Chapter 8 chapter Five

Sma felt that many of the crew were insane; therefore, she suspected that a certain number of ships themselves were not entirely sane.There were only twenty people in all on the ultra-fast patrol ship Alien Hatred, and Sma noticed—as a rule—that the smaller the crew, the weirder the behavior.So even though the cockpit assembly hadn't even entered the ship's hangar, she was fairly prepared to face the crew of the ship. "Hah-chirp!" The young crew member sneezed, covering his nose with one hand, and reaching out to Sima who stepped out of the cockpit assembly with the other.Sima withdrew her hand abruptly, looking at the young man's red nose and tearful eyes. "Ais Disglar's House, Miss Small," said the fellow, blinking and blowing his nose with a hurt look. "'Slowly' welcome to board the ship."

Sima carefully held out her hand.The crew's hands were burning hot. "Thank you," Sma said. "I am Skaven-Amtisko," the robot said from behind her. "'Nui' good," the young man waved to the robot.He pulled up the corner of his sleeve and patted his tearful eyes and runny nose. "Are you okay?" Sam asked. "'Bu' is great," he said. "'De' got a cold. Please," he pointed aside. "'More' I will." "Cold," Sma nodded, and started to follow; he wore a hooded toga as if he had just woken up.

"Yes," said the young man, leading the way through the Alienhater's array of small flying machines, satellites, and sundries to the rear hangar.He sneezed again, blowing his nose. "A 'pop' sexy 'cap' in the 'pass' head area." (Hearing this, Sima, who was walking towards a row of closely docked cockpit components, turned and looked at Skafin-Amti Scow, put out the words "What?" with his mouth. But the robot shook and shrugged, and typed in the emotional field that I couldn't understand, gray words with a rose background.) "Return the 'chair' for our 'I' free system' Possibly infected with the 'hat'," the young crew member explained, gesturing to her and the droid for the elevator at the end of the hangar.

"All of you?" Sma asked as the doors closed and the elevator began to ascend. "The whole crew?" "Yes, when 'Bu' is not 'Tube'. The cured 'Ren' agreed to use 'Thick' to feel 'Ruthless'." "Yeah," Sma said, glancing at the robot, which was maintaining its usual blue emotional field, except for the only big red dot she could see next to it; that red dot was pulsating rapidly.She almost laughed to herself when she noticed.She cleared her throat. "Yes, I suppose so." The young man sneezed vigorously. "We're almost at the recreation area, aren't we?" Skaven-Amtis asked him.Sima elbowed the robot.

The young crew member looked at the machine suspiciously. "'Qi' is true, just to 'scare' a 'Zeng'." He turned his head as the elevator doors began to open, and Skaven-Amtisko and Sma exchanged glances: Sma closed her eyes. They entered a large social area, the floor and walls of some red wood, polished to a fine polish; it was filled with various pull-up couches and chairs, and a few low tables.The ceiling is not particularly high, but it is very attractive, including a large unified tube structure, extending from the wall, with many small lanterns hanging.In terms of lighting, it looked like early morning on a ship.A group of people at one table broke up and started walking towards her.

"Di's'te s'ma'," the young crew member gestured to Sima, his voice seemed to keep getting more dull.The others—about half men and women—smiled and introduced themselves.She nodded and exchanged a few polite words; the robot said hi. One person in the crowd held a small bundle of tan fur under one shoulder, as if holding a baby. "Here," the man said, handing the small, furry animal to Sma.She reluctantly took it.It was warm, had four traditional feet, had an attractive smell, and was unlike any animal she had ever seen; it had big ears and a big head, and when she held it, it opened its eyes and looked at she. "This is the ship," said the man who handed her the animal.

"Hello," squealed the little animal. Sima looked it up and down. "Are you the one who hates outsiders?" "I am its embodiment. Someone you can talk to. You can call me a xenophobe." It smiled; it had small, round teeth. "I know most ships use robots, though," it glanced at Skaven-Amtisko. "They're always kind of boring, don't you think?" Sima smiled, feeling Skaven-Amtisko's emotions flickering in the corner of her eyes. "Well, sometimes it is," she agrees. "Oh, yes," said the little animal, nodding. "I'm so much cuter." It wriggled in her hand, showing joy on her face. "If you want," it giggled. "I'll take you to your cabin, okay?"

