//------------------------------// // 5 It Begins! // Story: Lyra-7% // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Lyra Heartstrings - 18th of Firstbloom 18 EoH - Late Morning Multiverse Location: Neighpone, Equis #7 - The Anthroverse When Miyuki had told me Trigger-san would be here in five minutes, I had expected her to walk with me over to the port on the isle’s north shore. Instead, we had walked out of the palace’s walled perimeter to a large concrete slab based platform. I’d figured it was a work in progress foundation, for an observation post or something. At least I did until I heard the unmistakable whine of a plasma actuator cluster, and reflexively dove for cover expecting a shelling to commence immediately. Embarrassing as the dodge roll into that rose bush was, I felt I could hardly be blamed for it. For almost everyone I’ve ever met, it’s a Pavlovian response. Literally. Central teaches it to you in elementry school for good reason. Fortunately Bon had made it through the roll uninjured, albeit a bit upset at me. I’d had her on my shoulders at the time since I was assuming I’d be leaving shortly and I didn’t want to leave her behind by accident. Rather than the UAV carrying a half dozen cluster bombs I had expected, the whine came from a rather large aircraft. After I had extracted myself from the bush and Miyuki pointed up, I had a good view of the boxy wingless transport as it came in for a vertical landing. It had a black and green paintjob, the green glowing highlights were clearly meant to look cool rather than provide an real benefit. Of much more interest to me was the design itself. It sort of looked like someone attached a rounded rectangular cockpit to the front of a shipping container, tossed on some vertically pivoting, high-thrust plasma jets, and stapled a tail plane to the rear directly above the shipping container which served as a cargo hold, with a rear boarding ramp. Then someone said that looked hideous so they shaped some sheet metal to add high tech looking curves and angles to the hull. Over all, the transport was of a very distinct design I swore I had seen before. “Wait a goddamn minute…” I muttered to myself, “Chere.ly, have I seen this before?” My VI took a few moments to search through my memory, giving the transport enough time to set down on what I now realized was a landing pad. The landing looked much softer than it should have been, indicating some sort of mass reduction tech, or maybe magic. That or it used something like a WEAV system for flight, that would explain how it was able to be wingless without having a multi-rotor set up. Cheer.ly reported. Yeah! It did. That was more than a little weird. Although, really, the Skyranger was pretty soundly designed and there’s only so many ways to make a viable aircraft. So really, maybe it wasn’t that odd. Less weird than ponies speaking Japanese at least. The transport’s ramp slowly dropped down with an overly dramatic hiss and accompanying pointless fog that obscured the stallion at the top of the ramp, making them a mere silhouette until the ramp stopped moving and they stepped out of the transport. I couldn’t help but crack a smile. That had to have been intentional. The sort of thing an engineer would do ‘because it’s cool’. The stallion took a few steps down the ramp, hooves clanking against the steel. He was wearing a labcoat, white with the same glowy-green highlight scheme, as well as a pair of loose black cargo shorts. If I was remembering the subspecies names right, the feathery wings poking through the back of his coat made him a pegasus. He was a bit shorter than the Emperor, but his electric blue spiky mane, burnt orange fur, and leaf green eyes were a much more appealing combination than pink and gold. He also carried himself with a sort of, drama. Only a dramatic musical score was missing from the picture he was making. His eyes held a serious steely gaze, every movement was precise and purpousfu- With a sudden frown, he lifted one hand and gave the roof just above the ramp a solid thump. Nothing. “Awwww man!” He exclaimed, the dramatic air instantly evaporating. “Stupid sound system... Wait, did you shut it off again, Sai?” “The music clip is a bit much. Sue me,” another male’s voice grumbled. Shaking his head, the stallion finished walking down the ramp, gave a polite head-dip bow to Miyuki. “Greetings, my Tallest.” I bit my lip to avoid giggling at that silly nickname. Miyuki smiled and returned the slight bow. “Hello, Trigger-san. This is Lyra Heartstrings, the ‘guest’ I mentioned