Corebound Chapter 38 (Patreon)

The arrival of an alien ship had certainly been a surprise, but it was also an opportunity, and Franky wasn’t about to let that slip past him.

Franky had avoided the hangar where he saw the transport ship on the map so as not to alert Jacob before he was ready. Now that the man was preoccupied with uninvited guests, Franky figured it was the best chance he would get to access the ship.

He stopped at a junction in the corridor and scanned every direction before waddling over to a nearby wall. There was a small touch-screen-style panel, similar to other panels he had interacted with on the station. He realized the physical interfaces were either a backup or for people who couldn’t do what he could do with his mind.

Franky had been experimenting over the last few days and learned something interesting. He knew the station logged everything. Jacob had shown them as much during the little training he had provided. So he knew that if he remotely accessed the door, the log would be recorded directly to his access record, but if he accessed a door or system manually, that log was sent somewhere else.

He had tried to determine where that log was stored, but was unable to locate it, which was good enough for him. If it was that hard to locate, it probably meant Jacob didn’t know about it either. Even if the man did find it, it would just be one more log amongst dozens, since Franky had been going out of his way to open every single maintenance hatch he had access to.

His gloved fingers fumbled over the controls, and annoyance flared inside him. The thick padding of the suit made it nearly impossible to operate the smaller panels, but he had practice, and after a few failed attempts, he finally entered the correct code.

The screen gave a light beep before a large panel next to it popped open. Franky pushed his hand into the gap and opened the panel the rest of the way before stepping inside and closing it behind him.

It wasn’t the first time he had explored the maintenance corridors, but this time he took an alternate route that led him toward the hangar.

When he got to the end, he found the way blocked by a pressure hatch instead of the standard decorative wall panels. He tried to open it the same way he had with the other panel, and to his surprise, the hatch locks disengaged with a meaty thunk.

He pushed the hatch open and stepped inside the hangar. His eyes finally landed on the ship, and what he hoped would be his method of escape. That hope was dashed as the station AI jolted him from his celebration.

“Junior Maintenance Technician Franky D, you are in a restricted area. I have reported this violation to your supervisor. Please leave this area before I am forced to contact security.”

Franky cursed internally and quickly reentered the maintenance tunnel. “Sorry, I must have taken a wrong turn,” he told the AI.

“If the map I have provided for you is inaccurate, please file a request with the Head of Maintenance Services to have it updated.”

“I’ll do that,” Franky replied, just to get the AI to leave him be.

It must have worked because the AI fell silent after that.

While he had hoped to get inside undetected, he wasn’t deterred by this result. He walked up the maintenance corridor until he got to the one that took him along his normal route. It was a tighter fit because he had stacked items along one side of the corridor for weeks. They were storage devices meant to expand his personal storage so he could expand the prison that Jacob had banished him to.

Fuck that!

He almost had enough to double his original storage space, but he decided to use them for another purpose.

That secondary purpose wouldn’t have been possible without Barry requesting information on how to install the units, and Katty agreeing that she needed to understand how the storage space functioned as well, in case Jacob left or was incapacitated.

Franky agreed with the other two, but it wasn’t like he could be the one to suggest the change. Jacob had hemmed and hawed about the request for a few days before finally agreeing. He left the information with them, but with a caveat: if they damaged their own storage space, he couldn’t save them.

Franky had no intention of modifying his own storage space, so he ignored the warning. The stockpiled storage units would be loaded aboard the ship as soon as he figured out how to get aboard the vessel without triggering the AI. Once they were installed and powered up, he would transfer his consciousness to those new units and get the hell off the station and out from under Jacob’s control.

As he exited the maintenance tunnel, he caught sight of a pair of aliens crossing over an intersection farther down. He had avoided the aliens because the thought of working with them disgusted him. When he turned his sensors, he froze in shock. One of them was hot! Aliens shouldn’t be hot; they should be alien, but this woman was drop-dead gorgeous. Easily an eight out of ten.

She glanced away from her traveling companion and toward him, giving him a small smile.

Franky was no stranger to beautiful women. His celebrity status brought plenty of women to his doorstep, but this one was different. She had no clue who he was and wasn’t here for his celebrity status or money.

The beginnings of a plan started to form in his mind, and he smiled internally. He would push aside his disgust if it meant escaping the station.

If he couldn’t get access to the other vessel, perhaps he could convince these naïve aliens to let him travel with them. He wasn’t stupid enough to lead them to Earth if they agreed, but he didn’t need them to do that; he just needed them to get him off the station. From there, he would figure something out.

With a firm plan, he went to track the pair down.