"Yes, great idea," Sma nodded, putting the animal on his shoulders.The crew told her to meet again later, and she headed to the living quarters with the ship's extraordinary remote-controlled droid and Skaven-Amtisko. "Oh well, you're nice and warm," the little tan animal mumbled sleepily, snuggling against Simma's neck, as they walked down the heavily blanketed hallway to Sima's living room.It shook; Sma found himself patting its back. "Turn left this way," it said at an intersection.Then: "By the way, we're going off track." "Very good," Sma said.

"Can I lie in your arms while you sleep?" Sma stopped, ripped the animal off its shoulders with one hand, and stared into its face. "What did you say?" "Just for the sake of intimacy," said the little thing, stretching greatly and blinking. "It's not that I'm being unreasonable; that's the proper procedure for a relationship." Sima sensed Skaven-Amtisko glowing red behind her.She held the yellow-brown device close to her face. "Listen, Alienhater—" "Xenophobe." "Xenophobic; you're a megaton starship, a torturer-class fast attack unit. Even—"

"But I'm disarmed!" "Even without your usual armour, I bet you have the ability to destroy planets if you want to—" "Oh, come on: any stupid universal contact will do!" "Then what's with the shit?" She looked at the little furry remote-controlled robot with sharp eyes.Its teeth chattered. "That's just Bo Jun's smile!" it yelled. "Sma, don't you understand the joke?" "I don't know. Do you like being kicked back into the quarters?" "Oh! What's wrong with you, ma'am? Do you have a problem with little furry animals or something? Listen, Miss Small; I know very well that I'm a ship, and I'll do everything that's asked of me—including carrying You got there to somewhat obscure destinations - and you did it very efficiently. At the slightest sign of real combat, I'd act like a battleship, and this thing in your hand would freeze instantly and go limp, I I will fight fiercely and resolutely in the way I have been trained. In the meantime, like my human colleagues, I entertain myself harmlessly. If you really hate my current appearance, that's okay; I can change. I can become Ordinary robot, or disembodied voice, or talking to you through Skaven-Amtisko here, or through your personal terminal. The last thing I want is to offend a distinguished guest .”

