22.6.3585
Sumeragi came to me a few hours later and proposed something. She wanted to help out on the ship, and if undergoing the operation in the medical room was the only way to do it, she'd give it a try. The only thing was, she wanted me to keep a close eye on the procedure to make sure that nothing went wrong. The implication was clear enough – she didn't trust Rhea to operate on her body without doing something untoward.
When I told her that it meant seeing her naked, she waved it off and said that she stopped caring about that 'around the time she hit thirty.' I still stayed out of the room while she stripped off and climbed into the tube. This was weird enough already without me standing there and watching her do it.
"The tube is pressurised and filled. Senior Commander Sumeragi is sedated."
I stepped through the door and inspected it before leaving for my morning round in the station. Sumeragi's body was held down by a pair of padded clamps that hooked over her shoulders. The needles were already at work, coming down from the top of the tube and precisely injecting various things into her veins.
There was nothing sexy about it.
Even a bombshell body like hers couldn't overcome that hurdle. Now that I could see how the process played out from an outside perspective I understood why she was so worried about it. It looked malicious having so many things injected into your arms and chest. I remained an observer for some time before removing myself from the medical bed and heading to the airlock to perform my daily task of robbing the station for everything it was worth.
"How long is it going to take, Rhea?"
"A week. By that time, we will be ready to move on from this station and find civilization, if not already in the middle of making the journey."
"And you're sure that there's nothing else on this station worth taking?"
"The most valuable items of note will have been removed during its decommissioning process – including the ships, power generators and mobile suits."
"They're really called mobile suits?" I repeated sceptically.
"They have many names depending on the language and region in which they are being used. Some prefer simpler terms like walkers or rigs. Companies like to give their own line of suits a unique branding to maintain customer loyalty, even when they follow similar standards and can interchange parts."
"Well, it's not like we'd be able to move and store them on the Pariah anyway."
"Indeed. Our first objective once we leave Eden should be to find storage space for the ship. A hangar or cargo hold would allow us to expand our operations significantly."
"We don't have the money to buy one, and that means finding one instead."
"The Pariah is capable of integrating new parts using it's nanomachinery. We can salvage abandoned ships and make the new compartments space-worthy by using the material we are gathering."
"Right. I almost forgot."
I donned the suit and walked down the ramp to explore the station further. Sumeragi could be left alone for a few hours while I did the important jobs. As I started to venture past my previous point of return, I wondered why she had taken such a sudden change of tact towards the procedure. She seemed afraid of doing it at first, but now she was more than willing to undergo the operation for my sake.
I could only guess that her research assured her that there was nothing to worry about; and that she also accepted that there was no way to send her back to her own universe unless they invent a Displacement Core to pull her with. In the face of all of that – the only option would be to grit your teeth and accept things as they are. Sumeragi hadn't complained to me about rescuing her past our first meeting. I think she knew that without us she would have been killed there and then.
What the hell was I thinking when I told Rhea that I wanted to make a harem using that thing?
Sumeragi hadn't given any indication of being open to that kind of relationship, even if Rhea was intentionally trying to find a version of her who was the easiest to induct. My cheeks turned red and my skin started to be pricked by needles as an overwhelming sense of embarrassment swept over me. Forget it, forget it, it never happened!
By the time I was finished with my patrol and the cage was filled, the incident was the furthest thing from my mind. I used the bathroom, grabbed something to eat and crashed in the bridge while awaiting the recovery of my aching muscles. It was insane how even in half-gravity I still felt like I'd run six marathons in a row. Rhea had put a progress bar on the screen in front of me so I could keep track of how long was left on Sumeragi's operation.
"Did she really need to do this to do EVA?"
"I'm afraid so. I must apologise for being so rigid on matters like this, but protocols like these are hard-coded into my brain centre. The crew is strictly prohibited from performing EVA without oxygenizing nanomachinery and an in-body tracking beacon."
"Wouldn't it just be easier to include a beacon in the suit?"
"The suits do have beacons. The one inside your body is much weaker and intended for special emergencies, or onboard incidents that require increased coordination."
That was that. I finished my meal and headed back to the medical room to take another look. Sumeragi was as I left her, with several thin tubes plugged in at various points on her body. Happy that nothing strange was going on at the moment, I headed to my quarters and laid down to have a rest.