before. Heartstrings-sama, this is Sky Trigger.” “Hey,” I greeted, giving Sky a small wave. The stallion looked up at me as I waved, ether noticing or reacting to me for the first time by taking a short surprised step backwards. Sky gave me a frowning sort of inspection, starting from the head and looking down. It was the sort of scrutiny I’d punch someone for putting me under, but well, given the circumstances I could understand it. "Huh," Sky said, mildly perplexed. "Well shit, there's something you don't see every day… Uh, sup?" An Awkward silence blossomed as he and I really couldn’t think of anything to say. “Do you have anything we need to bring inside, Trigger-san?” Miyuki asked politely to help break the awkward silence. “Uh, no. Portable lab’s built into the Skyranger here,” Sky informed, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. I couldn’t help but smirk. “Heh, It’s even called the Skyranger.” “Well yeah, my name is Sky after all. And it’s a mobile lab for working away from the Hive. You know, out on the open range. Hence, Skyranger,” he said oddly defensively. I narrowed my eyes for a moment before dismissing the thought. There was no way alternate dimension pony aliens had played X-Com. I held out my arm, making sure the Manipulator would end up on his eye level. “Sooo, is this yours?” I asked, hoping to get things moving. He hummed and nodded slightly. “The leather case is something I might do if I was replicating something’s design. I uh, I like to make real versions of comicbook gadgets. It’s a hobby. “Would you mind taking that off? It’s hard to inspect something when it’s just above your eye level.” I nodded and unbuckled the VM from my wrist handing it over as I asked. “You’re not going to fuck me by running off with that, are you?” “Oh hell no! I’m a dick, but I’m not evil,” Sky instantly objected, jaw dropping in shock at my having even asked that. “Hai, that is quite true. Trigger-san is most honorable… But a bit of a ‘dick’ as he puts it,” Miyuki confirmed. “Trigger-san, don’t hold that against her. They live in a wasteland. I presume trust is earned, not granted automatically.” “Eh, more like I expect engineers to screw you over. Prior experiences. Like formatting a very close friend of mine just because her hull had to be decommissioned… Coulda let me keep the computer core, but nooo,” I grumbled darkly. Sky blinked twice. “Wait, so, huh… Okay. I’m not that kind of engineer. Like at all,” he flipped the Vm’s cover open and squinted first at the device, then at the holographic HUD that popped up before nodding. “Yeah this is most definitely built off my tech. I should be able to hack into it pretty easily. “Er, Lyra, was it? Why don’t you come watch me work so you can see I’m not screwing you over. Miyuki-san, this could take an hour or more. Would you kindly get the three of us some tea? Maybe a sandwich? My sis packed the Skyranger full of ration bars again…” “Mochiron,” Miyuki replied sounding only slightly bothered by the request, “would you like cherry again?” “Yes, that was pretty good. I’m not normally a ‘tea guy’ but that stuff is pure bliss, you should try some Lyra. Let’s get this thing cracked open and send you home,” Sky said nodding towards the rather complex laboratory I could see in the transport’s cargo bay. “Yeah… All right,” I said with some hesitation. Miyuki might trust this guy, but that didn’t mean I should too. On the other hand, I had a magic energy sword, maser, and the incendiary grenade in my survival kit. Also he barely came up to my tits. I’d be able to handle any shenanigans on my own. I followed Sky into the transport and took a seat on one of the benches, immediately remarking on how I could comfortably fit inside a vehicle made for a pony half my height. I even had a few inches of headroom to spare when standing up. “So… Why would you make this thing so much taller than you are?” I asked Sky, as the pegasus set the VM inside a small silver scanner-looking-thing. “Courtesy. One of my best friends is a bit shorter than you are. We go camping sometimes, so I like to make sure she can fit in my rides,” he explained. “But more importantly, where do you think you are right now?” I raised an eyebrow, instantly wishing that I could somehow project my facial expressions through my helmet. “Presumably in an alternate dimension's version of my homeworld. There are too many little similarities for this to be an alien planet with no connection to my own.” Sky nodded to himself. “Alright. Good. You’re pretty smart.” “What are you implying with that?” I asked suspiciously, letting