“I want some goddamn answers out of you lot, and I want them right fucking now!” screamed Chief Executive Captain Curtin Althor, howling at the full room of officers and upper staff members from Ruby Eye and Starheart. The other senior crewmembers of the room were varying shades of embarrassment and guilt as they remained silent. “Captain Joane McCormack died for her ship, and none of you can answer me how dissenters, traitors to Henry and Huell planted not one, not two, but three bombs on board her ship! You are lucky only two went off, because then I’d have even less useless sacks of shit to curse to hell!”

  The discussion of the investigation of Ruby Eye were not going cordially. It had been a few days since the investigation team retrieved an undetonated bomb from the ship, and no headway had been made yet. Captain Curtin was beyond furious that both he and McCormack’s intelligence teams had uncovered next to no information regarding the traitors or their identities aboard either ship. As far as he was concerned, everyone below him was incompetent or a traitor themselves. Thankfully, Sal was out of the line of fire, being too low ranking to have any real weighing in the matter, and was sat at the back of the room, next to a certain doctor.

  “Methinks that a certain captain should have managed his intelligence better,” Michaels whispered, smugly. No matter how brash the doctor was, even he didn’t want to disrupt the meeting. The sweating, heavy set authority figure of Starheart turned to Titus Fornax, who stood amongst the others, his poker face clear of any sign of discomfort. Sighing lightly, the analyst gestured placatively with his gloved hands.

  “Sir, if you are wonder-

  “I am not fucking ‘wondering’, Fornax, I am demanding to know! Why the hell were we surprised by this, how the hell don’t we have any answers!?”

  “Sir, if I may…” Titus put more force into his answer. “It was, on your orders, that I relinquish direct control of my information teams Alpha through to Gamma to your personal staff’s control, correct?”

  “Yes, analyst, that is correct.” Curtin’s tone was cinders, bordering on a raging wildfire.

  “Then surely, you can see, that under H&H’s policies regarding accident and emergency procedures, they were under your responsibility sir. Additionally, the manifests for all ships as part of the Seventh Expedition Fleet were under your responsibility for checking, which includes inspection of contraband. That includes the artificial humans and the GaltCorp me-”

  The dam burst, “I am not discussing responsibility right now, you useless twit! I am discussing the future of H&H endeavours, for all of us here! If you can’t give me a good answer how and why this occurred, I will let the board deal with you once they are contacted. Which, might I add, you are still ‘having difficulties with’, right?”

  Titus sighed. If he felt any signs of pressure, they weren’t visible. “Sir, the distance between us and the nearest H&H base is far beyond the regular range of transmissions. If we do not effectively encrypt our messages, we run the risk of Doctrine forces intercepting them, and targeting our divided fleet, as well as our Cambiar allies.”

  “Allies?! This is no time for pointless alliances, especially not with these disgusting creatures. If you do not carry out your orders soon, I will strip you of command. Do you understand, Fornax?”

  “Yes sir, I understand.” Titus in almost comical calmness responded before sitting back in his chair.

  The majority of the meeting continued in a similar fashion, with Curtin screaming hell at any man or woman he saw fit to berate. Sal had never seen him, hell anyone for that matter, even come close to this sort of reaction before. Leaving the room for the more relaxed lobby area once the meeting was concluded, Sal sat with Michaels.

  “Well, that was fun. Curtin’s running out of things to blame. Can’t blame his own crew for Lighthouse not showing, can’t blame the aliens for blowing up Ruby Eye and how he can’t even blame Titus, since he poached their teams.”

  Sal shrugged. He cared little for internal politics, and whilst it wasn’t exactly pleasant to see any staff member put under such pressure, it was humorous to see a man obviously out of his depth trying to fix problems far too late. Eventually, the man Sal had waited a while to meet again in person had come. The message he had received the day before was out of the blue, and not someone he usually contacted outside of work.

  “Greetings Doctor Michael Olren and Senior Engineering Supervisor Salvador Vigino,” the synthetic voice of Keeper Thomas greeted the pair. Sipping his coffee, Michaels stood and shook his firm, steely grip, which Sal followed.

  “How are you doing Keeper? Is your body functioning properly? I met a few Keepers in my time who are happy to sit back when not working, letting themselves become decorations of their ships, not people.”

  “I am well, all things considered doctor. The hiatus of all S-Jumps has given me time to truly relax, which is a surprising change.” There was something off about the Keeper. His voice was still its stiff, unchanging self, but there was definitely the light inclination of expression within the synthetic timbre.

