With Ess not in danger of impacting the hull of the cargo hold, George guided our ship to a crawl at the edge of the solar system. I could barely tear my eyes away from the beautiful megastructure that took center stage on the displays around us. This, truly, was how you created massive structures of beauty and function.

“Ok, we are in as slow a speed in VR as we can create. All of our simulations are essentially saved and taking up as little space as possible.” George said as Ess froze mid-motion while attempting to take another bite from the nest. She had already carved out a large portion of the center and had managed to reveal the white floor through the hole that she had been steadily working at creating.

Each bite she took seemed to shrink by an average of 20% when she spat it back up. It was interesting to have watched such a large head and mouth take bites the size of a cantaloupe. It might have had something to do with the amount of energy in each bite and not the physical size. Her fight with herself had shown me that she could open her mouth wide enough to swallow three of me easily if she attacked from the top.

“How best shall we approach this?” I asked as he brought up a detailed holographic map for me to study and interact with. Meditati’s Core was highlighted and labeled as belonging to the Jterg Science Family. Why did that name tickle my brain?

“Well, I have noted that we have several things that we would like to see happen in as little time as possible while we are here.” Tutor said as she brought up a list of all the wants and wishes that anyone had voiced since we started our journey.

“We need Tela tech like VR memory and Simulation upgrades.” George read from the list and made us all focus on certain aspects that he saw as invaluable.

“Kevin has 5,899,998 CR held within Tela’s banking system for his use. I think that, while that is a lot, it is not enough for what we have in mind. We will need quite a bit more to create all the Tela technology for the alien cr to absorb and assimilate.” He said before he paused and brought up two new designs for our habitat. The first appeared to be what I would imagine a spacefaring war vessel to look like. It was a large rectangle shape with ports, engines, and a large internal cargo bay for our Leva.

The other vessel looked like a needle without any cargo space or living environment of any kind. It was simply a cr vessel for getting places fast. It reminded me of a fighter jet missile.

“You have enough CR to get the Queiie that our Leva will need for a while and the designs for our habitat’s Simulation module upgrades. I can pick us up many of the older tech found in the Last Engineers book for pretty cheap at the markets of the Core. The main concern will be the Queiie. While not expensive it will require a larger ship. Since I was instructed to research ship design I have a request to ask of you, Kevin.” George said as he studied me. I glanced back and forth between the two designs and his waiting face.

I could feel that he had been playing this idea close to the chest and hadn’t spoken about it with either of the other AI.

“Would you consider splitting us up to get things done faster?” He asked as I felt Tutor’s attention lock onto him like a laser. This was what AI dreamed of, to be their own entity.

I could feel both of their desire for this to happen, to become more than what they had ever been before.

“What are your plans?” I asked as I watched him closely.

“Well, I feel that in order to keep you safe we need to move as fast as we possibly can. Silver’s actions have made it perfectly clear to me that something is happening, something big. I think it directly relates to you and I want to make it so that we are the hardest target to pin down.”

“How would you go about doing that?”

“For one, each of our four ships would have a Tela interdimensional communication hub installed on them as well as an Alpha cube. This will make it so that Invicta, Tutor, and I can be in four places at once. You will be able to move from ship to ship as well, regardless of where they were located in the cosmos. This will make it so that you can stay out of danger regardless of what happens. Or, if you choose, be the one to take danger by the throat.”

My mind was spinning with the plan he was laying out. I could send one of them back to Earth with an Alpha cube. I could finally get back home. The Tela hubs would make our four ships seem like they were still with me, just able to command their own vessel. I really liked this idea.

“We would need each of those ships to be capable of offering each of you what you required and more. Simulation access, increased memory, and whatever else you thought you wanted.” I said as I felt all three of my AI grow still. They couldn’t believe that I was letting them step out on their own. I wasn’t worried in the least, they each were part of my hive and I knew that they only had my interests in mind.

