“Coraline?” echoed Sana. “Who… What are you?”

“I am a seventh-generation AI in charge of the research ship the Eldridge XIII,” came the brisk response. “I was given the designation of Coraline by the captain of this ship.”

“What’s an AI?” asked Charlotte. “And where are you talking from?”

“AI. Artificial Intelligence,” Coraline answered. “Currently I exist within the ship’s database, and I am talking to you through the ship’s speakers.”

Tomoe, Sana, and Charlotte all just looked at each other helplessly. It was hard for them to understand. “So, you’re something like a living doll?” Tomoe asked, turning her attention back to the panel.

“Checking… I believe that’s an apt descriptor for young children.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult…?” muttered Sana.

“However, I have a question for the three of you,” Coraline said. “None of your voices match the ones that I have in my database. Also…” She paused, though Sana didn’t know why. “You are not human. What are you?”

Tomoe frowned. “Human…?” she muttered to herself.

“Well, I’m a lamia. My name’s Sana,” Sana introduced herself cheerfully.

“Lamia,” repeated the AI. “In Classical Greek mythology, the Lamia was a queen of Libya, beloved by Zeus. Hera, in retribution, killed her children and Lamia went insane, becoming a child-eating demon.”

Sana blinked. “I… what?”

“I’m Tomoe, an arachne,” Tomoe introduced.

“My name’s Charlotte and I’m a centaur,” Charlotte said a little halfheartedly.

“Arachne. A weaver of great skill in Greek mythology who hung herself after Athena destroyed her work in a contest. The goddess took pity on her and the weaver became the first spider.” A pause. “A centaur. A creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse.”

Tomoe and Charlotte exchanged a look. “I’m sorry,” Tomoe said. “But what is Greek mythology?”

“It is a body of myths and legends based in the ancient religion of the ancient Greeks,” explained Coraline. “I was merely making the connection between what you told me and those legends. The species you claimed to be all have origins in ancient Greek. However…” She paused for a moment, deciding the proper way to word her next sentence. “However, these stories are all make-believe. There are no such things as lamias, arachnes, and centaurs.”

Sana’s jaw dropped. “No, but-!” she desperately argued. “My village! Everyone who lived there was a lamia!” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing!

“Interesting.” Sana could hear the whirring of something within the machinery under the panel they were gathered around, but she didn’t know what it was. “Indeed, a rudimentary scan shows that all of you are most definitely alive. There are no tricks here. As such I can only assume that you are a newly discovered species brought on the vessel by the scientists.”

“Scientists?” Tomoe frowned. “You mean the humans?” She shook her head. “Sorry to disappoint, but we’re the only people around. We haven’t seen anyone else aside from the three of us.”

“That’s… true.” It seemed a struggle for Coraline to admit.

“What were humans doing here, anyway?” Charlotte asked, curiously.

“This is a research ship for the Michealean Theocracy,” explained Coraline.

“A research ship?!” Sana said excitedly. “You mean like a spaceship?! You mean we really are in space right now?!”

“Yes.”

Sana grinned, as Tomoe and Charlotte exchanged a shocked glance. Charlotte cleared her throat. “You mentioned research? What was it researching?”

“It was studying… studying… oh that’s odd. Some of my memory has been wiped. I do not know what was being studied.”

“Does it have anything to do with teleportation?” Tomoe asked.

“I do not know.”

“What happened to the humans who were here?” Charlotte asked. “Where did they go?”

“I do not know.”

Tomoe groaned. “What do you know?”

“I know that you three are not human,” Coraline answered easily. “You are an anomaly. There’s no record of your existence in my database nor in human history. So, either you are lying, or you are from somewhere far, far away from this reality. You are not lying, correct?”

“No, of course not!” Sana protested.

“Then I cannot force you out of the ship.”

“Coraline…” Sana smiled gratefully.

“...Because I have no reasonable way to eject you from the ship with the way I am now.”

Sana visibly deflated. “Thanks anyway, I guess…”

“Hm.” Sana could tell that Coraline was holding back some curiosity. “Tell me then. How did you arrive on this ship?”

The three of them, starting with Sana, each explained their situation, as the AI listened. They all detailed the grey box they had found, how it’d felt being teleported, and everything that had occurred afterward, including the fight between Charlotte and Sana. However, both Tomoe and Charlotte remained vague about what they were doing before being teleported, something which Sana picked up on. However, she didn’t have the courage to bring it up. Something told her that she wouldn’t like the truth.

After they were done, Coraline remained quiet, making Sana nervous. “Coraline?” she said nervously. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m… fine,” she replied. “Unfortunately, my memory remains missing, so I cannot answer how you came here or what the device all three of you found was. At best, I can only assume that the three of you were caught in some sort of experiment.”

Tomoe clicked her tongue. “So, we have no way to return home, then.”

“To me, you have three options,” Coraline explained. “One, this ship is supplied with food and water to last all three of you a month, if you wish to wait for the low possibility of a rescue. Two, you can attempt to recreate the experiment to send yourselves home.” She paused. “Tell me, do you know anything of basic quantum mechanics?”

They gave her a blank stare. “Is that, like, some sort of food?” Charlotte asked.

“…I suppose that option is off the table,” Coraline said, and Sana detected a hint of amusement within her monotone voice. “I guess that leaves option three. I can currently pilot the ship to the nearest space station where, hopefully, the occupants there will be able to help you.”

