 

I actually had to relax my settings for ASPF and ADKIM to “Relaxed” to get around this Gmail rubbish. I wanted Strict for higher trustworthiness and Google didn’t like it. Since easily half of my current subscribers are on Gmail, what Gmail wants is what they get if I hope to send emails to my friends there, even if it’s less restrictive. Who would have thunk Gmail was light on security? 

This is just a little look into the razor’s edge that we must balance on to do business on the internet and communicate with you. Continuous and constant tweaking as mail handlers frequently change. But sharing my universe with you is worth the extra effort. 

Crow Rewrite Book 1 Hook Chapter

Crow Rewrite Book 1 Hook Chapter

Crow

Book 1

 

“Hurry up!” Steven looked back over his shoulder, jumping over a last pile of weed-covered bricks into the alley. He turned and threw up his hands in frustration. “Paul! Why are you so slow?” He watched impatiently while his friend clambered over a pile of bricks from a demolished building, dislodging debris that clattered loudly into the alley. Steven grimaced at the cacophonous noise, looking up and down the alley hoping no one noticed.

“You’re the one who wanted to go the back way,” Paul grumbled. He hopped off the last pile of broken concrete, and patted dust off his pants. “There. Easy.”

Steven sighed and looked ahead down the alley. They had just barely avoided the gang waiting for him at the front of Dmitri’s library. But for how long? “We need to hurry.”

“Why? They didn’t see us.”

Steven scowled, looking back the way they came. “I think they may be… it feels like they’re at the back door too.”

“No way. You can sense them already?”

“Yeah. I’m a freak, remember? But I don’t know if it’s them. I hope it’s not them.” Steven picked his way down the alley, then stopped. Paul bumped into him. Steven glanced at him, irritated, then returned his attention down the alley.

“What?”

“He’s there. He knows.” Steven made a face, kicking at a clump of weeds. So much for sneaking to the library. His enemy was closing in around him. A slight movement in the weeds and overgrowth beside the alley distracted him and he groaned, wiping his face. “Oh no. Not again. No! Go away!” Steven whisper-yelled. “This so isn’t happening now.”

A trio of raccoons emerged from the underbrush and sat on their haunches, staring at him. He heard more coming in from the sparsely forested field behind the rubble. Steven rolled his eyes and gave Paul an exasperated look. “Everyone is already making fun of me about the animals.”

“Those critters used to be your best-kept secret. Now it’s out there for everyone to see.” Paul chortled, shaking his head. 

“I’m not doing it on purpose,” Steven said defensively, holding his hands out. “How can I make friends now? Everyone thinks I’m some sort of freaky animal whisperer now.”

“I’m your friend.” Paul held a hand up. Steven gave him a sideways glance then continued trying to shoo the raccoons away.

Paul looked up the tall, weathered, brick wall of the building they were skulking past. Dmitri’s library.  It was a good twenty feet up, a two-story commercial building similar to the rest that bordered the small town city square. He pursed his lips contemplatively. Steven noticed.

“No. Not even, just no. They already think I’m a hopeless freak. I’m not jumping up there.”

“They’d never expect it.”

Steven looked back the way they had come, pushing Paul further down the alley. “They’re coming that way now. They know we went this way.”

“Impossible. I watched them when we snuck across the street,” Paul said.

“You watched them?” Steven looked at Paul, incredulous.

Paul didn’t answer.

“You are nothing more than a figment of my imagination, dork.” Steven snapped. He glared at Paul, scowling. “I don’t know why I dreamed you up in the first place. Four years and what have you done for me?”

“I’m not a dork,” Paul said, subdued. He kicked at a clump of grass, dejected. “You’re still mad at me.”

“Ya think?” Steven snarked. He rubbed his face, considering his options. “I’m going to have to face him.”​

“He’s ticked.”

“Yeah.” Steven sighed, glancing up the library’s wall again. He was tempted. But things were already bad enough.

“Go ahead. Jump.” Paul goaded.

Steven looked up and down the alley. “There’s no plausible way up. They’d figure it out.”

“In their childish imagination, maybe.”

“I’m a child, moron!” Steven threw his hands up, exasperated. “Eleven years old and jumping up there? No. People would freak if an adult did it.”

“Nearly eleven. And if you want to make it to eleven, you’d jump,” Paul chided him.

“I can talk my way out of it. Like a normal kid.” He tried to sound confident but failed miserably. Sean wasn’t one to be trifled with. He glanced at the raccoons, noticing there were ten of them now. He could sense even more coming from the surrounding fields. “You guys are making it impossible for me.”

“He’s going to pound you. Then you’ll have to be a freak again.”

“I’m not going to fight him. Besides, Dmitri made me promise.” Steven glanced sideways at his imaginary companion. Tall, lanky, early teens, Steven could only guess Paul represented Brandon when he wasn’t around. His one real friend. But he hardly ever saw Brandon anymore. Sighing, Steven trudged down the alley toward the back entrance. The raccoons followed, keeping close to the underbrush.

“Maybe we could go through the front now?” Paul shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock down the alley. “If they’re going through the Pearson’s building.”

Steven looked at the rubble that used to be a flower shop. He had watched Mr. Pearson knocking it down with a backhoe recently. Perhaps he planned on building a larger, better store? He had no idea. Currently, it offered numerous hiding spots they could have used to avoid the gang. Shaking his head, he glanced up the alley. “It’s too late. They’ll be through the rubble any second now.”

A clatter of bricks and sheet metal confirmed his prediction. He looked back as three teens emerged from the rubble, hands in pockets as they casually walked into the alley. They all carried what looked like hefty sticks slung from their shoulders. Steven frowned. That was new. But then, they had experienced a bad encounter with the raccoons the last time he was bullied.

“Three of them.” Paul looked back at the teens following them. “That means only a couple watching the front of the library.”

“You are such a math wiz.” Steven gave Paul a sideways glance, hoping his imaginary friend recognized the sarcasm. “We’re surrounded. I can feel the rest hanging around the back parking area now.”

“You can take them,” Paul whispered, grinning mischievously.

Steven didn’t answer. He just glanced furtively at Paul and continued walking, even trying to casually kick a rock. It turned out to be a chunk of rebar sticking out of the pavement and he stumbled. The kids behind him snickered and Steven flushed, embarrassed.

“Smooth.” Paul laughed.

“Shush,” Steven said quietly, glancing back.

“Like they’re going to hear me?” Paul smirked and kicked his rock a few more paces down the alley. The echoing racket of it bouncing along grated on Steven’s already frayed nerves.

“Can you stop that? I’ve got a frickin poltergeist. That’s what you are,” Steven grumbled. He grimaced, realizing he said that loudly. The other kids had to have heard. “Crap.”

