Meghan fidgeted nervously in the Uran holding room. The decor was plastic, not dirty, but worn and polished after gigaseconds of regular cleaning. The floors were plastic, too, and simple to sanitize. The state of the ship surprised her. Tal's meticulous maintenance of the Destiny surpassed the overbearing sanitization of the Uran station U-S-2141. Thin scars crossed the floor where chairs and tables had been set up, dragged around, reconfigured, and removed over the time the station had been in operation. Meghan wasn't quite sure where she was, and Grigory had nothing to say about it either. They had turned over the Destiny to a Uran cruiser, and then were transported according to police protocol. Meghan had the sense she would end up in a prison cell.

A thin man in casual clothes entered, followed by two Benefactors in duty uniforms - simple black overalls with little more than rank insignia attached to shoulders. The civilian introduced the two Uran soldiers - Cantors Rytts and Traveler. Grigory reclined in his seat and gave his best impression of sizing up the pair. He didn't feel intimidated, but knew they wouldn't have minded if he were.

Rytts offered a hand to Grigory; the gesture was accepted. Rytts was not surprised by the pair's appearance, but found them interesting. The captives were not soldiers, but experienced nonetheless. The shape of Grigory's face was masculine, and he wore cosmetics that had the dull patina of tattoo ink. Grigory's eyes were gray, and several loops and studs decorated his face.

Rytts found his appearance more comical and androgynous, atypical for a thuggish mercenary. The skin-tight button-up shirt and plastic trousers were out of place for a debriefing.

Traveler shared his assessment, though she found both of the civilians to be fairly attractive. Meghan's hair was messy, piecey, and shoulder-length. Her skin was tanned, the result of cosmetic lotions, Traveler was certain. Space-born people would use cosmetics and ultraviolet booths to force their skin to emulate the natural tone of planet-dwellers, though this behavior was not so prevalent in Uran space.

The Ura preferred food additives that reproduced the chemical effects of exposure to sunlight and prevented the diseases that would otherwise form in space. Those same foods could also change more basic bodily attributes, such as skin tone, eye color, and hair color, but were rare outside of Uran space.

The thin man bowed politely and stepped outside as the four finished exchanging introductions. Traveler placed a computer terminal on the table. A flashing red light informed Grigory that he was being recorded.

"One million credits," Traveler hummed. "Quite a bounty. Congratulations on that. The credits have been transferred as agreed."

Grigory smiled through tired eyes. He found the past few cycles excruciatingly boring. He kept Meghan sober, away from alcohol and drugs, even though they were legal and offered on the Uran station. There were reasons to keep her away. The pair had been watched since they had boarded, and Grigory had no desire to be caught off-balance. The Ura hadn't tried anything, of course - they had been nothing if not professional.

"A cool paycheck, yes. I suppose the Destiny was worth more than that. Besides, the money's nice, but we really just want to do what was right."

Traveler shrugged and let the lie fall on the floor. He had stolen a warship. Since he wasn't the registered owner, he would only be able to sell the ship within free space, and for a fraction of the value of a registered ship. The Destiny was an excellent craft, but there were a great number of valuable ships in space that were difficult to keep fueled. The Ura could confiscate the Destiny legally, and sell it at auction, earning ten times the bounty they had paid.

"That's uh, good. Well, according to my documentation, you've turned over the ship and the artifacts, and all that's left is this debrief. Once you walk out of here, you'll be free to make a new life. According to the terms of the contract, you have immunity for all your illicit actions you took after we made the agreement, and we won't prosecute based on any evidence or information you give us here, even if that information is deemed outside the scope of this event. If you do end up in trial, it won't be because of anything you say here, and nothing you say here will show up in examination. Do you understand?"

"So. You want to know what we know. I'm ok with that. Do you want to start, or should I?"

Traveler signaled an affirmative with a polite nod. "You are both mercenaries?"

Meghan shook her head. "Mercenaries? Not really. I guess you could call us explorers who got involved in something over our heads. We're just looking to do the right thing."

"Of course," Grigory agreed, annoyed. He hoped she would keep quiet, and regretted not explaining her role prior to the meeting. "So you're interested in the weapon the Quorum want."

