Starchildren Options

[Kane]

Two stories at once is a lot for me, so these updates may not be as frequent. I also did not plan on this but a certain young woman in my head refused to be quiet.

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Prologue (May 7th, 2330)
Ebbside, Neon City, Volii Alpha


Andromeda awoke with a start. Somebody was pounding frantically on the door to her sleep crate and had ruined a perfectly deep slumber after a long day of work and even longer night of partying to celebrate her birthday. There was no way in hell it was daylight already which meant she probably left her slate at Euphorika. Again.

The bleary-eyed young woman fumbled in the dark for her glasses while the pounding on her door continued. If whomever it was out there kept it up much longer, she felt like her head would start pounding, too. Having finally fished her glasses off of the cold floor Andromeda slid them on and then clicked her bedside lamp to life. Most of her clothes were strewn about the floor of her metal box, which also explained why she was now so cold.

Two minutes or so later, she was half-dressed, and her nearly decrepit Solstice was clutched tightly in her left hand. Please don’t fizzle out on me now old girl, she thought. Looking down at the worn laser pistol in her hand, she sighed and silently chided herself for never spending any credits on a decent gun. The little pistol had been thrown out for good reason, yet Andromeda had fished out of the garbage anyway and fixed it up in the most half-assed way possible. Each time she squeezed the trigger was just another gamble on whether or not the damned thing would even fire.

This time she prayed to gods she didn’t give a [censored] about that it wouldn’t let her down. And then she finally opened the door.

Andre burst into her sleep crate and slammed the door shut behind him.

“It’s about goddamn time you answered! What the hell took you so long, Dro?”

Andromeda blinked in surprise at the urgency in his voice. She’d known Andre for over six months now, and the man was usually as cool as a cucumber. Even when he drunkenly tried to flirt with her. Andre had taken a courier job for HopeTech on Valo and was reassigned here to Neon City, much to his initial dismay, but they had grown close in the time since. The man was of average height with dark skin and kind brown eyes that sometimes hid behind a mop of unkempt blue hair.

“Slow down, Andre,” she said. “What’s the big deal?”

“No time to slow down. The ‘big deal’ is that your [censored], Dro. Absolutely [censored].”

“Wha -”

“Gather up what you care about the most and stuff it in your bag. Security thugs are closing in already �" I set up a prox alert for when they get within twenty meters.” Andre saw her bag sitting on the floor near the door, grabbed it, and handed it to Andromeda. “Pack! Now!”

“Andre, I am not going to move another goddamn muscle until you tell me what the [censored] is going on!”

“[censored]. Fine. Start packing and I’ll explain while you go.” He waited until a few things had been shoved unceremoniously in her bag before continuing: “Those Ryujin files you hacked yesterday for your anonymous buyer? They were tagged for Bayu’s personal records. Dunno how he tracked you down so quick but if you wanna live to see your twenty-sixth birthday then we need to get you the hell out of this city.”

Her blood froze. Benjamin Bayu. The Administrator of Neon City and possibly the most corrupt man in the settled systems. His fingers crept into every business venture on the planet and the security force was at his beck and call. No one did business in Neon without giving him a cut, and his ruthlessness against would-be competitors was legendary. Everyone who lived in Neon lived comfortably by skirting his brutality.

If she was on his radar at long last, then she had definitely taken the wrong job, pile of credits notwithstanding. Being a Cyber Runner in Neon always ran the risk that Andromeda would one day cross paths with that monster, but she had always been careful about her choice of contracts in the hope of avoiding Bayu. Her luck had finally run out and yet she still was uncertain about leaving the only home she ever knew.

“I can’t just up and leave!” stammered Andromeda, freezing midway through emptying the contents of her wall safe. “My whole life is here! It’s all I’ve ever known!”