my hand slowly move towards my gun. “That’s a maser, right?” The mysterious male voice said over what I could now tell was a speaker system. “It ain’t gonna scratch my boss’s shield. So don’t even try.” “The fuck?” I exclaimed, looking up for any cameras that could have an angle on me. Sky sighed. “You don’t need to worry about me hurting you. Or Sai. Sai, disable her weapons if she attacks me, but nothing more.” “Fine,” the voice said bitterly. “You’re being way too suspicious for me to just trust. Especially since I’m in a vehicle right now,” I pointed out. “Fair enough, Sai, is she out of earshot?” Sky asked. “Yeah, probably,” the voice grunted. “Right then,” Sky said, swiveling around and leaning against the wall the scanner was set into. “Start a level three diagnostic on this thing, and work on tunneling into its systems. Now, while he’s doing that, I’ll explain myself.” “You do that,” I insisted, giving Bon a slight nudge with my neck and making a soft clicking sound. I’d never trained her to attack or anything, but he didn’t know that. Sky rolled his eyes. “Oh come on! That snake of yours isn’t physically capable of jumping two meters to attack me. And she looks friendly. Now seriously, I have your best interests in mind. And I can prove it, you’re a human, right?” “How the fuck do you know that?” I demanded, the metaphorical hair on the back of my neck rising. “Before you ask, no Miyuki didn’t call and fill me in ahead of time. I wish she did though,” he grumbled. “I’ve been working with interdimensional physics recently, so I can tell you for sure that there are other universes out there. Yeah, you might be from one of them… Or you might be from this one, just a long ass fucking time ago.” Well, that was fucking intriguing! “Explain,” I asked firmly. Sky gave me a deadpan stare for several seconds. “That’s what I was doing… All I can say for sure is that in this world, around two hundred and fifty million years ago, a version of humans existed on this planet. I live inside a city built from the hull of one of their starships, and the tech you are sitting in was derived from reverse engineering that hull. “Now, I can’t tell you for sure if you’ve jumped between universes, or if you have simply traveled through time further forward than should be possible, but I do know you are a human. I also know that if you go back to the Hive with me you’ll be in danger.” “Why?” I asked. “Also why do you keep calling it a hive?” “It’s called a hive because it’s a changeling city. They’re an insect species, a bit bipolar. A hive is either super nice or super aggressive. I live with the Emeralds, they’re the super nice kind,” Sky said quickly. “The danger is the important thing here… The hive’s Captain had me repair the starship’s AI core a few years ago. Turns out the AI was still alive, and she’s got a major hateboner for humans. If you had gone to my hive, she would have manipulated you into removing her code locks, and then probably killed you.” “I but… How?” I asked shaking my head incredulously. “All our AI’s love humans, hell I direct neural linked with Bonbon and she’s one! I know they like us.” “That might be true, but you can’t expect computer code to survive intact for hundreds of millions of years without any maintenance,” Sky pointed out. “Look, I’ve spent a long, long, long time working to get her back offline. We were better off without her, besides, Sai’s got her source code now. He could easily run the Hive’s tech instead.” “This is true, unfortunately, that bitch is really observant,” Sai griped. “Wait, you’re an AI?” I asked eagerly, delighted to be sitting in a proper aircraft. “Obviously, sheesh… You sure she’s smart, boss?” Sai asked. “There’s no need to be an ass, you dick!” I shot back, facing one of the speakers. “Yes, there is. I’m programmed to be an ass,” the AI retorted. Sky rolled his eyes. “You’re programed to be a half-ass that was decidedly full-ass. Anywho, Lyra, my point is I know what you are. And it’s dangerous for you to come back to the Hive with me, for you, for my home, my family, and my friends. So whatever I can do to get rid of you, without harming you, I’ll have to do here with the equipment I have on hand. “And seriously, I really want you off my planet. Because if I did kill you, Phoenix could find your corpse and put you back together again and then the problem remains. It’s nothing personal, if you can come back sometime, you’re totally welcome to do so once I’ve got that psychotic glitched out AI offline. So, trust me now?” I did feel he was telling me the truth. And