“I think they heard you,” Paul whispered, giggling. “Pretending to be normal isn’t working out so well, dude.”

One of the gangsters caught up with him and draped an arm over his shoulder, making Steven wince. “Hey Pied Piper, can I talk to your friend too? We can all be besties.”

Steven pursed his lips as he walked, trying not to jerk away from the bully. He found the chaotic jumble of thoughts he got through his touch disconcerting. Intrusive, even. But trying to get away would just trigger the bully even more. 

“He can play hopscotch with me.” The teen attempted to hop through a crudely drawn hopscotch pattern on the pavement while holding onto Steven.

“He? I was talking to your Mom,” Steven snarked. A button pushed, but Steven couldn’t resist.

“Oh, he’s funny,” the boy said through a clenched smile, squeezing Steven’s shoulders painfully.

“Stop that.” Steven glanced at him, squirming a little. It was then that he got an impression from him that the boy’s mother was fighting cancer and instantly regretted using her in their little game of tit-for-tat.

“Why? You gonna hurt me? Are your animal friends going to bite me again, Pied Piper?” The teen squeezed even harder while waving his stick. 

Yep, that button got pushed. He was just another button-push away from a brawl. Steven decided on another tactic. “I’ve got COVID.” He coughed, hoping to be convincing.

The boy glanced back at the other two who promptly covered their mouths with their shirts. He made a face, then returned his attention to Steven. “I’ve been pricked.” 

“You are a prick,” Steven said reflexively, daring to continue pushing buttons. He glanced up at the boy. “Unless you really like me. Do you really like me?”

“I think we’ll be besties.” The gangster shook Steven. It was not a friendly shake.

“That figures. Sean told you not to touch me, didn’t he?” Steven could see the memory clearly. He could also tell the bully was just moments away from delivering a gut-punch. No marks for Sean to see.

“He’s… he’d like to have a word with you.”

“Yeah. I gathered that.” Steven sighed. 

“Jake, there’s more of them,” one of the bullies said, sounding worried. He started tapping his stick on the pavement when the raccoons got too close.

Steven’s escort looked up and down the alley. There were at least thirty raccoons now. “Jesus, man. You really are a freak.” He gave Steven a wicked smile, jabbing his own stick on the concrete pavement. A raccoon scurried out of the way. “We came prepared this time.”

“I didn’t call them.” Steven squirmed under the Jake’s arm. “I didn’t call them last time either. They just came.”

“Sure. They just coincidentally hang out with you whenever we’re around.” He held up his stick-carrying arm, showing a nasty bite wound. “They did that. I had to get a rabies shot because of you.” 

Jake maintained his grip on Steven as they rounded the corner. Sean was sitting on the hood of a car. His? Steven wasn’t sure. But Sean was old enough. At least sixteen years old. Jake’s age. 

Sean pocketed his vape and hopped off the hood, letting out a puff of smoke. A gaggle of teenagers loitered around him, as if they were getting together for a friendly session of Hacky Sack. Steven got the impression he was the little bean-bag ball they were eager to kick around. Jake pushed him into the crowd.

Steven looked around and eyed the back door to the library as the gang gathered around him. Perhaps he could make a break for it? Someone pushed him. Not so hard as to knock him down, but it did make him stumble. Before he could recover another pushed him, and yet another, and Steven found himself being pushed and tussled in a group of laughing bullies. The Hacky Sack game had begun. Each touch sparked a thought or memory from them. Steven winced under the mental onslaught. They all blended together into a dizzying disassociated collage of minds and he bent over and retched.

“Ew.” One of the bullies shook his foot. “You tossed on my shoes?”

Another laughed, pushing Steven.

“Please. Don’t touch me,” Steven asked urgently, struggling to keep his feet and holding a hand up. He retched again.

“So this is the little computer genius.” Sean crowed. He looked around at the raccoons that silently sat on their haunches around the perimeter of the small parking lot. “I thought you were just a harmless Pied Piper. A weirdo freak who will grow old and die alone. But no. There’s more to you, right?”

The others backed away from Steven, a welcome respite allowing him to catch his breath. With the anthology of disordered memories fading, he stood up and wiped his mouth.

“He doesn’t look like he’s what, ten?” Sean circled Steven, appraising him. “A little animal freak with,” he gasped melodramatically, “imaginary friends?” He held up his phone. “I got proof. Your weirdness just keeps getting weirder. Arguing with air about your real parents? Sally and Jonah Crow aren’t your parents?”

Steven scowled, wiping his mouth again. His chances of ever appearing normal were diminishing by the second. He glanced at Paul who stood with his arms crossed.

Sean watched the argument his young victim had had with Paul again, pointing at his phone. “Oh, this is rich. You really are a freak. Look, you’re even crying. Did your imaginary friend really make you cry? Dude, you are yelling at the air!” He stopped circling and gave Steven a faux-serious look. “And seriously, they’ve been missing since you were a baby? Your real parents are dead.” He shrugged. “Sorry, but your imaginary friend is right.”

Steven clenched his fists briefly, sorely tempted to let the freak loose. He fought with all his might to maintain control. Sean didn’t know his parents or situation. He was just pushing buttons. The raccoons were closer now.

Chortling, Sean continued circling him, watching the video and shaking his head. “Oh, this is cringeworthy. This is so going on the internet, and this time you won’t be able to fix it.”

“This time?”

Sean stopped in front of Steven, scowling and putting his face inches from Steven’s. “Everyone knows what you did, you pathetic weirdo freak with no parents. Your hack undeleted the videos of us. I don’t appreciate that. Jake?”

Jake crossed his arms and shook his head.

“See? Jake doesn’t appreciate it either.”

Steven fumed, keeping his silence. He glanced at Paul again. His imaginary friend was now grinning. Sean noticed and looked in that direction. “Is that where your friend is? Hey imaginary friend, do you know Steven is a diaper-baby freak?”

Paul looked behind him, confused. “I’m over here.”

Steven shook his head, then looked at Sean. His nemesis pocketed his phone and glared at him for a moment. He glanced at a large, dead tree on the edge of the parking lot, observing a couple dozen large eagles swooping in and landing on gnarled branches. Shaking his head, he turned around, looking at the growing collection of raccoons that sat quietly staring at them. Some feral dogs had even joined them. They just plopped down and watched. Sean repressed a shudder. Waving, he glared at Steven. “You’re friends can’t help you, Piper. I will collect my pound of flesh and my peeps will whack the hell out of any rodent that tries to interfere.”

“I didn’t do anything. I just fixed a computer.” 

“I deleted those videos fair and square. Scott free. No evidence. Now, I am suspended. And because of you?” Sean crossed his arms, looking at Steven critically. “No. It can’t be. I can’t believe you did it.” He turned to face his friends. “The school must have made a mistake. I mean, look at him! A scared diaper-baby who drove his real parents away?”