Tomoe frowned. “Occupants?” she repeated, sounding on edge. “I assume you mean humans, then.”

“…Yes. With the amount of fuel and food, the ship has the farthest we could possibly travel is the Nemesis Space Station,” explained Coraline. “If you’re to survive, traveling there would be undoubtedly the best solution.”

“And what’s stopping the humans who are there from killing us?” Charlotte asked hotly.

“There’s a chance,” Coraline admitted.

Honestly, Sana was willing to go to this “space station.” However, upon seeing Tomoe and Charlotte’s reluctant faces, even she had second thoughts. She opened her mouth, about to say something when-

Grumble!

Her stomach growled. Sana blushed and placed her hands over her belly, as everyone turned to stare at her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.” She kinda regretted not going to the oasis with Mellow. “Um… Coraline. You mentioned that we have food. Where is it?”

“Well…”

“This is… you call this food?” Sana grimaced, staring down at her plate of grey mush, within the room of the ship called the “Cafeteria.” Coraline had called it porridge, but Sana had trouble believing that, as she picked and prodded the small lump with a plastic fork.

“Yes.” Coraline’s voice came from a nearby speaker, situated in the corner of the cafeteria. “It is quite healthy. Is there something wrong with it?”

“Well…” Sana hesitated. “I was hoping for… I dunno… meat?”

“I’m a vegetarian,” muttered Charlotte, poking her own food with trepidation. Thankfully, Tomoe had completely removed her bindings.

Sana winced. “Or some vegetables? Or fresh fruit?”

“Meat and fresh fruit would spoil far too quickly to remain edible,” pointed out Coraline. “It isn’t feasible to store them for long journeys in space. This is standard in any vessel.”

“Heart fruit?” Sana asked desperately.

“I do not know what that is. Do you mean… strawberries, grapefruit, or pomegranates?”

“No, no, that’s fine.” Sana glanced at Tomoe, who was taking small bites of the porridge. However her expression wasn’t that of disgust, but rather wistfulness. Sana recognized her face. She was reminiscing about something.

“Tomoe?” Sana said, a little quietly. The Arachne looked up, returning to reality. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, shortly. She poked her food with the fork and sighed. “Coraline,” she said suddenly. “You mentioned before that you didn’t recognize our race. Does that mean there isn’t anyone like us at the space station? No nonhuman creatures?”

“There are some small animals kept as pets. But no, nothing like you.”

“So if we were to go to Nemesis, what do you think will happen?”

“Most likely you’ll be detained. You are anomalies of the universe and I believe the CEO of the company will want to know what you are first before making a decision. However, this is predicated on the event there isn’t any provocation from your side.”

“You must be joking!” Charlotte snapped, indignantly. “Humans wouldn’t think twice about killing us for their own amusement-!”

“You think we can reason with them?” asked Tomoe, staring directly at Sana.

“Yes-”

“I wasn’t asking you, Coraline. I was asking Sana.”

Sana swallowed back a bit of her fear. The way Tomoe was looking at her scared her a little. “Y-Yes. At the very least we should try,” she answered.

Tomoe frowned, tapping her finger on the table they were sitting at. “Fine then. Let’s put it to a vote. Whoever believes we should take option one raise your hand.”

Only Charlotte raised her hand, much to her own surprise. “How-?”

Tomoe didn’t let her get that thought out. “And option three?” she asked, seeing Sana’s hand shoot up. After a moment of indecisiveness, she raised her own hand into the air.

“I do not have a hand to raise, but if I did, I would also raise it.”

Tomoe sighed and gave Sana a smile. “Well I guess you were technically the first on this ship,” she said kindly. “You can be the captain until we reach this ‘space station.’”

Sana beamed. “Alright, Coraline!” she exclaimed, pointing a finger into the air. “Set a course for the Nemesis Space Station!”

“Setting course… Plotting route… Destination set…”

Sana grinned in excited glee. This was it! She was going through a journey in space! She didn’t know what awaited them, but she could hardly contain her excitement-!

“Turning off gravity to divert power to thrusters to increase acceleration. Please strap down.”

“Huh? Wait sorry what does that mean-Ah!” Sana suddenly found that she was floating in the air, her body no longer touching the ground. Looking around, she found Charlotte and Tomoe also in the air, their arms and legs flailing wildly.

“What’s going on?” Charlotte cried.

“The hell is gravity?’ Tomoe snapped.

Instead of answering, Coraline said, “Beginning acceleration. Please strap down.”

Tomoe and Charlotte managed to grab onto the bolted-down table, while Sana wrapped her tail around an exposed pipe. They all suddenly lurched forward as the Eldridge XII began to move forward. At the same time, Sana felt her stomach do a flip and all the food she had just eaten came rushing back up through her throat.

“Steady speed achieved. Turning gravity back on.”

Sana fell back to the ground with an unceremonious thud, her body tangled up. And her vomit…

“Did I do well, Captain Sana?” Coraline asked.

Sana involuntarily gagged, as bile dripped down from her head. “Please tell me there’s a lake or river on this ship.”

“That would be impossible. There is a shower near the bedrooms, but…” The AI hesitated. “To be frank… you’re a little too big to fit in it completely.”

Sana groaned and hung her head. Called fat by someone with no body and covered in vomit… in space.

Well, life was certainly full of firsts.