I understood that sort of danger. Unfortunately, my brain decided to use a reference to alleviate the tension instead of acknowledging the seriousness of the situation. “That’s heavy, Doc.” I said grimly. Sky immediately facepalmed. “Aww, damnit! Now I really wish you could stay here…” The scanner he was leaning against beeped before I could reply to that, prompting Sky to turn around and look at a small screen set into the wall next to it. “Well shit, this is and isn’t mine,” he mused. I nodded. “Yeah I had to make one of the parts myself. It was totally burnt out.” “Yeah, I noticed that,” Sky remarked. “Good work by the way. I couldn’t have done it better myself. At least, not this version of me. Because a me had to have made this. It’s got a transceiver for Sai to use built into it. Those only go in my personal devices. No one else knows how to make one.” “Wait, so this thing has your AI friend built into it?” I asked curiously. “If so, that would explain why I can’t access it. The node is already occupied,” Sai reported. “Which would mean a you from another universe had to have made this.” “How can you be so sure?” I asked. “Couldn't’ someone have stolen one of your chips and made a new AI for it?” “Not a chance,” Sky dismissed. “I can account for all of my personal tech, and I keep the plans for this chip in my head. It’s never been written down. Also Sai is quantum entangled with the nodes to work seamlessly across all my stuff, so they need to be made from the specific entangled base pair in my lab.” “Okay, and what’s this mean for me?” I asked. “Does that mean you can just make it work?” “Well, yes and no,” Sky grumbled. “Sai can’t get in apparently, meaning I’ll have to manually reprogram this thing. And the me that made this is way more advanced than I am. Have you seen that battery?” I nodded, smiling behind my mask. Techies unite before the force of awesome power storage! “I have seen that battery,” I confirmed, standing up to look at the screen before frowning. “I can’t read that…” “It’s in Equish. It’s not a reemergent Earth-language,” Sky grunted. “Boss, if the chip does have a light version of me built into its hardware like your own do,” Sai remarked, “we can switch it on, then we can use the VI version of me to configure it.” “Good plan, Sai. Go ahead and try it,” Sky praised. “Sooo you’re not confused by the fact that at least one other you exists out there?” I asked. Sky laughed. “Multiverse theory means there are infinite mes. This gizmo just means a mathematical probability is in fact a certainty. There’s also other yous, and other Pinkies. Though I did already know that one. Heh.” I frowned to myself. “Huh… I never really thought about that. There would be infinite versions of me. Oh hey! If this is an alternate Earth, there should be a me here right? That could be fun. Go bother myself for a bit. Get back at me for eating that rat burger five years back.” “Eh, could be,” Sky said with a shrug. “From what I’ve learned thus far with dimensional experiments, it’s that there are infinite versions of any given world, but there are only so many possible worlds. There are a ton of exact duplicates, and all worlds tend to have common themes with one another. It’s… Odd.” “Yeah, shouldn’t there be infinite universes with infinite possibilities?” I asked. Sky nodded, but was cut off by Sai. “I’ve accessed the device’s VI. It’s program is scrambled, whatever happened to this device seems to have messed it up.” “Can you fix it?” Sky asked hopefully. “Yes. The files are all there, it’s just missing the registry. I’m copying over everything needed to get SAI_Core running, it can fix its own registry from there. Do we have a plan for getting her back home?” the AI asked with a slight hint of concern under it’s snark. “That depends on if she’s from this universe's past, or another universe entirely,” Sky said giving me a sorrowful look. “If you’re from the past… This thing’s charging circuit and battery are shot. I won't be able to give it enough juice to get back.” “Wait,” I insisted, holding up a hand to stop him. “But if that’s true, how did I get here?” “Forward time travel takes way less energy than backwards time travel. Don’t ask me why, I don't mess with time travel, so I don’t know the physics in detail,” he answered irritably. “Alright… And if that is the case, what do we do?” I asked. “I’ll have to rig up a charging system and you’ll have to hop around universes till you find the me that made this thing and get a fresh battery for it from him,” he answered simply. “Oh fucking hell… I’d better be