“I just fixed the NVR,” Steven repeated quietly, trying his best not to clench his fists. “I wasn’t trying to…” He stopped. He had effectively undeleted the files in seconds. “I was just trying to be useful. Dmitri was at lunch.”

“Your man couldn’t have undeleted those files. A forensic lab could not have. But you did?” Sean leaned into Steven’s face. “I unlinked them and overwrote the blank sectors.” He shook his head. “They were permanently deleted. I’m a computer genius. So what does that make you? How did you do it?”

“I got lucky.” Steven tried not to smirk. The attempt to hide the deleted information was amateurish at best. He decided against providing a step-by-step tutorial, however. Some buttons were better left unpushed.

“Uh-huh.” Sean squinted at him for an uncomfortable moment. “I don’t think so. I think you’re some sort of diabolical freak.” He waved at the animals. “This is forgivable. It’s harmless. You’re just a weirdo freak with an animal magnetism. But Steven,” Sean stood up straight, leaning menacingly toward him, “what you did on that computer suspended me. Put me in DAEP. I’m on a short bus, because of you. Because of you!” He poked repeatedly on Steven’s forehead. “A nobody Pied Piper freak with imaginary friends and no parents, who thinks he can hack computers?”

“I’m just Steven.” He wiped his forehead. “And I’m not the one who vandalized the school computers.” He looked curiously at his hand, then at Sean. “Or used that to hide hacking your grades?” Steven squinted, the depth of the consequences dawning on him. “You’re the reason why they’re auditing the school? You were grade-fixing?”

Sean’s eyes got wide. “What? You… what? How do you know that? How did you figure that out?”

Steven shrugged. He glanced at his imaginary friend, bemused. Paul was bent over laughing.

Sean gripped him by the neck and pulled him close, furious. “Did you tell anyone?”

Steven squirmed, then stopped, staring at Sean. A memory stood out above the others. “He beats you if you don’t make straight A’s?” He noticed a bruise under Sean’s long, dirty blond hair. A nasty purple knot. “Your father did that?”

The upraised fist hinted at a button-push too far. Steven steeled himself, getting ready to absorb what looked to be a vicious punch. But it never came. Sean stood there glaring at him, trembling with barely contained rage. He ducked an eagle that swooped close, keeping his murderous glare on his victim. “If you tell anyone, they won’t find your body.”

Steven nodded.

Sean shook his head. “No, I don’t think you understand. Right now, I’m just a disturbed kid who damaged some computers. It’s on the videos. Caught red handed. But come January I’m back. Life goes on. But Steven, if you tell, that means jail for me. Expulsion. And that means a shallow grave for you. You got that?” 

Did Steven just get some leverage? He felt it through Sean’s grip on his neck. He held his hands up. “Not a soul.”

“Excuse me, young man.”

Sean looked around, startled, almost dropping Steven. He looked back at Steven, shaking his head in warning. 

Steven was likewise startled. He had not sensed her. A young woman stood just a few feet away with her hands on her hips. She brushed a lock of platinum blond hair from her face, then crossed her arms, looking less than pleased. Steven squinted at her. Something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. Then it dawned on him. He could sense all the other boys and every creature nearby. But she may as well have been one of the cars. A blank spot. He found it odd that in the middle of nearly being beat up by a gang, this interruption had almost totally superseded his fear of the impending confrontation.

Sean got the message and released Steven. He glared at the woman, stepping away. “We’re just having a discussion.”

“May I suggest you do it somewhere else, please?” She looked at Steven, walking calmly through the crowd. Every move and expression hinted at immeasurable confidence and Steven shivered a little. She smiled sweetly at him. “Preferably where a gang of ten young men aren’t picking on a little boy?”

Sean looked around as his gang scattered then started walking away. The wildlife also seemed to filter back into the underbrush or fly away. Sean noticed. He looked back at Steven. “This isn’t over, Piper freak. You owe me big and I will collect.” He jumped over a rail dividing the parking lots and disappeared among the cars.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” The woman knelt down, gripping his hand and running a moist thumb across a dirty spot on his forehead.

Steven just gaped, his eyes going wide. He remembered to breath and nodded. “Um, yeah. Fine. I’m fine.

“Aren’t you just a cutie.” She ran her free hand through his unkempt mane of black hair, trying to bring order to it.

Steven tried not to cringe or pull away. Her grip on his hand was like irresistible iron, but still gentle. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“It’s okay to run, Steven.” She glanced back the way the kids had vanished. “Just find the first public store and go inside. Letting them catch you back here was foolish.”

“Yes ma’am.” Steven continued staring at her as he took a step back. To his relief, she released his hand. He glanced at the rear entrance to the library and continued stepping backward. “I’ve got to go. Um, thanks.”

“Anytime, sweetie.” She smiled warmly, then sauntered over to the car Sean had been sitting on.

Steven swallowed, then turned to enter the door, bumping into it. He fumbled and got it open. Glancing back, he saw her sitting in the car. She waved at him. Steven gave her a hesitant wave, then closed the door.

“What?” Paul asked.

Steven stared at the closed door, trying to catch his breath. “I got nothing. Nothing at all from her.”

“I got that she was hot.” Paul grinned, yanking on Steven’s arm. “C’mon, man. Sean was about to pound you.”

Steven looked at him for a moment then sighed. Sean was going to be a problem. “The school really screwed me, making me a witness. I just fixed their stupid computer.”

“You could have left it for Dmitri to fix when he got back from lunch.” Paul waggled a finger at him. “But no, you just had to show off how proficient you are. And you don’t even go to that school.”

“Yeah. I screwed up. Tell me something new.” Steven looked back at the door. He felt a chill, remembering the lady. “I got nothing from her.”

“Steven! You’re late!”

Steven flinched, looking back into the library. A stocky graying man stood by a desk, tapping his fingers on the surface.

“No, Dmitri. I’m not.” Steven turned and entered the back office of the library in a huff. He took a last glance at the back door as he entered.

“What happened?” Dmitri frowned. Usually that made Steven laugh. He was never late.

“Dmitri… just…” Steven stopped and rubbed his temples. The encounter was starting to sink in as his adrenaline leveled off. He avoided a fight. Barely. But their vitriol clung to him like a bad stench. “Just me being a freak.”

Dmitri followed him into the office, concerned.

“Sean blames me.”

“He caught you in the parking lot?” Dmitri walked over to a bank of monitors. “I told you to stick to the front door.”

“I thought I’d beat him to the door and avoid,” Steven took in a breath, not finishing his thought. He waved a hand, not wanting to give words to abject futility. “He’s ticked.”

