“She’s grounded. Of course, she’s anxious,” the voice replied.

  “She needs me to transfer the reprogrammed nanite gel to the production tanks so that we might seal her hull against intrusion and preserve the records and proof of sabotage for when help arrives.”

  “And what makes you think there will be any help in the kind of time required to protect you from a hostile take-over?”

  And that was when Peony knew why she was on the ship, why the protocol section existed inside her head…and why she and the Calliope had been selected as the colony’s transport vessel and its liaison.

  “You knew this was going to happen!” she snapped, and strode across the protocols section, flipping through the files in search of the access codes controlling the bulkhead doors.

  The digital hand wrapping around her wrist as she pulled the file she was searching for came as no surprise.

  “And what do you need those for?” the voice asked, a form materializing to go with the hand.

  “Neat trick,” Peony told the presence, “But there’s a good reason, I was chosen for the Calliope’s technical liaison.”

  With a digital twist and shove, she freed her wrist and sent the intruder flying across the protocol work space and into the servers stacked against one side. By the time the woman’s hand slipped from her wrist, she’d finished accessing the bulkhead overrides and tweaking them, erasing the old codes and putting in newer, more secure ones.

  As the woman came to a jarring halt against the opposite wall, Peony was inside her head, searching for the coding that would allow her to unlock the protocol section enough for her to leave.

  “I have what I need,” she told the intruder, “And while I don’t know why you’re here, or even how you’re here, given exactly how far we are from civilized space, I…”

  She stopped, realization striking hard.

  “You’re in one of the pods!”

  The stranger looked up at her, her form solidifying into a face and body that matched one of the files on the passenger manifest.

  “Security Officer Astraya,” the woman told her, extending her hand.

  Peony smiled, and stepped back.

  “Perhaps when we meet shell to shell,” she said, “But in here? When I need to get back to my ship?”

  She shook her head. “I think not.”

  The woman smiled and got carefully to her virtual feet. “I take no offense, but believe me when I say I am here to help.”

  Peony opened her mouth to let her doubts be known, but Astraya continued.

  “Just tell me what you need.

  As she spoke, the locks keeping Peony confined to the protocols section gave way, and the gate between her implant and the protocol section opened. The Calliope entered almost immediately.

  “Peony! Are you all right? We have a situation. We—” The ship stopped abruptly, focusing on Astraya. “Who is that and why is she…”

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  The ship’s voice trailed off.

  “Oh…”

  “I apologize for the inconvenience,” Astraya said, and Peony stepped hastily away from the woman.

  Astraya continued, this time addressing the ship. “I am Security Officer Astraya. On behalf of Odyssey’s investigative team, I extend my apologies. Tell me what you need.”

  Peony looked from the officer to the ship and back.

  Security Officer, my ass, she thought. Agent, more like it.

  “Your name is on the fourth list,” the Calliope noted, pulling the four lists and presenting them for the agent’s perusal. “I need you watching my systems for external attacks, while my technician and I deal with the physical threat.”

  “Must I tell you we need them alive?” the agent asked.

  “No,” the Calliope assured her. “We understand that living is better proof than dead, not to mention the information value of such a capture. We, too, would like to see justice returned for the damage done to my hull.”

  Astraya dipped her chin in acknowledgement. “I will assist in that. In the meantime…”

  “Go,” the Calliope instructed. “I have located your pod, and scrambled the identifiers on all the pods thus far jettisoned. They will not be able to locate you, or the others on this list, for destruction.”

  “They won’t? And you did?” The agent stopped, sounding both shocked and relieved. “But how?”

  “Were you not privy to the conversation where I explained the presence of a drone high enough to remain unseen?”

  “I was not,” the agent replied curtly. “I had other activities to monitor.”

  “Such as?” the ship prodded.

  “The approach of the Caustic Call,” Astraya answered. “It is the ship Exarch has assigned to the Royal Star take-over.”

  “Royal Star?” Peony heard shock tremor through her mental voice. “But that’s… They’re…”

  “They’re major shareholders in this colony,” Astraya confirmed. “It seems a share wasn’t enough, and they’re angling for full ownership.”

  “And this isn’t the first time,” Peony stated, drawing her conclusion from the agent’s voice.

  “That is what we’re investigating,” Astraya confirmed. “Casamir’s intelligence unit found evidence of interference in their colony recruitment program, and requested Odyssey’s assistance in allaying their suspicions.”

  “But you haven’t been able to,” the Calliope stated.

  “No.” Astraya admitted. “Now, we must save the colony, stop the take-over, and keep everyone alive as we do so.”

  “Including me?” the Calliope said hopefully.

  “Especially you,” Astraya replied. “We won’t have a case without our star witness.”

  “I understand,” the ship told her, “But, for now, time is of the essence and I need you in my systems protecting them, until help arrives.”

  Peony caught the ship’s assumption, and decided she needed to run on more than hope.

  “Help is coming, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “I am the other reason the takeover team is coming,” Astraya admitted. “It wasn’t just you. I set a beacon during the night, and it can only be switched off from my pod.”

  “But, isn’t your pod…” Peony began, only to be interrupted by the Calliope.

  “The agent’s pod was one of those I didn’t jettison,” the ship revealed. “I made the assumption that a pod hidden inside a shielded compartment in my engineering section—and that is a particularly foolhardy place for you, I might add…”

  “You decided that such a pod could do with more protection until you could ascertain who was really in it,” the agent concluded shortly. “I am grateful, and Odyssey will be in your debt.”

  “Having a single agent in my debt is sufficient,” the ship replied, and Peony detected traces of smugness in its tones.

  Apparently, Astraya did, as well.

  “Make no assumptions,” the agent warned.

  “Save the one where Odyssey always pays its debts,” the ship retorted, sounding huffy.

  There was a smile in Astraya’s voice when she replied. “Save that one, yes.”

  “Then we should begin,” the ship reminded them. “Our opponents have not ceased their approach just because we needed to decide on a way forward.”

  Way forward… Peony was impressed. The ship was becoming more human with every interaction. She just hoped it hadn’t picked up too many of humanity’s darker traits.

  Not from me, she won’t, she decided, and pushed aside the thought that an Odyssey agent’s influence might not be the best ingredient for an emerging AI’s conscience.

  Pushing the thought aside as a problem for later, she dropped out of her skull, turning back to the replicator and retrieving the modified gel.

  “What now?” she asked, picking up the two canisters nestled in its output tray. She glanced at a nearby monitor, wishing she had access to the footage monitoring the approach of her pursuers.