from another universe,” I groaned, thinking of the absolute hell that sounded like. Moment’s later I felt my heart skip a beat. “Shit! My suit has a week of life support before it needs cleaned out. I have four days left before this thing is useless and I’ll fucking die here!” “Yeah… That’s definitely a problem,” Sky mused. “Boss, I’ve got this thing’s travel coordinates from the last trip,” Sai announced. “And they are?” I asked fearfully. “Well, it sucks to be you,” Sai said with casual disdain for me in his voice. “‘Cuz this thing was trying to get home via a return protocol, but the chip you made doesn't do what the device was originally made to do. So it moved through time rather than space. Congrats on visiting your world’s future.” “... Fuck…” I cursed to myself. “You two are already considering having sex? How long was I gone for? Months?” Miyuki asked from behind me. Sky laughed, but his laughter had a tone of sadness to it. “No. Just a bit of a hitch getting her back home. I can’t do it. So we will have to rig this device to take her to a me that can.” “Yeah…” I said morosely. “And I have less than five days of life support left.” “I see…” Miyuki said sorrowfully. “Then if I understand Trigger-san’s implications, you will need to travel between possible versions of Equis, right? It’s quite likely you will find somepony there who can help you with the air permanently.” That did seem likely, but… “Wait, can’t you just, I don’t know, enchant an earring with that radon blocking spell, or something?” The Emperor shook her head slowly. “Not in time. I know of no such devices, because they would be pushing something we need to breath away from them at all times. You would have a toxic zone around wherever you were to store such a thing. It’s why we use the spell to restrain prisoners instead of well, a piercing.” “And it can take up to a week to work out how to make a new kind of magical item,” Sky remarked. “Sai_Core VI online,” the Manipulator chimed. “Ah, there we go. Sai_Core, do you recognize me?” Sky asked. “Confirmed,” the device chimed. “Why are you talking like that?” Sky asked. “Personality elements are offline. This unit is working on a solution,” the Manipulator reported. “It should sound just like the real Sai,” Sky said to Miyuki and I. “It’s well, way stupider, and just clever then if it’s just programming, not a proper digital lifeform. But still a good enough interface.” “Can I disconnect from this thing now?” Sai asked. “I hate working with such stupid things. It’s like talking to myself if I had a lobotomy.” “Yeah, go ahead and see if you can work out a ATC unit that will fit into this case and get it fabricated,” Sky commanded. “In the meantime. I’ll tinker with this thing and we can eat.” The three of us sat down at a pop-up table in the Skyranger and had what was admittedly a nice lunch. At least it looked nice. I didn’t get to have any of it. Because Miyuki forget to bring back her mage with her. To make up for that, she gave me a few bags of the specific tea so I could make it. Sky gave me a gift as well. Remembering that I couldn’t read Equish, he gave me a Neighponese-Equish dictionary he happened to have in the cockpit. He’d expected me to keep it and use it to reference while communicating. But fuck that! I had Cheer.ly scan the book to memory as I simply looked at each page, and then build a translation profile for it. Without cultural context, the translation would be really crude, but it would be a good basis to build off. Also seeing both Sky and Sai flip shit on learning that I had an integrated organic computer was well worth the five hundred or so calories burned by Cheer.ly’s processing time. But, after an hour of talking, watching others munch on tasty food, and worrying about my future, Sky nodded to himself. “Alright, that should do it,” He said, closing up the back of the Manipulator. I nodded slowly and sighed. “Sooo exactly what do I need to do?” Sky raised an eyebrow at me. “You weren't paying attention during lunch?” “I thought you had a perfect memory, Ms. Learn a Language in Five Minutes,” Miyuki said jealously. “Cheer.ly burns a lot of energy,” I explained defensively. “I dont plug into the wall. If I could freely eat, yeah, sure, I could have had her run and record everything I sensed permanently. But I can’t afford to spend the thousand or so extra calories to do that, so I would like to hear it one more time so I’m completely sure I’m remembering on my own.” “Fair enough,” Sky responded. “Alright, one more time. I’ve outfitted the device with a new charging circuit. It