“He didn’t hit you.” Dmitri nodded, scanning through the security footage. He gave Steven a sly look. “And you didn’t hit him.”

“Yeah. Some weird lady stopped him.”

“Weird?” Dmitri looked at him, alarmed.

“I got nothing from her. Was like reading a rock.”

Dmitri turned to the monitors again. “Was she a brunette?” He scanned the footage until he found her and visibly relaxed.

“Blond. Like really blond.” Steven scratched his arm, looking at the monitors with Dmitri. “I was about to get stomped by a gang and we’re here freaking over a lady?”

Dmitri put both hands on the counter. The lady looked at the camera and gave it a sultry wink before entering the car and driving away. “New people are always a concern. Especially with Sally and Jonah’s job and my history.”

“Everyone’s a concern, it seems.” Steven scowled. He had to admit, however – she unsettled him.

Frowning, Dmitri turned around. “Your parents will identify her when they get back from their mission.” He held out his hand. “Homework?”

Steven reached into his pocket and handed Dmitri a thumbdrive. “There’s like a dozen file-sharing sites I can put this on.”

“And you’ve cracked every single one of them. This is still the best way.” Dmitri held up the thumbdrive. “You know the drill. Don’t tell Sally about this. She’d castrate me if she found out.”

“I just followed your crack,” Steven mumbled. “Took me like ten minutes.”

Dmitri looked at the results on his workstation. “And you improved on it. Smart. Eric is going to love this.” He glanced back at Steven. “Have you done your school modules?”

“The ones I’m coming here every day to do while Sally and Jonah are away? I’m caught up to the end of the school year.” Steven crossed his arms, smirking.

“It’s only September, Steven. You want to pace yourself. You’re already three grades ahead.” Dmitri admonished him. “This extra credit will help.” He pointed at the code on his screen. “It’ll pay for your college.”

“Sean hacked his grades,” Steven said quietly, playing with the keyboard on his desk. “He’s the grade-fixer they’re looking for.”

“I know,” Dmitri said, handing another thumbdrive back to Steven. “Your next assignment. It’s a simple bank-to-bank asset move. North Korea to Bali.”

“You know? I thought I was the only one who saw it.” Steven threw his hands up. “Sean is holding that over my head.”

“You kept your cool. You’ll do fine.” Dmitri said, flippantly waving a hand. He stopped and looked at Steven. “You’re upset.”

“I am a freak!” Steven held his hands out again. He couldn’t get the faces of the gang out of his head. Their cruelty seemed to magnify in his memory. “Look what it’s gotten me! I have no friends except maybe Brandon when he visits. I have to hide from everyone. No touching. No nothing. Paul here is still haunting me and now everyone knows.” He wiped his face and plopped down on his chair.

“I’m not haunting you.” Paul pouted.

“Steven, this never used to bother you.” Dimitri sat on Steven’s desk.

Steven put the thumbdrive in his library workstation and inspected the code and instructions. “Because I had my animal friends, and Paul here always annoying me.” He looked at Dmitri. “Who aren’t real. Just proves I’m a freak.”

Paul sighed, rolling his eyes. “Friends annoy each other sometimes. Doesn’t mean we’re not friends.”

Steven chewed his cheek, regarding Paul sourly. “I should have real friends.”

Paul crossed his arms, scowling.

“The animals are real. Still are.” Dmitri nodded, his eyebrows raised when he glanced at the monitors. “Which is kinda freaky.” He had never seen so many raccoons in the same place. In the forest, it was wolves and bears that hung out with Steven.

“Yeah but when I was a kid,” Steven paused briefly, waving a hand. “When I was younger, I imagined them talking to me. Like they were actual friends. Now people make fun of me because of them.”

Dmitri ran a hand through his thick mane of graying hair. “Sometimes I forget how isolating our lives can be. With me and Irina, we’re hiding from our Russian foes. Sally and Jonah are hiding from their own enemies. And here you are, stuck in the middle of it.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if I was normal. I could have real friends! Who wants to be friends with someone like me?” Steven pounded the desk for emphasis. 

“I do.” Dmitri grinned and held a hand up. “I think you’re underestimating the local kids.”

“They all make fun of me because of the animals. They know I have imaginary friends now. They know I… know stuff about them. Stuff I shouldn’t know. They know I’m smarter than they are. They know I’m a freak and hate me.” Steven pouted. He looked down, sniffing. “I can’t blame Sean for being mad at me. For hating me. His father beats him and now it’s worse because of me.” He pulled the thumbdrive and stuffed it in his pocket. “I have no one like me. No one who understands. Just a bunch of…” He wiped his face. “Just a bunch of perfectly normal kids.”

Shipwrecked – December 2023

Shipwrecked – December 2023

Cargo

Shipwrecked

Cargo Serial, Episode 1

A science fantasy serial.

 

Shipwrecked

November 2023

 

“No. No.” Rebecca shook her head. “Life cannot exist in a black hole.”

“What do you know of black holes?” Bobbi circled Rebecca.

“Why do you think I’m on this circuit? We pass twenty systems orbiting black holes. My observatory is specifically for collecting data from them.” Rebecca pointed, thought for a second, then pointed in the other direction. 

“That proves what?” Smugness again. 

“We know life cannot originate on one.” Rebecca put her hands on her hips. “It’s like life originating on a star. It’s not going to happen.”

Bobbi smiled condescendingly. “Well, what you don’t know about these stars vastly outweighs what you do know.” She glanced in the direction of the gravatar. “This one contains a gateway to home.” For a moment, Bobbi appeared crestfallen. “One we can never return to.”

“Pfft, like a wormhole? Seriously?” Rebecca hesitated, cocking her head. “Seriously?”

Bobbi grinned. “A gravatar is just a very dense star. No holes.” She leaned toward Rebecca. “And you thought you knew a thing or two about black holes?”

Rebecca scowled. Or it felt like she did. She glanced at the mirror again, remembering she had no face. “We know…” She shook her head and sighed. “We have a lot of ideas about black holes. What they’re made of. What they’re radiating. But I’m the first person to actually get close to one. To specifically study one up close. This one is my third black hole.” She waved her hand in the direction where she thought the gravatar was, glancing at So’rn. He pointed in another direction. Rebecca corrected herself. “It’s got an accretion disk which interferes with my equipment but I’m still getting a ton of data from it.”

“Quaint. But admirable.” Bobbi smiled. “Any species that seeks to understand the universe cannot be a total loss, right?”

“Um. Yeah.” Rebecca wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. “So, tell your friends not to dump us in there, please.”

“No can do.” Bobbi waggled her finger. “This ship has to go. It’s already proven a threat to us.”

“It’s a cargo ship!” Rebecca held her hands out. 

“It means others will follow. Unless it is demonstrated that this system is incompatible to them.”