“Ok, so George will work on acquiring and outfitting us. Tutor, would you be in charge of getting us the CR that we need? Both raw mud cr so we can turn it into the Tela as currency as well as gold and any other type of higher density cr that you can find. I don’t want each of you to have a tiny ship like that, I want each of you to have the big ship with the needles as Remote Miners when needed,” I said as I considered Invicta.

“It would be my pleasure, Kevin.” Tutor said as she started to bounce with emotion.

“Invicta, would you do me a big favor?” I asked as she hovered around the image of the ships.

“Why did you make the big ship look like a normal vessel George?” She asked before she turned towards me and hovered closer. “Whatever you ask, you know what I will say, Kevin.” She said with a sweet soft windy voice.

“Would you go…”

“Heck no!” She interrupted me before I could finish my request and cracked up laughing.

“Very funny Invicta. I am serious, I really feel the need to get home soon. I would like you to fly there as fast as you can with an Alpha cube.” I said as she hovered closer to me, looking me deeply in the eyes as she considered my request.

“Would I get to see your home and family?” She asked as her eyes widened as she thought about what I was asking. “Yes, Kevin! I will get you home.”

“Just like that? No funny business?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Well, could I meet your parents?” She asked innocently.

She was still my Invicta.

“Yes, you can meet my parents,” I answered, with a resigned voice. “You will have to be bigger and have clothes on though,” I said as I thought of all the chaos that she would have running around naked as a storm-bodied girl. “Oh, and no shocking people!” I added at the end.

“Sure sure! Whatever you need.” She said too innocently, making me get a little nervous. She wasn’t bad, she just liked getting a rise out of me and making me embarrassed. I didn’t see that changing any time soon.

“As to why the ship looks the way it does Invicta, it is to allow Kevin to visit other alien civilizations without being seen as a Tela. While the Tela does trade on occasion with other races, they are not seen as the best race to have relations with. Kevin will be able to travel freely as long as he can train his cr to simulate real skin. Tela are known for their ability to resist all damage.” He answered. I realized that he was mostly answering the question aloud to educate me.

“So that leaves me? I will hunt down Meditati in the trash with Sublimis?” I asked as I brought up the projected path that her trash pile was on. It would be reaching the edge of the solar system in a few days. It seemed that the Tela had calculated the speed and trajectory of their trash so it would all cluster in a distant asteroid field just outside of the solar system. I hoped that I could just swing by and scoop it up quickly. I had a hatchling to feed and places to be.

“More or less, yes.” Tutor said as she began opening windows and loading files into a folder. “George, please upload these into Kevin’s helm so that he can have a translator for most races that he comes across. Yes, I know, on a new helm.” She said as she glanced at our ever-frozen Ess in the cargo bay. The white scales on her head stood out in stark contrast to the deep consuming black of her latest upgrade.

Tutor, ever more attentive to details than I was, looked closer at Ess and began to zoom in on her head. On her open mouth to be exact.

“Oh wow. This is unexpected.” She said as I saw her zoom in, inside Ess’s mouth.

Each of Sublimis’s teeth was white, pure gold cr white. Tutor glanced at me questioningly as I could feel her replay my interactions and time with my hatchling in the cargo hold.

“Most unexpected.” She said as her eyes narrowed in thought.

“Kevin, with your permission, I will go ahead and create the needed changes to your habitat,” George said tentatively.

This was the moment of change. When I let my AI become people.

“Sure, George. I trust you.” I said, meaning it.

“I promise that I will always keep your trust.” He said solemnly as Tutor screamed suddenly in joy and threw her arms around my neck. I found her lips pressed hotly against mine, causing my mind to go blank for as long as the kiss lasted. I thought maybe the habitat’s system glitched or something.

“Hey! You said I had to lay off, why would I do that if you were just going to smooch him first?” Invicta asked over Tutor’s shoulder.

“Ah… “ Tutor said as she looked into my eyes from barely a couple of inches away. I could feel her breath on my lips. Wow... that was a sweet kiss, was all my brain could think.