  “Well, I’m glad to see you in good spirits, Tom,” Sal felt the need to express his gratitude. “I want to say a personal thanks on getting us this far, y’know? The Seventh Fleet has come a long way from Titanlock, and we couldn’t have done it without you.” Without Thomas and the other Keepers, this journey would never have gone past Titanlock.

  The mechanical man paused, considering his words. “I accept your thanks, Salvador, but they are not needed. To serve is my duty, and my duty is to serve.” The way the man turned away, almost in shame, made him seem dishonest in his words for once.

  “Oh, don’t say that bull’ man.” Michaels interjected, almost reactively. “What I mean to say is that you are your own man. I don’t know your origins, but your life can’t just be servitude, either for money or duty. At some point, you have to live for what is right for you.”

  Though the words would have been saccharine to Sal’s ears, were he in Thomas’ position, it instead seemed to frustrate the Keeper.

  “It is… not as easy as you make it sound.” The cyborg’s fists were clenched. “I’m afraid I did not come here just for small talk, otherwise I would have been less direct in my messaging. I have something serious to discuss with the two of you – relating to both myself and to both of you. If I tell you two something, something highly confidential to Henry and Huell Incorporated, can you promise not to reveal it?”

  The pair looked at each other.

  “How confidential are we talking?” Sal squinted. “If this is about the bombs…”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “No!” Thomas almost cried out. “No, Salvador, no that. It is of another matter entirely. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  Sal was certain that something had happened to the man to change his behaviour this much and was beyond intrigued to hear what he had to say. Michaels agreed plainly, shrugging. The doctor apparently was all ears for secrets. The trio moved to a less populated corner of the room, mostly surrounded by support pillars and some recreation of potted Earth ferns.

  Even in their remote position, Thomas looked around as if others could be listening. “I can tell you this information, but I request some possible future assistance from either of you.”

  Sal looked at Michaels who shrugged, before he replied. “Thomas, I mean, sure, but it depends on what you need. If you want an ‘oil change’, I’m that that kind of gu- “

  “Not that, Salvador.” Irritation, the emotion now clear in his synthesizer, had wormed into his tone.

  “Fine, sorry. Just a bit confused about this. What do you need, Thomas?”

  “When H&H finally come, I want to stay with the Cambiar. I do not wish to return to Titanlock.”

  “I mean, I’m not sure what is going to happen exactly, but uh, I think the Cambiar would be fine with you staying. Probably. I can chat with the ones my team are partnered with, and let you know what they think.”

  “That is beyond acceptable, thank you Salvador.” Here is my side of the information I wished to discuss.” Thomas took a deep breath, something he physically didn’t need to do, lacking lungs and all, but noticeably calmed his movements. “I am normally not at liberty to discuss what I am about to tell you. The Cambiar, they’ve… assisted me.” He pointed to the back of his head. “They adjusted the parts of myself that restrict what I can do or communicate.” The listening pair simply nodded as Thomas continued.

  “Keepers are not able to choose their life, nor is our duty negotiable. Life as a Keeper is one we are forced into, and cannot leave.”

  “Whoa what? What do you mean, Thomas? You didn’t want to be a Keeper?” Sal leaned in.

  “No. You see, I did not choose to become what you see before you. I was forced from the streets of my birth station into a training program, where I was augmented beyond my will into a Keeper. Did you know I lost my body at seven years of age?”

  “Uh, no.” Sal said, definitely not ready for what he was being told.

  “Well, it was not pleasant. From the completion of my training, I have been unable to disobey H&H orders, specifically from their upper staff, and limited in my actions. I have been a Keeper for nearly two decades, and I have never had the freedom to do what I wish, go where I want, or to even say what I feel. Do you know the worst part, Salvador, Michaels?”

  Michaels shook his head, scanning over the mechanical figure.

  “It’s the S-Jumps. Not the jumps themselves or the responsibilities. Funnily enough, the one moment I have some freedom to act is during a jump. If I wished, I have the wherewithal fail a warp through FTL and let everyone under me fade away into the void, their QIS lost to space. I think all Keepers can. But no, the worst part, is that I can see what you see, feel what you feel. For a fraction of a second, I feel a life, free and unburdened. The reason I came to both of you, was because of the last jump.”

  Sal remembered it well. Getting Dusty ready for it by focusing on his memories, seeing Thomas preparing in his tank, and the strange visions before breaking the surface. Those visions were not a normal part of the S-Jumps, or at least, Sal never remembered them before. Looking over at Michaels, Sal saw his expression, usually relaxed, now dark, carefully watching the two of them. Did he also get a similar vision?

  “During most trips, almost 99.9% of them, are your standard jump for your average crewmember. There is minor discomfort from the stabilizing liquid, and then you awake at the other end. I get a glimpse of those I carry with me feel for a fraction of a second. At best, a quick image or a memory, and even then, those are lost soon after. You two, however, were different on the last journey. Over the span of hours, I was able to delve into your minds, your hearts, some of your memories.”