“The cargo pods are in stasis,” So’rn said quietly.

“Yeah, what he said.” Rebecca shook her head and looked at her armored wolfman. “Really? The whole pod?”

So’rn nodded. “When the accretion disk starts to tear this ship apart, they’ll be disrupted.”

“Wow. I knew they had stasis in them. But the whole pod?” She looked at Bobbi. “We don’t want to disrupt them.”

“Why?” Bobbi looked at her curiously.

“Well, um.” She glanced back at So’rn. “Why?”

“When we deactivate one, the buffers merge the past with the present carefully to prevent a temporal hammer. The amount of energy one of those would release could destroy a star system.”

Rebecca just gaped at him. She looked at Bobbi. “There are like, ninety-six of those pods.”

“Ninety-four. We dropped two off on this transit already.” 

So’rn was ripped from Rebecca’s grip and slammed into the far wall again. 

“Of for crying out loud!” Rebecca rushed to him and pulled him off the wall. He hung on her arm as if gravity had switched to the wall while she pulled him back to Bobbi. “You guys really need to ease into it.”

“We are currently in orbit beyond the accretion disk. You will disable the stasis.”

“I’m a Terran physicist working on her thesis. He’s security against one of our enemies. The recipients of the pods are the ones who deactivate them, right?” She looked at So’rn. He nodded as his feet finally settled back on the floor. “And why is he affected and not me?”

“You are not enslaved to inertia.”

“Our gravity fields should counter…”

“They are designed to counter what your engines are capable of. We have no such constraints.” Bobbi said shortly. “We will disable the pods before retiring this vessel.”

“That’s like, theft.” Rebecca walked around in a circle. “And my observatory. I got grants for that. A friend sponsored me.”

“Your personal problems are irrelevant now,” Bobbi said. “Inheriting you as my Pilot does not change our mission.”

“I didn’t ask for this!” Rebecca yelled. “You could have just let us pass through and no one would be the wiser!”

“Except more are coming.” Bobbi looked at the two of them. “You will establish colonies here mining our resources. And where you go, the Cursed One inevitably follows.”

“Intruders.” So’rn waved at something in the air. Rebecca touched him and saw a virtual layout of the ship. “They’re boarding us.”

Rebecca looked at Bobbi. “Yours?”

So’rn rushed out of the room. 

“Where is he going?” 

Rebecca looked down the hall, then up at the door label. “We’re at Medical Three, so, he must be heading back to his quarters.” She glanced at Bobbi. “Yeah.”

“I see it. He has an armory there.” Bobbi vanished and became a voice in Rebecca’s head again. “We must prevent him from deploying his weapons.”

“Are you afraid…” Rebecca started then stopped, taking a wide stance as she stared around her. So’rn’s quarters. “How did we get here?”

So’rn rushed in, then pulled up short. “Rebecca?”

“I was already here,” Bobbi said innocently. 

“I just, did we, like teleport?” Rebecca trembled as she remained in her wide stance, looking at the floor. 

“Where I am, we can go freely,” Bobbi said simply. She manifested her figure again and looked at So’rn. “You must not bring weapons to bear against us.”

So’rn snarled, crouching as if to pounce.

“Rebecca values your life. But if you bring violence to us, you will be neutralized.” Bobbi said, keeping herself between So’rn and his closet of weapons. 

“Are you afraid?” Rebecca asked again.

“He is valuable to you. Having your cooperation is optimal.” 

“So’rn, I don’t think you have anything that’ll hurt these people,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “Please.”

A hand on his shoulder set him off like a spring. Another Pilot had entered, and in an instant found himself on the ground with a snarling So’rn on top of him ripping his head off. 

Without hesitation he tossed the head aside and attacked the next Pilot to enter, dismembering him in a single smooth motion while setting up the next target. Rebecca screamed, ducking broken Pilots until there were no more left. It happened and ended so quickly that she screamed again after the action settled.

So’rn looked menacingly at Bobbi, who just stood there with her arms crossed. Bobbi grinned. “That was educational.”

The Camdyn hesitated. He looked around, then found himself slamming into the wall, held there by unseen hands. The body parts wafted away, replaced by unharmed Pilots who stood around the wolfman as if examining a strange insect. Rebecca yelped.

“Don’t hurt him!” She squeezed through the other Pilots and stood protectively between them and So’rn. “What did you expect him to do? He’s defending the ship you’re trying to destroy!”

“We wanted to see him in action,” Bobbi said, joining the other Pilots. “He was an unknown quotient. Now we know.”

“Yeah, well,” Rebecca glanced over her shoulder at So’rn, “let him down.”

“I think we’ll keep him there until we figure a way inside his armor.” 

Rebecca found herself pushed to the side as the Pilots seemed to fade and emerge into existence between her and So’rn. She stumbled and turned to face them, livid. “He is my friend!” 

“He would have killed all of us.” Bobbi crossed her arms.

“You would have killed us.” Rebecca retorted, glaring at her Drone. 

“You will have to do better than that.”

Rebecca grabbed one of the Pilots, only to be repulsed across the room. She shook her head and stomped back towards them. “I may not be a warrior, but you are NOT going to hurt him.”

The Pilot returned his attention to So’rn’s armor, ignoring her.

Furious, Rebecca reached, then stopped. She looked at So’rn for a long moment, then lowered her arm. A black mist suddenly filled the room, then coalesced around the Pilots, restraining them and moving them away from her friend. 

Bobbi smiled, gleefully holding her hands out. “That was wonderful!” 

Rebecca looked at her Drone, confused. 

“We were sure you were incapable of being a Pilot. That the Malakim was punishing us with, well, you.”

“Come again?” Rebecca stood up straight, facing Bobbi. The black mass restraining the Pilots suddenly faded away and the Pilots surrounded her. 

“The Camdyn holds no interest for us.” Bobbi put her arms down. “After all, you are the one who associates with a god, and speaks the Holy Language.” 

“You’re in my head. What more do you want to know?”

“Pure memory is limited. There is something that cannot be read. Your will. That we must witness to comprehend.” Bobbi was suddenly millimeters away from her. “We must also discern why a god would steal a Drone, and yet leave you among us.”

“He’s just Brian.” Rebecca tried to step back, but a Pilot stood immediately behind her. “He’s my friend.”

“And yet he didn’t rescue you.” Bobbi cocked her head. “You are such a curious creature. So delicate and weak. And yet, there is something about you.”

“We must know. Why was the Drone stolen from us? Why is the Malakim interested in you? In us?” A new voice.

Rebecca looked around. The voice sounded familiar. A blackness appeared by the entrance, then wafted away, revealing the creature that Pilots were apparently modeled after. It was a biped covered in pearlescent skin rich in purple hues. Large purple eyes adorned its face. Black ridges and sharp scales ran down its body. Most remarkably, it had what appeared to be snakes for hair. Or tentacles. They seemed to have a mind of their own. Rebecca was reminded of the stories of Medusa as she gazed at the remarkable alien.