“Doesn’t matter. Bayu will have you killed just to make an example - “ Andre ceased talking abruptly at the sound of rapid beeping emanating from his slate. His face took on an unhealthy pallor and he nervously ran his hand through his hair. “Time to go. They got there sooner than I expected.” Andre pulled another slate out of his jacket pocket and gave it to Andromeda. “Here, take this and give it to Doc Manning at the clinic. He’ll give you a short makeover to fool security at the spaceport.”

“Andre, I...” Andromeda was at a loss for words. The sudden shock of what was happening and the thought of fleeing her life �" Neon, Andre, the friends and people she’d grown up around �" was too much. Hot tears fell down her pale cheeks and splashed on the floor of her crate. She raised a hand to brush them away, and then shoulder her bag. “This isn’t over,” she finally said with a firmer resolve than what she felt inside. “Bayu isn’t chasing me out of my [censored] home forever. I’ll come back for all of you, I promise.” Andromeda stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Andre’s cheek. “I promise.”

“We’ll do what we can to clear your name. You need to go. Now. They’ll be here any second. I can keep them occupied for a few minutes but they’ll tell me to get lost before long. Go!”

Andromeda pulled her hood up to hide her vibrant fuchsia hair and fled into the night without another word. The garbled chatter of Neon Security radios echoed up from the alleyway to her right, so she moved silently away from them and ducked into a dark alcove that was still within view of her crate. It was hard to much of anything, but she recognized the dim form of Andre now standing back outside of her door and soon heard him pounding on it once again.

“Yo! Open up, Jen!” Andre’s voice rang out. “Open up!”

Flashlights illuminated and three security goons stood at the ready, their guns trained on her friend. Andre’s hands flew skyward while the nearest guard began to pat him down.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” demanded another guard.

“Damn, take it easy, bud,” said Andre. “My friend lives here and she’s gonna be late for her shift at Generdyne again. Just trying to get her ass on the move!”

“Jen, huh? Yeah, sure pal.” The guard shoved him aside and addressed one of his partners. “What do you got, Reg?”

“Andre Mitarn, known associate of one Andromeda Renault. Courier for HopeTech.”

“Did ya hear that you lying piece of [censored]?” laughed the first guard. “Jen my ass. Where’s the girl?”

“If I knew where Jen was I wouldn’t be here, officer.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, punk. Reg, you know the drill �" get him out of here.”

Andre lowered his hands to leave while Andromeda released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Her friend turned to walk away but Andre only made it a few paces before two sharp cracks rang out through Ebbside. He fell to the ground in a pool of blood while Andromeda watched in silent horror. She shoved her hand in her mouth in a desperate bid to stop herself from crying out.

“Dump that sack of [censored] over the side. The chasmbass will get rid of the evidence for us.”

Two of the security goons forced open the door to her sleep crate and disappeared inside while the third dragged off Andre’s lifeless body and heaved it over the railing and into the churning waters far below. Andromeda slipped away unseen and headed silently for the Neon Core, wiping away the tears as she went. The nearest door to Bayu Plaza wasn’t far, and within five minutes she had stepped through it and darkened her glasses against the garish light that gave Neon City its name.

Every type of store and service imaginable spanned the length of the Core, brilliant neon signs and lights shining down upon everyone who walked the expansive length from Ryujin Tower to the Trade Tower. Even late at night (or early in the morning, as it was now), the walkways were teeming with citizens, tourists, guards, scumbags, and dregs.

Andromeda’s destination was Reliant Medical and thankfully it was only a short distance away. Doc Manning seemed to never sleep and with her life crumbling around her, Andromeda was grateful to see him sitting at his counter.

“Ah, there you are, Dro! Andre warned me you were coming �" c’mon around back and we’ll get you fixed up.” He paused at the signs of grief that had stricken her normally carefree face. “What’s happened? Wait… where is Andre?”

It took everything Andromeda had to not scream in frustration and anger. She settled for kicking helplessly at the front of his counter which only resulted in a stab of pan shooting through her foot. “They [censored] killed him, Joe! Bayu’s security goons iced him without a second thought and threw him over the rails of Ebbside!”

