Ship's Interface Ch. 006

Ben surmised correctly that this was the Commander's chief concern, and by offering to help, lent them a great deal of credibility in Commander Michael's eyes.

"You would share this tech? At what cost?" The Commander's suspicions again rose to the forefront.

"The people responsible are the worst scum imaginable. I would stamp them out myself if I could. Whatever we can do to help, we will." Interface said the vehemence in her voice took the Commander by surprise. Then she added, "Not because we're looking for profit, but because it's the right thing to do. We'll just give it to you."

That surprised the Commander. Most people were motivated by profit, in one form or another, but these people seemed different, somehow. His opinion of them shifted, and the puzzle finally made sense again.

Michaels thought carefully about how to proceed. They were offering him a way to strengthen his ability to protect the Station, and the only thing they asked in return was to be left alone. Weighing his options, he came to a decision.

"As crazy as your story sounds, I believe you. I must protect the Station and the people on it, and the aid such as you are offering would help immensely." The command finally relented.

Looks of relief spread over everyone's faces as the Commander backed off. Will got serious again. Then pressed the Commander. "We have been forthcoming with every question you have asked. I need to ask you, does this mean you will protect the privacy of my family? Their safety is as important to me as this station's safety is to you."

"I will honor your request, in light of everything you have shared here today." The Commander conceded.

"That's great, thank you. We'll give the prototype scanner and schematics to Jeremy, who can then deploy it where you need them most." Will said.

"We also need to ask a favor of you," Will said, causing the Commander's eyebrow to raise once again. "Two actually. First, a warning needs to go out to the Galactic Turnpike Authority that pirates have spoofed the Galactic Positioning System beacons in the region and are diverting freighters. Some sort of naval response is needed. People are flying into danger blindly out there and we need to stop it."

The Commander nodded solemnly. "I'll send a message up the chain right away."

"And Second, We need to get a message to the Peirault Shipping Company letting them know that the 'Saturn's Heart' was lost due to pirates and that we are on our way to their headquarters to return the transponder. The Bourdan Space Patrol said that we've already been declared lost, and we need to let them know that we survived." Will said, knowing that the Commander wasn't obligated to help in civilian matters.

"I can do that, too. Considering the tech you are giving freely to bolster station security, it's the least I can do." Michaels said, with genuine appreciation.

Then Will added, "On another note, those slavers seemed to have been painting their victims to look an awful lot like the members of my family. I'm worried that there might be a connection or they might want retribution of some sort. Can I count on you to give me a heads-up if you find anything that might endanger my family?" Will asked.

"Definitely. The more allies we have in this, the better." The Commander said finally smiling, though his expression quickly shifted back to serious. "It feels like there is trouble brewing, and it's good to have someone to stand shoulder to shoulder with while facing it."

Will stood and offered his hand to the Commander. "I'm honored that you consider us an ally."

The Commander stood and accepted Will's outstretched hand. "Same here." He said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get these messages out and have other matters that need my attention. Thank you again for your honesty and help. I wish you safe travels." And with that, the Commander left through the open airlock door.

Interface waited a minute then sealed the door, and they all let out a collective sigh of relief.

"That went a lot better than I thought it would." Will said, finally relaxing after the Commander's 'chat'.

"I like him." Is all interface said, but Will suspected he knew what she meant.

"Insatiable." He said, smiling while shaking his head.

Jeremy sat on the couch, flabbergasted at everything that he had just learned. As he sat there, trying to sort everything out in his mind so it made sense, he had a sudden realization. "Wait a minute. Interface, weren't you supposed to be at the market with June?"

"I am with June," Interface said with a smirk.

Jeremy looked at her blankly, not getting it. So she helped him out. As he was trying to formulate what he wanted to say, another Interface came sashaying out of the bunk room and put her arm around the waist of the first Interface. His eyes just about bugged out of his head. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but there were still two silver girls standing in front of him.

"How, how is this possible?" He asked in a stammer. His day kept getting weirder and weirder.

"I'm great at multitasking." The second Interface said.

Ben and Will both shook their heads in amusement at the fun Interface was having at Jeremy's expense. Then the silver twins plopped down on the couch, one side of him and the other. They ran their fingers through his hair, rubbed his chiseled chest, and both stroked the inside of his thighs.