Sima bit her lip.She patted the thing's head, then sighed. "Makes sense." "Can I keep this shape?" "As you please." "Oh, that's great!" It writhed happily, then opened its eyes wide, looking at her hopefully. "Can I snuggle?" "Snuggle up." Sima let him snuggle up, patting it on the back. She turned around and saw Skaven-Amtisko lying back dramatically in mid-air, the emotional field flashing pale orange, which originally represented the signal of "seriously ill robot in critical condition". Sma nodded goodbye to the tawny critter, who staggered down the hallway back to the social area (waving back with one plump little paw), then closed the door, making sure the interior monitor was off. She turned to Skaven-Amtiskau. "How long are we going to be on this ship?" "Thirty days?" Skaven-Amtisco suggested. Sima gritted her teeth and looked around at the rather expensive cabins, which were much smaller than the empty old power plant mansion. "Thirty days with the sick maniacs and the boats that they thought were cuddling dolls." She shook her head and sat on the force field on the bed. "Let's be honest, robot, it's going to be a long journey." Skafin-Amtisko thought that now might not be the best time to tell the woman that Zarqawi was missing. "If you don't mind, I'd like to look around," it said, drifting toward the hatch beyond Sma's neat row of duffel bags. "Yeah, go," Sima waved lazily with one hand, took off his coat, and let it fall on the deck. When the robot was about to reach the door, Sma sat up abruptly, frowning on his face, and said, "Wait; what does that ship mean... 'some unclear destination'? It doesn't know what the hell we are Where are you going?" Oh shit, thought the robot. It turns in mid-air. "Ah," it said. Sima narrowed her eyes. "We're just going to pick up Zarqawi, aren't we?" "Yes, of course." "We don't have anything else to do, do we?" "Absolutely not. We found Zarqawi; we briefed him; we took him to Woernhaz. Simple as that. We might stay around for a while, but that's not certain." "Yes, yes, I think so, but ... where the hell is Zarqawi?" "You want to know exactly where?" said the robot. "Well, I mean; you know, that..." "Okay," Smart said, annoyed. "That's probably fine." "No problem," Skaven-Amtiskov said, stepping back toward the door. "No problem?" Sima said, puzzled. "Yeah, no problem. We both know. I mean about where he is." "Very good," Sima nodded. "and then?" "Then what?" "And then," Smart said aloud. "where is he?" "Krystaller." "Krys...?" "Krystaller. That's where we're going." Sima shook her head and yawned. "Never heard of it." She lay back on the force field on the bed and stretched herself. "Krystaller." Her yawn grew bigger; she put a hand over her mouth. "You only had to say it once in the first place, damn it." "Sorry," said the robot. "Well. Forget it." Sima waved a hand, passing through the light beam that controls the cabin light beside the bed, making the light dim.She yawned again. "I think I should get some sleep. Can you help me take my boots off?" Gently but quickly, the robot unfastened Sima's boots, picked up her coat and hung it in the large cupboard, swept her luggage in as well, and then—when Sima rolled over on the bed, blinking her eyes closed—the robot Slip out of the room. It was floating in the air outside, looking at its own reflection on the smooth wooden plank at the far end of the corridor. "Just now," it said to itself. "It's really dangerous." Then it wandered away. It was just after breakfast when Smart boarded the Outsider Hater.When she woke up, it was afternoon.She was finishing using the bathroom when the doorbell rang, and the robot sorted her clothes by type and color and hung or folded them in the cupboard.Sima stepped out of the small shower area, wearing a pair of shorts and mouth full of toothpaste.She tried saying 'open the door,' but the toothpaste apparently made the word impossible for the room sensors.She walked over instead and pressed the door button. Sma's eyes went wide; she gave a cry, and leaped from the door in despair, a rapid scream coming from her throat. The instant her eyes opened, long before the signal of jumping from the door reached the muscles of her legs, there was a sudden, almost invisible movement in the cabin, followed by a "bump" and a violently disturbed sound. sound. The Blade Missile skimmed slowly through the air, clicking back under Skaven-Amtiskau's shell. "Don't do that to me again," the machine whispered, turning back to adjust Sma's socks. Smamo wiped her mouth and stared at the three-meter-tall, brown, furry monster cowering in the corridor outside the door. "Vessel...xenophobe, what the hell are you doing?" "I'm sorry," said the gigantic creature, in a voice only slightly deeper than it would have been at baby size. "I think you don't like hairy critters, maybe a bigger version..." "Dog-shit," Sma said, shaking her head. "Come in," she called, walking toward the shower area. "Or do you just want to show how big you are?" She rinsed her mouth, spitting out the toothpaste. The xenophobe squeezed through the doorway, hunched over, and stepped sideways into a corner. "I'm so sorry, Skaffin-Amtisko." "Never mind," replied the other machine. "Ah, no, Miss Smart," shouted the xenophobe. "I actually wanted to talk to you about…" Skaven-Amtisko came to a standstill for not more