“Bastards,” sighed the Doc. “I keep hoping this city will change some day but I don’t think I’ll ever live to see it. Despite younguns like you fighting back, Bayu’s grip never seems to relent. All the more reason to get you out of here, I guess.” Doc Manning waved her towards the back again and dismounted from his stool. “Go on, I just have to lock up real quick.”

The back room had a small biological modification chair that the doc had somehow procured from one of the Enhance! stores that were peppered throughout the local galaxy. It must have cost a small fortune, but she once again found herself thanking gods she didn’t care about for its existence in the back of the clinic. Doc Manning followed her in a few seconds later and instructed her to take a seat in the chair.

“Okay, so Andre...” Joe trailed off and made a gesture that Andromeda had never seen before. His hand moved across his face in the shape of a ‘T’.

“What was that for?” she asked him.

“The cross? It’s from an old-Earth religion that most have forgotten about. I’ll explain some other time. Anyway… so Andre most have been tipped off pretty early and with a good bit of info. Bayu has your name, financial history, work records, and physiological profile; but not your DNA records. We lucked out there. A few cosmetic changes will get you past the spaceport sniffers.”

“Joe, I can’t pay for any of this,” said Andromeda. “All my accounts are probably seized and I have less than two-hundred credits in my bag.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Dro. You’ve already done so much for the hard working people of this city that your friends are lining up behind me to get you safely out of this place.”

Andromeda sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue from the box Doc Manning held up to her. She knew it would be a long time until she saw those friends again, and the thought of that hurt more than anything else. Then she laid back in the chair and closed her eyes while the doctor powered up the alteration arms. She knew it would take thirty seconds to a minute for the machine to fully boot, so Andromeda pressed her friend on what would happen next.

“I have another slate from Andre,” he said. “It will transfer enough credits to get you on an outbound freighter, and provide a new identity. But the tricky part will be getting you to the port with perfect timing. We need to have you at the gates just as the ship’s thrusters begin to burn, so that the guards will hopefully rush you through without looking to closely at your records.”

There was lot that could go wrong with that. However, she trusted her friends implicitly and so she closed her eyes again and let the doctor go to work. The procedure was relatively painless, but she did flinch from the occasional needle or sharp prod. Some calibrations to the machine were in order when she returned. If I can return, she thought. Benjamin Bayu had a long memory, and she doubted he would forget about her anytime soon.

Ten minutes elapsed before Doc Manning leaned back on his stool and powered down the alteration arms. He grabbed a mirror from a side table and handed it to Andromeda. The same brown eyes stared back at her, but Joe had completely changed her hairstyle and its color: the long ponytail she had entered the clinic with was gone, and only a small knot was tied up in the back. Instead of fuchsia, her locks were now dyed an incredible opalescent prism of stunning colors, and the strands on the right side of her face fell down past her cheeks while being tucked back tightly on the left side.

She noticed the bare skin of her neck and left cheek and inhaled sharply. “Did you get rid of my tattoos?! Those were really personal to me, Doc!”
“Relax, I just covered them up with some foundation. Keep your hood up a the spaceport or the rain will wash it away and give up the goose. They’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Oh, and leave your piercings here. Those are easily replaceable.”

Andromeda frowned but did as advised. She popped the studs out of her ears and nose, removed the loop from her septum, and slid the barbell out from her nose bridge. Doc Manning collected them all in a small steel pan and then dropped them into a medical waste bin. Andromeda slid out of the modification chair and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for everything, Doc. I’ll be back to repay you some day.”

“I already told you your credit is good, Dro. Just promise me you’ll be careful out there.”

“I’ll try. But you should know better than most that the trouble usually finds me first.”

“That I do!” laughed Doc Manning. “Damn, almost forgot �" lose the glasses, too. I have some lenses for you instead.”