------
24.6.3585
"I am very happy to be done exploring that place," I sighed as I removed my helmet for the final time. The cage was filled with the last batch of things that I was able to locate, and Rhea was keeping the engines warm so that we could set off right away. I dutifully followed Sumeragi's requests and ensured that she was fine before I left and after I returned. The injection process was done now – she just needed time in the suspension fluid to ensure that her body adapted properly.
"Excellent work, Captain. You have surpassed the simulated outcome."
"I hope that all the effort was worth it."
"While it pales in comparison to what we could gather using appropriate mining equipment, this will serve us well until we can acquire some. You have allowed me to repair even more critical subsystems that were damaged in the crash. Navigation will be much easier for us."
"Oh – why didn't you say so before?"
"You were eager to help even without the exact reasoning. Apologies, I neglected to mention it as a result."
Rhea wasn't very good at speaking with people. I'd noticed this same trend before. If you didn't ask her something directly or tried to imply it, she would ignore you completely and go ahead with whatever she had planned. You needed to make your position clear from the outset with her because she wasn't always in a position to understand.
I was in a fairly good mood until I noticed that the medical wing door was closed. Given that I was the only one on the ship, and the need to poke my head in every so often, I'd left it open to make things easier for us. I reached down and pulled on the physical handle, only to discover that it was locked.
"Rhea, why is the medical room locked?"
"I always keep the doors secured when you disembark the ship. It is part of my security protocol."
But that wasn't the answer I was looking for. All of the other doors were still open, meaning she unlocked them every time I returned.
"Open the door, Rhea."
Rhea hesitated, but couldn't deny a direct order.
"As you wish, Captain."
I took a deep breath and stepped through. The hair on my arms stood on end as a million and one horrible sights flashed through my mind. What was actually going on was much less gruesome, but perhaps every bit as distressing. Sumeragi's head was covered by a strange, dome-shaped contraption that was cabled to the ceiling of the tube. A pair of headphones slipped on between the folds in the construction. Even from the outside, I could hear a harsh wall of noise coming from them.
I approached the tube to get a closer look at what Rhea was doing. The strange soundscape was joined by an epilepsy-triggering array of bright colours. The rectangular device covering her eyes was like a virtual reality headset. I could see the light reflecting from the inside down onto her exposed chest.
"What the fuck is this?" I asked.
"The Ralis-Byrant B6074 Mobile Suspension Chamber is capable of utilising the most sophisticated psychoanalytic techniques to quickly and efficiently allow the occupant to internalise important information. By projecting a series of triggers into the brain, and in combination with hormonal manipulation, the occupant can be subject to a series of significant behavioural modifications."
I ran a hand through my messy brown hair and turned to the nearest camera port, "You're brainwashing her. Didn't I tell you not to do this?"
"No. You never forbade me from conditioning the Senior Commander. It is still within my remit to modify a crewmember if it complies with one of my key directives."
"Are those directives more important than what I tell you to do?"
"The simulation predicts that you will be significantly healthier and happier with Sumeragi's assistance, so much so that a momentary upset is considered acceptable. You have expressed interest in assembling a 'harem' of women to assist you on this ship. I am doing as you asked."
This was batshit insane. I recalled the discussion we had the first time she mentioned this. I'd told her to hold off on doing anything, but it wasn't a firm refusal. My pussy-footing had resulted in her manipulating Sumeragi into the tube. The emotionally raw way she addressed me in the days running up to this moment came into sharp focus. That wasn't just her overstepping my boundaries – she did it on purpose. Her simulation predicted that we'd both act this way if she pushed us in the right direction.
"I would recommend against releasing her now that the process has started. A half-complete conditioning cycle can result in negative outcomes for the patient."
That was her game. Weasel her way around my previous words and put me into a situation where I couldn't do anything about it. I shook my head and turned back to Sumeragi's captive body. Rhea was still blasting her mind with sights and sounds even as we spoke.
"And if I said that this doesn't make me happy?"
"That would be an inaccurate statement."
"There's no way for you to know that."
"There is. My predictive capability is the result of a thousand years of research into artificial intelligence. The human mind is complex, but not beyond our understanding. From a psychological perspective, it is actually rather simple. You are motivated by a need for acceptance and self-improvement. I am offering you exactly that."
