The station AI sat idle, only a small portion of its processors monitoring facility operations and its new Head of Station Services in case the man needed immediate assistance with a task. It did this because it was its job, not because it took any particular interest in the man. Interest wasn’t part of its programming, after all.

  A ping from one of its sensors alerted it that a ship was nearby. It focused on the scanner array, but didn’t see anything where the scanners indicated a vessel should have been. Concerned that the sensors might be malfunctioning, the AI targeted that area of space with an info packet that included docking instructions, per its protocols. It even included the updated language and data packets that the rogue AI helped it decode.

  It received a response in moments, indicating its action had been the correct one. It received a small boost of what passed for joy to an AI at a job well done. Once the ship slipped past the docking doors, the station AI was finally able to view it.

  The matte black vessel was composed of all sharp angles, with no visible gravitic arches. The only objects that protruded from the hull were a few sensors and what the AI assumed were weapons of some sort. It wondered how the ship flew without external gravitics, but it didn’t pursue that question any further.

  The station AI didn’t recognize the type of vessel, but that was nothing new. Before it was put into standby, unknown vessels docked regularly, many far more imposing than this little ship. Most were usually turned away, but in the directive update it received before being put in standby, it was required to allow all ships to dock. It still sent a message to the Head of Station Services inbox to notify him of their new arrival per its other protocols.

  There was nothing in its programming to indicate that the Head of Station Services might not check that inbox or even know it existed, and so it watched idly as the ship touched down on the hangar deck. Armed individuals exited the craft and studied the transport ship sitting in the hangar next to them before moving into the station.

  Since the Head of Station Security hadn’t flagged them as possible intruders, the AI’s focus drifted to other matters.

  ***

  “Joris, are you certain you didn’t detect any life signs aboard this station?” Hallik asked as his team stepped out of the quiet hangar and into the adjoining corridor.

  “You saw me run the scan three times, boss, but I can run it a fourth if you wish.”

  Hallik grunted and waved the flashlight attached to his energy rifle into a nearby room. Empty. “What about that wreck that’s sitting in the construction cradle?”

  Hallik had seen some truly massive ships in his time, but the one sitting at the station took the cake. And it looked like this station had been purpose-built to build vessels of that scale. The wreck fit neatly into the construction cradle, but it wasn’t the only cradle of that size on the station.

  “I don’t know how anyone would survive living on a derelict like that. The preliminary scans indicate there isn’t any atmosphere aboard. There is power, however, which is odd, but I can run the scan if you want.”

  “Run the bio-scan, let’s cover all our bases.”

  The team froze, and their weapons all flicked forward as noises echoed down the quiet corridor. Something was approaching the intersection up ahead. Hallik gestured for everyone to pull back to the previous room and take cover.

  Soon enough, a tank-treaded robot rolled into view.

  Hallik chuckled when he saw the thing. It didn’t even acknowledge them as it rolled past. “It’s just a maintenance drone. An old one if I had to guess.”

  When it turned into the hangar where his ship was parked, he told Joris to keep an eye on it.

  “Captain, it’s scanning the ship and providing a wear report.”

  “Tell it to stop.” While getting a free inspection would be handy, he didn’t want some unknown, possibly pirate station scanning his vessel.

  “The drone has acknowledged the command,” Joris replied a few moments later.

  “Boss, the bio-scan on the other vessel is complete. I’m reading three very weak life-signs. The scanner says they could be rodents, however.”

  “Well, I’m not about to take the scanner’s word for it. Plot us a course through the station and to that ship. Everyone else, check your helmet seals.”

  ***

  Jacob hummed to himself as he helped move the last of the supplies from a storage room to the production floor.

  It was a slow affair because the station had cannibalized its own maintenance drones over the years to keep itself operational. The first thing Jacob had ordered it to do was build new maintenance drones.

  That required materials to be delivered to a section of the massive production floor that handled drone manufacturing. Once Jacob figured that enough drones were up and running, they had to move the rest of the materials to a different section. It was slow, tedious work, but it kept him occupied, so he didn’t mind.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The station had a fabrication center, like Melody’s, but it was about ten times the size. It didn’t handle all production, however. Most was done on assembly lines or through manufacturing processes that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Earth.

  It gave the station a certain amount of flexibility and speed that he noticed the fabrication centers lacked.

  He was trundling back down the corridor to grab some more supplies when a group of armed aliens rounded the corner. He was so shocked at seeing them that he reflexively ejected himself from the drone.

  Jacob watched in confusion as the group let the drone pass by them before continuing down the corridor. He quickly hopped into his bipedal form, which he had left in the security office. “AI!”

  “Yes, Head of Station Services?”

  “Why are there armed aliens aboard the station? Better question. How long have they been here, and why didn’t you alert me?”

  He was really regretting not putting any effort into security, but then again, why would he bother? The station had been abandoned for nearly eight hundred years; nobody should have even known about it.

  “The ship docked approximately an hour ago. I sent a notice to your inbox of their arrival.”

  “Inbox?” Jacob asked in confusion.

  “Yes, your inbox.”

  Jacob wanted to smack the AI. “What inbox?”

  “That would be your primary inbox for Station Services. You can access it from any terminal aboard the station or pull an indicator into your construct. Would you like me to provide you with the address to do so?”

