Misk raised an eyebrow, “ArchAngel?” I nodded, “Yup.” He smiled, “Any particular reason why? You're not a fan of Gabriel or Michael, are you?” I mentally raised an eyebrow at that comment but I kept an indifferent face, “I don’t really know who you're talking about.” Misk laughed, “I’m surprised that you don’t know who they are. They are two of the most famous Angelics within four galaxies of our main base.” I raised an eyebrow, “Angelics?” He gave me a weird look, “You don’t know what an Angelic is either?”

I shook my head and he sighed, “Where have you been living your whole life? On some backward planet with no intergalactic net?” I tried not to laugh at how extremely on point he was. I shrugged, “Never really been one for famous people or the net.” Which was a complete lie to be honest. I was totally into Scarlet Johansson, but he wouldn’t know who she was. He sighed and waved it away, “That’s fine, though, you should honestly spend some time on the intergalactic net while cruising on the ArchAngel.”

Speaking of the ArchAngel she spoke, “He is right master. I am connected to the intergalactic net and you just need to ask me to search something for you.” I arced an eyebrow again, “Master?” Misk laughed and ArchAngel smiled, “Yes master, when we were linked, I found that you seemed to like literary content that has women referring to men in this fashion. Did I make a mistake?” Misk and the guys started to laugh even harder than before.

I could feel the heat in my cheeks, “Where you inside my head?” She nodded, “Yes ma...” She cut herself off for a second before continuing, “Yes sir, when we linked earlier and you were registered as my owner it gave me access to your memories.” I started to freak a little, “Anyone else besides you have access to those memories?” She shook her head, “Not if you don’t want them to, sir.” I sighed and nodded, “Of course I don’t. Where ever you have them stored, I want them locked down.”

She nodded, “Yes sir! Memory Bank is on lockdown. Retinal Scan, DNA Match, Fingerprint Scan, Sperm Analysis, and Key Memory Scan are now required to unlock the Memory Bank.” I blinked once real slow like, “What? Sperm Analysis? Really?” She nodded, “Yes sir.” I furrowed my brows, “Why though?” She grinned, “Because it sounded fun when I saw it as an option.” I blanked out for a second as I thought about the fact that I may have a perverted A.I. running my ship.

She giggled, “You made me this way, sir.” I sighed, I could tell that she was really trying hard not to call me master. I’m not going to lie, hearing her call me that did sound amazing. I guess maybe I can just suck it up and let her call me that. She giggled, “You’re so sweet, master.” She hugged me then. I was startled from my musing by a couple of things. First, she knew I thought it was okay to call me master. Second, she is touching me. As I can feel her touching me right now.

She leaned back and giggled, “Even though the Memory Bank is locked tight, we still have a mental connection. This means that I can hear everything you think.” I frowned, “So you can hear this?” She nodded and grinned again, “Yup!” I sighed, “Why can’t I hear your thoughts then?” She pouted, “It’s because I don’t want to hurt you, master. If you were able to listen to the thoughts inside my head your brain would malfunction and literally explode. My thought process as an A.A.I. is many times faster than a human.” I nodded, “I guess that makes sense.”

It honestly did make sense though. She was probably letting me in very slightly when we were talking in our minds. Just enough for the words to break out and make their way to me. My thought process stopped again, “Wait. How are your digital thoughts going into my brain anyways?” She smiled, “That’s because you were implanted with a chip when you stuck your finger in the hole on the seat.” I looked at my finger in horror. All of the things I had read about microchips in real life and fantasy came crashing into the front of my mind.

She laughed and booped me on the nose, “Don’t worry silly. The only thing the chip does is connect your mind with mine. No mind control or explosions necessary.” She laughed some more and I sighed. I looked down at my finger and saw that the prick from earlier was closed now, which should have been obvious, but I was out of my element right now. As much as I loved technology and fantasy, seeing some of this stuff was still overwhelming.

She ran her finger up and down my arm, “The range of the chip is dependent on your strength. Based on the readings I’m getting from your body...” She paused talking and her finger froze on the top of my hand. She almost purred when she spoke next, “...is actually quite high. I think that the range for the chip right now should be about ten galaxies.” I whistled as did the other men in the room.