than a second.In fact, the minds of the robot and the ship exchanged detailed and somewhat intense information for a long time, but Sma only noticed the pauses in the xenophobe's speech. "...a banquet of finery, it is an honor to receive you tonight," the ship improvised. Sima smiled from the shower area. "Great idea, boat. Thank you, xenophobe; yeah, why not?" "Fine; I just wanted to hear from you. Any ideas for costumes?" Sima laughed. "Yes; I'll be you. Let me wear one of your costumes." "Ha, yes. Good idea. Actually that's probably what a lot of people would choose, but we'll make it a rule that no two people can dress alike. Fine. I'll discuss it with you later." The xenophobe lumbered out of the room, The door slid shut behind.Sima came out of the shower area, a little surprised by the sudden departure, but only shrugged. "Short visit, but important enough," she observed, rummaging through the socks Skaven-Amtisko had just carefully arranged in color order. "That machine is really strange." "What can you expect?" Skaven-Amtisko said. "It's a starship." ──You probably (mind of the ship speaks to Skaven-Amtiscor) should have told me that you didn't tell her the extent of our target area. ──I had hoped (robot answer) that the people we were already there would find who we were looking for and give us the exact location so Sma never had to know there was any problem. ──Indeed, but why didn't you confess to her in the first place? ──Ha!You don't know Sima! ──Oh.I guess she's moody? ──What can you expect?She is human! The ship prepares a feast, adding many chemicals that can warp the human brain to a variety of dishes and drinks, while maintaining a suitable degree, so as not to cause a specific effect on each bowl, plate, jug or glass. Sanity warning.It informs the crew of the banquet, rearranges the social area, installs various mirrors and inverting force fields (since there are only twenty-two banquet guests in all--not including itself--to make the place look crowded just enough became one of the main problems it faced, trying to create a sense of real, downright boisterous). Sma had breakfast, then was taken on a tour of the boats—nothing to see, though; almost all engines were on board—and spent the rest of the day rereading the history and politics of the Woernhardt star cluster. The ship sent a formal invitation to each crew member and made it clear that no discussion of the mission was to be made.It hoped that this, along with an abundance of narcotic consumables, would keep everyone from talking about where they were going.It considers telling people there's a problem and telling them to hush it up, but suspects at least two of the crew will see the ban as a challenge to their subjectivity and bring the conversation up at the first opportunity.This situation would always make the Alienhater consider switching status to an unmanned ship, but she knew that if she did ask them to leave, she would miss the humans; having them around was usually a lot of fun. The ship plays loud music, an exciting holographic film plays on the screen, and then sets a stunning wrap-around holographic landscape, full of lush greens and blues, with floating groves and suspended trees, and Strange octopus hopped, and in the distance lay layers of glowing white mist, piled up by towering, lithe cloud boats, stretching toward neck-pain-high cliffs of pastel-coloured rock; above were even smaller clouds , adorned with blue and shining gold Lian-shaped waterfalls, and on top of it is a beautiful city group, full of minarets and slender bridges.Ship-controlled physical projections of famous historical figures appear and weave through the banquet, adding to the phantom crowds and absolutely happy to talk to revelers in disguise, promising more treats and surprises to come later. Simma poses as a xenophobe.Skaven-Amtisko became a model version of the Alienhater, and the ship itself found another remote-controlled droid; an antique, also tan, but fatter and with big eyes The fish, floating in a one-meter-diameter water balloon supported by a force field, slowly floated across the banquet scene, like some kind of weird balloon. "Ais Disgraf, you have met before," the ship's robot said, his voice a little bubbly, and introduced Sima to the young man who received her on the airfield yesterday. "And Janet Herring." Sma smiled, nodding to Disgraf—with a mind to stop thinking of him as Disgraf's "House"—and the young woman beside him. "Meet you again. How are you?" "Ha'lou," said Dithgraf, dressed as some ancient cold-climate explorer, all wrapped in fur. "Hi," Janet Herring said.She was short and round, very young looking, with skin so dark it was almost blue.She was wearing some sort of old—and surprisingly brightly colored—military uniform, with a sleek bomb-action rifle slung from her back.She took a sip from her glass and said, "I know we're not allowed to talk about missions, Miss Smart, but to be honest, Ays and I were wondering why our destination was—" "Ah!" said the ship's robot, and the water balloon suddenly collapsed.The water splashed around the feet of Sima, Herring, and Disgraff, and everyone was only slightly startled.The fish-shaped robot fell to the mahogany deck, slapped and rolled over. "Water!" Sima grabbed its tail and lifted it up. "What happened?" she asked it. "Force field failure! Water! Hurry