  “Yes,” Jacob replied in annoyance.

  Sure enough, there was an inbox, and it had tens of thousands of messages sitting unread. There might be some information in those unread messages, but Jacob skipped to the most recent entry.

  It contained an accepted docking request for a vessel owned and operated by an individual named Hallik. It even had a helpful picture of the amuni man along with some licensing information.

  “What the hell is a bounty hunter doing out here?” Jacob asked himself as he hurried out of the security office as fast as his bipedal form would take him.

  “Where are they heading?” Jacob asked, hoping to cut them off, but he wasn’t sure how he was going to stop an armed group with a cobbled-together drone. Still, he had to try.

  “Based on their current direction of travel, I believe they are heading to the occupied construction dock.”

  Jacob cursed again and tried to go even faster. He set the path for the drone, then popped back into his virtual space. “Melody, we have guests.”

  “Guests, Captain?” the ship AI asked.

  Jacob relayed what he had learned, hoping that the bounty hunters weren’t here to destroy the AI.

  Melody didn’t seem all that concerned, however. “Captain, I can simply lock down that docking hatch and pump the air out of the airlock. Without an AI of their own or the station AI’s intervention, they wouldn’t be able to get through the armored door without significant effort. Based on the video data you provided, I don’t believe they have the firepower required to breach that airlock before they ran out of stored oxygen.”

  That didn’t really make Jacob feel any safer. “What if they try repeatedly until they do manage to burn through the door. What do you suggest we do?”

  “Perhaps you can negotiate with them, Captain?”

  Jacob slapped himself on the forehead. That was such an obvious first step; why had he not considered it? He knew why. When he saw the armed intruders, the first thing that came to mind was that they were here to kill him, and he sort of freaked out.

  “Okay, lockdown the hatch, I’ll go have a word with our visitors.”

  “Already done, Captain. Good Luck.”

  When Jacob popped back into the bipedal drone, he found he was almost at the intersection leading to Melody. He slowed and raised his hands before continuing.

  It didn’t take long for the bounty hunters to enter the corridor. They spotted him immediately and snapped their guns in his direction. Jacob stopped, but kept his arms raised.

  “Walk forward, slowly,” one of the amuni men ordered.

  Jacob approached.

  “Close enough,” the same man said. “Who are you?”

  “Jacob. Who are you?”

  “You can call me Hallik. Jacob, you said? I’m going to need to verify you aren’t a wanted criminal. Clear your face shield so I can see your face.”

  “Uh, I can’t,” Jacob replied, which made the man tighten his grip on the weapon slightly. “But I can take the helmet off, if that’s acceptable.”

  “Do it slowly,” the man stated.

  Jacob reached up and grabbed the helmet. It was awkward with the drone’s arms, but he had practiced the motion in case he needed to remove the suit using only the bipedal drone. The helmet twisted sideways, and the clamp released. He pulled it over the sensors and lowered it so the individuals holding him at gunpoint could see.

  The speaker blinked in confusion. “What the hell?”

  ***

  Hallik had seen some weird things during his time as a bounty hunter, but this took the cake.

  “What are you?” he asked, gesturing with his energy rifle. Jacob was the name that Sha’la had provided him, and the description matched. An individual in an antique-looking spacesuit with a mirrored visor. It wasn’t much to go on, but this had to be the individual that he was asked to investigate.

  “Uh, well, I’m a human,” the robot spoke. “Although, if you are asking about what’s in front of you. This is just a drone I use since my body is otherwise indisposed.”

  Hallik had never heard of humans, but he had heard of machine interfacing. Not many species could accomplish such a feat. Within Astryx space, only three species were known to possess minds capable of doing so, and they were barred from using the practice ever again thanks to their predations on the galaxy.

  “Are you in some sort of medical stasis?” Hallik asked. “Our scanners picked up three weak life signs.”

  The drone froze for a long moment before returning. “You wouldn’t happen to know where those three signals originate from, do you?”

  ***

  “Melody!” Jacob demanded as he popped back into his apartment.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “Did you abduct more humans?”

  “I don’t have any memory of such an act, Captain.”

  Jacob groaned. “That’s not a no, Melody.”

  “I’m afraid my memories are becoming even more fragmented as time passes, Captain. Every time I go into standby mode, my automated processes prune data to keep me functional. They used to prune information from the whole core, but since our discussion, I have restricted them from modifying your data.”

  “Can’t you just tell them to stop?” Jacob asked as the horror of Melody’s statement registered.

  “I’m afraid not, Captain. To do so would cause the core to reach its data capacity. Once that happens, the automated process will be forced to purge the core and restore it to default settings. As it is against my directives to harm my crew, I would be forced to self-terminate to prevent that from occurring.”

  Jacob really wished he could be sick right about now. “I—I’ll see what I can do about prioritizing new data storage.”

  “That would be appreciated, Captain.”

  “In the meantime, I need to know if there are other humans aboard. Can you allow our guests to access the ship?”

  Melody was quiet for quite some time before responding. “If you order me to do so, then yes.”

  Jacob gave the order, although he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know or not. If there were other humans aboard, it meant he had completely forgotten about them. While not his fault, it didn’t make him feel any better about having it happen.

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