1:1:11 Lists

Scrolling. The tablet finally loaded and displayed a series of objectives. The list wasn’t as long as they had been expecting, certainly not long enough to justify a tablet they thought.
“How’d you find getting here? Quatarrian vessel’s bound to raise a few heads.” Silus nibbled at the seeds on the table.
“That’s the thing. Quatarrian military tech is apparently really popular with humans. The ship is registered under a human alias so if we had to pass through any heavy Protectorate systems, they probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid.” Char took a sip of her drink. “How about you?” She gestured for Lore to hand her the key fob. “Mid-size ship’s got to be hard to keep a low profile in.”
“Had a few close calls with the twenty sixth order but that’s nothing new.”
“Twenty sixth?” Lore recognised that designation for some reason. “You probably didn’t have much to worry about. Reid’s their Inquisitor, from what I’ve seen, she’s timid and non-confrontational.”
“I… How come you know that?” Char and Silus were suddenly suspicious.
“In one of the memories I mentioned her so the cube gave me a little context. To be fair to her, I agree, that was nasty.”
“Do I want to know?” Char chewed at a seed.
“I’ll tell you later.” Lore resigned.
“You two shouldn’t have a problem though. Lore said that with you at the helm, she’ll more than serve you.” Silus was putting a lot of emphasis on Lore.
“When did you last see Lore then?” Char pruned the awkward tension before it grew too long.
“They handed me the stuff about three weeks ago and told me to get here today.” They shook their head. “Nothing for seventy five years.” Silus drained their glass. “Well, not nothing. I got an invite to a party on the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the war but it was a secret birthday party for Lore and I don’t remember much of it. There were more than a few Lores there… I think.” Silus shook their head. “Whoever they invited, they left me with most of the booze. I drank nearly a half dozen Quatarrian women under the table.” They squinted. “Were you one of them?”
“I… I don’t think either of us had been born yet.” Char finished her drink too. “Shall we look at this ship then?”
“Suppose we had better. Universe isn’t getting any younger.” Silus stood, pocketed a handful of seeds for the road then made their way to the bar. They waggled their hand expectantly at Char who filled it with the change from Lore’s Sonics. They returned the single copper piece before meandering to the entrance. “I’m parked on the other station so we better get a move on, last shuttle’s in forty five minutes.”

The station wasn’t much further. It took up most of the right side of the habitation saucer with fleets of shuttles on cables waiting to ferry passengers between the two stations. It wasn’t much of a wait before they were trundling across the near empty space and towards the other half of the station. No-one talked the whole journey across. Lore, Char, Silus and a baker’s dozen of aliens of various species stood in near perfect silence as their capsule was dragged along the cable to their destination. A series of calming beeps from an instrument like a glockenspiel played over the public address system.
“Alien music…” Lore whispered to themselves. “Hmmm.” They nodded in approval.
Out of the window, they weren’t sure quite how far, they could see the stars of the solar system from which they departed. It wasn’t the only one. They took the tablet from their bag and looked at the list of objectives. They had been organised by planet but ahead of those, one stuck out: Meet Destiny. They mulled on what they could have meant by that until the shudder of arrival knocked them from their thoughts.
“Come on then.” Silus hurried them along.
The second station was almost the same as the first, but in reverse. The three of them had to force their way through the terminal, wondering what was causing all of the commotion; they got their answer. Lording over the crowd, a man with cracked skin, orange and gunmetal like the crate he was stood on and a head like a hammerhead shark in a respirator was mid speech.
“- they have taken over every aspect of our lives. We all know what I am talking about. HUMANS! Why must we be relegated to ancient stations,” He bent down and broke off a section of the crate’s plating and crumbled it in his hands. Amber dust trickled from his fist, “Look at what they have done to us, look what they have made us. I came from Citrius four. I grew up feeling the suns on my scales and the wind on my scalp. My children got none of that.” He dusted off his hands. “No more I say, no more.”
“Come on. Hangar’s this way.” Silus rallied Char to his side but Lore was rapt by the Flad speaker.
“Hold on.” They protested.
“I watched as they made contact with my people. They came with gifts, technologies foreign to our land. For a while, we were at peace. Everything changed when they saw the riches of our oceans. Soon enough, they drained them dry, they filled our atmosphere with oxygen, turning our own planet against us.” He scanned the crowd. “All of us have been forced to make sacrifices, concessions to the human plague.” He shook his head. That’s when he saw them. Like deer in headlights, they both froze. “You.”
Lore knew he meant them but still, almost reflexively looked around to see if, by some infinitesimally small chance, he meant someone else before answering. “Me?”