Traveler licked her lips and searched for a drink. "Ah. is there anything I can get for you? Coffee, water?"

Grigory shook his head while Meghan graciously accepted the offer of a hot beverage. Traveler nodded at Rytts. He stepped out for a moment to speak to a junior guard, and returned. A few dozen seconds passed before another operator returned with a platter of snacks and beverages. Meghan helped herself while the discussion continued.

Rytts grabbed a sweet biscuit and popped a small piece of the spongy mass into his mouth. Traveler continued.

"What can you tell us about it?"

Grigory put his hands together. "The Quorum already lost one generation ship, just trying to figure the thing out. The weapon destroys flesh and leaves machinery intact. We saw it once, not too long after we first met Tal, the former captain of the Destiny. Looks like a small black cube. Small for something out there in vacuum, that is, maybe twenty meters on a side. I don't remember exactly, and Tal kept everything encrypted. I don't have the keys, so don't ask."

Traveler watched Grigory, annoyed at his control of the conversation, that he attempted to remain ahead of her. She smiled and indicated her interest in the story.

"But they don't have the weapon yet?"

"Nope. It's out there, floating in space. Gotta figure out the controls before the thing will follow you home. The cube is hollow and there's a tiny door. We tried to go inside and got smacked. Tal almost died. You know about that robot they made?"

Traveler winced. "We'll get to that. Can you give me more detail on the appearance? Did it show up on scans? Any emissions? Anything we can use?"

"Hmm. Scans? Yes, we could track the cube with active scanning. Nothing on the system, not until you get very close. The cube's not easy to track with long range tech. When you ring it, sounds like a rock."

"Ring it? I don't understand."

Meghan sighed, frustrated with the woman's inexperience. "He means pulse with the EMDIS array. The Dragon looks like cold debris on the Destiny's old tech, but maybe you've got something better... Uran systems are very advanced."

Traveler nodded, hooked. "How did you find this thing in the first place?"

"Like I said, we were exploring. We found, well, Layla had found the first piece, before we met. She got a map. I don't know where she got the thing. She figured out where the cube would be - it was stationary, more or less. We arrived, and there was just a chunk of rock with a tunnel and the cube inside. She went inside the thing. She did something and the rock, forgive me, hatched. The cube just flew off. No propulsion signature. That wasn't what was supposed to happen, but we didn't have all the pieces. We didn't have her control mechanism the first time. And that's when she got her psycho complex."

"And you gave us this control mechanism?"

Meghan said, "Well, yeah. Layla thought she was enough, but obviously the Quorum disagreed. I mean, Layla thought she could control the weapon herself, with just the stuff in the case."

Traveler pulled a paper folder from her side, placing it on the table. She opened to the first page and pointed to one of a dozen images.

"The Quorum? You mean the robot. Tell me about Project Kurosawa?"

Grigory said, "That's the file you all sent me, and that's her. It, I guess. I'm not really sure what the point was. We never really talked to her, but she was on the Destiny for a few kiloseconds. I didn't know she was a bot, and there wasn't anything special about her. I figured she was just another spacer."

Meghan glared at Grigory for a moment, glad that he'd omitted the events on Qeryh. She felt uncomfortable, she owed a debt.

Rytts sighed as he ate more of the fluffy yellow biscuit. He swallowed and blinked. "So you don't know Kurosawa's role in all of this."

Grigory said, "I didn't say that... Makes sense that the robot the Quorum made to control this thing sought out the one person in the universe who could. The Quorum, or maybe Kurosawa... they were missing something. Whatever that was, you've got it now. Kurosawa gave us one of the artifacts. That sort of makes sense, too, since it's not the things themselves... there's information encoded on them. I thought from the start that the data was a computer program. Kurosawa must be a computer able to run that program. Needed something from Tal, gave us the sword."

"So we want to put hands on the robot before the Quorum can wrap this up. How do we find Kurosawa?"

"Won't be quite that simple. Meghan and myself will simply have to be involved if you want to keep going down this path. I'm the one who decoded the data on the artifacts, after all. I would say... the Quorum's had enough contact time with the artifacts that they could find the weapon on their own. So it's a race."

Meghan gave Grigory a surprised look that she quickly attempted to squash, though the Uran Benefactors noticed her discomfort.

