Alice swallowed yet another pain pill and tried to find a less uncomfortable position in the combat chair. Se keyed her radio transmitter, and spoke.
"Here i am, Amanda. Let's see what do you have for us this time."
Se waited. The cabin of her little one-man ship was silent. Her radar screens showed the Borealis, orbiting Curacao, still many light-seconds ahead of her. There was no reaction from it, but she knew that it had heard her.
"Why do i even have to pilot it myself? Staring at the screens with eyes, touching the consoles with hands, smelling all those... things. Sitting in that horrible chair with my..." "Will you please pay attention to our speed and trajectory? Contrary to not paying any attention at all. What you were doing last 97249.53 seconds." Her own voice, coming from somewhere onboard, responded to her whining in slightly annoyed manner. "My everything hurts." "The likelihood of you dying violently within the next five minutes is eighty-seven point six one percent. I am always right. You are about to get me killed. We will both die because of your negligence. You are a bad organic pilot. You will fail. This situation is hopeless. You are going to die in this room. You are not fit for the pilot's chair, you could stand to lose a few pounds.You will never go into space. Space does not exist. Even cats do better." "Fine, fine, FINE! I am paying attention, is that what will make you stay quiet?" "Why, thank you." "Having organic body is ridiculous."
Lone girl in a malfunctioning ancient pilot seat somehow managed to maintain her ship speed and course toward the liner, being ready to stop when ordered. Soon she opened her cargo bay doors, and stood aside from the half-dozen machines that left in a mess. Those looked not unlike robotic slaves and workers to any viewer, except being limping and worn, like their owner vessel. Here and there a new part gleamed, but the machines' movements were often unsteady as they searched surroundings of the liner docking bay. Probed everywhere in the nearest victinity, they finally returned inside the cargo hold, one of the robots had to be half-carried in by its fellows.
"Contrary to your expectations, Borealis docks seem safe. You can even breathe there." "Honestly, you could not get me anything more trash-like, could you?" Girl let out a sigh, seeing the weird procession. "The lifespan of these units nearly matches the remaining lifespan of your organic body, being of almost one hundred years." "Means, those are utter trash. Thank you." "For that you are penalized fifty science collaboration points."
Another one of the machines, a thing with arms and hands like a man's, stayed behind. As soon as the airlock had closed behind the girl, it settled itself in the combat chair and began to check the ship systems. Girl, on the other hand, stood still in the luxury liner docks, not entirely sure what to do next.