She removed her glasses and chucked them in the bin with her piercings. The good doctor handed her a set of icy blue colored contact lenses and after a couple minutes of struggling, she managed to pop them in to obscure her natural eye color. Another hug for the Doc Manning. Then he tapped a slate to hers and ushered Andromeda out the back door of Reliant Medical. Syndal, her best friend from university and one-time lover waited somberly in the trash ridden alley running behind the shops.

“Time to go, doll,” said her diminutive cohort. “Ship leaves in six minutes.” Syndal was tiny even compared to the slight 1.6 meters Andromeda rose to. The top of her head just barely made it to Andromeda’s nose. She put a hand on the back of Andromeda’s head and pulled her down to a reasonable level, kissing her very briefly on the lips. “For luck,” she explained to Andromeda’s quizzical stare. “Don’t think we’re ever getting back together or anything.”

“Fair enough,” said Andromeda. “Are we taking the main elevator down?”

“Have to. It’s all you have time for. “Let’s go, and try to keep up. Security is swarming the Core for you.”

Andromeda nodded and followed along in Syndal’s speedy wake. It was easy to unobtrusively hang a few steps back and still keep tabs on the impressive length of platinum hair falling past her friend’s hips. It swayed to and fro in the constant gentle breeze flowing through Neon City. The draft was one of many effects of living on massive platform built high above the roiling seas of a water world. A world that Andromeda had never left. Or had ever planned to leave. Those idle thoughts helped keep her features neutral when they stepped back onto the main thoroughfare and snaked their way towards the spaceport elevator.

Neon Security had fallen for the gambit. None of them paid her any mind, despite having her former appearance projected on the inside of their helmet visors. Syndal led her right past squad after squad of the corrupt officers until they reached their destination.

“You’re on your own from here,” said Syndal. “Take the lift down to the port and make a show of rushing, but don’t outright sprint. Play the part of the late departee who is trying to make their flight. The guards down there are a different detachment than the Core goons and generally skew towards being less of an asshole than the ones chasing you up here.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Never was much of an actor but I can do this. I have to do this.”

Syndal slapped her on the ass. “Quit stalling. You’ve got less than two minutes.”

“Right. Bye, Syn. And thank you.”

The elevator doors opened and Andromeda rode the lift down to the docking port. Two guards flanked the it at the bottom but the alterations Doc Manning made to her appearance seemed to have fooled their scanners. She showed them her slate and they told her to get moving else she miss the freighter. Settling for a speedy trot, Andromeda sighed gratefully and flitted down the long catwalk spanning over the ocean below, squeezing her hood tightly to her face. The warm, wind-driven rain splattered against her while she half ran to the ship waiting for its final passenger.

It was an ancient Deimos model that took up most of the landing pad. Bright lights illuminated faded letters above the ramp: The Gryphon. A crew member ushered Andromeda inside with little patience and directed her to a jump seat in the main cabin. Unsure of how the seat worked, her fingers trembled while she tried to strap herself in.

“First time in space, dearie?” A middle-aged woman next to her smiled gently at Andromeda.

“Yeah. I’m scared shitless if I’m being honest.”

“There’s nothing to it.” The kind woman reached over and showed her which buckles went where, and pointed out the safety pouch under the cushion. “Mouth guards in there if you’re worried about biting your tongue off. Once we take off, just keep your mouth closed and you won’t need them.”

Andromeda thanked her, and the woman went back to humming an off-tune key. Voices rang out over the loudspeaker and warning signs began to light up all around them. The entire ship rattled and shook, and the message on the flight console on the wall across from her changed from ‘docked’ to ‘achieving thrust’. Seconds later the engines roared into life and the sudden g’s from massive acceleration pressed Andromeda back into her seat. Unable to move so much as a finger, she closed her eyes and whimpered slightly as the ship gained altitude.