will absorb ambient thaumaturgic current, and charge at a rate depending on how much is available in a given universe. It should change back up to the seven percent capacity in between one to three days depending on that factor. “I’ve also managed to get it limited to traveling only to ‘hub universes’, those are… Er, imagine the multiverse like a tiered layer cake. You have a base cake, and then more cakes on top of that one and so on. Each of those cake tiers individually are layer cakes. I’ve limited it so you always travel between the bottom layer of each of the fifteen tiers in Equis’s cake. So you always go to the ‘root’ version of that universe. Are you following me?” I nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, but why can’t you send me right to the one this came from?” “Because nothing in it’s memory gives me any clue as to which one that is, let alone how to specifically send it to that universe. Limiting it to the roots was hard enough. This is interdimensional physics I’m dealing with here. Sheesh!” Sky griped. “Sorry, just had to ask,” I apologized with a weary sigh. “Anyways,” he resumed, “I’ve got the VI to scan for my networks every time it arrives in a new universe. If it finds one, it will let you know and try to connect to it. If it can connect, then you’re probably in the right universe. If it can’t, then the me of that universe will know someone tried to hack him. Then he will probably get in touch with you shortly, and if they are anything like me me, will help however they can. “Now the destination is random, you could appear anywhere on one of the fifteen Equisi within twelve thousand years of now… And yes, that’s the best I could do. I’m sorry. The tech is more advanced than anything I’m used to, and the chip you made, while impressive, is a bodge. It’s not exactly working optimally.” “No offense taken, it’s frankly a miracle that even worked,” I admitted. “Yeah, seriously. You’re a lucky bastard. By all rights you should have exploded,” Sky muttered. “So, I just push go, hope it connects, and if it doesn't I wait for it to recharge and do it again?” I asked. Sky nodded. “Mhm. Kill time however-” he stopped mid sentence eyes widening in sudden realization. “That’s it! Time! Your life support. Hold on, I have a fix!” Sky jumped up from the table and opened a box on the wall, digging through it before handing me a small black and green box with a single button on it. It fit in my hand nicely, but weighed a lot. “What’s this?” I asked. “Hold on,” he said quickly. “Sai, configure the portable sterile enclosure to create an oxygen-nitrogen environment suitable for our guest on activation.” “Donezo,” Sai chimed. “There you go!” Sky said proudly. “Portable self-deploying and storing tent meant for doing surgery in. Boop the button, it deploys around you. Solar charging, should be good for at least a month of use, and other mes can definitely replace it for you if it dies on you. You’ll be safe inside it, and it’s big enough for a surgical team of four plus one patient. So comfy enough for someone your size to sleep in.” “Oh thank goodness,” I sighed in relief. Miyuki smiled happily. “It’s good to know you’ll be safe, Heartstrings-sama.” “Yeah, you can say that again,” I agreed with a nod. “Not so fast…” Sky warned. “It’s basically just a tent. A storm blown branch could puncture it. Bandits could open it and not seal the airlock behind them… So be sure to set it up in a safe location.” I grimaced at the thought of a bandit cutting into a tent I was sleeping in and essentially tossing a VX grenade into the tent. “Ah…er, well still. Thanks.” “No problem. Should at least let you have a safe spot to clean out your suit’s filters and junk. Don't worry about dirt and stuff getting inside. It vaporizes anything smaller than a pebble that’s left inside when you close it, and can’t close if it senses anything bigger than one inside it.” “That seems really dangerous…” I muttered. “It’s not,” Sky soothed with a smile. “It uses magic for that. My sister invented that part of it. One hundred and ten percent safe, guaranteed.” “That’s fair… So. I guess I should get going then,” I sighed sadly. I was not eager to leave this place. Miyuki was a very nice person, I genuinely counted her as a friend. Her nation was a wonderful place too, and it wasn’t like I had much of a tie to Earth anyways. But on the other hand, people did need to know that there was other life out there, even if it was well, in the future on our own world. I had a duty to humanity to let them know. So I had to go back, at