RP: The Fringe [Chapter 3.1] - Junk

Lounge
"Thank you, no need to eat fast here," Shrie replied to Tam and then looked at the captain. "Yes Captain, I will bring him his portion right now."

Shrie also noticed Amelia almost choking on the meal. The fyunnen realised that it was probably too hot. She reminded herself to add less pepper next time, anyone can add more on their own after all. "Sorry Amelia," Shrie siad, her eyes going down at the floor in apology. Her single wing hanging down. "I made it too hot. I apologise." Shrie quickl poured the girl a glass of cold water and put it on the table. With that she quickly grabbed extra plate off eggs and bacon, added few crackers on it, grabbed a fork and headed out.

Medbay

Shrie walked into the medical room. She saw Oreza and gave him a nod. She put the eggs on the table next to his bed. "Here is something." The lorath stated. "Captain said you are hungry, sorry if it is too hot. I do not have more spices, so had to use pepper. Will try to amend that when possible. If you want more, I can make more."

~Lounge~

"This one is not visually impaired. " Six Four said to Sienna giving her a look of mild disgust, "it was mearly saying that you would of returned faster if Oreza was asleep. Or previously mentioned were talking or starring at a sleeping person, which this one finds odd."

Satisfied with its explanation the doctor went to work on the plate of eggs in front of it. First forming the dish into somewhat of a square shape, Six Four began to divide the shape into smaller bite sized squares with its fork. Once complete did it began to eat, scooping up an egg cube very delicately with its fork before delivering it to its mouth. Six Four chewed the morsel a bit before pausing, tilting it's head slightly forward and to the side working it's jaw a few more times before shifting it's head slightly more up. The confused look on its face quickly changed to one of happy discovery once it swallowed. "Pepper. " It said to itself holding up a mechanical finger before going back to eating, a small smile on its face.

Lounge

It took Amelia a few moments to regain her composure, and she took a few hearty gulps from the glass after swallowing the dry crackers. She noticed the sullen demeanor of the Lorath at something that was more likely than not her fault, and couldn't help but to feel bad about that. Damn herself for being so picky with how spicy a food was or wasn't, first Black Moon and now right there in front of everyone. "No, no need to apologize. My fault," she said, setting the glass down on the table although her face was starting to flush from the pepper again, feeling how it was seemingly 'burning.'

Infirmary

Oreza lifted his head again when the door admitted another visitor, and when he saw the steaming plate of eggs in Shrie's hands, he struggled for a moment to sit up with a quiet, determined series of grunts. Once upright, his legs still extended to the end of the table, he rubbed his big hands together and grinned hungrily. "Pepper is good," he replied with a reassuring look at the Lorath. "And yes, I'm famished. Thank you very much."

Gratefully picking up the plate, he set it into his lap and dug in with his fork, loading a heaping pile of eggs onto it and stuffing it heedlessly into his mouth. He rolled the bite around a few times, playing "hot potato" with alternating sides of his tongue, but continued eating nonetheless. A few bits of egg strayed onto his beard on the side of his mouth while he nodded approvingly, shoving in another forkload with a pleased sound. "Bold flavor indeed," he commented, smiling at Shrie after swallowing his second bite. "But it will more than do. Thank you again."

Infirmary
"You are welcome," Shrie said a phrase she remembered well. She had few key phrases like that, she taught her broken brain to say. Like that she did not have to fish in her memory for words and could it say completely at once. That made her feel a bit normal at times."Use intercom, if you want more. I can cook more." She simple daid, gave him a nod a nod. Then she turned and left to return to lounge.

Lounge

Shrie walked into the Lounge, but stepped back into kitchen grabbing her own plate. She sat by Amelia at the table. The lorath woman was not particulary hungry, but she knew that she needed the strength to recuperate faster. Her wound was not too bad, but every wound needed to be taken care of as fast as possible. She healed fast, but nowhere near as fast as an ID-SOL or nekovalkyrja. Even with all her enhancements, she was still just a woman. Her good physique helped, but her regeneration was still pretty much natural.