  Sal was unsure what to think. This was definitely not what he had expected Thomas to discuss. However, curious for his thoughts on what he saw, Sal gestured for Thomas to continue. Michaels crossed his arms.

  “I will make it clear that it is not as simple as watching a video or listening to a music composition. Everything is muddled, confusing. As such, I could only make out pieces. I shall not mention everything, but I will say this – if you feel hesitant to help me, please empathise with my current feelings of being trapped. I am sure both of you have had your moments of similar feelings, based on what I saw.”

  Thomas’ tone changed in an instant. It was no longer the stiff, artificial voice of a speaker, it was the voice of a man, feeling he was seeing another life. The slits that made up his face swung to look at Salvador. The movement was not that of a jittery automaton – it was that of a man with flesh, blood and tendons, even if it was for just a moment.

  “Do you remember Tartarus Nine, Sal? The cold, the fear. I remember it. I spent hours walking the halls through your eyes. The way the stars glinted out at all times, their pull, their draw. I saw the blood and grime, so difficult to wash off when there’s never enough water. I haven’t felt hunger for so long, my stomach cut out and discarded as a child, and yet my gut ached when I saw your mind. I felt my chest, the slicing, the cutting feel with ever movement, every twi- “

  “That’s enough, you’ve made your point.” Sal interrupted; his voice black. He wished to hear no more. He had initially been intrigued in Thomas’ views on the past, but the words had been acid, ripping through the core of his heart and corroding every other joy in his mind to nothing. His chest burned. He would help Thomas, if for no other reason than he didn’t want the cyborg to continue.

  “As for you, Michaels, the events themselves are less clear, but the feelings are on full display.” Once again, Thomas’ voice became almost rapturous. Michael lips turned at the edges to a smirk, as if taunting the man to try and see what he had felt.

  “I feel chains against you, around and under your arms, your skin. I feel the burden of so many. Their lives, their deaths all upon your spine. Do you hear them at night? Digging through the plating beneath your boots? No, of course not. Why should you, child of blood. You have surpassed all others, you siblings, your father. No, the voices are not to be listened to, they are distractions. Distractions against the true path, the path that lea-“

  “Yeah, that’s enough.” In a flash, one of the doctor’s forearm augments tore through his synth-skin plating and stabbed into the wall millimetres from Thomas’ head, jolting the Keeper back to reality. “Forget what you saw, tin-man, I’ll do what I can to help you. Don’t talk about what you saw ever again. H&H will be the least of your worries.” With that, Michaels turned and walked away in a single motion. Sal saw outer shell of anger and dourness, but he swore for a moment he saw a glint in the doctor’s eye, a glint of guilty pleasure.

  Sal took a deep breath and met the Keeper’s eyes. “Jesus, that was a bit much. Sorry about him, not sure what that was.”

  Thomas shook his head. “No, I treaded too deeply. In your mind Salvador, I saw mostly pain. His? I am uncertain, a vortex of many things. I think I will heed his advice.”

  “Agreed. Well, that was rather heavy, Thomas. But I think we can work something out. The Cambiar are very receptive. If they helped you… you know.” Sal mirrored Thomas pointing to the same spot on the back of his skull. “Then I think they’d be glad to take you on. Hell, with all the fancy biology stuff, they could help your body, even just a bit.”

  Thomas slowly nodded. “Thank you, Sal. Sorry about putting this on you, on Michaels. I… I had no one else to turn to.”

  “Thomas, how many at H&H know about the Keepers and their restrictions? Is it everyone who’s a pencil pusher in the system, or what?”

  “No, it seems only those who are executive staff members, such as the Captains, Directors, the trainers involved with our production and the Board. Everyone else is in the dark. I am not sure of the situation for the other corporations, but I fear it is similar.”

  Damn, Curtin knew about this. That crushed any empathy the engineer might have had for the man’s predicament. Would Titus know? The raw idea of the corporation having an entire workforce made of people forced into mechanical slavery was a sickening idea. Sal’s image of H&H, hell, of the entirety of the CCH had stained ever so slightly. The boundaries that he had thought separated them from Paradise and Heaven’s Doctrine had blurred enough that perhaps there was more beneath the surface. Who could Sal trust within it anymore? Was every suit a monster in disguise, willing to toss anyone under them into a meat grinder? He wasn’t certain. Sal thanked Thomas for his time, and upon seeing that Michaels was truly gone, made his way back to the Torchers. It was time to relax after such a burdensome topic. It was time to unwind.