And then the pressure was gone. She opened her eyes and the porthole in the ceiling above revealed the deep black of space, dotted with innumerable points of light blinking back at her from incomprehensible distances. For the second time in as many minutes, her breath had been taken away for very different reasons.

She had done it. She had escaped Neon City and the closing grasp of Benjaim Bayu.

The tears came again anyway. Her life as she knew it was over and she had no idea where things went from here. She didn’t even know where this ship was bound. She was alone among the stars. And then the engines powered down while the grav drive engaged, folded space around the ship, and leapt from the Volii System in a blazing show of cosmic light and energy, carrying Andromeda far way from danger with a dumbfounded expression on her face..

This post has been edited by Kane: Jun 20 2025, 12:59 PM

[Kane]

Eight - New Friends

New Atlantis, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

The bed in her room at The Lodge fast became Andromeda’s favorite place in all of the known universe. Known to her, at any rate. It was wonderfully comfortable and while this time it didn’t consume her for the lengthy thirteen and a half hours it did the first time, she slept in it for every bit of ten hours after returning with Sarah and their new paperweight. Unfortunately, a lot of those hours were spent tossing and turning.

Terrible dreams and sickening imagery from her recent jaunt through the Sol System plagued her restless mind: the dead men and women cut down by Andromeda and Sarah. She knew that every last one of them would have killed her without hesitation, yet their lifeless eyes judged her relentlessly until she’d had enough, and fished some sleeping pills out of the beside table.

When morning eventually came, Andromeda shambled groggily down to the lounge and joined Noel for breakfast. And, of course, the topic of conversation revolved once again around the Artifacts. Specifically, the newest one. That suited Andromeda just fine as she had a burning question for her colleague.

“How come Sarah didn’t have to deal with all the fancy lights and bullshit I did?”

“Good question,” said Noel. “I don’t know for certain, but it may be because so many others have touched it already.”

Andromeda suddenly imagined some poor soul wondering around Cydonia trying to figure out if someone spiked their drink with Aurora. It certainly wasn’t an experience one could ever forget.

“So, you think because Sarah wasn’t the first person to touch it, she missed out on the light show? Can it really be that easy? I should have made Heller pick the damn thing up.”

“And miss out on all of this?” asked Noel. “You’d rather still out there digging up ore on some random moon for crappy pay?”

“Not a chance in hell,” said Andromeda quickly. “Speaking of pay…”

“Sarah’s department. Besides, is the money all you care about? You don’t really need it while you have a place here with us.”

“A girl’s still got needs, Noel. I only managed to shop at one clothing boutique before getting shitfaced the last time I went out on the town. Can’t very well wear the same outfits every day, can I? I’ve also been thinking about saving up for my own ship. The Frontier feels solid, but in my brief adventures with you lot I’ve noticed there are way more advanced ships out there. We got lucky with Moara’s.”

“Fair enough. Sarah’s probably in her office downstairs. Go see what she has for you.”

“Eh, it can wait. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… you people are rubbing off on me. Anything new in the scans?”

Noel’s appreciative glow could’ve lit a dark cave on Pluto and she began poring over the figures on her slate with Andromeda, who tried her best to follow along while vaguely remembering her university science classes. They looked through the data for nearly an hour until Noel excused herself to assist Matteo with another matter.

Andromeda headed downstairs and did indeed find Sarah crammed behind an antique wooden desk just off to the side of the Artifact collection. She looked to be reviewing The Lodge’s operational documents with increasing levels of annoyance.

“Trouble?” asked Andromeda. She sat down across from Constellation’s leader and glanced at the array of paper and slates piled up on the surface between them.

“No, nothing like that,” sighed Sarah. “Just typical bureaucracy. You’d think with Constellation’s legacy and standing in this city that MAST wouldn’t be so particular about licenses, taxes, and other fees. I swear I spend more time dealing with this muck than I do in the field.”