“Umm…” She said, oddly without her normal eloquence as she traced her fingers from my shoulders and stepped back, looking down. “Thank you so very much for this Kevin. We won't let you down.” She said before looking up at me sharply and whispered. “I won't.”

The kiss kind of stuck in my brain and made the time fly by in a sort of haze. To say it was a little hard to concentrate would be an exaggeration. The next thing I knew they were each rushing off into the distance with their own missions. My habitat was considerably reduced in cr yet retained a large space for Ess to live inside still. The outside of the vessel had changed to the modern spacefaring design that George had created for me. In all honesty, it looked like a bruiser of a warship. A warship that had a large cargo bay and huge doors. The cannons and weapons ports on the side made me laugh. George had lined the barrels on the inside with obsidian cr, something that he said Invicta had thought up when she was researching weapons.

“Yup, all my idea.” She said with her fingers crossed in front of her. I don’t think that she knew that you were supposed to hide your crossed fingers when you fibbed like that. “The idea is to just stuff anything inside the tubes that make up the barrels and then command the cr inside to use its “jump” power and POW! Instant gun.” She said with pride before frowning and crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Ok, Tutor may have had a bit of help as well. She showed me old Earth books to get ideas from for research... and the smoke pipes on the back of George’s road machines also gave me ideas.” She said begrudgingly.

“The exhaust pipes?”

“Yeah, those things. They are black inside and blow out stuff. I don’t know why you all have weapons pointing back on your vehicles. Really strange design choice.” She said as I glanced at George. He only shrugged. I guess there were just things that she still had to learn. She seemed a bit scatterbrained and selective in what interested her.

Her ship initially would be the smallest of all ships, only large enough for the modules she needed and an Alpha cube. She did have some excess gold cr so that she could harvest more from the sun when she arrived. She also asked me if she could have her one million CR from the obsidian reserves. She wanted to coat her little ship in darkness. I thought that it was an awesome idea. Not only did it look totally amazing, if you could see it at all in space, but it would prevent her from creating any mutated space leeches if she needed to expel cr propulsion.

Before she left I asked her to test and record the limits so we could have a baseline for later. She was totally up for pushing it to its limits.

Before she left with George she flew really close to me so that she could tell me something.

“Look, please don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for this freedom. I really am. I just don’t need very much to keep me happy.” She said as her little eyes darted back and forth between mine.

“Would you like to go bowling with me when we get back to my hometown?” I asked, knowing that she just treasured spending time with me.

“Can you buy me Pop Rocks as well?” She asked me out of the blue. “I have heard that they are like little explosions in your mouth.”

“Sure, bowling and Pop Rocks,” I said with a smile.

“Can you do that again before I leave?” She asked as she tilted her head down a little and hovered slightly closer.

In reply, I stepped forward and kissed her forehead gently.

She left with George with a silly little smile stuck to her face as she rode on his shoulder.

Tutor seemed giddy as she stood on the travel disk waiting for me to come to see her off. It was like she was heading off to college for the first time. I couldn’t help but feel happy for her.

“The ship will fly you to her memory module and then we will all meet up in two days near the moon of Grele 3. It has a spaceport for traders and travelers of all alien species. I am sure that you would like to visit and stay there for a little visit.” She said as she bounced on her toes.

“Be safe,” I said as I knew that she would be flying to a nearby system to harvest raw cr.

“You too.” She said with a smile as she waved her hand in a tiny arc before disappearing.

Why did this moment feel awesome for me as well? My training wheels were off! I really liked my AI but I knew that I craved these times out on my own. No bumpers or knee pads, just me and my huge pet space dragon out on an adventure to rescue an ancient and powerful AI oracle.

I smiled at my grand theatrical storytelling abilities. The reality was I was off to dig through the trash to find an AI that may or may not want to enslave me and take over the galaxy.

