“Public transport, so slow,” the Professor grumbled, tapping his fingers against the door impatiently. “If I could just work out matter teleportation, we could get rid of these problems entirely. Why, it would revolutionize society in ways even I’d struggle to imagine!”
“I know,” Miyu replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
“The math says it should work, which suggests that what we’re missing is an unknown element we don’t realize we need to compensate for. Maybe...” Pulling a pencil and notepad out of his labcoat, he started scribbling down notes. Miyu let him work, grateful he had an old distraction to keep him quiet, and turned her attention to the rest of the tram.
Word was clearly spreading that the Professor was here. As they passed a stop and it was clear the Professor wasn’t disembarking yet, the other passengers were getting off the tram with embarrassing speed, and almost no one was boarding to take their place. She frowned at that, looking around the tram again.
The more she she considered the situation, the more her unease grew. Most of the people on the tram now were clearly here for the Professor, but no one was approaching him, and barely any of them were taking photos. Instead, it was almost like they were waiting for something. Only a handful of them were armed, so she didn’t think it was some idiots trying for the ‘Danes bounties on her dear Professor. But that still didn’t answer any questions…
A sharp buzz grabbed her attention, and she looked up to see the display above the door reading docking bay eighty-seven. “We’re here Professor,” she called out, before smiling affectionately, rolling her eyes in irritation, and dragging the man out of the tram by his labcoat.
Looking up from his notes, the man blinked in confusion. “Hmm? Oh, right!” he declared, once his attention returned to reality (Or as close as he ever managed). Putting the notepad away, he took a tricorder out of another pocket and flipped it open. “This way,” he declared, sprinting down the hallway. Miyu followed, but a glance over her shoulder confirmed her fears that the small crowd was indeed following them.
Naturally, the Professor completely failed to notice this, most of his attention on the Tricorders display and the rest on avoiding obstacles in his path. Over a crate, between two people, jumping down a flight of stairs and not even slowing down on the landing… Even Miyu had a hard time keeping up with him when he had his eyes on his next big discovery.
Skidding around a corner, feet sliding across the tiles, the Professor came to a halt in the middle of the last room before the docking bay, a curious look on his face. As she caught up with him, Miyu glanced around the room and felt her own frown deepening. There was only a handful of people in the room, most of them along the walls or near something that would provide cover, and the door to the docking bay itself was sealed. Leaning against that door was a somewhat bulky man in his early-thirties, hands in the pockets of his longcoat. “Good afternoon Professor, Miss Glear,” he called out, straightening up. “Chris Wood, Captain of the Void Eagle. And how are you today?”
Something about the tone of his voice had alarm bells ringing in Miyu’s mind, but the Professor seemed not to notice, smiling widely and walking towards the man. “Why quite well, thank you! Why, just a few minutes ago, I took another step closer to resolving the mystery of teleportation! I’m confident that soon, another grand secret of Science shall be revealed, and the very concept of distance shall be rewritten!” Chris nodded, looking impressed, and the Professor sighed. “Sadly, that’s for later. Right now, I’m checking up on an ongoing experiment of mine. But of course, you already know that, don’t you?” he continued, his voice suddenly much more serious, almost angry. Miyu glanced at him in surprise at the shift in mood, but he paid her little attention, his gaze locked on the other man. “That’s why you’ve locked that door, and it’s why you’re armed. You intend to stand between me and my experiments.”
Chris met the Professors gaze without flinching. Slowly, he took his gloved hands out of his pockets, palms turned towards them to show he wasn’t holding anything. “All I’m doing is protecting my friends,” he replied. “Protecting them from the man that took everything from them. Their home, their life, even their identity.” His voice began to waver, anger slipping in. “They don’t want to be part of your experiment Professor. They never did, and you know that.”
Blinking, the Professor gave the man a baffled look. “What does that have to do with anything?” he demanded. “Why, their very existence is because of, and is part of the experiment. What they want is irrelevant.” He waved a hand, dismissing the entire subject as unimportant. “Now, I have work to do, research to conduct, and test subjects to examine. So if you’re done with this childish nonsense-”
“If it’s childish to stand between you and your victims, then I guess I’m forever young,” Chris replied, smirking slightly. “Allow me to be clear, so there are no misunderstandings. You are after the Julian Friez that had tried to salvage a home here. They are aboard my ship as guests, and are under my protection. You are not welcome, and I will consider any attempt to board my ship an act of piracy. So I am asking you now, to turn around and leave. I’d rather not make this any worse than it needs to be.”
