Cameron's breath heaved as he rounded the last corner of the track, pumping his arms and legs as hard as they were willing to go. His body screamed for him to stop, to cease whatever action was causing it so much discomfort. Cameron was more than willing to give into that feeling, but it had to wait, he had a record to beat.

  'Twenty seconds,' Aeia said inside of his brain, the severity in her tone sounding like she was guiding him through a matter of life and breath.

  'Roger,' He thought back, his own thoughts sounding like they were struggling for air as he leaned forward, watching the markings on the track swiftly pass him by. His new eyes honed in on the blinking yellow pylons that marked the start and finish line of the track, focusing intently until he could pick out every minute detail.

  'Ten seconds,' Aeia said, 'Pick it up Cam.'

  'I'm working on it!' He shot back, wheezing audibly as he gave it everything he had. His feet struck the ground like gunshots, vision tunneling to a near pinpoint as all he could focus on was the finish line. The ambient sounds of the ship around him were reduced to little more than a low-toned ringing, as Aeia counted down in his head.

  'Five...Four...Three...Two,'

  She'd stopped as soon as his foot hit the finish line. Cameron stumbled in his attempt to stop himself, falling to his hands and knees as he gasped for air, watching the sweat dripping from his nose stain the gray track black.

  'Wh-What's the time?" He asked aloud, mind too far gone from exhaustion to think.

  '17:39, Great job Cam!' She said, 'Very impressive three mile time. Especially when you consider you could barely walk a month ago.'

  Cameron laughed wildly, rolling onto his back and throwing his hands into the air in triumph, “Fuck yeah!”

  It had been two months since Cameron first awoke in the med bay, and only for weeks since he'd been able to walk without the use of crutches. From that time to now, he'd spent every waking moment trying to get back into fighting shape. It wasn't easy at first. His body, having just barely survived the equivalent of an industrial press, wasn't one he'd necessarily call his own anymore. Over two thirds of his skeleton needed to be replaced with Anderite, a metal found in the far reaches of Free Space and known for it's ability to withstand continuous stress, making it an optimal replacement for human bone. Sure, on the surface it was expensive, almost frivolously so when compared to titanium rods and plates that still made up a bulk of modern medicine, which is why they were still used to fix his shattered ribs and fractured hips. But particularly where his appendages were concerned, the price was well worth the benefits that came with them.

  The first thing Cameron noticed, is that his arms and legs were healing much faster than they should, cutting his recovery time almost in half. On top of that, his punches and kicks felt like they were striking with the weight of cinder blocks. More than once, he'd forgotten about the newfound density behind his blows and wound up punching a hole through a training dummy while going all out. The first time this had happened, Logan had been with him and explained that another reason Anderite was so sought after was specifically for its density to weight ratio. He was maybe fifteen pounds heavier than what he once was, but could put a force behind his blows that rivaled that of a man nearly double his size. In short, Cameron wasn't about to lose a fist fight anytime soon.

  He replayed Logan's words in his mind, reliving the memory of how this was too much to give him, especially when he found out the cost of all that metal inside of him.

  "Consider it an investment," He'd said with a shrug, "Not like I'm gonna take em out and have you laid up for longer than you need to be."

  Cameron sighed happily as his body started to cool down, pulling his arms behind his head, stretching out onto the hard floor of the track underneath him.

  'You're daydreaming again,' Aeia scolded him in a sing-song voice, 'You got other things to do before you thread-in again, and taking a nap on the floor isn't one of them.'

  Cameron frowned, looking around to confirm that he was alone, before speaking aloud in response, "First of all, I wasn't daydreaming, I was reminiscing. Second, I wasn't taking a nap, I was cooling down before I went to shower. Third, shut up. You're my co-pilot, not my keeper. This is one of the few times I don't have someone fussing over me or constantly checking to make sure I'm okay. Is it such a crime to want a few minutes to just be?"

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  'Is it such a crime for people to care about your wellbeing enough to want to take care of you while you recover?' Aeia shot back.

  'That's not what I meant and you know it,' Cameron growled.

  'And yet I'm sure if people heard your opinion, they'd take it that way, regardless of your intention,' Her tone hadn't changed, still in the same upbeat, bubbly voice that Cameron had started to find more annoying than calming whenever she scolded him about something.