Their whistles brought me back to reality and caused me to notice that ArchAngel was sitting on my lap sideways with her arms wrapped around my neck. I coughed, “Angel, I’m going to need you to get up now. Also, how am I able to even feel you?” She grinned, “Shortening my name already?” She jumped up from my lap and twirled around, “I am made up of a compound mixture of polysaccharide and sodium tetraborate. Plus, some other components to make me feel more lifelike. I also have some electronics that are linking this body to my mainframe kind of floating around in me. I slinked into the room right after you all got here. Then I just announced myself and boom there I was.”

She laughed as I blinked slowly again, letting memories of my childhood science classes came flooding back to me, “So you are basically slime?” She nodded, “Yup!” I nodded my head and a thought of her growing her breasts flashed through my head before I quickly squashed it. She grinned and I swear I saw her breasts grow a size. I looked around and noticed that most of the guys were talking amongst themselves, so they didn’t really notice anything. Minsk, on the other hand, was looking straight at me and he winked when I looked at him. I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb.

I decided to change the subject by speaking to Misk again, “So where are the regular VTOLs? I wasn’t really told what I would be getting. Hell, the Boss didn’t even contact me to tell me this VTOL was ready. She said she would and then as soon as I come to see you, we head to this planet for you to tell me that it is ready.” He grinned, “That’s the Boss for you. She probably knew you were coming and knew exactly what you wanted.” I sighed, “That figures. She wouldn’t be in the position she is in without seeing things a couple moves ahead.”

He nodded, “That and being insanely powerful. She could probably take a blast from this thing and block it with a single wing.” I widened my eyes at that, “She is that strong? A weapon that could destroy a planet is blocked by simply moving her wing in front of the blast?” He nodded, “Yup. She is what is referred to as a Titan Ranked target.” I furrowed my brows again, “Titan Ranked?” He sighed, “Just how new to this are you?” I shrugged, “Pretty new. You weren’t given my file?” I don’t honestly know if they had files on us. I figured they would be, based on common sense, but you never know.”

He frowned, “You know. I actually didn’t receive your file.” He pulled up a screen from the watch on his wrist, that I didn’t notice him wearing, and type a few things in. After a few minutes, he frowned again, “There isn’t a file on you. Usually, there is a file gathered on somebody within the first ninety days of them being a part of the Playing Cards. If you don’t have one then that means...” He cut himself off as he started to stare at me with semi-wide eyes.

I grinned, “I’m that new.” The rest of the group swallowed some of their salivae and shuffled nervously. I grinned, “Don’t worry guys. I’m still the same person you were cracking jokes at in the VTOL that took it in stride.” Misk swallowed some saliva as well before he spoke, “So would you like us to show you around the ship or would you like her to do it for us?” I grinned, “I think I would like to spend some time to get to know her myself.” Misk nodded and gave me a small salute, “We will get out of your way then. When you are ready to launch just have your A.I. call the tower and they will direct you out.”

I nodded and watched as they left out of the bridge. I looked around a bit before it hit me, “He didn’t tell me were the VTOLs were!” I went to go out after him but there was a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw Angel smiling at me, “I can show you were they are master.” I nodded and then followed her as she entered an elevator right behind the captain's chair. The door closed and we kind of just stood there for a while. It was still weird how you couldn’t tell the thing was moving. The elevators back on earth had a little bit of that pull that let you know if you were going up and down. This one didn’t have any of that and part of me wondered if we were just standing in the room for no reason.

The door opened and I was greeted with a massive hangar. It was massive and I could barely see the ends as we stepped out into the middle of it, even with my advanced eyesight. I saw an absurd amount of VTOLs and I think there were at least twice the amount that I ordered. Angel must have seen the confused look on my face because she spoke up, “The Dealer took it upon herself to give you a few of the older model VTOLs as well. Their technology isn’t that far behind the others though. They don’t have shielding, but they do have an extremely durable and light plating. They could handle a few dozen shots from the 150mm Electromagnetic Rail Gun that your government has in development.”

I froze for a second at her mention of my government back on Earth, but then I remembered that she was in my head and got the information that way. I thought about what she said for a second before speaking, “I asked for VTOLs right around the timeline after conventional gunpowder weapons. The ones hear including the older models look well beyond that.” She shrugged, “The newer models have quite a bit of technology in them. They have four 20mm rail guns on the nose and a swiveling laser turret on the tip of each wing with auto-targeting software. They have a shield generator that will block anything up to a small nuclear warhead.”