Silence filled the room for several long moments, none of the spectators daring to interrupt. For his part, the Captain was waiting patiently, watching the other man carefully. The Professor looked nowhere near as calm, eyes starting to bulge, teeth gritted, an angry growl building in his throat. As she watched him, Miyu found herself trying to remember the last time her Professor slept, and realized her guess was at least twelve days, probably more. It was all too likely he was due for an Angry Science incident, and this idiot seemed determined to trigger it.
Snarling, the Professor slapped a hand against his thigh. “You arrogant, ignorant, uneducated… Luddite! Why must I keep having to deal with fools that actively oppose the exploration of Science? You fear the secrets of the universe, of what I will accomplish when I unlock them-” He froze as Chris laughed, a harsh bitter noise that echoed around the room.
“Oh, I’m no Luddite Professor. I admire the explorers, the researchers, the dreamers. You forged the path, and those of us not quite as brilliant can only try and catch up,” he commented with a wistful smile, before turning serious. “But there are lines, and you’ve crossed them before. I’m not letting you do it again today, not to people I care about. So, I ask you again. Please. Lea-”
Eyes narrowing, the Professor pointed an accusing finger at him. “Miyu my dear, would you deal with this presumptuous fool?” the man ordered. The android didn’t bother replying, charging past him with the incredible speeds her design made possible. Her right arm shifted into its sword form, and she closed in, intending to put the blade against his neck and force him out of her way.
Just before she reached him, the mans hands seemed to explode, and twin bursts of energy hit her hard in the chest, completely reversing her charge and throwing her back across the cargo hold. Rolling as she hit the ground, she skidded to a halt next to the Professor, surprise etched into her features. Glancing down at her chest, she made a baffled noise as she realized that her clothes weren’t even singed, then looked back up.
Smoke dramatically obscured the Captains hands for a moment, before drifting away in a manner that completely ignored local air flows. The gloves were gone, practically vaporized, leaving behind a pair of red and gold armored gauntlets, energy emitters in the palms still glowing. “They’re pure ‘wave,” he commented with a grin, “but they love surprising people. And I think we can all agree, slapstick has its uses, hmm?”
Rising to her feet, she gave the man a furious glare. Then her swordarm changed again, and her minigun roared to life.
***
“Oh here we go,” Lisa moaned, watching on the screen as the Captain dived for cover, sending a few repulsor blasts back towards the pair as he did so. “Where’s that security team?” she demanded.
“They’ve commandeered a tram,” the ensign reported, one hand pressed against his earbud. “ETA, ten minutes.”
She didn’t dare look away from the screen as the Professor, face flushed with rage, took a bundle of wires and cables that might once have been a gun from inside his jacket, and began throwing blue-white bolts of lighting across the room as the spectators dove for cover. “Ten minutes? We’ll be lucky if this lasts five, and that’s assuming the lunatic doesn’t cause a hull breach!”
As the crate he was behind began to disintegrate, Chris distracted the pair from his relocation attempts with a pair of grenades thrown over the top. Miyu’s reflexes were easily able to intercept them, and she shot them out of the air at the top of their arc… then both she and the Professor had to dive for cover as the grenades were revealed to be a pair of hull breach foamers, releasing a rapidly expanding blob of quick-hardening sealant into the air above them.
“Captain Wood appears to be sticking to non-lethal weapons for the time being,” Athena pointed out as the man in question fired another pair of repulsor blasts, catching Miyu off balance and throwing her across the hold. “It seems unlikely he will be able to cause significant harm to the bulkheads unless he escalates dramatically.”
Turning, Lisa gave the rooms camera, and thus the AI, her best death glare. “You know damn well I meant the idiot that once tried stealing a nuclear warhead for the lulz!” she snapped. By the time she’d turned back, the Professor had gotten a shot off at Chris, the lightning leaving a scorchmark on the mans longcoat. Chris replied with a repulsor blast, but it seemed to spall off in random directions a foot away from his opponent.
Athena considered the comment for a moment, then pushed on. “I’m afraid I have more bad news. I’m reading two people moving down the boarding tube from the Sol Bianca… and Interwave activity just spiked.”
Face paling, Lisa watched as Chris dodged another bolt of lightning. “Interwave?”