  "Okay fine," He said with a huff, jumping to his feet and making his way to the showers, "I'm going."

  'So glad for your unprompted acquiescence,' Aeia said, chuckling as she did so.

  ***

  A half hour later, Cameron strode onto the bridge, looking around the large semi-circular room as he searched for Logan. The space was large, reminiscent of the throne room back on Ketris with it's open, double decker layout. A NavMap table sat in the middle of the first floor, displaying a holographic projection of Arsius Station as well as several key facts related to the merc centric black market. On the far wall, foregoing a window of any kind, another holographic projection showed a countdown clock, showing the length of time until they reached their destination. Down a set of stairs, Cameron found Logan sitting in the middle of a plush couch, staring down at a third Holo Table, staring intently as he made a series of gestures to move around the projection of articles, zooming in, highlighting words, and scrolling down to flip to another page.

  Cameron cleared his throat, causing Logan to look up, squinting to see in the dim light, the sole source provided by the Holo Table.

  "Hey kid," He said with a small smile.

  "What's up?" Cameron asked.

  Logan nodded to the couch across from him, waiting for Cameron to walk over and take a seat before speaking once again.

  "I was thinking about what happened to your eyes," He began, casting his eyes back down to the table as he made a series of gestures, "At first, I thought it was just cause they were freaking me out... No offense."

  "Some taken," Cameron said with a shrug and a smirk.

  Logan softly laughed, shaking his head, "Anyways, I figured out what it was. I'd seen those eyes somewhere before."

  With a flick of his wrist, three images flashed above the table, floating lazily, revolving in the air. On each image, a grainy, candid picture of a person was displayed. Two men and a woman stood, their faces obscured by hoods and one with their mouth hidden behind a bandana. From what Cameron could make out, they didn't look like much. They were skinny beyond all possible reason, their clothes looking more like baggy sheets on their emaciated bodies. Their exposed skin was pale and splotchy, sagging from lack of use, save for the spots of the uplink threads on their arms. The other thing they shared however, caused Cameron's breath to leave him as he stared, dumbfounded.

  Their eyes looked just like his own.

  Pink, yellow, and green, neon orbs seemed to burn their way into his very soul. Even as low resolution as the pictures were, Cameron could still see the glaze of the colors, likely the binary code running across the irises. Time seemed to slow down as he gazed at the images, trying his best to pick out every detail he could. When Logan finally spoke up, Cameron wasn't sure if he'd been staring for mere minutes, or hours.

  "I know I told you, that no one knew what Omega Class pilots look like," He said, "And that's still true, though there's a caveat with that... no one knows for certain what Omega Class pilots look like. But people are almost certain these three could be Omega."

  Cameron blinked, finally tearing his eyes away from the pictures and shaking his head, looking back at Logan who was staring at him intently.

  "What?"

  Logan nodded, pointing to the still shots, "These images surfaced on some pilot forums a few years back, with the poster saying they were one hundred percent accurate images of Omega pilots out of their units. I always wrote it off as bullshit. But seeing those eyes of yours finally made me remember where I'd seen them before. I don't know how much you've looked into Omega pilots but they say the one thing they have in common is-"

  "They all have A.I. co-pilots," Cameron said softly, finishing Logan's sentence for him.

  Logan blinked, looking at Cameron before giving a slow nod in confirmation, "Yeah... that's right. How'd you know that?"

  Now it was Cameron's turn to look confused. He blinked, realizing what he said. Choosing to keep Aeia's presence a secret for as long as he could, he decided to lie.

  "Oh, I think I read it somewhere while I was looking up advancement or something," He said, chuckling softly, pointing towards the pictures in an attempt to change the subject, "Wonder if that's some kind of wishful thinking. I think I'd look a lot better than those skinny fucks if I was going to be an Omega Class."

  Logan stared at him for a long while, and Cameron was preparing for an awkward interrogation, before a smile slowly made its way across his face. He laughed, reaching up to clap Cameron on the shoulder, "Yeah... Maybe kid. How about we get you into Beta first eh?"

  Cameron smiled back at his friend, nodding slowly as he leaned back on the couch, watching the countdown clock slowly tick away, "Yeah, Logan, let's do that."