It was the voice that captured her attention most strongly, however. 

“Fred?”

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Shipwrecked – December 2023

Shipwrecked – November 2023

Cargo

Shipwrecked

Cargo Serial, Episode 1

A science fantasy serial.

 

Shipwrecked

November 2023

 

“Where’s my face!” Rebecca stared at the mirror in utter shock. What looked back at her seemed to have her feminine form, but that’s where similarities ended. Her face was now a solid, black, mass. Smooth and featureless. Like armor. Almost like So’rn’s Chaser helmet. In place of her hair, her head was adorned with what looked like black, metallic cables. Animated black metallic cables. Like dreadlocks from hell. “My hair!” 

“Vestigial features have been replaced…”

“Bob!” Rebecca started shaking. “Please tell me this is just armor. Like you said, right? You’re my armor? I still feel my face. But it’s not there!” She put her hands on her face, trying to feel features that she just knew were there but no longer existed.

“You will feel it for some time while your nervous system adjusts…”

“I’m not adjusting to anything!” Rebecca took a step back and looked at her arms. They were likewise a shiny black material, covered with what appeared to be animated strips of black fabric. A loose cloak floated around her, oblivious of any gravity and apparently alive. “Please tell me this is just armor. Please!” Rebecca cried, shaking her head. She knew the answer already. The lack of a response from Bob struck home, and she broke down in sheer panic.

Her horrified wails filled the ship as she grabbed at her face, trying to remove the armor. She plucked at her armored arms, trying to rip off the living fabric, but the strips would vaporize and coalesce wherever she grabbed. She looked down at her feminine torso that was covered by the same armor and tried in futility to pull it off. When she touched the armor, it felt like she was touching her own skin, and the horror of it deepened. “No no no! Why are you doing this!?”

“You are a Pilot.” 

“Bob, I am Rebecca! That… thing,” she pointed angrily at the mirror, “that monstrosity, that’s not me!” She looked around and spotted So’rn standing in a corner nervously, still wearing his armor. “He’s scared of me now! A Camdyn! They’re like, wolfmen super-warriors, and he’s scared of me!”

“Please realize that this is for our survival. This is the nature of a Pilot.”

“I want my nature. Bob, please!” Rebecca shook her head, no longer able to look in the mirror. “I’m gone. I’m not me anymore.”

“No, you are not. You are us. Pilot and Drone.” 

“Well, I didn’t ask for it!” Rebecca turned around in a circle, holding her arms out. “I am just a nerd working on her PhD thesis.” She sat down on the floor, crying. Only then did she realize she had no tears. She couldn’t even cry correctly anymore. “Why are you doing this to me?”

So’rn knelt down beside her. “I have no idea if you are talking to me or someone else.”

“Oh, So’rn. I am so sorry. I tried to save you. Now look at me.”

“Your attempt is appreciated.” So’rn sat down beside her. “It could not breach my armor, however.” He tentatively grabbed her hand. “It really is you.”

“Yeah, and that thing that attacked you? It’s part of me now.” Rebecca sniffed, then realized she couldn’t even sniff correctly. Layers and layers of consternation. She slumped, dejected. “What am I going to do?”

“My scanner is showing a tight integration. I don’t think it can be safely removed.” He patted her hand. “Maybe a Gatekeeper can remove it.”

Rebecca shook her head, not willing to hope. “I was going to bring home a doctorate. I wanted to bring this back to the university.” She waved her hand around her. “The Cooperative universe and an expanded comprehension of physics.”

“You have apparently become part of that universe,” So’rn said quietly. “I don’t understand. Is it sentient?”

“I am.” 

Both of them spun around, then gaped. So’rn got to his feet defensively, ready for combat. Rebecca glanced at him, then stood up. “I thought you were a guy.”

The figure before them was decidedly feminine. A glossy black, smooth-skinned version of what Rebecca herself was supposed to be. “We have no gender. We typically mimic our hosts.” 

“Hmm, Bobbi?” Rebecca mused, walking over to the figure. “So, you’re not just inside me?”

“Our field of influence extends… far.” Bobbi smiled amicably. 

“Don’t do that. Smile. I can’t. Why should you?” Rebecca pointed angrily.

“I cannot be killed,” Bobbi said. “You can. Your form was so incredibly delicate.”

“I’m supposed to be delicate!” Rebecca glanced at the mirror, then shuddered. “I want me back. Please!”

“Rebecca…”

“Who is ever going to love that?” Rebecca jabbed her finger at the mirror. “Mom? Dad? Oh my god, Meemaw? She’ll never understand! Even So’rn over there is scared of me.” 

Bobbi circled Rebecca, then glanced at a nervous So’rn. “He would have been a preferable Pilot. However, the Malakim has inexplicably assigned me to you.” 

“He didn’t say strip me of my humanity! Brian thought I was cute! He loved my hair!” Rebecca grew furious. “I need me. I need to be able to smile. To cry. I mean, how do I even eat?”

“You don’t require sustenance anymore.”

Rebecca just stared at Bobbi, hugging herself and feeling utterly violated. 

“Are all other… Pilots like this?” So’rn asked.

“I may not look it, but I like food! I love food!” Rebecca sat back on the floor hard, weeping. “And hair. And… skin.”

Bobbi glanced at Rebecca, then turned to face So’rn. “Such an interesting pairing. She sees you as family. You know that, right? A peculiar companionship.” 

“My question.” So’rn persisted.

“Yes. The adaptions are necessary to integrate properly with their Drones and our purpose.”

“Are they like this all the time?”

Rebecca perked up. “When your other Pilot was in my head, he appeared like any human.”

“That appearance was for your benefit and not an accurate depiction of what my former Pilot looked like. His morphology was similar to yours now.”

Rebecca slumped. “But now he is free from you. Did he revert?”

“When a Pilot and Drone are separated, the Pilot does not survive.” 

Rebecca looked up at Bobbi sharply. “You mean, he, he, he died? Because of me?”

Bobbi didn’t respond.

Standing up, Rebecca faced Bobbi. “Because of me?”

Her Drone remained silent.

“Oh, that’s just great! Great! Not only do I lose my humanity, I kill someone too?” Rebecca threw her arms up then paced, frantic. “I’m just a nerd on a joyride. Just a nerd…”

“Who a Malakim has taken an interest in,” Bobbi said. “You are not just anything. You should not be alive. But he wills it.”

