★ Minerva ★

  Later that evening, when the festivities were winding down, Minerva slipped away from the ballroom unnoticed.

  Most of the attendees had already left, and those who remained were far too drunk to notice that the guest of honor was no longer there.

  She entered the hallway, casting a furtive glance around to ensure she was truly alone. Once she was confident no one was watching, she unbuttoned her jacket and pulled off the heavy outer layer of her uniform with a sigh of relief, then turned around and left quickly, approaching the end of the corridor with long, rapid strides. She walked as if a weight had been lifted, with an assured sense of purpose in her steps, but slowed down near the elevator and briefly debated whether to go inside. However, she decided against it and continued on to the stairwell.

  Nobody took the stairs—not on this floor, anyway. This was the domain of senior command, and she was practically guaranteed to be alone there.

  Two floors down, she entered yet another hall. This one was lined with offices and conference rooms, most of which were vacant at this time of night.

  She passed half a dozen doorways without so much as glancing at them, then ducked into an alcove that was nearly hidden in a recessed pocket of shadow.

  Inside lay a dark passageway that abruptly forked to the right. There was no door separating this room from the hall; instead it had its own protected entryway with a theater-style ramp curving around a barrier, insulating it from the lights and sounds outside.

  Minerva entered with the practiced confidence of one who’d done this many times before. The passageway opened up to a much larger room, and when she reached the end of the ramp, she stopped.

  This space was empty save for a large table in the middle. There were no chairs around it; visitors were meant to stand. It sat like a dark monolith in the center of the floor, and the only light source was a narrow glowing strip lining the wall, casting the room in a bluish hue.

  Minerva drew a deep breath, and a smile crossed her face. “Good evening, Andromeda,” she said.

  At the sound of her voice, the table’s surface gradually lit up, bathing the room in a gentle glow.

  [Good evening, General Gray,] said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and yet nowhere all at once. [How are you tonight?]

  “I'm fine. I’d prefer if you didn't call me that, though.” Minerva set her jacket aside, leaving it on one of the coat hooks near the door.

  [Why not? It appears congratulations are in order.]

  Minerva sighed. “We both know who General Gray is, and it’s not me.”

  She crossed the room, slowing her pace as she approached the table. When she reached it, she leaned forward and gripped the sides, resting her full weight on her outstretched arms and slowly extending a finger to trace along the top. And at her touch, the surface came to life. The ambient glow grew in intensity as an image materialized before her, casting shadows on her face from below and assuming a vaguely human-like form as a hologram projected into the air. She watched as the details became more refined and took on a static, whitish hue. After a few seconds the figure stretched, then sat down cross-legged in front of her.

  [How was your party?] the voice said, only this time it came from the figure itself.

  Minerva shrugged. “You should know. You were there.”

  [I have access to all of our surveillance systems, but I can’t pull up security footage without authorization, much less form an opinion on it. Besides, I’d prefer to hear it from you.]

  Minerva sighed. “It was nice enough, I guess.”

  The figure paused. [If you’d had a good time, you’d have told me. What’s wrong?]

  Minerva hesitated, then shrugged. “I'm not sure I want to talk about it, but the only thing worse is not talking about it.“ With that, she sat down on the table directly across from the glowing figure and drew her legs into a cross-legged position. For the first time all night she allowed herself to relax as she rolled up her sleeves and rested her chin on her hands. “I don’t know,” she continued. “I've dreamed of this moment my entire life, but now that I'm here I'm not sure what to make of it. I just thought it would be… different.”

  Andromeda, now a nearly tangible image with defined features, shrugged. [You’re not the first to express these doubts, and you won’t be the last. Many an officer has come in here to voice similar concerns. I can't share the details of private conversations, of course, but in the general sense, they almost never feel like they've earned their place here, and if you ask me, the ones who do often deserve it the least. You're not alone.]

  Minerva smiled. “I thought you weren’t supposed to form opinions.”

  [There’s no harm in breaking the rules occasionally.] The figure smiled back. [Just between you and me, the higher the rank, the worse the insecurity becomes. I know it might be difficult to understand right now, but Harlow said those things for a reason. You needed to hear it.]

  “I know.” Minerva took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I thought I knew what to expect, but I didn’t think we'd have this many problems so soon. Spacecraft disappearing, Harlow's ambush, my family who can't seem to agree on anything...“ She sighed again. “It doesn’t help that we started the night on a bad foot.”

  [Your grandfather’s fault, no doubt.]

  “Don’t say that.” Minerva glanced around the room. “Sometimes they pull my chat logs. He might read the transcript.”

  [My apologies. I’ll delete the last minute or two of our conversation.]

  “Thank you.”

  Andromeda nodded. [You seem like you could do with some relaxation. Would a game of chess ease your mind?]

  Minerva shook her head. “No. You know how it goes—I always set it to the highest difficulty, and you always win.”

  [That’s a fixable problem. Just play at a lower level.]

  “Absolutely not. It would feel like a stolen victory.” She smiled. ”One of these days, I'll get you.”

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

  Andromeda shrugged. [Suit yourself. And who knows—maybe one day I’ll find it within my programming to allow a victory on nightmare mode.]

  “That's cheating.”

  [Not if the code allows it. Besides, I’m not particularly fond of that term. It’s not cheating if I’m exploiting a flaw that was built into the system.]

  Minerva flashed an amused grin. “Who taught you to say that?”

  [I did. I’m operating within acceptable bounds of adaptive learning parameters.]

  Minerva raised her eyebrows and looked away. “Well, on that note…”

  She trailed off, and the figure waited.