“I estimate there are at least ten AIs now watching this fight… and they all appear to be broadcasting the security and cameraphone footage.”
***
“I know,” Miyu replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
“The math says it should work, which suggests that what we’re missing is an unknown element we don’t realize we need to compensate for. Maybe...” Pulling a pencil and notepad out of his labcoat, he started scribbling down notes. Miyu let him work, grateful he had an old distraction to keep him quiet, and turned her attention to the rest of the tram.
Word was clearly spreading that the Professor was here. As they passed a stop and it was clear the Professor wasn’t disembarking yet, the other passengers were getting off the tram with embarrassing speed, and almost no one was boarding to take their place. She frowned at that, looking around the tram again.
The more she she considered the situation, the more her unease grew. Most of the people on the tram now were clearly here for the Professor, but no one was approaching him, and barely any of them were taking photos. Instead, it was almost like they were waiting for something. Only a handful of them were armed, so she didn’t think it was some idiots trying for the ‘Danes bounties on her dear Professor. But that still didn’t answer any questions…
A sharp buzz grabbed her attention, and she looked up to see the display above the door reading docking bay eighty-seven. “We’re here Professor,” she called out, before smiling affectionately, rolling her eyes in irritation, and dragging the man out of the tram by his labcoat.
Looking up from his notes, the man blinked in confusion. “Hmm? Oh, right!” he declared, once his attention returned to reality (Or as close as he ever managed). Putting the notepad away, he took a tricorder out of another pocket and flipped it open. “This way,” he declared, sprinting down the hallway. Miyu followed, but a glance over her shoulder confirmed her fears that the small crowd was indeed following them.
Naturally, the Professor completely failed to notice this, most of his attention on the Tricorders display and the rest on avoiding obstacles in his path. Over a crate, between two people, jumping down a flight of stairs and not even slowing down on the landing… Even Miyu had a hard time keeping up with him when he had his eyes on his next big discovery.
Skidding around a corner, feet sliding across the tiles, the Professor came to a halt in the middle of the last room before the docking bay, a curious look on his face. As she caught up with him, Miyu glanced around the room and felt her own frown deepening. There was only a handful of people in the room, most of them along the walls or near something that would provide cover, and the door to the docking bay itself was sealed. Leaning against that door was a somewhat bulky man in his early-thirties, hands in the pockets of his longcoat. “Good afternoon Professor, Miss Glear,” he called out, straightening up. “Chris Wood, Captain of the Void Eagle. And how are you today?”
Something about the tone of his voice had alarm bells ringing in Miyu’s mind, but the Professor seemed not to notice, smiling widely and walking towards the man. “Why quite well, thank you! Why, just a few minutes ago, I took another step closer to resolving the mystery of teleportation! I’m confident that soon, another grand secret of Science shall be revealed, and the very concept of distance shall be rewritten!” Chris nodded, looking impressed, and the Professor sighed. “Sadly, that’s for later. Right now, I’m checking up on an ongoing experiment of mine. But of course, you already know that, don’t you?” he continued, his voice suddenly much more serious, almost angry. Miyu glanced at him in surprise at the shift in mood, but he paid her little attention, his gaze locked on the other man. “That’s why you’ve locked that door, and it’s why you’re armed. You intend to stand between me and my experiments.”
Chris met the Professors gaze without flinching. Slowly, he took his gloved hands out of his pockets, palms turned towards them to show he wasn’t holding anything. “All I’m doing is protecting my friends,” he replied. “Protecting them from the man that took everything from them. Their home, their life, even their identity.” His voice began to waver, anger slipping in. “They don’t want to be part of your experiment Professor. They never did, and you know that.”
Blinking, the Professor gave the man a baffled look. “What does that have to do with anything?” he demanded. “Why, their very existence is because of, and is part of the experiment. What they want is irrelevant.” He waved a hand, dismissing the entire subject as unimportant. “Now, I have work to do, research to conduct, and test subjects to examine. So if you’re done with this childish nonsense-”
“If it’s childish to stand between you and your victims, then I guess I’m forever young,” Chris replied, smirking slightly. “Allow me to be clear, so there are no misunderstandings. You are after the Julian Friez that had tried to salvage a home here. They are aboard my ship as guests, and are under my protection. You are not welcome, and I will consider any attempt to board my ship an act of piracy. So I am asking you now, to turn around and leave. I’d rather not make this any worse than it needs to be.”