“It’s Brian! My physics professor! He’s just a regular guy!” Rebecca couldn’t quell the growing doubts. “He loved to come over for dinner. He… endorsed my thesis.” She got quiet, looking at the floor. “He helped fund my observatory here.” Surely he had not manipulated her into this trip. “I wanted to come.”

“Your observatory saved your lives. It prevented me from targeting the living quarters of this vessel.” Bobbi said carefully. 

Rebecca gaped at him. “You sent the asteroid to kill us? I thought y’all missed on purpose.”

“I am the ‘asteroid’ sent to kill you.” Bobbi circled Rebecca. 

“You? That gigantic rock thing? Like, a half mile across?” Rebecca was dumbfounded.

“It is gone,” So’rn interjected. 

“Like I said, my sphere of influence extends far,” Bobbi said, matter-of-factly, glancing at So’rn. “You will find that matter is not an absolute.”

“Absolute? You are inside little ol’ me. And were that gigantic asteroid?” 

“Yes.”

“Oh, my thesis is getting more ridiculous by the moment. They’re going to laugh at me. Like I wrote some cheap science fiction novel.” Rebecca leaned against the stasis pod as she pondered the new physics being presented to her. “The math alone is going to be almost impossible.”

The floor suddenly shifted and Rebecca watched So’rn slam into the wall with a thunderous thud. She remained unaffected. “Oh, for… What now?”

“The others are moving the ship.”

“Other Drones?”

“Our intention was to gather intelligence, then destroy this vessel,” Bobbi said.

“But, you’re here. In me.” Rebecca helped So’rn off the wall. “You okay?” So’rn nodded. He was still struggling against the inertial force that was not affecting her. “You guys were all apologetic about having to kill me. But now you’re going to do it anyway?”

“We were distressed that you were conscious of your demise and aware of us as its cause. Had you not been aware of us, you would have died in blissful ignorance.”

“Blissful. Sure.” Rebecca waved a hand. “Because, we’d just die all happy and everything. Do you even listen to yourself?”

“Our trajectory has shifted toward the gravatar,” So’rn said.

“The black hole?” Rebecca looked at Bobbi. “You’re just going to dispose of us in the black hole?”

“It is not a hole…”

Rebecca held up a hand. “Semantics. Please tell me you’re in contact with them. Tell them we’re friendly.”

“I have never lost contact with them.”

Rebecca almost let go of So’rn. “You. You’re doing this!”

“We are doing this. We cannot allow evidence of our existence to be exposed to the Cursed One.”

“I’m your Pilot now! You’re supposed to keep me alive!”

“Indeed. You will not be affected.”

“It’s a black hole!” Rebecca waved her arms, then grabbed So’rn again. 

“Rebecca, where do you think the Drones originated?”

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Shipwrecked – December 2023

Shipwrecked – October 2023

Cargo

Shipwrecked

Cargo Serial, Episode 1

A science fantasy serial.

 

Shipwrecked

October 2023

 

“Am I dead?” Rebecca could only see white. A sense of vertigo seemed to wash over her, but she wasn’t sure. She was certain she had a body, but couldn’t see or feel it. She wasn’t even sure she had actually asked the question. But she felt others. Like she wasn’t alone.

“How does she know the Holy Language?”

Rebecca jolted to awareness. That wasn’t her voice. But who? “Is this Heaven?”

“Searching.”

“Hello?”

“Where did you learn the Holy Language?”

The question felt ominous. Perhaps this wasn’t Heaven? “A Teacher gave me Samanya.”

“You call it,” a pause, “Common?” She got the impression the person was aghast at that trivial name.

“Well, yes.” Samanya seemed to encompass more than the simple word Common, however. Like origin, but more. She always wondered about that. The translation of the name was simply Common because there was no other way to express the deeper meaning of Samanya. “Am I dead?”

“What is a Teacher?”

“They’re like…” Rebecca stopped. “Why won’t anyone answer my question? Who are you? Are you an angel? Demon?”

She almost felt the smirk.

“Who we are is irrelevant.” A short pause. “Who is Steven Crow?”

“Uh uh. Quid pro quo, buddy. And that’s English. Well, Latin.” If Rebecca knew where her arms were she would have crossed them. She winced and saw Steven in her memories. She had met him briefly at the embassy on Endard.

“Answering our questions is not required. We just need to bring the memories forward.”

Smug. She got the sense that response was smug. “You know I’m a physicist, right? You want information brought forward, I can turn on the spigot and obfuscate everything.”

She focused on her math and lectures. Simple stuff. Irrelevant stuff. Basic gravity and velocity equations for orbital insertion. Automotive braking math at certain speeds. She dug her heels in and thought of math predicting basic fluid dynamics in a curved pipe.

“You are not dead.”

“Hah!” She wanted to cross her arms, but still couldn’t feel them. “Steven is just some fella from Earth who wasn’t a fella from Earth even though he really was from Earth and now he’s most definitely NOT from Earth. Sorta.”

“Her comprehension of the creature is limited.”

“I’m gathering that.”

“Two voices? Who are you?” Rebecca felt like she waved her hands in exasperation.

“I am still not detecting the Cursed One.”

“Maybe I’m in Hell after all?” Rebecca mused. “Why can’t I see anything? Am I in a hospital? Or is this a dream? I did a dissertation on Lucid Dreaming for my freshman year.”

“The Steven Crow has had contact with her.”

“I was working at the embassy. Everyone has had contact with me.” Rebecca sensed frustration from her interrogators.

“Not you.” Pause. “You’ve heard of Aliya.”

“There. She remembers something.”

“Okay, first voice is going to be Fred. Second one is Bob. And yes, we are acutely aware of Aliya. She caused the War.”

“She’s never met her.”

“Aliya may not have sent the attack, then.”

“Fred, what attack? You think she sent the asteroid?” Rebecca interjected. “And why this? Am I under anesthesia?” She imagined herself waving her arms around at the pure white.

A figure suddenly appeared before her, sitting in a chair. Interestingly, he looked like a regular human, dressed in jeans and a flannel button-down shirt. What her father usually wore. “We are very sorry. You do not have the information we need.”

Rebecca frowned. “Um, sorry for what? You’re letting me go, right? Waking me up? I’m just a dork out in the middle of space taking a joy-ride.”

“You will be terminated. We just wanted to let you know that it is not our desire to kill. Just a necessity.”

“So you are sitting in a chair here in this white whatever, just casually telling me you’re going to murder me?” Rebecca felt utterly helpless. Maybe she was already dead.

“It is a demonstration of respect. We had hoped you would not be conscious of us. But your lack of data felt like deceit and we had to make ourselves known. That knowledge of us cannot persist.”

“Make me forget then. Killing me because I’m having some hallucinations? Really?” She wanted to run, but couldn’t. She wanted to rage at the idiocy they were suggesting, but even that was denied her. She felt muted and hated the feeling. Was this all some torment of Hell after all?