Lounge

After everyone had their meal in front of them and had appropriately settled down to eat, Sienna cleared her throat to speak, but didn't bother to interrupt her own meal, jamming another overloaded fork into her mouth as she leaned back in her seat and looked at the gathering.

"Right," she said through the mouthful of half-chewed egg, resting her palms on the ends of her armrests. "For those of y'all who didn't meet him already, this is Tam," she continued, nodding in the Gartagen's direction. "He's paid good money for that rescue, and he's interested in joining up with us permanently. I'll be workin' out the details of that with him later. For now, y'all make sure he gets whatever he needs, and remember that the big mess of stuff in the cargo hold is his until he and I work out arrangements.

"We're heading to the Ake system," she went on, shoving another bite into her mouth. "Dawn Station is where we'll be staying for a while, so I can get some work done on the ship. Shouldn't be too hard to pick up our next job there either; the place is huge, and it's the Origin Industries HQ. Bound to be a good crowd with open purses lookin' for people like us." She swallowed the bite in her mouth, and a small grin pulled on her lips. "On that note, I'll be tallying up our earnings from the Khorsovarolor run, as well as from Tam's reward." Her expression and tone turned slightly serious for a moment as she scanned the people in the room. "I know I ain't been the easiest person to work for so far, but y'all have earned the break coming up. And you'll be able to get a little enjoyment out of it too, for once." Her grin returned. "Payday's coming, y'all. Thanks for hanging in there."

Cabin Two - One and a half hours later

Sienna, with Oreza's enormous arm wrapped around her shoulder, helped the lumbering, crippled giant hobble into his room, grunting under his weight as she slapped awkwardly at the door panel behind her to close it. "God damn, Bear," she panted, "why couldn't it have--ugh--been someone lighter that busted their knee?"

Oreza chuckled quietly, doing his best to move under his own power and avoid putting too much weight on the much more slight-framed young woman. "Because your job would be too easy that way," he joked.

"Yeah, oof--" she retorted sarcastically. "God knows I got it too cushy around here."

Clumsily the pair waddled their way over to the bunk next to the nearby wall. Sienna started to turn him one direction, but Oreza went the other way, nearly sending the both of them tumbling to the floor.

"Careful, careful now!" Oreza said loudly, catching himself with his free hand by the edge of the top bunk, wincing as some of his weight pressed onto his braced knee in the act of holding tighter to the captain's shoulders, preventing her from falling. "Once again, the same direction you were going to go... there we are."

Gingerly Sienna helped lower him to the mattress and pushed his arm off of her, standing up with a long sigh of relief through puffed cheeks. The first mate gritted his teeth in preparation, and with a single heave yanked his legs up onto the bed and leaned back on his elbows, releasing his own satisfied sigh.

"Thank you," he breathed. "I'm sorry to be such a bother."

Sienna didn't answer for a second, instead stepping over to the desk and grabbing the back of the chair in front of it. With a metallic screech she slid the seat out and pulled it alongside the bed, turning it around and plopping down into it. "Don't," she scolded, reclining into the chair and kicking her legs out in front of her.

The two of them sat in tense silence for a few moments, neither of the entirely sure of what to say. Oreza stared off into space, occasionally glancing over at Sienna to try to read the stony mask she wore, but to no avail. Finally, after several minutes ticked by, he quietly spoke. "Not everything you hoped it would be, is it?" he asked her gently. "Captaining a ship."

The young woman slowly turned her eyes to the big man, a look of slight annoyance on her face. "This again?" she asked in similar volume, but her words were terse.

Oreza frowned. "Yes, this again, Sienna," he said, still gentle, but with a paternal tone. "You're putting on quite a show for the others, I've noticed, but you're not fooling me."

Sienna rolled her eyes and looked away, interlocking her fingers over her stomach. "I dunno what you're talking about," she said dismissively.

"You still think everyone is an inconvenience to you, even if they don't all see it," Oreza explained. "I'm glad to see that you're taking my advice to heart, but it's not enough to just go through the motions."