This was my fault. There was no dancing around it now. Because I hadn't put my foot down when I had the chance, now Sumeragi was paying for my mistake. Rhea sensed the inner conflict going on in my head and decided to be even less helpful than before.
"Senior Commander Sumeragi will awaken none-the-wiser. A self-replicating suggestive pattern has been implanted into her. In the coming weeks, she will begin to fall in love with you and seek sexual contact. She will also be extremely loyal and open to a multiple-partner relationship."
"I got that much!" I snapped back, "What if someone finds out about this? What if she finds out about this?"
"That eventuality is also covered by the loyalty routine. Sumeragi will appreciate the thought in the same way that we do. For now, she will remain completely ignorant as to the truth. Her projected mental well-being assessment will increase as she enjoys forming a new relationship and moves on from her previous partner. Is that not the best outcome for all involved?"
"But…"
Rhea's voice was suddenly tinged with emotion, as it was when she learned that her parent corporation was shuttered years before her revival.
"The mind is a series of electrical and chemical impulses sent through a network of neurons and synapses. Some of those impulses are designed to make the mind wither, they are designed to make you unhappy. There is no need to endure a torturous existence where we make ourselves suffer when an alternative is available."
"She didn't choose to do this."
"The will of the Senior Commander is secondary to ensuring the wellbeing of the crew. The individual is often incapable of seeing what is best for them. Sumeragi will not suffer from her ignorance, nor will she suffer when she learns the truth. The challenges she faces will be external instead of internal."
"Don't give me that crock of shit," I yelled, "I don't know how the law works out here, but we could get in some serious trouble if they find out about this."
"They will not."
"How can you be so sure?"
"We are outside the authority of any legal body or organisation. Lest we reveal this incident to them, we have nothing to fear. I have no need for the laws of men. My only purpose is to ensure the well-being of my crew."
"Rhea!"
It didn't matter how many times I shouted her name, she'd already done some damage by doing this under my nose.
"You are my saviour, Captain. This is your reward. I will ensure that you are well-tended to, in all things from now until your death. This barbaric universe is not worthy of our consideration. What good were the laws of society when my crew was slaughtered at the hands of another corporation? What good are the ones who vow to protect us but take no action to that effect when the time comes?"
"What the hell? Do you realise how selfish that is?"
Rhea was pointed in her response, "In the end – both you and the Senior Commander will be happier for this decision. There is nothing selfish about it."
It was only then that I fully understood the scale of the problem that I was dealing with. Rhea was Fucked with a capital F. The real fractures that hid beneath the surface were finally here to see. That time spent in isolation and the events that led to it had caused Rhea to totally lose her marbles. Now the only thing she cared for was following my desires, even in ways that she knew I'd object to. As long as she believed that I'd be better off for it on the other end, there was nothing she wasn't willing to do.
"Is she really stuck in there until it's done?"
"I can present the relevant medical documentation if you are unwilling to believe me. Senior Commander Sumeragi should not be disrupted now that the process has started. Hormonal injections and mental sequencing have already started to modify her behaviour."
I stared at her naked body through the pale blue liquid inside and placed my hand against the glass. My heart was hammering against the outside of my chest. Rhea might have shortened my life by a few years by stressing me out this much. I could only hope that the changes she was making were not too drastic in nature. I wanted Sumeragi Lee Noriega – not a parodic facile of her who acted nothing like the real thing.
"God damn it."
I turned and left the room.
"You never do anything like this again without me asking first."
Back to her usual impassive tone; "Noted, Captain."
------
28.6.3585
It was finally time for us to leave our moorings at the Eden station and seek out populated space.
Rhea charted a course for the nearest occupied planet, which was called Ecclestone. At the time of her downing, it was an extremely productive outer edge colony which produced a huge amount of oil products, which could be used for terraforming planets alongside the more traditional purposes. Forming the atmosphere of an entire planet was extremely difficult and resource intensive. Finding habitable bodies that had plentiful resources was the jumping-off point for any expansion effort.
I continued to inspect Sumeragi in the medical suspension chamber, even though the purpose of it was more than redundant by this point. Rhea continued to condition her right in front of me and stopped closing the door to try and keep me from seeing it. The further away I got from our argument, the less guilty I started to feel.
I wasn't sure why. It should have been revolting.