“Want me to hack their servers? I can delete some of those headaches for you.”

“As appealing as that sounds, I’ll have to pass. Besides, you won’t be here long enough for that.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?” exclaimed a panicking Andromeda. “I thought things were going well!”

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry, Dro. I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that I have more work for you!”

“Goddamn it, Sarah,” said Andromeda while she leaned back in her chair to relax. “Had me all worked up for a second.”

“I’m glad you already like being here that much,” she smirked.

Sarah picked up one of the many slates and tapped on it a few times before setting it back down. Then she frowned over an official-looking letter from the government, rolled it up into a ball, and tossed into the unlit fireplace behind her.

“Nothing important, I guess?”

“Nope. Constellation doesn’t back political parties. Doesn’t stop members of Parliament from trying every chance they get.”

A few more minutes passed in silence. Then Andromeda cleared her throat. “Uh, you mentioned I was going somewhere again?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Sarah set down the latest item she was reading and folded her arms over the desk. “First of all, I transferred your pay from our mission when you had just sat down.”

Andromeda had almost forgotten that was the reason she initially sought Sarah out. Powering up her own slate, she checked her accounts and felt her eyes popping out of her head.

Available Credit Balance: $23,562

“[censored] me.” The eight thousand credits she’d been given just for getting the Frontier home safe nearly made her choke when Sarah wired it. It was vastly more money than Andromeda had ever acquired in her twenty-five years of life and she knew exactly how she wanted to spend it. But here she was, just a few days later, with more money than she knew what to do with. Guess saving up for a ship isn’t out of the question after all.

“New Atlantis doesn’t have a service for that, but you might try a nightclub,” grinned Sarah.

“Huh? What?” said Andromeda. “Oh. Wait, did you just crack a semi-dirty joke? Am I rubbing off on you, Sarah?”

“Just because I’m middle-aged doesn’t mean I’m a prude. Now that we’ve gotten to know one another, you’ll find I’m all kinds of fun when bullets aren’t whizzing past. And after a few glasses of wine have kicked in.”

“Wine, eh? Looks like I know what we’re doing tonight!”

“Hm. Maybe another time. Like I said… there’s more work that needs doing.”

“Can’t I take a break? Spend a few days milling about the city, getting to know the rest of you?”

“Or getting smashed in a dive bar again? Sorry, Dro, but this takes precedence,” said Sarah. Another document caught her eye and when she looked back up a moment later Sarah caught the fleeting looks of frustration and weariness on Andromeda’s face. “Didn’t sleep well last night I take it?”

“I did eventually.”

Sarah leaned back in her chair again and studied the young woman. Their was a touch of sadness about her features that reminded Sarah of Andromeda’s first day here at The Lodge. She’d still been grieving heavily for her friend, and she had felt like she had no place in the world. Did I push her too fast? thought Sarah. She obviously needed time, and I dragged her out into the galaxy instead. They’d been through a lot in a short time too, Sarah realized. And the visit to the Nova Galactic staryard in particular had been a harrowing experience - even for the seasoned veteran.

“Your concern is touching,” said Andromeda, breaking Sarah’s moment of introspection.

“How did - “

“Empath, remember?” Andromeda pointed at the side of her head while she spoke. “I can feel your inner turmoil.”

“That’s an impressive gift, Dro. I wish it were something I possessed.”

“No, you really [censored] don’t,” said Andromeda, gritting her teeth. “When I close my eyes, all I see are the looks of pain and surprise on the faces of the people I killed yesterday. And I felt their fear and regret in their final seconds of life. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” Andromeda got up from her chair and gestured towards the stairs. “I’m getting dressed and going for a walk.”

* * *

New Atlantis thronged with crowds. Even the bench Andromeda sat on near the outskirts featured a constant flow of citizens walking by while she sipped from a TerraBrew cappuccino. A lot of them seemed to look down their noses at the pale woman from Neon City, like they knew instinctively that she came from a different stock. She found herself growing more and more annoyed by the intrusions on what she hoped would be solitude, and so Andromeda instead wondered down the footpath that led past The Lodge and out of the city limits entirely.