"So what the hell do you want from me?" Sienna snapped, looking back at him with a growing scowl. "I listened to you. I'm trying. I can't just snap to and act like some seasoned veteran just because you said so." There was a slight pause, and she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I'm just... tired, Oreza. Tired of--" She cut herself off when she realized that her hand was quivering slightly, and quickly folded it back into the other, hoping the first mate didn't notice.

Oreza let her finish, and a slight look of concern crossed his face when she suddenly yanked her hand away from her face. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she replied far too quickly, fixing a resolute stare on him. "Nothing."

The first mate eyed her dubiously in silence with a raised eyebrow. "Don't lie to me, girl," he said quietly.

Sienna's eyes flared. "And you don't talk to me like you're my goddamn dad," she snapped. "You don't get to worry about me, all right? You left when I needed you most. Just because you showed up at a convenient time don't mean I think you actually give a shit." Too late, Sienna realized what she had let slip out. She regretted it, and for a brief instant it might have even been visible. But it was out there now. She wasn't about to take it back.

Oreza just stared at her blankly. "I thought we were past that, Sienna," he replied. Although he didn't show it, Sienna could hear the hurt buried deep in his voice.

"Yeah, well," Sienna replied coolly, looking away. "You thought wrong. I needed someone with experience, and there you were."

The first mate tightened his lips and stared at Sienna in silence. Sienna closed her eyes and leaned forward, hanging her head as she leaned her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands tightly to steady them.

"So you're that determined to be alone," Oreza finally stated. "You've already given up."

Sienna just stared down at the floor. "I gave up years ago, Bear," she replied softly. "Things won't ever be the way they were, no matter how much you want them to be."

Neither of them said anything for another several minutes, only the sounds of clattering in the galley and the thrum of the engines muting the unpleasant silence. Sienna didn't move from her huddled posture, keeping her eyes closed and her breathing controlled, determined not to break her icy veneer. She didn't even fully understand just why she felt so angry at Oreza all of a sudden. Part of her knew that it had always been there, and she had just repressed it. He had abandoned her, that much was true. But a childhood slight that she thought she had long since let go had stayed with her all along, and she suddenly realized that she had never truly forgiven him for it after all. It was petty, she knew, even silly to the point of being ridiculous. She had lived her entire adult life thus far without letting the wound fester, but she wondered if that wasn't only because he hadn't been there to serve as a constant reminder.

Her hands started to tremble a bit more violently, and she rapidly opened and clenched her fists a few times before suddenly sitting up and shoving them between her hips and the armrests of her chair. She sniffed hard, making it look like she simply had a mild nasal itch, and blinked away the mist in her eyes.

Oreza never took his eyes off of her, and breathed a heavy sigh when she lifted her head. "Go on and get some rest, Captain," he said with a more formal tone, his voice wavering ever so slightly.

"Bear..." Sienna said quietly, a faraway look still in her eyes as she turned them to him.

"I'll be fine," Oreza insisted, still very formally and without emotion. "Thank you for helping me in here."

Sienna focused her gaze and opened to her mouth, but no words came. Her jaw hung slightly agape for a few seconds before she closed it again, and gruffly stood from her seat. Kicking the chair lightly, she sent it sliding back towards the desk. Before it clattered against it, Sienna was out the door, and Oreza was left alone.


Lavatory

The door to the tiny bathroom slammed shut as Sienna stormed in, clasping the edges of the sink with a viselike grip. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a brief moment before her composure failed her, and finally a quiet sob burst forth from her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she hung her head again as she stood there leaning on the sink, and let the tears go. She never made more than a soft moan, but her shoulders shook with violent heaves as she cried there, overcome with sorrow she didn't even completely understand. In her mind she cursed herself for her weakness, cursed Oreza for his sudden reappearance, even cursed her whole wretched idea of running her own ship. She didn't know what she was doing, or why. She thought that the Veil would be her ultimate taste of freedom, her ticket to go where she pleased, to keep moving and never have to face her pain again. And yet, so far, it seemed that it had brought her nothing but trouble. Gradually she slumped to her knees as the sobs continued, and finally her hands slipped off of the sink as she fell onto her haunches, her legs tucked beneath her as she slumped against the door.