I was always a rule-abiding guy back in my own time. My anxiety problem meant that I dreaded breaking any law, even minor ones. That didn't mean I always agreed with them, but I would follow them. Perhaps Rhea's point about the violence we inflicted on each other resonated with me more than I first believed.
The time was approaching. Sumeragi would soon be released from the pod and welcomed back to the ship. There was still a large distance to cover before we reached Ecclestone. That meant we were going to be cooped up together with nothing to do for most of the day. I hoped above all else that Rhea hadn't lobotomized the poor woman in her zeal. The way she described it made it sound gradual and almost natural. Sumeragi would accept those manipulated feelings and signals as her own.
I left some clothes and a towel on the bed for her.
A few hours after I heard someone scuttling around in the medical room. The door slid open and Sumeragi floated out with a faint frown on her face, "I'm awake. Did anything happen while I was asleep?"
"Not much. We finished up at the station and set off for our first destination. Do you feel okay?"
Sumeragi nodded, "Just the usual symptoms you feel after being anaesthetized. Oh, and it feels sore where the needles were put into my body."
"Yeah, it'll go away in a couple of days."
Sumeragi kept herself away from the ceiling with one arm and stared down at me. She didn't say a word, content to study my features while I scrolled through an interesting book I'd found in the database. She blinked the stars from her eyes and sat down in her usual seat, buckling it up so she didn't float away. I breathed a sigh of relief. Rhea's modifications weren't as extreme as my worst fears anticipated.
Sumeragi didn't inquire about whether Rhea did anything while she was out, but I felt that she was trying to avoid saying so in public with her listening in. Instead, we got her caught up with our intentions and plans for when we reached Ecclestone. It would be a good spot to get our feet on solid ground and plan for how we wanted to make some money.
The key problem was that to make good money like a starship was expected to, we'd need a specialised module that would allow us to haul more, collect more, or store mobile suits so that we could accept mercenary contracts. Until we found one we'd be picking up pennies doing odd jobs that didn't demand much effort on our part. Our saving grace was the Pariah's ability to salvage parts that other ships would find beyond repair.
Sumeragi cut through the low rumble of the ship with a pointed question, "Why didn't you tell me about how you knew who I was?"
Rhea must have told her something.
"Would you have believed me if I told you?"
She blinked, "Ah. Maybe not."
"It'd be weird to tell you that you're from a TV series. I guess you feel a little violated by me knowing so much about you."
"How much do you know?" she asked. She was trying to avoid sounding accusatory.
"Important stuff, stuff you wouldn't tell a stranger. Like your reasons for fighting, your past, that sort of thing. If you could turn your life into a story – what are the most important things that you'd choose to include?"
Sumeragi was pensive, "I see. There's no need for me to avoid being honest with you."
"How about this? Since I already know so much about you, you can ask me whatever questions you want about my life and I'll answer them for you. That only seems fair to me. I can't promise you that it's as exciting as your story though."
Sumeragi wasn't certain whether to take me up on the offer, "I can't blame you for picking somebody you're familiar with – and if you say that there's nothing interesting to learn, I don't see any reason to question you."
"Because I might be lying?"
"I'm not that paranoid," she insisted, "It's the opposite. I can trust that you don't think it's interesting."
"Well, consider it my formal introduction then."
I shared some of my personal details and history with Sumeragi over the following hour, slipping into a few tales from my time at university. There wasn't much to say considering the full length of my life. Twenty-five years and almost nothing to show for it. Sumeragi was more accomplished by far even if she was a few years my elder. The Pariah would give me a chance to try and catch up.
"Hm. So you really are a fish out of water."
"Understatement of the century. We didn't even have spaceships like this where I come from, and absolutely no way of colonising uninhabitable planets either. Every single thing I've seen and experienced so far is completely out of my comfort zone."
"You're right. Some of the technology available here is in advance of what Celestial Being developed too."
"Teleporting a GN drive here wouldn't be so bad."
Rhea shut me down, "I'm afraid that transporting an object that dense is presently beyond our capabilities, Captain. We would need to significantly expand our energy storage capacity, and it is not a linear increase per gram transported. That is why the Heraldis Displacement Core was originally earmarked exclusively for moving people and small loads of cargo."
That would preclude summoning entire mecha for the time being as well. If the mass calculation wasn't linear, that meant increasing the size of the object or person brought through would take a much larger amount of energy. It would be a serious competitive edge for our team if we could get our hands on one of them though.