"I am much more than just these bodies you see here. A large portion of my being resides in a six dimension crystal lattice that lets me control the ship, and as many physical instantiations as I need." The Interface on Jeremy's left said.

"Six dimensional crystal? Multiple instantiations?" Without context, Jeremy struggled to make sense of any of it. "Can you explain it in simple terms?"

"It's a lot to take in. I know." Ben comforted Jeremy. "Not too long ago I was sitting in your seat, trying to get someone to explain it to me without it sounding like it came from a lunatic. The Nestia is more than just a unique ship; it defies what you think is possible." Jeremy looked at him expectantly.

"This ship and Interface are old, ancient really. Her race developed technology and traveled the stars long before humanity started stacking stones into pyramid shapes. Take the ship for instance, by all appearances, it looks like a seventy-meter shuttle, right?"

"I suppose you're now going to tell me that it's not," Jeremy said sitting between two Interfaces, on the edge of ready to believe anything.

"That's right." The Interface on his left said. "I think it's time for a proper tour." Said the one on his right. Taking him by the arms, The silver twins walked Jeremy over to where Ben was standing, then opened the door to the rest of the ship. Jeremy poked his head out into the port side hallway that ran on much longer than the dimensions of the shuttle should allow.

"Huh. Six dimensional, you say." Jeremy muttered as he allowed the Interfaces to lead him through the doorway to the rest of the ship, followed closely by Ben and Will.

They gave Jeremy the grand tour. They stopped by the bridge, and he marveled at the viewport and general layout. They brought him down to the hangar showing him the shuttle and pods. Then they brought him to Engineering and showed off the power core as it thrummed with its deep resonance. Then the pair of Interface's brought him to the Crystalline Matrix room.

As the lightning that was Interface danced in the crystal, Jeremy stood there watching the light show, mesmerized. As he studied the matrix with a silver girl on either arm, he had a sudden epiphany, "The matrix is a fractal, isn't it." he said to Interface.

"Very astute. Except the fractal doesn't just exist in the 3-D space, it stretches out into the fourth, fifth, and sixth spatial directions." She said.

"And you reside in the crystal, but also in these bodies." He said, starting to get comfortable with the concept. The Interface copies stood on either side of Jeremy as he examined the crystal, an arm around each of their waists, and they both had an arm around his.

"Think of it like a hand in a glove, one hand, many fingers." The Interface on his right said, while they both rubbed his back and shoulders, their hands drifting just slightly lower. "I am in the matrix, and I am extending myself into these lovely shapes next to you. And currently with Sarah and June. By the way, Tara is napping and we're being naughty." She said in a mischievous tone.

Jeremy's face said that he was coming to terms with the strangeness that he now found himself amongst. "So what do you think of the ship?" Will asked Jeremy, placing a hand on his shoulder as he stood behind one of the Interfaces, placing a hand on her hip.

"Absolutely astounding. You'll have to explain how everything works one of these days." Jeremy said, his eyes sparkling with wonder.

"I expect you would be a wonderful pupil," Interface said suggestively, massaging one of his ass cheeks.

"She has an excellent educational motivation regimen," Will said, slapping Jeremy on the back, with a smile.

"Which you won't get to experience unless we get everything done that we came here for. So let's get a move on." Interface said. The Interface on Jeremy's left reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Wish we had more time to play." She said with a fake pout. "I'll just have to wait until tonight." This Interface gave him a quick wink, then shrank away to nothing and disappeared.

The remaining Interface led them to where she had left the transponder and they got to work installing it.

****

With the four of them working together, they had the transponder installed and operational in just a couple of hours. They took a quick break for lunch and Interface insisted on blow jobs for everyone since they all got to eat and she did not. They decided it was better not to argue against her logic, mostly because Interface usually got what she wanted anyway.

After lunch, they reviewed Interface's design for June's replacement eye and found that with very little alteration, it could be adapted to serve the purpose of upgrading the station's port of entry scanners. They added manual controls for filtering the various signals, and designed a new enclosure for the internal components, deciding that eyeballs fitted everywhere in the station would creep everyone out.