“We…” Fred paused. He squinted at her. Even with his calm demeanor, she got the impression he became very alarmed. “You’ve been in contact with the Malakim! How have you survived?”

“Um.” Rebecca had no response, suddenly distracted from her growing terror. Then she saw him in another memory brought forward. Her physics professor, family friend, and mentor. “That’s Brian.”

Brian was talking to her about the cosmos. Rebecca smiled at the memory. He was a grizzled, aging black man who appeared as excited as a twenty-year-old. Was she never going to see him again? Or her parents? Then Brian stopped talking to her and looked around behind him.

“He sees us! He knows of us!”

“That’s just a memory. I think Mom said something.” Rebecca said, perplexed by Fred’s sudden departure from calm and dispassionate. Why was he so disturbed by a memory?

But Brian looked directly at Fred and smiled as he turned to face him. It was like he paused the memory and embarked on a gratuitous fourth wall-break. He leaned forward while Fred cringed. “This one belongs to me. I shall take your Drone too.” He reached out and touched Fred, who promptly vanished.

Suddenly Rebecca found herself alone in the sea of white. Or was she? “Hello? Brian?”

“Hello.”

She flinched. “Bob?”

“Yes?”

“Where am I?”

“In a stasis pod. Your counterpart put you in the pod in an attempt to exclude us.”

“Stasis? I’m in temporal storage?”

“Time is passing around us rather than through us.”

“Could you mansplain that again, please?” Rebecca tried to hide her confusion with irritation. It proved easy to do. A roller-coaster of emotions seemed to be coursing through her. She still had no point of reference. Just white brilliance all around her. “But, I’m aware. I’m talking to you.” A strong argument for an anesthesia hallucination dream. How could she possibly be aware of anything in the absence of time?

“Our consciousnesses are not constrained by time.”

Rebecca thought furiously. That seemed too easy. So’rn had put her in the pod to protect her. She was being attacked. Could she trust anything Bob said? Was she in danger? “Are you going to hurt me?”

“We are one, now. The Malakim has seen to that.”

“One.”

“I am your Drone.”

“Oh, well. That explains everything. Can I, am I injured?”

“No. My previous Pilot had yet to issue a termination command. You are in perfect health.”

“I want out. How do I get out?” Rebecca felt herself squirming. She swallowed back a panic attack, refusing to give in to the tendrils of mindless fear that threatened to consume her. “Please, I want out. How can I be in stasis and aware like this?”

“We woke your consciousness to interrogate you. I am not able to return you to your slumber.”

“I want out!”

“I am currently working on that. Your counterpart is resisting me.”

“Counterpart. So’rn? Don’t hurt him!” Rebecca grew even more alarmed.

“Given your fondness for him, hurting him is not an option I am entertaining.”

Rebecca didn’t believe him. “You attacked him. Then me. Why isn’t he in stasis?”

“His armor resisted us. You had no armor. And he is the one who put us in stasis.”

“Oh. Yeah. Wow. I want that armor.” Rebecca remembered how robust it was. How alien it was. Fascination with it momentarily distracted her from her growing panic attack.

“I am your armor now.”

“Huh? Bob? Just what are you?”

“A Drone.”

“You’re that black stuff?”

“That would be correct.”

Rebecca sensed a little condescension. “Hey, I’m just Terran. Give me some slack, okay?”

“You are now my Pilot. There will be no slack.”

Rebecca sensed a pause. “Bob?”

The whiteness abruptly turned to black. Rebecca gasped and let out a squeak, then realized that she actually made those sounds. Blinking, she squinted. “I’m back?”

“Yes. Your sight will return when your nervous system reaches equilibrium with the flow of time.”

“That’s real funny, Bob. I wasn’t frozen in carbonite.” Rebecca reached up with her hands and touched her face. “Oh, I can feel again!”

“Your entertainment is quite peculiar. The similarity was unintended, however.”

“Can I see you?” She looked around in the darkness. “Where are you?”

“I am part of you, now.”

“Pfft. You’re a voice in my head. I may as well call you Jarvis, then. You need a British accent, though.” Rebecca laughed, relieved to be able to sense her surroundings. “I’m alive? I really am alive?”

“One moment.”

Rebecca was about to ask why when suddenly everything came into view. Not just the visible spectrum, but into the radio and X-ray and even into the gamma spectrum. Rebecca pushed on the sides of the pod, taking it all in. “Oh, my! Sensory overload! Did you do that?”

“I have augmented your limited vision.”

“Yeah, a little less, please.” Rebecca couldn’t squint or even close her eyes against the onslaught of light.

“Your brain will become accustomed to it shortly.”

“Sure. Not. I’m your Pilot. Dial it back now!”

“I’m your Drone. I will not limit myself or you. Just relax.”

“Feeling more like I have Venom than Jarvis,” Rebecca grumbled.

“You have me. You will be okay.” Bob said. “You may remove the cover.”

Rebecca looked up at the cover of the stasis pod. She sensed everything about it. Its mass, density, position in reality, even the quantum imperfections. “Oh wow. I might just throw up.”

She felt around the edge of the cover and found the release. Except, it was on the outside. “How am I doing this?” A little pressure and the latch clicked, allowing the pod cover to lift up. She reached up with her hand and touched it. The sensation was almost anticlimactic, given her expanded senses and abilities. Using her hands seemed insignificant now. She looked at them, wiggling her fingers. “Bob?”

“Our Unity,” he said simply, anticipating her unspoken question.

“Becca!”

Sitting up in the pod, Rebecca spun around and saw an armored figure struggling through a black mass that restrained him. She felt him as much as saw him. As if she was the black mass. Relaxing instinctively, she sensed the organic mass abruptly fade from existence. It reminded her of the Keratian robes seeming to waft away when they no longer needed them. The figure stumbled and had to catch himself and she resisted the urge to reach out to him. “So’rn! You’re alive!”

So’rn froze, gaping at her. She actually saw his expression through his opaque armor.

“Um, what?” Rebecca suddenly felt self-conscious.

“Are you really… you?” So’rn took a wary stance, glancing around then back at her.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted a stupid rock.” Rebecca swung her legs over the edge of the pod and stood up. She teetered a little, looking down. Why did she even have to stand? Gravity seemed so limiting. “Stop it, Bob. I like standing.”

“If you say so.”

More condescension. She looked at So’rn. “Are you okay?”

“You’re asking me?” So’rn shook his head. He tentatively reached and grabbed her hand, looking like he was ready to run away at any moment. Her massive wolfman, now afraid of her? “Over here. Look.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes and looked at a wall. It had been a display of the exterior of the ship. It abruptly changed into a mirror. She flinched, stumbling back. “Holy crap!”

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