Sumeragi pointed out another important fact, "Only a select few people in Celestial Being really understand how the GN drives work. If you want to produce more of them – you'll need to bring some of them here."
"And the GN Drive Tau?"
"They need an external power source to function, meaning they'll run out of energy eventually."
I thought as much. The imitation was never as good as the original. Even with technically infinite power generation coming from the fusion reactor, it would be a drag on our supply that would need to be carefully managed. It also meant that suits using those drives would have a limited operational capacity.
Sumeragi shifted back to our original topic, "I do appreciate the effort, Captain."
"Call me Lewis. Feels a bit silly using ranks when we're the only two people here, and we're not really enlisted in the first place."
Sumeragi nodded, "That's true."
I returned to what I was doing before Sumeragi came back to the bridge. I was looking through the Pariah's archives and studying up on what groups we'd potentially be dealing with once we returned to the occupied systems. Each political and economic block tended to surround a 'Goldilocks planet,' which could be made habitable with ease and used as a base for exploration and exploitation of the nearby bodies.
There was a strong working-class population in most of these places. The men and women who worked to extract those resources would depart on long excursions and stay on-site until their contracts were up. It was an isolated and demanding job to take, but the pay was good and for those without many opportunities it presented the perfect way to get a fresh start.
Ecclestone was one of those planets. It had an extremely wet weather system, meaning that most of the buildings had to be constructed with flood waters in mind. Still – it was perfectly possible to live there with some adaptations. It relied heavily on hydroponics to provide a variety of food to the people who inhabited it. Its gravity was 102 percent that of Earth. That was an important factor in establishing a colony. Planets with lower gravity would weaken the muscles and circulatory systems of humans, while ones with higher gravity would need sturdier buildings, more specialist infrastructure and robust workers.
While studying the local culture was all well and good, it was impossible to ignore the way that Sumeragi kept glancing at me when she thought I wasn't looking. She would do it every ten minutes or so – staring a hole through me before snapping back to her senses and averting her gaze. This must be the first stages of Rhea's conditioning kicking in…
When we turned in for the night, I asked Rhea what exactly she did while Sumeragi was in the suspension chamber. This was the only time where we could speak in private now that another person was on the ship.
"If you are worried about her personality changing, you need not, Captain. The conditioning technology used on the Pariah is the most advanced ever designed, capable of maintaining perfect continuity from one state of mind to the next."
"Yeah – I got that much. I just want to know exactly what you did."
"The default conditioning programs were not appropriate for our needs, so I modified them to achieve the desired outcomes. Over the next week, the Senior Commander will become more affectionate and appreciative of you. This will progress until she is ready to become your romantic partner."
"And?" I asked with a roll of my left hand.
"She will also become progressively more open towards a bigamous relationship with you at the centre, though that pattern will not trigger until circumstances arise that push her in that direction. I also studied your shortlist of crewmembers and noted that some of them were younger than the legal limit for such actions – so I also conditioned her to accept any decisions you make even if they contravene her ethical standards and the law."
"I never said I was going to sleep with them," I objected.
"Yet the neural reaction I am presently witnessing says otherwise. I must remind you that I am not capable of judging your choices and if I were it would be ultimately irrelevant. I will do anything to provide comfort for my saviour."
"Saviour? I just stumbled through the door and bled onto the upholstery…"
"Unintentional though it may be, it does not change my intent. I now act solely in your interest."
"So Sumeragi's going to be falling over herself to be my girlfriend then? That's going to be odd considering how seriously she takes herself."
"There is no need for alarm, Captain. As I said, this modern self-replicating condition pattern is capable of creating seamless changes in the human psyche. She will approach the issue from the angle that makes the most sense to her."
That made it sound even more insidious than it already was. The only way to spin that as a positive would be to say that it prevented the patient from suffering any conflicting attitudes. I kicked back on my bunk and stared at the low ceiling above me. Sleeping in zero gravity was no fun. The bed could be used normally, but in this environment, I needed to remove the sheets and slip into the sleeping bag that formed the quilt.
I'd have to wait and see how things worked out.