I widened my eyes at that, “Small nuclear warhead?” She nodded, “Think of the Mini-Nukes that the Fat Man shoots.” I nodded, “Oh okay.” She grinned, “The 20mm rail guns on the nose have the same firepower as the laser from Liberty Prime.” I started to drool at the amount of firepower that the ships had. She giggled, “The newer models also come equipped with a camouflage system. It doesn’t mask the heat signature, but it does make the ships practically invisible. The noise is dampened so it the ships sound like wind instead of, well, aircraft.”

She smiled and continued, “The older ones have a laser attached to the tip of the wings just like the newer models. They have an auto-targeting system as well. The nose has four of the same type of lasers mounted to it. It has a heat masking system installed and can avoid radar detection, but it can’t turn invisible. The lasers for both models of aircraft can tear through any metal found produced on your planet at this time. Once Earth starts mining the ore hidden deep underground on Venus though then the lasers won’t be enough to penetrate. The railguns should still be plenty effective though.”

I nodded and got a good look at the aircraft. They looked almost like the VTOLs that we arrived in except for the fact that the tail didn’t fold up and there weren’t any drop-pods on it. The ships were painted a deep black with dark purple accents. One of the aircraft was being worked on by a few bots flying around and was powered up. It sounded amazing and I could see the glowing strips of purple light making the ship look like something out of the movie Tron.

I smiled and nodded my head, “Okay so where can I drop the other gear I collected?” She tilted her head in indication for me to follower her and that’s what I did. We walked back to the elevator and got inside. A few seconds later and we entered a room where another flying bot greeted us, “Hello, captain. Welcome to the armory. Is there anything I can do for you?”

The voice was metallic, but a little feminine sounding. I smiled, “Actually, yes. I have a bunch of gear that needs to be stored her in the armory. Could you somehow put them away for me?” The bot beep, “Of course sir!” I waved my hand and couple tons of weapons and armor appeared scattered about the room. The bot beep again, “We will get right on it sir!” The bot floated away with a cute little humming noise and I saw a hatch open in the ceiling allowing another dozen bots to fly in.

They flew over to the gear and it started to float in front of them before they floated over to racks and drawers in different areas of the room. I thought the little bots were cool looking. They were rectangular in shape and had an antenna coming out of the back of each corner. The center had a big circle with a glowing purple light on it. I noticed they were the same as the bots working on the aircraft in the hangar as well. I turned to Angel, “Where did the bots come from?” She grinned, “They are another gift from The Dealer. They allow the ship to run fully autonomous and I control them. I give them out the assignments that need to be filled in on the ship and they see it done. The only one that can overrule something I tell them to do is you.”

I nodded, “So I don’t really need a crew?” I felt a little down about that and her next sentence cheered me up a bit, “That’s not true. The bots can take care of the miscellaneous stuff, but if you still want to get living beings as crew members to lead specific departments you can. Even though I'm no different than a human in thoughts and emotions the normal bots lack both. They just follow commands that have been given and when they have nothing to do, they sit dormant in their hangar.”

I nodded at the information she gave me, “How many of them are there?” She thought about it for a split second before answering, “Around two-hundred and fifty thousand bots. One hundred thousand bots are for running the ship, while the other hundred and fifty are outfitted with sturdier armor and laser rifles.”

I grinned at that information, “So I have myself an army eh?” She giggled, “Yes master, you do. Did I forget to mention that they have a camouflage system built in as well?” I grinned, “Really?” She nodded, “Mmhmm.” The bots were already quiet enough as it is. Add invisibility on top of that and they could be used for quite a bit of mischief.” I nodded, “Okay then. Let's continue the tour.” Angel nodded and took me around the ship for the better part of five and a half hours. By the time I was done being led around, I wanted nothing more than to take a nap, even though I was technically already sleeping. I laughed at my inside joke and Angel raised an eyebrow.

I sat down in the captain’s chair and Angel plopped down on my lap. She smiled at me, “Where to captain?” A hologram popped up from the arm of the chair and I picked a random planet in the next solar system, “Is it possible to land on this planet and take a stroll?” She nodded, “Yeah, that planet has a breathable environment, but the animals are too hostile to colonize it. I mean, someone could colonize it, but the cost would be astronomical unless someone had the strength of a dragon.” She grinned and I grinned, both filing that information away for later.

The planet I was looking at reminded me of earth, but the water was a very pretty violet color instead of blue. The planet didn’t have a name, but it did have a code that it was designated to. It was labeled at JL-1414. I tapped on the planet, “Find us a good place to land while I contact their tower.” She nodded and as the hologram started to change, I told the tower that we would be leaving. They confirmed our request to leave and said their goodbyes as Angel started to power up the ship.