Silence filled the room for several long moments, none of the spectators daring to interrupt. For his part, the Captain was waiting patiently, watching the other man carefully. The Professor looked nowhere near as calm, eyes starting to bulge, teeth gritted, an angry growl building in his throat. As she watched him, Miyu found herself trying to remember the last time her Professor slept, and realized her guess was at least twelve days, probably more. It was all too likely he was due for an Angry Science incident, and this idiot seemed determined to trigger it.
Snarling, the Professor slapped a hand against his thigh. “You arrogant, ignorant, uneducated… Luddite! Why must I keep having to deal with fools that actively oppose the exploration of Science? You fear the secrets of the universe, of what I will accomplish when I unlock them-” He froze as Chris laughed, a harsh bitter noise that echoed around the room.
“Oh, I’m no Luddite Professor. I admire the explorers, the researchers, the dreamers. You forged the path, and those of us not quite as brilliant can only try and catch up,” he commented with a wistful smile, before turning serious. “But there are lines, and you’ve crossed them before. I’m not letting you do it again today, not to people I care about. So, I ask you again. Please. Lea-”
Eyes narrowing, the Professor pointed an accusing finger at him. “Miyu my dear, would you deal with this presumptuous fool?” the man ordered. The android didn’t bother replying, charging past him with the incredible speeds her design made possible. Her right arm shifted into its sword form, and she closed in, intending to put the blade against his neck and force him out of her way.
Just before she reached him, the mans hands seemed to explode, and twin bursts of energy hit her hard in the chest, completely reversing her charge and throwing her back across the cargo hold. Rolling as she hit the ground, she skidded to a halt next to the Professor, surprise etched into her features. Glancing down at her chest, she made a baffled noise as she realized that her clothes weren’t even singed, then looked back up.
Smoke dramatically obscured the Captains hands for a moment, before drifting away in a manner that completely ignored local air flows. The gloves were gone, practically vaporized, leaving behind a pair of red and gold armored gauntlets, energy emitters in the palms still glowing. “They’re pure ‘wave,” he commented with a grin, “but they love surprising people. And I think we can all agree, slapstick has its uses, hmm?”
Rising to her feet, she gave the man a furious glare. Then her swordarm changed again, and her minigun roared to life.
***
“Oh here we go,” Lisa moaned, watching on the screen as the Captain dived for cover, sending a few repulsor blasts back towards the pair as he did so. “Where’s that security team?” she demanded.
“They’ve commandeered a tram,” the ensign reported, one hand pressed against his earbud. “ETA, ten minutes.”
She didn’t dare look away from the screen as the Professor, face flushed with rage, took a bundle of wires and cables that might once have been a gun from inside his jacket, and began throwing blue-white bolts of lighting across the room as the spectators dove for cover. “Ten minutes? We’ll be lucky if this lasts five, and that’s assuming the lunatic doesn’t cause a hull breach!”
As the crate he was behind began to disintegrate, Chris distracted the pair from his relocation attempts with a pair of grenades thrown over the top. Miyu’s reflexes were easily able to intercept them, and she shot them out of the air at the top of their arc… then both she and the Professor had to dive for cover as the grenades were revealed to be a pair of hull breach foamers, releasing a rapidly expanding blob of quick-hardening sealant into the air above them.
“Captain Wood appears to be sticking to non-lethal weapons for the time being,” Athena pointed out as the man in question fired another pair of repulsor blasts, catching Miyu off balance and throwing her across the hold. “It seems unlikely he will be able to cause significant harm to the bulkheads unless he escalates dramatically.”
Turning, Lisa gave the rooms camera, and thus the AI, her best death glare. “You know damn well I meant the idiot that once tried stealing a nuclear warhead for the lulz!” she snapped. By the time she’d turned back, the Professor had gotten a shot off at Chris, the lightning leaving a scorchmark on the mans longcoat. Chris replied with a repulsor blast, but it seemed to spall off in random directions a foot away from his opponent.
Athena considered the comment for a moment, then pushed on. “I’m afraid I have more bad news. I’m reading two people moving down the boarding tube from the Sol Bianca… and Interwave activity just spiked.”
Face paling, Lisa watched as Chris dodged another bolt of lightning. “Interwave?”
“I estimate there are at least ten AIs now watching this fight… and they all appear to be broadcasting the security and cameraphone footage.”
***