least, briefly. Besides, I didn’t like the sound of a rogue AI with a human hate boner… This place wasn’t exactly safe for me right now. Miyuki stood up from the table and gave me a low bow. “Heartstrings-sama, you are most welcome to return here if you are ever able. I owe you my life, and I count you as a friend… Before you go, would you let me give you a hug?” I only barely kept the massive squee from escaping my lips as I knelt down. “Sure thing!” Miyuki smiled happily and stood up on the tips of her hooves to wrap her arms around my shoulders, hugging me tightly enough that I could feel her even through the pressurized suit! Oh my gosh, she liked me! I could totally have asked for a kiss or something and gotten one from the adorable ponygirl of adorable. You’re such an idiot Lyra! “Please don’t bone inside of me!” Sai begged. Miyuki let go of me and the two of us coughed into a fist in embarrassment. Sky sucked in a lungful of air. “Awkward…” As the Emperor and I sat embarrassingly staring off into the nothing, Sky picked up the Manipulator and pressed a button on it’s face. “Hello. Do you recognize me?” “Of course I do boss,” a very similar to Sai’s voice replied. This one was just a bit more…mature sounding. “I’m afraid I’m unable to connect to the rest of me right now. What do you need?” “I need you to help a friend of mine find a place where you can get a network connection,” Sky instructed. “Ah, I see. The quest for the Holy Wifi. Hayes be praised!” The VI said over dramatically but also sarcastically. I decided in that moment that I liked this version of the AI. “Huh… Looks like the me that made this is better with VI than I am,” Sky mused. “Do you see that humanoid over there? That’s Lyra-” “Nothing good will come of letting Lyra fool around with me, Boss. Are you sure you want to give me to her?” The VI asked. “Uh… Well, I guess we know that there are other versions of me now,” I laughed. “I’m pretty sure that this is just a person with the same name,” Sky said to the VI. “If you say so, Boss,” it replied. “I’ve programmed in instructions for you, do you have them?” Sky asked. “Yep. Open portals, check for wi-fi. By the way, my warranty is so voided, I would be on the lookout for assassin lawyers if I were you. Who the fuck repaired my hardware?” The Vi asked critically. “I did,” I replied, fairly sure that the VI was at least an eight year old’s intelligence. “Do you have any idea how to properly fix a teleportation matrix?” It asked me. “Nope. I just replicated what I could see of the broken part,” I answered. “Oh. Well shit. Good job then,” the VI mused. “You sound like The Annoying One. Is this the Lyra in question, Boss?” “It is,” Sky replied. “You’re sure you want me to help her?” It asked again, almost pleadingly. “I do,” he answered, holding the VM out to me. “Alright, I’ll do it. But I won't be happy about violating my code…” It grumbled as I buckled it back onto my wrist. “I swear I’ve never met you before. It has to be someone with the same name,” I said soothingly, hoping to calm the program down. I flipped the case back to check the screen and then tapped the projected interface with a hand to make sure it was still responsive to the touch. “Holy shit you have hands!” It exclaimed as I touched it “Yeah, I do,” I said, semi-stunned by the exclamation. “Boss, did you finally make her cyber hands?” The VI asked. “No,” Sky replied, facepalming. “Then she must be someone else with the same name. I’m sorry for doubting you, boss. Right, let’s get this over with. I don't like working for anyone who isn’t the Boss, the Pink, or the Bug.” “Yeah, no worries, I want to do this quickly too,” I agreed. Miyuki gave me a sad look, ears drooping and eyes forming a shape that made me feel like my heart had been punched. “I promise, I’ll visit again sometime. To be honest, I only need to go back home to tell people about all this. If I can work out a radon fix, I’ll probably come live here,” I promised before tapping the button on the interface I had pressed before. She gave me a happy smile. “I’ll look forward to it.” The rotating purplish blue disk flared into existence a few feet ahead of me. The unknown ahead, and the really, really, really liked behind me. “These things don't stay open forever you know,” the VI reminded me. “What should I call you?” I asked, desperate for any excuse to stay a moment longer. “Sai. Now move it, or we’ll be stuck here for days,” he grumbled. I nodded. “Yeah… Goodbye everyone. I’ll be back. Hopefully.” I made sure Bon was secure on my shoulders, and stepped through the portal.