"I'm not sure that will be possible," Traveler said.

Rytts interrupted before Traveler could continue. "But we can have the conversation. Why did you decide to work with us? You keep talking about doing the right thing, but we're not saying the Quorum are the bad guys."

Grigory said, "Ah. I realized my boss was doing the wrong thing. The problem's not the Quorum, it's Tal. She thought the weapon would make her immortal. A god or an alien or something, I don't know, but she wasn't doing this to turn it over to the government. Maybe she was just insane. But when she started to do bad things to get what she wanted, hurting people, attacking Uran ships, well, Meghan and I couldn't sit by. Maybe even if the Quorum get this weapon, it'll be ok. But Tal? No. We couldn't let that happen."

Meghan squirmed as Grigory spoke; Rytts and Traveler both took the gesture as an indicator as to the veracity of Grigory's words. Amanda Traveler scanned the notes in front of her. "Layla Tal? I'd like to know more about her."

Grigory smiled. "Yes."

"When did you last see her?"

"We were with her right until you kindly escorted us here. We left her on Assaf. She probably bribed her way off-planet through one of the local corporations. The Destiny was her ship until you all confiscated it. If we took her with us and locked her up, she would have found some way to cause trouble. Had to leave her. But if that bot's got everything figured out, Tal doesn't matter. Better to get rid of her."

"Is she a threat?"

"You took her ship, and all of the artifacts we had located. She's going to come after us. Would she use this weapon against innocent civilians? She's pretty angry with us, I'm sure, but I don't know what resources she has," Grigory said. "What do you think?"

Rytts said, "Ok. She's the only person who can use this thing. I'm having trouble with that."

"Well, that's her perspective, you know? She thinks she's special. Who knows, the Quorum had to build a bot, right? She's resourceful. We'd never have found the artifacts without her. She's really pretty smart. A shame she put her talent towards selfish ends. We're not actually trying to use this weapon, right? We just wanted to see it safe."

"Ok. So what's your stake in all of this? I mean, you're gonna walk out of this room with enough money to disappear. You could buy citizenship in any sector," Traveler said. "So now you want to work with us?"

Meghan began to speak and felt surprised that Grigory did not interrupt her. "We just don't think anyone should have this thing. Your people seem to agree, so we came to you. You've already paid us. Now, we'll help you destroy the weapon. And yeah, keep Tal from coming after us."

Rytts said, "Seems simple enough. We've all got a stake in this."

Grigory nodded, and gestured at Rytts. "Yeah. Stop Tal, grab the last part we need to control this thing from the Quorum, then we hunt the weapon down and deal with it. So when are we leaving?"

Traveler coughed. "Last part?"

"You know what I mean. Kurosawa."

"We can't simply use the artifacts you brought us?"

Grigory sighed with frustration. "No. No, I explained this. You need Tal or Kurosawa. One or the other's the last piece. One's a rogue pirate we just betrayed. The other's a Quorum robot. Designed to be controlled, right? Don't you guys have that scientist who made Kurosawa in the first place, the one who told us about the robot? You pick and I'll follow your lead."

Traveler shook her head. "I'm struggling with this whole immortality thing. This is the first I've heard of this, you know, that this is anything other than a weapon."

"Ah. ah. Well, there was an old book. Tal had the only copy I could find, and I've never found it on the net, so you'll have to take my word on this. Not the immortality people want from synth bodies. You know. Layla... I don't believe this myself. Just words in a book. But she did. Typical religion stuff. The gods are all around us, watching us, and can grant us boons. Transcendence," Grigory said. "A lot of crap, ok?"

"We're talking about aliens, and now gods," Rytts said. "So you think this weapon is real, but you don't believe the rest of the story, or what?"

Grigory closed his eyes in a grimace. "There's video of the weapon. The book is alien. We know this because humans just haven't been in space long enough. You guys should get this too, I mean, didn't you search the temple on Alef Qeryh? All that's too old."

Shit, Meghan thought with a shudder.

Traveler looked through her notes. "There's not much here on Alef Qeryh. The only reason it's in the record at all is because you talked about it during a previous interview. Where's this going?"