After a ten minute walk into the wilderness surrounding the metropolis, she sat down under one of Jemison’s odd flat-topped and leafy trees amid a tangle of overgrown, dangling vines and rested her back against it. How long she sat their contemplating life Andromeda didn’t know, but she eventually dozed off in the warm, breezy air of the summer season.

Thankfully, her nap was a dreamless affair that worked wonders on the dour mood Andromeda had set out from The Lodge with. But when she did awaken it was to a strange grunting sound, followed by sniffling. She opened her eyes timidly and found herself staring into the orange eyes of a small reptilian beast with brown scales rising to a teal shade on its back. A series of hardened plates, like those of the ancient dinosaurs of Earth, rose from its back and culminated with a razor sharp horn-like bill on its head. It continued with the small grunts and sniffling, while a long, forked tongue slid in and out of its mouth, tasting the scent of the human who intruded upon its territory.

Andromeda’s breath quickened. She’d stupidly come out here without any weapons, thinking she would be safe near the city, and now a wild animal stared her down. And then, just when she started wondering if she could outrun it back towards the city, the beast grunted loudly and flopped onto the ground at her side. Andromeda could scarcely believe her eyes - until she felt its contentment.

“No way,” she breathed. Reaching out a trembling hand, Andromeda rested it on its scaly side. “’lo, friend. You’re not afraid of me at all, are you? I guess this Empath business works with any life form, huh?”

Snort. Grunt.

“Yeah, I hear that. Life sure is strange, pal. One minute your hacking servers or chewing grass, and the next your spending a lazy morning with an odd looking creature.”

She sat there for the next half hour staring aimlessly out over the horizon while petting her reptilian friend. Then it got up without so much as a snort, and trundled off into the tall grasses.

“Bye, I guess.”

“Bye? I just got here, Dro.”

“Holy [censored], where’d you come from?!”

Noel smiled down at her and then sat cross-legged in the dirt by her side. “Sarah was worried about you. She had me track your watch.”

“You can do that?” said Andromeda. “Not sure if I’m a fan.”

“It’s saved some of our asses more than once,” said Noel. “I saw you made a new friend. Was he better company than us?”

“He? How’d you know it was a male?”

“The teal coloring. Male Cutterheads are more vibrant to attract mates. They’re also usually quite defensive. How did you get some chummy with one?”

“My new empathic powers apparently work on fauna. It felt I wasn’t a threat, and I could that it - he - was harmless, too.”

“Dro, that is fascinating!” exclaimed Noel. “I’d love to run some scans on you later, if you don’t mind. Oh, and speaking of scans…” The young woman reached into her back pocket and pulled out an odd looking device. To Andromeda, is sort of resembled a typical slate, but it had weird antenna’s on the top, and a focusing lens on the back of it. “Here, take this. It’s my old hand scanner. You can use it to analyze things on new worlds you may visit. Elements, flora, fauna - you name it. It’ll help you identify whatever you come across, and the new data will sync with the Frontier’s computer for further analysis. You’ll need it if you plan on venturing into the wilds like this.”

Andromeda turned on the screen and entered scanning mode. She pointed it a nearby flowering shrub and hit the ‘scan’ button. The screen lit up with information almost instantaneously:

Name: Broadleaf Rose
Biome: Coniferous forest, mountains
Resource: Nutrient (sap)

“I can see how this would come in handy,” admitted Andromeda. “You sure you don’t need it?”

“Nah, I just finished tweaking a new one. It’s all yours.”

“Thanks, Noel.”

“Anytime. Now, we should probably get back, if you’re up to it. Sam and Cora are home.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see,” winked Noel.

This post has been edited by Kane: Aug 17 2025, 02:44 AM