“Well, at least after that I get to go home.” I mused as I took one last look around before willing myself into my cr body sitting in the cargo hold. I kept time frozen while I looked around the bay, making sure that George had indeed kept his word. Sure enough, there was a new pair of gloves and sunglasses resting next to my leg waiting for me.

The floor all around me was littered with mauled and drained nest material. No one had thought to set the floor to gather it all up once I left VR so I willed it to happen now. The moment I dropped out of accelerated time Ess went immediately back to chowing down on the center of the nest. She seemed to be chewing a little slower than when she first started, possibly because she was reaching her limit of what she could absorb right now.

I reached down to pick up the sunglasses and the gloves before slipping them on. My movement must have drawn my hatchling’s attention because she immediately swung her large head in my direction. Like a car slamming on the gas, she suddenly jolted right at me with her head down.

Ah, crap. I was right next to a wall and she was going to try to get another point on me now that she was stronger. I thought as she rushed maddeningly fast across the distance towards me.

I held up my hand to block her mad rush, only to have her slow down right before impact and gently placing her giant forehead against my gloved palm.

“Ha! I flinched. Good one.” I said as I got up and rubbed her head. Her helm flowed away from my touch like liquid mercury, making it so that I was touching her actual scales rather than the barrier of cr.

“Oh yeah, Tutor had noticed that you seem to be interacting with the helm,” I said as I slid my hand across her starburst pattern. She held still for my petting and gave me time to inspect her for any changes that the increase in energy might have caused.

“You don’t seem any different,” I said as I stepped to the side and placed my other hand on her at the same time, caressing her scales and moving around the side of her and down her length. She held still as though she was frozen, just letting me pet and inspect her.

“Were these always like this?” I muttered as I found jagged scales beginning to edge outward along her body just past her head. Was she growing protective or defensive plating? If the rest of her body was coated with cr then it would kind of be redundant.

Her photon bulbs all seemed the same as I remembered them. Well, they did seem to have tiny flecks of light darting back and forth inside the hazy material. I hadn't gotten to get this close and inspect her last time so I wasn't sure if it was a change or not.

Since no one was around I kept speaking my mind aloud around her. She wouldn’t understand me but I didn’t mind. I wanted her to get used to hearing my voice. With that thought, I linked up our two helms and as I spoke I slowly increased the volume of my speech so she could hear me through her helm.

“You are such a pretty Leva, Sublimis.” I crooned as I leaned against her side and tried to hug her large body. I was probably weirding her out, treating her like she was a dog so I stopped and walked back up along her body, trailing one hand along her length the whole way.

She held still the entire time.

“Well, Sublimis, it is just you and me for a little while. We are heading out to pick up something, or rather someone right now.” I kept talking as I reached her jaw and finally made it around her head.

“Man, you are terrifyingly stunning,” I said as I couldn’t get past the notion that if I was flesh and blood she could end me just by setting her head down on me. “Out of all the pets I could have gotten,” I muttered as I gently tapped the tip of her snout before turning toward where the front of the craft was and hovering in that direction.

“Well, come on girl. Let’s go watch from the front of the craft as we arrive at the asteroid belt.” I said while I moved. A quick glance over my shoulder made my heart jump in my chest when I found her massive mouth opening and closing oddly while she followed me, barely a foot behind and to my side.

Was she working at spewing up a drained part of the nest? I wondered as we finally reached the massive door that George had built into the design. The door was all made of cr. It looked like a door, worked like a door, but to me was just a wall of cr that I could temporarily reform so Ess and I could see what we were speeding towards.

“Aww, it looks like I missed my chance to show you the amazing Core that surrounds the star here,” I said as I reached out my hand towards her. Like a magnet, her head moved to intercept my palm.

I laughed. This was the life. Just me and my pet space dragon.

I brought up the map and eta on the hud in my helm and just stood there gently caressing her head while we sped towards the barely visible belt of rocks and garbage beyond the system.