up!" Sima looked at Disgraf and Herring, and the two seemed to be joking instead.Skaven-Amtisko, dressed as a starship, quickly approached them through the feasting crowd. "Water!" repeated the boat robot, writhing. Underneath the tan suit, Sima's forehead began to wrinkle.She looked at the woman dressed as a soldier. "What were you going to say, Miss Herring?" "I was going to say—oh!" The 512-to-1 scale model of the ultra-fast patrol ship Alienhater crashed into the woman, causing her to stumble backwards and drop her cup. "Hey!" said Disgraf, pushing away the rude Skaven-Amtiskau.Herrin looked at it displeased and rubbed his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'm so clumsy!" Skaven-Amtiskau exclaimed. "Water! Water!" cried the shipbot, struggling in Sma's furry palm. "Shut up!" Sma said.She approached Jantat Herring, placing herself between the woman and Skaven-Amtiskau. "Miss Herring; would you please finish your question?" "I just want to know why..." The floor shook, and the whole landscape around them trembled; overhead lights flashed, and as they looked up, they saw the amazing city glowing on the far top of the cliff disappearing in a great flash of light, which slowly faded, leaving a falling mass of Clouds of rubble, towers toppled, bridges disintegrated.The towering cliffs cracked, and the tumbling magma several kilometers high and the boiling gray-black cloud smoke and ashes spewed out, which suddenly covered the trembling scenery below. Fell into the blue-green bushes, blasting puffs of feathers and leaves harshly. Jantat Herring stared in disbelief.Sima grabbed the woman's nipple with one hand and shook her vigorously. "It wants to distract you!" she exclaimed.She turned to the fish-shaped robot in her other hand. "Stop!" she screamed at it.She shook the girl again, and Dithgraff tried to tear her claws away from the girl.Sima slapped the opponent's hand away. "what do you want to say?" "Why don't we know where we're going?" Herrin yelled at Sima's face, cracking the ground and spitting out a loud noise of flames.A huge black shape appeared in the canyon, with fiery red eyes. "We're going to Claystar!" Sma cried.A huge silver human baby appeared in the sky, beaming and sparkling but dull, turning with glowing figures. "How about that?" Herrin roared, at this time a bolt of lightning struck from the superbaby to the monster on the ground, and the sound of thunder hit their ears. "Krystaller is an open star cluster; there must be half a million stars in there!" Sima froze. The hologram returned to what it was before the drastic change.The music also returned, but this time it was softer and very subdued.The crew stood around with bewildered looks on their faces.Many people still struggle. The fish-like ship robot exchanged glances with Skaven-Amtisko.The ship robot, still caught in Sma's hand, suddenly turned into a hologram of a fish bone; Skaven-Amtisko projected a trembling and disintegrated model of the Alienhater, dragging a cigarette from the deck.When Sima slowly turned to look at the two of them, they resumed their original disguise. "Ah... open... star cluster?" she said, pulling off the tan head of the ornate costume. A smile formed on Sima's lips.It was not an expression that Scarfin-Amtiskov understood to be taken as utterly frightened. ──Oh, damn it. ──I think we are in the presence of an unhappy human female, Skaven-Amtisko. ──I want to know.Have an idea? ──Not at all.You can handle it yourself; my fish ass is out there. ──Ship!You can't do this to me! ──I can and I will.This is your fault.Talk to me later.Goodbye. The fish-shaped robot collapsed in Sima's palm.She let it drop on the wet, slippery floor. The droid removed the battleship camouflage; it floated in front of her without activating any force fields.It moved forward slightly, then stopped. "Sma," it said quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't lie, but I did lie to you." "Go back to my cabin," Sima said calmly after a pause. "Excuse me for leaving," she said to Dithgraf and Herring, and turned away, followed by the robot. She floats on the bed in a lotus position, wearing only shorts and her xenophobic attire thrown on the floor.She was exuding calm, and seemed more sad than angry.Skaven-Amtisko, who expected an altercation, felt badly over such controlled disappointment. "I thought if I told you you wouldn't come." "Robot; this is my mission." "I know, but you are so unwilling to leave..." "After three years without warning, what do you expect? But how long did I actually delay? Even already knowing about the double? Please, robot, you told me the situation and I accepted it. No need to hide Zarqawi slipped out of our hands." "Sorry," said the robot, very quietly. "It's beyond words, but I'm really sorry. Please tell me you may forgive me someday." "Oh, don't take the confession so far. Just let me know later." "OK." Sima lowered her head for a moment, then raised it. "You can first tell me how Zarqawi escaped. What were we using to track him?" "A blade missile." "A blade missile?" Sima looked quite surprised.She rubbed her cheek with one hand. "And a fairly new model," said the robot. "Nano guns, monofilament screens, electromagnetic controllers; brains worth seven." "And Zarqawi got rid of that monster?" Sima almost laughed out loud. "Ho just got rid