***

Xing’che’s smile faded as the figure disappeared from her view. At first, she thought it was the same drone that had greeted them in the hangar, but the suit it was wearing was different. It could be the same individual piloting the machine, but she wouldn’t be sure until it approached her.

She knew it was a drone because the detector her aide was carrying hadn’t gone off. It had been silent since she had input all of the crew’s bio-signatures into the device. She found the situation curious.

The individuals who had found and were repairing the planetary conditioning vessel weren’t present as far as she could determine. The portable detector didn’t have a very large radius, but so far it had only picked up trace amounts of eiraxin, amuni, and shalis DNA. Xing’che wondered how those last two had gotten aboard the station, but that was a mystery for later.

The suited forms obviously weren’t biological, but they used standard bipedal forms. The shalis were bipedal, but they weren’t capable of merging with machines thanks to their biology. She didn’t even consider the amuni to be behind the drones. Even if the amuni were capable of merging, they would have used a form more similar to their own.

The technology may have been purged from eiraxin records, but her people maintained records of the medical problems associated with the technology. According to the medical data that was still available from back then, extra limbs or too few limbs always seemed to cause cognitive issues. That problem went away when drones no longer took on normal biological forms. It was theorized that bodily dissociation increased as the forms became more like the host’s body. It was one of the reasons why the maintenance drones that she had spotted were so bulky.

She wondered if the group controlling the station was experiencing a similar issue or if they had found a way around it. That might explain the bipedal forms. If they were a lost eiraxin group, as she suspected, they had nearly nine hundred years to improve upon the technology.

Her aide tapped her lightly on the elbow, pulling her from her thoughts. “Adjunct Xing’che, I believe our guest wishes to speak with you.”

Xing’che turned to see that the suited form had followed them down the corridor. She gave a warm smile before turning to her aide. “Uht,ra, why don’t you go along without me?”

The woman nodded and hurried off. Xing’che watched her go while smiling sadly. Uht’ra had such a promising career; it was too bad she was the traitor who had placed the tracking beacon on the eiraxin shuttle. When Xing’che learned of that, she didn’t have the woman eliminated; she had her picked to accompany her on this trip. She wanted to keep an eye on the woman, even though she knew that Uht’ra would be spying for whoever she worked for.

Xing’che pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she focused on her current situation.

Being alone with the unknown individual could be dangerous, but this was the first time anyone from the ship had been approached since their arrival. Xing’che needed to be bold for her plan to work, but she couldn’t do that if they avoided her the entire time.

When she turned back to the suited drone, it had closed the distance to her, likely emboldened by her dismissal of Uht’ra.

Xing’che bowed slightly. “Greetings, emissary. I am Adjunct Xing’che. How may I address you?”

The figure stopped, and she could practically feel the drone’s sensors studying her. She also noticed its form tilted slightly to take in her body. She suppressed the revulsion she felt, her face masked in a friendly smile, and her heart as calm as she could make it. It was easier said than done, but her predecessor had trained her to resist interrogation techniques, and this was no different than those. Besides, if the individual controlling the drone was interested in her body, that was just another lever she could pull to get her way. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to save her people.

“You can call me Franky D, sweetheart.”

Xing’che had never heard the term before, but it didn’t take her too long to parse the man’s meaning, even if his old-eiraxin was awful. This was definitely not the same individual who had greeted representative Chalto or commander Zyn’vak.

“Franky’dee? What an interesting name. Do you mind if we walk while we talk? I would very much like to hear more about its origins.

“Of course you would,” the form snorted.

Xing’che thought the man had seen through her attempts to gather information before he dispelled that notion a moment later.

“Everyone wants to know Franky D,” he continued.

Ah! He hadn’t seen through her attempt; he was just a self-centered, egotistical idiot. That was perfect.

As the pair walked the corridors, Franky’dee went on at length about himself. It was exhausting listening to the man speak, but he was a wealth of information, even if he didn’t realize it.

“So you are fully digital?” Xing’che asked in genuine shock as the man said something that he probably hadn’t meant to.

If that were true, it would explain so many of the oddities about the station. She had never heard of anyone fully digitizing their mind, but a lot of information about the merging process had been lost or destroyed over the centuries. For all she knew, it had been a simple process back during the Concord days. Even if it hadn’t been, she could easily see a breakthrough like that coming as a means of survival for this trapped group of eiraxins.

“For now,” he said in bitter annoyance, “but don’t you worry, I have a plan to fix that. I just need to get out from under Jacob’s thumb.”

“You are referring to Captain Jacob. Is he the one who runs this facility?”