Grigory felt his throat close in fear. "The whole planetoid? No records? But you guys were the ones who leveled it! Fuck. Look it up. Whatever. The idea of this weapon... these aliens were into sacrifice, right? Boons, right? You're making me sound like a nut. Ok. The god thing is Layla's story. Let's talk real words someone put on paper. Start over. The book says if you sacrifice enough souls, you get to be a god. Tal believed. You've got to use the weapon. Uh, Tal would have to use the weapon to sacrifice... kill people. On the order of whole cities, or stations. Maybe that's what she's after... what she was after. She's free, right? So that's what she's still after, right? If you're a psychopath, you don't just give godhood up, right?"

Sweat gleamed on Grigory's forehead, and his speech had become halting. Traveler's gaze flicked between the report on her screen, and Grigory's eyes. He clearly knew much more than he was telling. He had been volunteering his knowledge, as much as his rambling annoyed her. She decided that in his place, if she had just wanted to go, she would have played dumb. He could be a kook, or he could be lying, but if he could remain useful, she wanted him as an asset. She could use him. She would work with Rytts to spin his circumstances in a way that wouldn't come back to harm the Uran government, and then move forward.

Traveler turned her gaze to Chester. "Cantor Rytts, did you have anything else to ask? I'm thinking I'm done for now, particularly if they're going to be working with us in the future."

Rytts shook his head, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "No, I'm satisfied."

Traveler nodded at both civilians. "You're free to go. Let me know if you're going to leave the station. I'm going to submit my report and then we'll go from there. You should know, obviously, we're in the community, so we can't make decisions about the operational aspects of this. If they do want you on the team, someone else will contact you."

Meghan and Rytts exchanged professional smiles and scooped up the remaining treats as they stood. Grigory and Meghan were led out of the area and found themselves free to explore the station. The pair didn't have lodging, so they registered with the housing authority and were granted temporary quarters in an unused military dormitory.

"Fucking dense bennies."

Meghan swallowed, then toyed with the wrapper of a muffin.

"I'm starving, and you've been stuffing your face with drugged sweets. Well, do you want to come with me to get food?"

Meghan blushed and tossed the snack into her backpack. "The Ura are going to drop off the rest of our stuff from the Destiny at our quarters. We should be there before, but that's not for like eight kiloseconds. Yeah. Let's get something to eat, or at least drink."

Grigory smiled and the pair wound their way to a corridor lined with eateries, not too far from their quarters. "Gri, what's this about going with them? I thought we were done."

Grigory said, "I know. Well, there's Layla. I should have shot her. Both of them. Shit."

"Don't say that. She would never want to hurt us if we hadn't screwed her. And I don't know, she's got bigger problems."

"You are an idiot, darling. We stole her ship. She's going to come after us. I don't understand why you think that won't happen. Close your eyes. Imagine her standing over your bed with a knife, because that's what she's thinking right now."

"Gri, I'm not saying she won't try. But can't we just disappear? I'm pregnant, Grigory, or did you forget? You said we could settle down. Maybe we could just go to Friesian space and buy a little apartment and just maybe have a family or something? How is she going to find us if we do that?"

Grigory shook his head. "You supported me during the interrogation, so I thought you were with me. When this is over... I feel like we're near the end. But not there yet, you know? Got to wrap things up right. I don't sleep well, Meghan."

Meghan frowned and rubbed her ears with frustration. "I don't know. I really don't. Are you just..."

"You don't have to come with me. I can go with the Ura alone. I can take care of this. Is that what you want? You can go to Friesian space and set things up. I'll find you, eventually."

"Gri, no. That's not what I want." A hint of moisture welled in her eyes. "Why are you being like this?"

Grigory rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "Being like what? Sorry for being driven to not get hunted down. We're gonna raise a kid, right? While Layla's coming after us? Should have fucking shot her right between her beady fucking eyes."

Meghan felt the jab. She'd begged him to spare the others.

The pair moved into one particular restaurant, where chefs at a bar fried the same synthetic compounds every other eatery used, though this one worked with natural spices and oils. They ordered beverages.

"Fine. It's all my fault. I didn't want her dead, and now you're worried she's coming after us. You know what? She's not. The Ura are going to get her whether we help or not. We could get some new eyes, different hair and just be Mary and Gary, the happy Friesian family. We could do that now, Grigory. Right this moment. Just hop a shuttle. Why don't you want that?"

