Gone & Missing

[Toaster]

The ship rocked gently as it charged through the Kusari trade lane network at superluminal velocities. Inside, Beige was leaning back in the pilot’s chair, hands folded behind the head, eyes closed.

“Let’s go over what we know again,” he said. Victor’s holographic sphere materialized on the dashboard, bobbing slowly in the cockpit’s still air.

“Sable was last in Liberty three weeks ago,” Beige recounted. “She popped off north to Kusari and probably wanted to head to the Sigmas from there.” Victor’s orb dipped low, emulating a nod. “She hasn’t contacted anyone in over two weeks now. Not me, not you, not Nazumaki. Not even her family.” Beige paused a moment, sighing. “Her last neural net log was sixteen days ago?” Victor dipped again.

Beige opened his eyes and leaned forward, closer to the small ball of orange light, a curious smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Say, how do you know that?” The mercenary cocked his head to the side. “Accessing neural net accounts ain’t exactly easy.”

Victor’s hologram froze in midair, as though caught in the middle of committing a crime. Then it spun slowly around its own axis as the AI thought for a moment.

“When Miss Sable found the Inspiration and me on board, she reactivated me and gave me full access to her neural net account,” the computer explained, “for the purpose of catching up on what had occurred across Sirius during my… hibernation. Unbeknownst to her, I installed a backdoor through which I could access her account even after I was done. Only in the case of emergency, of course.”

Beige leaned back again and laughed.

“You spied on her to keep her safe!”

Victor’s sphere expanded as though flustered.

“I did not spy on Miss Sable, sir,” the AI refuted. “I owe Miss Sable a great debt of gratitude and I believed that keeping an eye on her would allow me to repay said debt.”

Beige shook his head, still smiling broadly.

“All the good that did us, huh?”

Victor contracted again to his normal size and bobbed up and down rapidly.

“Well, sir, I was able to determine where Miss Sable logged into her account.” Beige could make out a hint of self-satisfaction in the AI’s synthesized voice and grinned.

“Oh yeah? Where was that?”

Victor’s bobbing slowed down and the navigation panel below his hologram lit up, displaying a new set of waypoints.

“Aomori Station, Honshu.”

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Olivia Sable