She cried quietly for a good ten minutes before she finally regained control of herself. Lifting her head, she cleared her throat quietly, brusquely wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands, which were now shaking so hard that she could barely make them find their marks. Continuing to try to clear her vision, she clumsily climbed back to her feet and turned on the water in the sink, splashing some of it onto her face as she desperately fought to get a hold of herself. She levelled her cold, stony gaze at her reflection, mentally commanding, berating herself into some sense of normalcy.

When the sobs stopped, her eyes were still bloodshot and red. She splashed some more water onto them, and ran her damp fingers through her hair, slapping lightly at her cheeks. After another few moments of staring silently at herself, she slipped a hand into her pocket, fingering the vials and needle she had swiped from the infirmary. A few moments consideration later, she pulled them out and stepped over to the toilet, dropping the seat and sitting down. With firm focus, she tightened her lips as she fought against her trembling hands to jab the needle through the top of the vial, drawing half of the reservoir full of the clear, precious-looking fluid. Several times she almost dropped them both, her hands were shaking so, and when it was finally ready, she fumbled to her side and dropped them gently in the sink.

A distant sense of worry was slowly boring into her subconscious, like a worm eating away at her from within. For some reason she was starting to feel as though she couldn't breathe. Straightening her back, she hooked her thumb through the front of her belt and began trying to unclasp it. The way she was quivering, however, made it as difficult to do as if she were trying to do it while strapped to a paint shaker. After some effort, she undid the buckle, and with entirely too much force she yanked it free of her pants, then wrapped it firmly around her upper arm, just above the elbow. After several more unsuccessful attempts, she finally threaded it back through the buckle and bit down on the end of it, pulling it taut with her teeth as she quickly worked her hand open and closed, exposing the vein.

Reaching across her body, her breath coming in ragged, hyperventilating bursts, she slapped around in the sink, finally grabbing the needle, and steadied her hand against her bicep. Gingerly, through the seizure-like quaking, the needle found her vein, and she pushed down on the plunger, letting the Qualen flow freely into her bloodstream.

She sighed and closed her eyes, letting the calming sensation wash over her. At least for the time being, she could forget.

Concordia Veil - Cabin 3 - Some time later


Amelia stirred and slowly woke up, she had fallen asleep in the same position that she had collapsed onto the bed, like someone who had just suffered an automobile accident. She was wearing the same black shorts and long-sleeved shirt as the other day, and it was a challenge in itself to even change to these clothes considering how tired she had been. The astrogator slowly rose onto a sitting position on her bunk, stretching her arms behind and yawning. Her whole body still ached from the last job, specially her arms after having to hang out from the open airlock like she did. Carefully, she brushed the bedding covering her legs away and moved to sit on the side of the bed, and it took a lot of convincing from herself to move out of it.

The message popped up on Ameila's Data Jockey from Crash. It had been hiding the the ship's vents, far from where any of the rest of the crew could ever hope to get to.

The astrogator groaned upon hearing the beep coming from her datajockey which was on top of the cabin's table, but might as well have been in another planet. That was enough to prompt her to get up, despite that she wanted to get right back into bed once her feet touched the cold metal floor. Amelia grabbed the datapad and rubbed her eyes with the other hand, reading the message.


Crash repeated the message before continuing.

Its message was sent and Crash moved closer to the ship's core, it was warm there, and for some reason It had felt the need to stay at an abnormaly high tempature. Amelia, meanwhile, rolled her eyes at the message.

The responce came back as Crash fought to keep the bot chassis from shaking.

Came Amelia's reply.



Amelia toggled the Datajockey's screen off and sat back down on the side of the bed, still trying to wake up.

The Datajockey beeped again as Crash moved even more close to the heating elements that kept the ship from being a flying icechunk. It took Amelia a few moments before she picked it up again and sent a reply.