Franky barked out a harsh laugh that made Xing’che wince from the volume. The man didn’t seem to notice as he continued ranting. “That idiot can barely wipe his own ass, let alone run this place. He stumbled into the role, and he lords that over the rest of us like some jumped-up dictator.” There was a slight, manufactured pause before Franky continued. “Perhaps you can help me with that?”

Xing’che pushed the mental picture that Franky’dee had painted for her out of her mind before smiling internally. She could commiserate with being trapped under an uncaring government, but she didn’t believe what the man was saying for a moment. He wasn’t very subtle, so she knew exactly what he wanted. The question was, what to do about it.

Men like Franky were so self-assured in their superiority that they became hard to manipulate unless you knew how to make them think the idea had originated from them in the first place. To sell the act, she needed to act like an airhead. It wasn’t hard. “I don’t know how I could help,” she replied with a pout. “I’m just along to assist representative Chalto.”

Her acting was rusty, but the man gobbled it up.

“You could put in a good word for me, sweetheart. You’re a diplomatic ship, aren’t you? What about asylum?”

That was certainly an option. If she spoke with Chalto, she might be able to convince him to agree. The problem was that Xing’che didn’t want that. Franky’dee was after something, and she didn’t intend to let him get that. It was obvious that the man and Jacob didn’t get along, but she wasn’t about to back Franky over the person who controlled the station and was captain for the planetary conditioning vessel. He had nothing she wanted, but perhaps she could help Jacob by removing Franky. She knew she would be grateful if someone took care of an individual who would turn at the smile of a pretty woman.

“I don’t know,” she replied hesitantly. “I’m on thin ice with the representative already. Is there another ship you could use instead?”

“There is,” Franky grumbled, “but my clearance doesn’t give me access to it.”

That gave her another bit of information she didn’t have before. She would have smirked in triumph if she weren’t busy pretending to be a fool. Xing’che ran through what she knew of the old Concord station rules, but she was coming up blank.

“When I need help with something, or get locked out, I always just ask the AI,” she giggled. “Don’t tell my boss, though, he would get mad with me. I’m only supposed to use it when helping the representative.”

Franky snorted derisively. “Seems like a pretty pointless job, but sure. AI?”

“Yes, Junior Maintenance Technician Franky D?” the AI said through a nearby speaker.

Xing’che wanted to laugh as she could practically feel Franky boil in annoyance beside her at the title, but she kept her vacant look and smile plastered on her face.

“What do I ask it?” Franky ground out.

“Maybe ask it to list out the organizational chart?”

The man scoffed. “I was already planning to do that. AI, list out the organizational chart, starting with my position and working up from there.”

The AI dutifully listed out the positions and even included who currently filled those roles. As each role came back as empty, Xing’che watched the form practically vibrate in excitement. Her hope that Franky had found an answer to his question fell apart when the Head position was announced.

“Head of Maintenance, Captain Jacob,” the AI said without emotion.

Franky swore at that. “Bastard has to have his hands in every pot. I’ve heard enough,” the man stated, cutting the AI off. “What did that accomplish other than making me annoyed?” he asked after turning to her.

Xing’che took a step back as she thought he was going to strike her. Not only was Franky’dee self-centered, but he was also the type of man who blamed others for his problems. It was no wonder he didn’t get along with Jacob.

She needed to think fast, because Franky’dee closed the distance to her. “Well, now we know what positions are open. Perhaps you can apply for one?” she rattled off quickly, her voice quavering for real.

For the first time since stepping aboard the representative’s ship, she wished she had a weapon.

“You can’t be that dense. Jacob would deny any request for me to move up.”

He sounded even angrier now, and she took another step back to keep their distance the same. A sudden thought came to her, and she blurted it out quickly in hopes of stemming the man’s fury. “I don’t know how it works here, but back on my world, heads of departments rarely, if ever, get involved with promotions.”

It was an assumption on her part, but if she was correct, she hoped Franky’dee would be smart enough to see what she was hinting at.

Without even addressing her, Franky’dee simply turned and left, leaving her behind. Once the man vanished around the next corner, Xing’che let out the breath she had been holding, and finally banished the persona she had fashioned for the man.

Franky’dee’s rudeness irked her, but it was the ease with which he switched from sweet-talking to domineering that terrified her. Xing’che didn’t know if that was due to his entirely digital nature, or if that was just how eiraxins were in the past. If they had been that aggressive, it certainly helped explain why every species hated her people. His swift departure gave her hope, however. If the man did manage to fulfill his goals, it would be one less barrier between her and Captain Jacob. Even if Franky’dee failed, she had other ways to get into his good graces, or, barring that, forcing him to comply with her wishes.

Her plans would need to be adjusted, but she smiled anyway as she turned around and headed back to the hangar.