He shook his head. “You.” He breathed deeply, his face was sucked further into his respirator. “They are among us, bow to them.” His deadly serious tone worried Lore somewhat. “The great ‘liberator’.” The air quotes were not visible but even Lore picked up on the subtext. Hundreds of eyes were now splitting their focus between the Flad and them. “They who heal planets, they who chase the humans away. Shame.” He raised his hand and levelled his finger at Lore. “Your visit to Citrius one didn’t go unnoticed. Not by us and not by the humans. It’s a rare pleasure to have such an intimate audience with one such as yourself so may I ask you just one question?”
“I’m not who you think I am.” Lore responded.
He took that as a yes. “Did you ever stop and think what could happen when you poked the beast’s nest? Did you?”
“I’m not them.” Lore maintained but he wasn’t having any of it.
“You don’t fool me. The only human face I learned and one I doubt I will forget.”
“There are more than a few of us,” Lore began but couldn’t finish as they found themselves suddenly wrapped in Silus’ strong embrace.
“Just like the war.” They smiled.
The crowd chased them for a while but eventually, the Flad recalled his shoal. Silus unhanded Lore and returned them to Char.
“Carried you through those three years,” They looked as though they were going to tear up. “Memories.”
“You didn’t. One I wasn’t born yet and two, I saw every second of the war and I know for certain Lore had a higher success rate than you.”
Silus nodded in resignation. “Fair is fair.”
“What was that all about?” Char gestured wildly at the path they had just ran.
“Remember the other Lores, they’re out there causing chaos for The Protectorate. If what Crait showed me was correct, smash and grab missions with no regard for the consequences.” Lore stopped for a moment. “No more.” They echoed.
“Right… let’s get a move on then.” Silus continued on, pressing the button and summoning the lift.

Again, they were the only ones heading down. Lore removed their Sonics and leant against the back wall. Char and Silus stood opposite.
“What’s next for you then?” Char turned to Silus.
“Back on the run I guess. Ironically, the Quatarrian ship’ll help for a bit but I don’t suppose it’ll keep me hidden forever. One day, they’ll stop to check I’m a collector…”
“There’s got to be a few places for you to lie low?” Lore fiddled with their Breacher awkwardly.
Silus scoffed, “Nowhere that ship’ll get me. Well, unless I had a little help…”
“We need our Breachers…” Lore began.
“Code’s seven, eight, two, three, six.” Char handed a small polymer square to Silus. “That’ll let you open the door but it’ll only let you into the tree section, not the bungalow. That’s ours.”
The door opened but not the one they were expecting. Lore fell out of the back of the lift. They managed to deploy their staff and catch themselves before they hit the floor but injured their arm in the process.
“Good catch.” Char held out her arm. Lore hoisted themselves up. “That actually was rather impressive.”
“You didn’t see them during the war. They did things with that staff that put your cannons to shame.” Char’s side-eye was deadly. “All right, all right… It’s true though.” Silus moved to the front of the pack. “This way.”
It wasn’t much further but it was a winding journey which made it feel like forever. Snaking through countless shuttles and small ships, they couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity on display. Then they reached the end of the hangar; several airlocks, just the same as the other side.
“Here we are. She’s all yours.” Silus began to cycle the airlock. “She’s not much to look at but Lore’s kitted her out. Perfect for them but not so for a Quatarrian. You may have to compromise Char.” They smiled at the airlock. Lore and Char stepped back slightly. “Nothing to worry about. She won’t bite.” This didn’t help.
Hand in hand, they took the plunge. The ship was pleasantly cool and dimly lit.
“Perfect.” Lore whispered to themselves.
They were in what appeared to be a cargo bay. There were two small walk in cupboards to their left and right and a staircase ahead of them. Silus pointed to the wall beside the stairs.
“Welcome to Destiny. Spearhead class, custom built from the ground up by you, for you.” They pointed to the dedication plaque. The V shaped symbol from Lore’s shoulder sat proudly embossed in the gold plate. The central rectangle was notably different, being black rather than gold, recessed rather than embossed. Silus removed the two rectangles that made the outer aspect of the sigil and handed one to Lore and the other to Char. “Keys. Just in case you get lost. That’s where the spare goes.” They patted themselves down and replaced the final key. “Well, that’s me done here. I was told to get you here then to leave you to your own devices. More fun that way I suppose. Enjoy.”
“Thank you.” Lore and Char spoke in unison.
“Just be careful with the old girl,” Char handed Silus a small rod with threading running its entire length. “You’ll need this. Jump drive’s a little temperamental and it really doesn’t like going more than three, maybe three and a half over so ease up on the throttle.”