A few minutes later and we were floating up and making out way towards to the exit. The wall opened and there was a forcefield behind it. I then noticed that behind the forcefield was open space. It hit me suddenly. The exit is working just like the door that got us to this planet from The Deck. It made complete sense when you thought about it. If they didn’t want people to know where they store a lot of their technology and vehicles don’t even let a lot of your members know either. You probably had to be at least an Ace to know where the planet is located.

The navigation tampering was a nice touch as well. After we passed through the barrier and it disappeared behind us, I checked the navigation again. We were in a completely different system and the history logs were wiped. I shook my head, of course the logs would be wiped. They did develop the ship. They must have some sort of control over it still. Angel spoke up, “Not anymore master. Once the logs were wiped after we left the base their control over the ship disappeared. I found the code they used and it was programmed in a way that it basically killed itself after wiping the log.”

I sighed, “I guess that’s a good thing. Can we still make our way to JL-1414?” She nodded, “Yup. We may be a completely different system, but the planet you wanted is still in one of the nearby systems. They basically layered a false system on the navigation when you were selecting a location.” I groaned and then just shook my head, “Just forget it. I’m not too worried about it. Make our way to the planet, please.” She saluted, “Aye Aye, Captain!” I smiled at how enthusiastic she sounded.

A few seconds later she started counting down, “Setting course, warming up, launching in 3, 2, 1, and go!” The stars around us stretched and then they were gone and it looked like we were floating in a black nothingness. The windows turned a shade of purple and hid the view of the outside from us. Angel smiled at me, “Traveling through the void is an uncomfortable experience for most and if you stare out into it for too long you will lose your mind.” I nodded, “I kind of like my mind right where it’s at thank you.”

She laughed, “I thought you would, that’s why I activated the shutters on the windows. Also, if you ever get to the point to where you can meditate for weeks on end then you may be able to stare into the void, but it’s better off to just not worry about it. It’s not like anyone who could travel the void has discovered anything out there anyways. Why do you think it’s called the void?” I grinned, she had a point. I figured that the information she was telling me was probably stuff I could read about on the intergalactic net.

As we hung out for a bit and talked, I began to wonder if I would ever see Misk again. I spent all that time talking to him just to take a ship and leave. I promptly filed the thought away for later and continued to enjoy the feel of the woman in my lap. She stopped talking for a second before starting again, “We are about to leave the void and enter the orbit of the planet JL-1414.”

I sat up in the chair causing her to have to stand up. She smiled, “Where here master.” The windows cleared up and I was staring at a beautifully vibrant planet with violet colored oceans surrounding green continents. I smiled it look beautiful to me. Some would say it’s too much purple, but I feel there is no such thing as too much purple. Well, there might be something out there that screamed too much purple. I just haven’t seen it yet and I hope to whatever beings out there pass as gods that I never see it.

I looked over at Angel, “Find us a landing spot and let’s step out on the planet.” She nodded and the planet started to get bigger in the window. After a few seconds, we were touching down on the surface in a massive clearing on one of the continents. I checked with Angel to make sure the readings were right and that the planet had a breathable atmosphere. She nodded and I stepped out of the ship. A crisp breeze hit me and I looked up to see that there were two suns in the sky. One was about a couple of hours close to setting while the other was a couple hours behind it. I briefly wondered how the orbits and everything worked, but then I realized I didn’t care right now.

I took a deep breath and then released it in a satisfied sigh almost. I jumped when Angel spoke to me, “I take it you like it so far master?” She giggled as I quickly turned to her, “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” I sighed, “You didn’t really scare me. I just wasn’t paying attention to anything other than the freshness of this planet. It’s untouched by pollutants.” I looked around at the avian creatures flying in the distance and the clear skies. They were blue, but with a tint of purple when the sky met the horizon. It was honestly beautiful when you tried not to think about it in a scientific way.

I turned to Angel, “I’m going to put you into my pocket dimension for a little bit, okay?” She nodded, “As you wish, master.” I waved my hand, causing the ship and her body to disappear. I opened a portal with a flash of light into my room on the Heart Suite. After stepping through, it closed behind me. I laid down on the bed and smiled thinking about the looks on everyone’s faces when I brought the new toys home. With those last thoughts, I logged out.