Goldie opened her mouth, then stopped, face turning red again. But the excitement she found in this scientific discovery couldn’t be fully derailed by her embarrassment.
“However many offspring his mate has,” she agreed carefully, like there was a chance greater than zero that Alred would be interested in anyone but her. “Right. And if it’s a human, like myself, th-the offspring will be hybrid, so not a full undroitt. But functionally, close enough because they could still breed with their paternal species. And if we offer this to other undroitts, with humans to bolster their numbers, we could, in theory, de-extinct their entire species.”
“Well, yes,” Haven laughed. “That’s true. You are just realizing-”
Haven’s belly suddenly sank out from under her. Like she was in an elevator that just dropped with the full power of gravity. It ended just as quickly as it started, but was so harsh and sudden, it made her stumble backwards. She barely caught herself against the wall. Goldie wasn’t so lucky. She fell right on her butt, eyes wide.
“What was that?” She gasped, scrambling back to her feet.
Haven frowned, shaking her head.
“Alred!” Goldie called up to the ceiling. “What’s happening?”
Silence. The artificial male didn't respond. That made Haven’s belly drop almost as much as whatever just happened to them. Because Alred did not ignore Goldie. He had the ability to talk to everyone on the ship at the same time and still operate all the vital functions. And he’d rather ignore everyone else if it meant responding to Goldie.
“Come on!” Haven grabbed her wrist and pulled, yanking her out of the medbay.
Something was wrong. That drop felt like an unprotected swing into subspace. But that was impossible. They weren’t going into subspace yet. They’d just come out! That hadn’t been enough time for them to be located by Kldyn so they could do a double jump and buy time to get further away from him. And even if they were going back into subspace that quickly, the crystals activating on their ship would immediately and automatically activate the subspace shielding, preventing that very reaction.
Something happened. Something was wrong. Something bad, because even as Goldie was calling out again as they ran through the halls, towards the bridge, Alred still wasn’t responding.
They reached the lift to the bridge at the same time as Rok and Garnet. The four of them rode up together to see that the others were already there. All but Vytln and Alred.
Haven released Goldie then, letting her run to her sister who was right beside Tanin, who was standing behind Sway who was rapidly moving his fingers through the ship controls. Grace was in her seat beside him, looking worried, while the others stood around.
“Where’s Vytln?” Haven asked, terrified for her mate.
Trove started to answer, but was cut off almost immediately by the lift lowering. A moment later, Vytln was riding up. He didn't let the lift fully crest the floor before he was grabbing the edge and yanking himself over. He didn't hesitate to come to Haven, putting his arm around her even as he looked to the others.
“What happened?” He barked, his voice hard. “Why did we swing into subspace?”
Everyone looked from him back to Tanin. They were all tense, expressions tight. Tanin alone remained unphased and calm. His typical stoicism was actually comforting in a way as he responded in an even tone.
“When we swung out, we started to contact our client. The moment we did, something shocked the whole system. We didn't drop into subspace, something forced us into it.”
“Shocked the system?” Goldie interjected, her grip tightening on Garnet. “What does that mean? Is Alred okay?”
“His core is fine,” Tanin said, his eyes briefly glancing up to the hatch that led to the upper bridge. The captain’s nest, essentially, as that part of the ship had greater control over the inside of the ship. And judging by that look, it was also where Alred’s core must be housed.
Though they called the ship his body, it was actually his core, where his code was stored, that was Alred’s true body. Connecting that to other machines allowed him to use those machines as a body, but the core was what was truly Alred.
“He seems to be locked out of the system,” Tanin continued, looking to Sway next as he slammed his feathered hand against the console. “We all are.”
“I’m not in control,” Sway said, looking back at them. “Something hijacked us.”
“How?” Trove asked.
This time, all eyes moved to Vytln and Haven. Possible answers were already forming in her mind at the same time that Vytln started-
“Anything that could take control from Alred has to be something physical. Something connected to our ship. If it was just a signal, he’d be able to shield or reject it. But if it’s hardware, something forced into our system, he might not be able to.”
“Have you two noticed anything new?” Tanin asked.
They shared a look. Haven frowning. Vytln scowling. Both of them thinking. Sure, there were busted and worn out pieces all over the ship, but that wasn’t new. All the stuff they brought in from the lot auction was new, but most of it was still in the crates, and what was out hadn’t been installed into the ship. It was all being broken down and examined for learning purposes, there was no reason to integrate it into the ship or its computers.
When would…
Haven gasped. “That girl!”