  [What’s on your mind?] Andromeda finally asked.

  Minerva took a deep breath and stared at the floor. “The real reason I’m here tonight is because I couldn’t bear the idea of returning to my quarters. I don’t know why; I guess I just didn’t want to be alone. And I’ve never felt more alone than I did at that party.” Suddenly her tone changed, and she cast a glance at the hall, as if remembering they might be overheard. “How many personnel are stationed nearby?”

  [Besides yourself, there are three other individuals on this floor: two officers and a security guard. The guard is making their rounds, and the others are working in their offices. None of them are close enough to hear us.]

  Minerva relaxed.

  [If you're feeling alone, I’m here help. Would you like to spend the night in here again?]

  “No.” Minerva shook her head. “I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, and I need to get up early.”

  [You sure? Last time you were here you read a book—finished it in several hours, if I recall. Something like that might be good for your mental health. The last one you started is still over there, hidden in the corner right where you left it.]

  “That’s tempting, but it’s been so long, I wouldn’t even know where I’d left off.”

  [Chapter eight, paragraph nine.]

  Minerva paused as she considered this offer. “I’d better not,” she finally said. “Another time, maybe.”

  [Suit yourself,] Andromeda replied. [Don’t wait too long, though. You’ve been entirely too busy lately. I’ve missed our time together.]

  “Me too,” Minerva said. But then she frowned. “Oh, by the way, I nearly forgot—there was one more thing I wanted to ask you.”

  [Yes?]

  “Have there been any updates on the Horizon?”

  [Not since the last time you asked.]

  She nodded. “Just thought I’d check.”

  [I see from our records that you’ve inquired about that incident four times within the past week.] Andromeda paused. [Your cousin was on board. That must be difficult for your family to process.]

  Minerva nodded. “We weren’t particularly close, but…” she sighed. “I can’t stop thinking about it. We’ve dealt with missing vessels before, but even when things went catastrophically wrong, we always knew what happened—or at the very least, we found debris. But this?” She looked away. “It’s been weeks, and we haven’t found anything.”

  [I understand your frustration, but keep in mind that this was a long-range scouting mission into uncharted territory. The Corps has assigned their top investigative teams to the case, and they’re doing their best to find them. It’ll just take some time.]

  Minerva nodded. “I hope so. Lifeboat deployment was a terrifying scenario even in training; I can’t imagine doing it all the way out there with dwindling supplies and no indication of when rescue will come.”

  [I know it’s a distressing thought, but I’m going to encourage you to remain optimistic.]

  Minerva nodded. “It’s just strange. I don’t see how any of this is possible unless the transponder was destroyed, and that seems unlikely because those things are nearly indestructible. There was either some issue that rendered it unresponsive—a defect, maybe—or it was sabotaged.”

  [I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet. Speculation does us no good. You’ve read the preliminary reports, and none of them mentioned foul play. Just wait and see how the investigation plays out. Your uncle is an incredibly capable officer, and he’s doing his best to get to the bottom of it.]

  “I know,” Minerva said. “I just want to consider all possibilities.”

  [Well, let’s focus on the positive. The good news is that since the last report five days ago, two manned scouting vessels have been dispatched in an attempt to locate them, and the Chief Commander personally put in a request for additional aid from Headquarters. He’s pledged all of our available resources to the recovery effort.]

  Minerva nodded.

  [If there are any further updates, I’ll let you know,] Andromeda said. [I can scan incoming messages and set an alert, if you like. When another transmission comes in, you’ll be notified immediately.]

  “That would be nice.” Minerva took a deep breath and looked around the room. “Now, I should probably get going. I’ve got a long day tomorrow. My schedule’s full, and it starts early.” She paused for a moment. “My grandfather’s leaving, and he insisted that my uncle and I join him for a parting brunch. Neither of us are looking forward to it, but that’s not the kind of invitation you can refuse.” She smiled ever so slightly. “I can’t wait to be hit by a barrage of criticism before I’ve even had my morning coffee.”

  [I can only imagine. You’d better get some sleep, then.] Andromeda motioned at her. [Oh, by the way, a message came in for you. I withheld the notification because I didn’t want to disrupt your party, but if you’d like to read it, you can.]

  “Sure,“ Minerva said. “Who’s it from?“

  [The sender is anonymous. There was no signature, and the transmission data was encrypted.]

  Minerva frowned. “That’s... odd. Fine then, I'll look at it.“

  Andromeda nodded, and the table’s surface changed as the hologram shifted, and a projected message materialized in the air. [I’d read it to you, but they’ve disabled narration. It appears that this was meant for your eyes only.]

  Minerva adjusted her glasses and squinted at the words. “What in the world?“ she whispered as she scanned the short paragraph.

  [Is everything alright?]

  “It’s fine,“ Minerva said, although the corners of her mouth pulled into a frown. “You’re positive you don’t know who sent this?“

  [I’m afraid not. As you know, breaking encryption requires authorization—]

  “I’m aware.“ Minerva cut her off. “I’ve got quite a few questions, but you won’t be able to answer them. I’ll worry about it later.“ She sighed. “Anyway, It was nice talking to you.“

  [Likewise, General Gray. Until next time.]

  “Thank you,” Minerva said, “but please don’t call me that. Good night to you too.”

  With that, she stretched out her legs and slid off the table. The light dimmed, and she turned away, picked up her jacket, and waved her hand in the air. The table went dark, the bright white glow of the hologram faded, and the ambient blue glow returned as she made her way back to the hall with a stoic expression on her face.