“I wouldn’t have expected it to reach two.” Silus nodded. They gestured with the rod as they disembarked. They were almost out of the airlock when they turned. “Word of warning, she might not like you Char.” They shrugged. “She didn’t like me.”

With that, the airlock hissed closed and Silus was gone leaving them to explore. They poked their heads into the two smaller rooms first. They weren’t too big but they each had room for three full length lockers. Two of the three in the right hand room were labelled with Lore and Char’s names, the rest were blank.
“Come here.” Lore whispered. “Have you got a key for this?”
Char shut the door behind her then crossed the cargo bay. “Why would I have a key?”
Lore shrugged. “You seem to know more about these things than I do.” Lore took another look at the lock. They took the ship key from their back pocket and slid it into the locker. They turned the handle and, with a echoed clunk, it unlocked; the door might as well not have been there. It was made of a thin sheet metal that rattled as Lore pulled it open. Behind it, on similarly flimsy shelf, a ventilator mask and a handful of filters. It was almost worse than nothing. Lore waggled the mask. “Fun.”
“It’ll come in handy. Not every planet is as accommodating to your human lungs.” Char’s smile faded when she opened her own locker and revealed the same. “And I suppose I don’t fancy acid in my lungs either.” She paused. “Not that I couldn’t survive it.”
“Let’s move on…” Lore locked her locker and ushered Char out of the room. Char mumbled something to herself.
Up the stairs and they were met by a corridor. Three doors to their left, three to their right and one directly in front of them. They turned around and saw two doors either side of the staircase.
“Start at the back and work forward?” Char nodded.
“Works for me.” Lore allowed her to lead the way. They started on the left but it was a false choice as both doors lead to the same engine room. At the centre there was a large Jump core. It must have been as Char whistled upon seeing it.
“Very nice. When Silus said it was kitted out, I assumed they meant the usual bodge job but this is genuinely impressive.”
“Your work then I assume.” Lore smiled.
“Your designs.” Char returned, running her finger along the lines of the drive core.
“And that’s not all.” A third voice joined the conversation scaring the both of them. “Look to your right.”
They did as she asked and saw nothing special, just a wall of dials and flashing lights. “Ok…” They spoke in unison. “What are we looking at?”
“Rude.” She spiked back. “You are looking at perhaps one of the greatest advances in Human-Quatarrian technology since the Breacher.”
“Ok… Still doesn’t help.” Char leant against the Jump drive.
“It’s called the K.A.D.S.” The voice paused. “The Kinetic Activated Displacement System. Blows the Jump drive so far out of the water, it’s in an entirely different galaxy.” She was about to continue but she was cut off.
“So why have the Jump drive then?” Char butted in.
“I’m getting to that.” The room’s lighting flared red. “Now, The K.A.D.S is a Breacher interface that allows the ship, with the assistance of a bit of a run up, to visit any location you have pre-programmed into either my computers or your Breacher’s. And if you’re feeling extra spicy, you can visit any time as well but that’ll require a little more oomph from the Jump drive.” A face poured from out of a monitor on the wall. “See Miss ‘why does it need a Jump drive?’ ?” Both Lore and Char were too creeped out by the face to fully take in the mocking they just received from their ship.
“You’ve got a face…” Lore managed to force out between confused fear.
“Ah, yeah, sorry. I felt that doing the whole ‘metal woman coming out of a wall’ thing would scare you even more so I thought I’d keep it simple. Hindsight’s twenty twenty.” She paused before grimacing “Bad memories.”
Lore and Char both took a moment while the woman completed her assembly. She was tall, taller than both of them and comprised completely of hundreds of thousands of tiny icosahedrons. The lighting of the engine room danced across her frame as a liquid spread from her torso, across her body, coating it with, first skin and then clothing. In no time at all, the roughly woman shaped collection of polyhedrons was almost indistinguishable from any other woman they could have possibly met. Apart from her eyes. They were too blue; an unnatural hue in humans, one reserved for only the most toxic of frogs.
“Better?” She spun on her heels.
“Better.” Char responded, inspecting every centimetre of her body.
“Lore’s idea, Lore’s tech, your hands.” She leant against the wall she came from. “We got off on the wrong foot, wrong head, I suppose but take two?” She held out her left hand.
“Take two.” Lore shook it.
“Definitely Lore.” Char patted their shoulder.
“Hi, I’m Destiny. Welcome to me…” She opened her arms. “ Time for a tour.” She walked towards the door, behind it, Destiny.