There was no response. Crash was busy debating leaving It's warm spot among the ship's arteries. It took the bot nearly five minutes to decide to leave it and start its long way back to the cabins. Slowly Crash made It's clattering way to where Amelia was. Once It was above her cabin Crash popped though and dropped onto the top bunk. Slowly it peered over the edge of the bed and looked at her upside down.

"You rang?"

"Hey," Ameia said, smiling faintly once she saw the spiderbot, setting the datajockey aside on the bunk bed. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Cold" As all It said as it crawled over to the underside of the upper bunk then dropped onto It's back and onto Amelia's tummy, making the astrogator slump back down on the bed.

"Ow," Amelia said in a friendly way that disarmed the possibility of the spiderbot dropping on her actually hurting. "It is colder than usual," she agreed, "I didn't know you where bothered by that kind of stuff."

"I'm not... now what is wrong?" Crash raised its front leg to poke her lightly on the cheek. "You said you wanted to talk?"

"I don't know..." Amelia started to say. Once again, even she surprised herself by finding that she was at a loss of words to describe the feeling, and it took her a good few moments to finally figure out. "It's just... I guess I am finally realizing I was even more scared than you were that day," she said. Normally, she wouldn't tell anyone that, but she trusted Crash well enough to tell the spiderbot that.

"Scared when?" Crash asked as It started projecting shapes of stars and planets on the bottom of the upper bunk. "When we were trying to escape that hell?"

"I guess. I think I was just too tired to realize how scary that was, you know?" she asked the spiderbot.

"It was terrifying... I tried to do everything in my power to get you... and the crew out of there... but you guys decided that screwing around on the loading ramps were a good plan." Crash tittered it's mandables as if It was telling a joke. But he was shivering again.

"Well, it's over, and thanks for making me company," Amelia said, resting a hand on top of the spiderbot. She realized for a second how she was acting like a kid all over again, too scared of the dark to stay alone, and needing the company of others. The two of them could hear the sounds of dull footsteps out in the lounge, as well as the sounds of a couple of hatches cycling a few times back-to-back.

"Its over." Crash agreed, then projected an image of a green meadow and a little stream. The trees along the brook swayed a bit in the non-exsisting wind. The astrogator just stared at the projection from the spiderbot. "Do you like any kind of movies?" She idly asked.

"I have seen a few... There was this one I say years ago... It had a Giant Lizard fighting a Giant Ape in a Large city on Yamatai... It was great the city was for the most part leveled." Crash chittered, never grasping at the hint being made.

"Oh," Amelia said. She had heard of that one, despite not really believing that anything that would attack Yamatai wouldn't be instantly destroyed by their huge navy. "I like the noir stuff, you know? Like detective stories on those big places like Funky City. I think they're pretty good."

"do the detectives level parts of the town with Aether breath?" Crash knew the answer and knew It was just being an ass. "I saw a few of those... Though I liked the Live Hard series, you know with Jack Mcblain? Shooting and blowing stuff up for two hours..."

"Oh, I've seen those too- why are you shaking like that?" Amelia asked, noticing that the spiderbot seemed to be shivering.

"I'm cold.... very cold..." Crash spoke a bit childishly. It was very cold and it really bothered Crash that something like that was happening.

"You wanna go someplace else?" Amelia asked, with one arm still holding onto the back of the spiderbot that was on top of her.

"Sure.. But the radiation in the colonies would probably kill you..." Crash responded

A sharp clanking sound startled the pair, followed immediately by the cabin door whooshing open to reveal Sienna standing in the doorway, her hands and forearms streaked with dirty grime, and her teeth clenched as she took a quick inward breath of tense apology. "Shit," she muttered, obviously appearing not to have meant to make so much noise. She looked into the cabin, clearly looking to see if she woke Amelia, and for an instant, the whole situation didn't appear to register in her mind at first, and the same happened with the astrogator, who just kept staring at her. "Sorry, I was just tryin--" she began quietly, but then she suddenly saw the robotic spider lying atop her only partially clothed astrogator and vibrating rigorously. "Ah-- UGH!" she gasped, her face twisting in shock, revulsion, and abject embarrassment. Both of her hands came up to shield her eyes as she turned her head away quickly, stumbling backwards as if she'd just had a powerful search light shone in her face in a pitch black room.