Grigory sighed as the drinks appeared. "Ah, life advice from the woman who's drinking beer while she's getting fat with my kid. Tell you what I think. I think your plan won't work out. I don't trust it, not against my own plan. So it's the same as always. We each go where we want to go. So are you staying with me or what?"

Meghan glowered. "That's not a problem as long as I'm taking the nutritional pills, you know that. Besides. I've been feeling pretty fucking awful lately, ok?" Meghan looked over at the other patrons, some of them sipping colorful liquids from glasses. "At least I'm not getting high anymore, right? I could climb a fucking wall right now."

Grigory let a sardonic laugh escape his lips and slurped his drink. "Fine. You eating anything?"

Meghan ordered tacos - flatbread-wrapped protein chunks, cooked with a sauce made from an oil derived from charred fish. Grigory ate a steak of formed, minced protein, slathered in rich gravy on top of a layer of aerated starch. Both meals resembled the food one found on a planet, in both flavor and texture, and the pair found the food to be some of the best they had eaten in recent memory.

"Sorry," Grigory apologized after finishing his meal. "We need to finish this right. I don't want us to be arguing about this. I thought you had my side when you spoke up. So... we've got a little bit of time, but I need you to make up your mind."

Meghan swallowed the last crisp bite of her flatbread. "I know you're doing this for us. I can't work through these kinds of things like you do. We're just different people. You know what I want, and I trust you to get us both there."

Grigory smiled and tousled her hair. "Fine. Look, just follow me, and it'll be ok. Maybe it’s not time to have this baby?"

***

"Deeper we go..."

"Huh?" Chester Rytts questioned.

"Checked your communicator lately?"

Chester shook his head and glanced around the office before removing the device from the pocket on his chest. The screen displayed a message from his supervisor.

### Cantor Rytts,

###

### A temporary transfer to the operative section has been authorized.

### Some report you helped write got everyone all worked up. So you're

### on the job. You'll be back here, but you'll need to transfer to the

### cruiser N-C-Eres for the time being. Even though the transfer is

### temporary, we're setting things up like a permanent, since we don't

### know when you'll be back. Hope this works out for you.

###

### z/ CT1 Yonov Grinspeck (AUTHENTICATED)

"Shit. I just got transferred. What the hell?"

"Yeah, we apparently touched something off," Traveler said. "The Eres?"

"The Quorum generation ship that got burned up was the Eres. But this one's Uran? Creepy, actually. But there's not that many different names, I guess. You said you wanted a field detail..."

Amanda nodded from across the grid of desks. Her hair was growing out, and Chester thought she seemed more relaxed. More civil. He was sure her calmer demeanor had helped during the debriefing they had performed a few cycles before. And if he was being transferred so abruptly, Grigory and Meghan might be involved. This was turning into quite a substantial operation.

Rytts poked at the hard-mounted terminal installed in his desk. The system already had associated a budget with the assignment, which meant he was cleared to travel immediately. He would have to board another cruiser to catch the Eres, as the ship had already headed into free space. The trip would be expensive, but costs were independent of mission parameters. Chester wondered if Grigory and Meghan would have to pay their own way, or whether they would be funded as well.

The traitors had been paid well, he thought, more than he made in a hundred megaseconds. The couple hadn't been "set up," which was more interesting. If civilians with a bit too much knowledge were to fall too close to poverty, the Quorum might perhaps promise a particular standard of living in exchange for information. The Ura had "set up" others to prevent this, and the large sum Grigory and Meghan had received was unusual from that perspective. But this also indicated, Rytts decided, that the Ura would be monitoring them for a long time to come.

Chester didn't have to spend much time packing. He and Amanda had been bouncing from office to office, ship to station, pulling threads on this work. Most of his belongings, except for a few uniforms and a personal terminal, had been left in his apartment on the Eternity. He was sure Amanda Traveler was in a similar position.

Shuttle to cruiser booked, and then another shuttle between that cruiser and the Eres, and Chester's plan had been made. He sent a copy of his schedule to Traveler out of courtesy. There were not many other routes, but travel was always easier with someone you know.