They completed their work a little late, pushing into dinner time, but Interface told them that June and Sarah put dinner off a little bit and it would be ready when they got back to the apartment.

Jeremy packed up the prototype and the schematics, and they all left the Nestia together and headed down the green-colored path of the Station arm. When they reached the entrance to the central cylinder, Interface gave Will, Ben, and Jeremy each a hug and a kiss and told them she would see them when they got back to the apartment.

As they walked to the tram, Will and Ben explained to Jeremy about Interface's other plans for tonight. He shrugged his shoulders, fully accepting the strangeness. They boarded and waved to Interface through the window of the tram as it sped away.

The busy bustle of the station was winding down for the day, there were many fewer trucks with cargo rolling past, and the foot traffic was a fraction of what it was earlier. Interface walked the short distance to the little cafe and found Diana waiting outside, still wearing her white shirt and black pants from work. The young, twenty-something brunette looked nervously at her watch before she saw Interface. When she spotted Interface, her expression immediately brightened and walked over to meet her halfway.

"Hi, Interface," Diana said, shyly.

"Hi, Diana. How are you? Work okay?" Interface asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Work was fine." Then looking down self-consciously at her uniform, "Sorry I didn't have time to change, I need to work a little later to cover for someone."

"Oh, that's fine. I only have this one dress; we're both wearing the same thing as yesterday." Interface joked.

"But it looks good on you," Diana said, face blushing.

"You look lovely too. It's fine, really. I want to get to know you, not your clothes." Interface trying to put the brunette at ease.

"Thanks," Diana said, finally relaxing. "I didn't have a real plan for tonight, I thought we'd just go have a drink and hang out," she said as if asking for forgiveness.

Interface found the young woman to be sweet in an innocent sort of way. "That sounds great. I don't know my way around the station, why don't you lead the way."

"Okay. I sometimes go to this quiet little bar down near the end of the cylinder, I think it would be a nice place to chat." Diana said, still looking for approval.

"Perfect, lead on Madam!" Interface said with a smile.

As they walked side by side, Interface reached down and took Diana's hand in hers. Interface smiled at Diana, and she returned it.

Hand in hand, fingers interlaced, Interface said, "So I think the way we're supposed to begin a date is with proper introductions. I'm Interface, and you are...?" she asked.

"Diana, eh, Diana Davis." the shy hostess said.

"So Diana Davis, where are you from originally? I assume you weren't born on the station." Interface asked.

"No, I was born planetside, in a little town called Hunter's Glen. It's about an hour and a half outside of Cameron, a middle-sized city where most of the folks from around there go for work. There's some light industry, a few factories here and there, and a university, but mostly retail stores and the like." Diana said.

"Did you go to university there? Tell me everything, I want to know all about you." Interface asked, fascinated at what a 'normal' life might look like.

"I did two semesters in their art program, then got the crazy idea that I wanted to go see the galaxy. Oh, here we are. The Starside Bar and Grill." Diana said, briefly cutting off her story as they arrived at their destination.

The Starside seemed to be busy tonight, with most of the tables full of patrons, so they went in and sat down at two empty stools at the bar.

"What'll ya have?", the burly bartender asked. He was mostly bald, but still wore the remaining hair in a ponytail. He had a kind face, and an easy smile, exactly what you might expect from a bartender.

"A margarita, please. Do you have Paxian tequila?" Diana requested.

"Yup." the bartender answered monosyllabically.

"Make that two," Interface said, and handed him Ben's cryptostick he had given her earlier for her date.

"Coming right up," he said, then went off to mix the drinks.

"So you were talking about your crazy idea to see the galaxy?" Interface prompted.

"Yeah, so after two semesters of art class, I felt I had all the technical skills since I had been drawing and painting for most of my life, but I lacked inspiration. I felt I had lost my connection to the Muse. So I saved up a little bit of money, dropped out, and boarded the first flight to the Station thinking that I would hop the next ferry to somewhere exotic and exciting. I got here and realized how expensive interstellar travel was, and kinda got stuck here." Diana said, in a slightly defeated tone, accepting of her lot.