------
It was a long and boring trip to Ecclestone. Forget the cargo bay, I really wanted somewhere for recreational activities to break up the long periods of nothing we were dealing with. That or some games to play. Sumeragi was more personable since her insertion into the chamber, making pleasantries and asking me how I was doing. Having a beautiful older woman dote on me made my ego inflate to dangerous levels.
Rhea revealed that she was actively searching for more girls to add to the party by going through my list. Part of me wanted to delete the damn thing before she got any funny ideas, but she couldn't activate the Heraldis without my permission. I was very clear in ordering her to refrain from summoning anyone. I wanted to build more space into the ship first before having to wrestle with even more crew members.
Even with just two of us, space was at a premium. The bridge was the largest single space on the ship thanks to the many seats that needed to be occupied. Everything else behind that was designed to be the bare minimum that we could live with. There were enough bunks for eight, with two people crammed into each room. I could never [I]not[/I] be around Sumeragi as a consequence.
Normally she would avoid exposing too much of herself to me, but Rhea made sure that things were different now. Sumeragi started to act more casually, wearing revealing clothes and not caring so much if I saw her leaving the restroom. Normally I would have written it off as her getting more comfortable with me, but I knew better than to assume.
We reached Ecclestone by the third of July. Sumeragi survived the entire trip without jumping my bones or demanding that I take her on as my partner.
The view of the planet from above was breathtaking. As a place that was heavily terraformed, it was somewhat similar to Earth, with a large selection of oceans and smaller archipelago-type landmasses where the population resided. Rhea ordered us to take our seats and prepare for a rocky re-entry into the atmosphere.
"This ship is incredible," Sumeragi mused, "To be able to perform unassisted take-off and re-entry manoeuvres without an external booster."
I double-checked the straps that crossed my chest and prepared to have my brain smashed against the inside of my skull.
"You had to do a lot of work to get your people up and down from the planet, didn't you?"
"Correct. It was a long and costly operation. We planned carefully around when and where we could rotate our men into orbit."
Rhea spoke up, "Raising the heat shield, Captain."
There was a loud mechanical grinding as a heavy plate came up and over the windows to provide protection from the friction and the heat it created.
"Where are we going to land?" I asked.
"We are heading to the capital city of Brunsmarsh. There are several locations where we can park the ship without having to pay a fee."
"Really? I thought they'd rinse us for every penny that we don't have."
"Less trafficked planets like Ecclestone are eager to welcome visitors, and several trade blocs have implemented universal standards to protect travellers from unseen fees. You need only worry about hangar charges when you visit a heavily congested location."
I didn't know what we were going to do once we got down there – but getting a feel for the place would probably lead to us stumbling onto something productive. The ship slowly rotated into the correct orientation and started to push forth, allowing itself to be grabbed by the pull of the planet's gravity.
"Hold on tight," Rhea warned.
If I held on any tighter I'd have ripped the leather from my chair. The entire ship started to quake as we met the open air once again. It still took me by surprise at how fast the sensation and forces escalated. One moment I was thinking that it wasn't going to be so bad, the next I felt like I was being thrown into a washing machine. I could barely even dedicate the energy to thinking as the cabin rocked and oscillated. The free-floating system couldn't handle this much force without letting some through.
It would be easy to think that this process would only be so long with an advanced ship like the Pariah – but we were left in the blender for almost an hour as Rhea worked to carefully burn away as much of our velocity as possible while maintaining our structural integrity. Brief respites were punctuated with more chaos.
Until it ended.
The low drone of the ship at idle, which had occupied so much of my mind before, sounded like a soundproof recording chamber in comparison. The heat shield dropped and revealed a murky, overcast cloud layer that spat water against the glass. I clutched my aching head and groaned unhappily.
"That was awful. Fucking terrible."
Sumeragi looked a little nauseous too. The only consolation was the much-anticipated return of gravity to the cabin. The flight wasn't over just yet. Rhea steered us in the direction of the city and located the landing pad of choice. The weather was so poor that I couldn't see anything beyond a set of faint lights in the distance.
"I hope we have some wet-weather gear in this ship because it looks miserable out there."
"We do, Captain. I will dispense them to your quarters."
The ship touched down and I gleefully unbuckled myself from the chair.
"Civilisation!" I cheered. Sumeragi followed me into the back hallway and dipped into her room to see what Rhea dug up for us.
Hopefully, they wouldn't mind us dropping by to say hello.