of it; he scrapped it." "Dog-shit," Sma gasped. "I don't think Zarqawi is that smart. Did he have it before, or was he just lucky? What happened? How did he do it?" "Well, this is very classified," said the robot. "So please don't tell anyone." "On my honor," Sma said sarcastically, palms on her chest. "Well," said the robot, sighing. "It took him a year to prepare, but still where we dropped him off, after he'd done the last job for us, the local humanoids shared the planet with large marine mammals that were equally intelligent; pretty doable symbiotic relationship with many inter-civilizational contacts. Zarqawi - bought a company that makes medical and signal lasers with the notes we paid him. His traps include a humanoid is setting up a Hospital facility for the treatment of marine mammals. One of the medical devices being tested was a large MRI scanner." "A what?" "A way of looking at the fourth primordial inside your common water-based organisms." "go on." "The process involved using an extremely powerful electromagnetic field. Zarqawi was supposed to be testing the laser connected to the machine -- it was a holiday, so no one was around -- and somehow got the blade missile into the scanner, and then turned on the power. " "I thought the Blades weren't electromagnetic." "No, but if it tries to move at high speed, there's just enough metal to create a paralyzing eddy current." "But it can still move." "Not enough to break through the laser that Zarqawi installed at the end of the scanner. It was supposed to be just for lighting, to help create a hologram of a mammal, but Zarqawi actually installed a military-strength device; the The blade missiles are all scorched." "Wow." Sima nodded, looking at the floor. "The man never ceases to amaze." She looked at the robot. "Zarqawi must have wanted so badly to escape from us." "It seems so," the robot agreed. "So maybe he won't want to work for us again. Maybe he'll never even want to hear from us." "I'm afraid it is indeed possible." "Though we can find him." "correct." "And we only know that he is somewhere in the open star cluster called Krystaler?" Sima's voice showed a hint of disbelief. "It's actually a little more concentrated than that," Skaven-Amtiskau said. "If he left immediately after hanging the blade missile and took the fastest ship, he might be in ten or twelve galaxies now. Fortunately, the technological level of the primitive civilization in that area is not that high." The robot hesitated, then continued Said: "Honestly, we might have a chance of catching him if we set off immediately at high speed...but I think the mind controlling this ship admires Zarqawi's methods and thinks he's worth escaping. We generally remain very general It's been 10 days since the search got serious. We're trying to get boats and people from everywhere now, and I'm sure we'll find him." "Ten or twelve galaxies, robot?" Sma said, shaking his head. "Twenty or so planets; maybe three hundred space habitats of sufficient size...not counting ships, of course." Sima closed her eyes and began to shake her head. "I do not believe." Skaven-Amtisko thought it would be better to keep silent than to speak. The woman's eyes widened. "Want to hear a suggestion or two?" "certainly." "Forget the habitation zones. And forget about any less-than-standard planets; look up...deserts, temperature zones, no jungles...and no cities," she shrugged.Rub your mouth with your hands. "If he's still trying to hide, then we can't find him. If he's just trying to escape to live his life without being watched, we have a chance. Oh, and of course, find war. Especially not too big wars... and interesting wars, you know what I mean?" "Understood. Transmission complete." Usually the robot would sneer at this kind of introductory psych detective, but this time decided to bite the parable's tongue and pass Sma's comment to the non-responsive ship so that it could be transmitted ahead of them. search fleet. Sima took a deep breath, arching and dropping her shoulders. "Is the banquet still going on?" "Yes," said Skaven-Amtiskov, surprised. Smart jumped out of bed and stepped into the xenophobic costume. "Okay; let's not be party spoilers." She tied up her clothes, and walked towards the door with her brown hair in her arms. "Sma," said the robot, following. "I thought you were angry." "Maybe I will, once the calm wears off," she admitted, opening the door and pulling the costume's head on. "But for now, I really can't be bothered about it." They walked along the corridor.She turned to look at the robot behind her that hadn't activated the force field. "Come on, robot; that's for dressing up. But this time for something more imaginative than a battleship." "Well," said the machine. "Any suggestions?" "I don't know," Sma sighed. "What would suit you? I mean, what's the perfect role model for a cowardly, lying, protective, hysterical bastard who has no trust or respect for another human being?" When they approached the noise and lights of the banquet, there was a complete silence behind them.So she turns around, and instead of a robot, she sees a handsome, yet unremarkable young man of perfect proportions, following her down the corridor, his eyes just lifted to meet hers. Sima laughed. "Yes; very good." She took a few extra steps. "But on second thought, I still prefer battleships."