The bartender returned with their drinks, and handed the cryptostick back to Interface, then turned to wash glasses further down the bar.

"But on the bright side, I still get to meet lots of interesting people that pass through the station, people on their way to one place or another," Diana said, with a furtive smile at Interface.

"Like the galaxy is coming to see you." Interface cheerfully.

"Yeah, something like that." Diana took a big sip of her drink. "So that's a lot about me. What's your story?" She said, deflecting from talking about her small life anymore.

"Well, I used to have a big family, lots of love. Our home was always a hive of activity, people all over the place, with never a quiet moment. In a good way, I mean." Interface said, clarifying.

"We would travel the galaxy, investigating new worlds, finding places no one had been before. It was exciting and I was constantly surrounded by people I loved. Then we were investigating this one planet, tragedy struck and I lost them all. I was alone for a very long time afterward. There were times I couldn't even wake up. Then one day, new people came and breathed life back into my universe. Now I'm traveling again, with the people I love, meeting new and interesting people," Interface smiled and nudged Diana, "and the universe is opening back up for me."

Diana smiled at Interface's story, staring into her light blue glowing eyes, bewitched. She gulped down the rest of her drink, then said, "You want to go for a walk? I want to show you one of my favorite places to hang out."

"Sure, let's go." Interface agreed, finishing her drink. She followed Diana out and they resumed holding hands as they walked.

"It's not far, just around this corner," Diana said smiling. They turned a corner and climbed the set of wide stairs they found there, and at the top was a wide, empty viewing gallery. There were a few rows of bleachers, looking out through an enormous viewport at the very end of the central cylinder walls, in a semi-circle like an amphitheater. The view was stunning; the planet rotating below and a magnificent view of the stars beyond the horizon were on prominent display. "This is probably my favorite spot in the entire Station. I often come here and watch the stars. Sometimes I bring my sketch pad and draw the scene."

They sat close together on the bleachers, looking out to the vista beyond the viewport for a long while without speaking. Interface watched Diana stare out the viewport, admiring her. She looked at the stars with a slightly wistful look of longing, which somehow enhanced her natural beauty.

Interface broke the silence. "It's a shame more people don't come and watch the stars here. It's beautiful."

Diana looked shyly over to Interface, and said, "So are you." putting a hand on Interface's bare arm, sliding a little closer.

Interface put her hand on the small of Diana's back. "It's meeting people like you, so full of life and beauty, that makes life worth living."

Diana blushed at being called beautiful. "Sometimes it doesn't seem beautiful, my life that is." She corrected herself, not wanting to contradict Interface. "It sometimes seems like a meaningless grind. Get up, go to work, go home, go to bed, then do it again the next day."

Interface leaned back, on her hands. "Oh, it is. Life can be hard. The universe is a chaotic mix of bland and exciting, good times and hard, ugliness," Interface tucked a loose strand of hair behind Diana's ear, " and beauty. We just need to focus on the beauty and everything works out."

Diana smiled at Interface and was quiet for a moment. She reached over and held Interface's hand and asked, "Would it be alright if I gave you a kiss?"

Interface smiled. "I would like that a lot."

Diana shifted in her seat and slowly leaned over to Interface. Her eyes closed and pressed her warm lips to Interface's, then wrapped an arm around the silver girl, and held her tight. Interface returned the kiss and gentle embrace, then after a moment, Diana pulled back from the kiss, but continued to hold Interface close.

They sat watching the stars for another half hour until Diana said, "I think it's time to head home. I've got to work in the morning."

"Okay, let's go," Interface said with a little sad smile, wishing for more time.

They walked hand in hand back to Diana's apartment building, silent, but smiling. When they arrived, Diana said, "Well, this is me." Torn as to how she wanted to proceed.

Interface touched Diana's cheek softly. "Thank you for a wonderful evening. It was beautiful."

Diana leaned in and gave Interface a short, chaste kiss, but one full of feeling. "I had a good time too." She paused for a moment then said brightly, thinking of something. "Wait here, for just a minute", then she ran inside the building. Diana returned moments later, slightly out of breath, carrying a small cylinder. "For you. I want you to have it so that you will think of me whenever you look at it."