Amelia seemed to also break from the staring trance upon the captain's reaction, looking at the spiderbot on top of her and also realized how awkward the situation must have seemed. Her face flushed bright red as she fought back the embarassment. "This isn't what it looks like! We were just talking!" she exclaimed, sitting back up.

"It's Cold, I know for a fact it doesn't cost you a dime to keep this place at a real liveble tempature..." Crash growled, but didn't move beyond the shivering.

"God, just-- ugh!" Sienna stammered, completely at a loss for words and reeling in disgust. She kept her eyes as far removed from the spectacle as she could without tripping over herself, and reached forward, slapping blindly at the wall panel from the next cabin over until the door whisked closed again, leaving the pair alone once more.

"That was really awkward," Amelia commented.

"It is... The reactor is running at normal levels... yet the ship is freezing and she acts like it'll kill her to heat it." Crash spoke a bit miffed. The projection shifted to one of a campfire.

"Ugh," the astrogator repeated, her face still flushing red. She covered her mouth for a moment, looking back at the closed airlock. "Thanks for talking to me, Crash," she added after a while.

"It's ok, I like being around you." Crash responded as It laid there thinking about movies and Sienna being freaked out. "You suppose she wanted more pics and vids?"

Amelia chuckled at that. "Thanks," she said again, "but you really don't know why she acted like that?"

"Me?"

"Well, uh, sort of. You were kinda, uh..." Amelia started to say, blushing even harder.

"I know, I know, I need to be less rude, but I've been having trouble thinking since you rebooted me.." Crash chittered and wished the projection would heat like a real fire would have.

"Not that- well, I mean, that too, but, you uh, was kinda on top of me, so ,uh... She might have gotten the wrong idea," Amelia blurted out.

"So what... I'm on top of you a lot. All the time even."

The astrogator rolled her eyes and let out a "tch" at the comment. "Do you say that as a joke or are you really kidding all the time?" she asked.

"All the time no... But when it suits me..." Crash slowly flipped over and looked at her in the face. "Was anything going on that shouldn't have, by the regime's laws?"

"No, just... Forget about it, nevermind," Amelia said, pushing back the embarassment of the situation. "I guess I will just bury myself under the sheets here and watch something, since I'm off-duty," she added.

Leaning in closer, Crash brought It's 'eyes' with in inches of Amelia's, "Is there something you're not telling me?" Crash was glad It didn't have a mouth, or It would have been fighting a grin.

"No!" Amelia answered, instantly leaning back and away from the spiderbot.

"You sure?" Crash was going to continue bugging Amelia, but the shivers kicked in again and Its left legs gave out dropping It back down to her chest. "uh...?" It sounded a bit confused. This time, the astrogator visibly tensed at that and placed the spiderbot on the bed next to her, then jumped out of the bunk, getting up.

"Alright, what's the matter with you?" She asked. "You haven't been the same since I had to pull you out of that room."

"I'm cold... I can't think straight... every time I shut off my visual receptors I see my self as one of those damned bots hurting you..." Crash shivered again, "AND I CAN"T FIGURE OUT WHY I"M COLD!!"

"Alright, calm down," the astrogator said, resting her hands on her hips. She was back to being her analytical self by then, and pushed the embarassment back and away from her head. "You might be running with some damaged components, so I suggest that I upload you back to the security bot and take a look at you. How does that sound?" she asked.

"You are too tired...." Crash responded as It settled into a more comfortable spot. "I could leave so you can get some real sleep. You haven't gotten a real night's rest in a few days." The bot studied her from It's spot. It could tell how tired she was from the dark rings around her eyes and the pale complextion.

"I have plenty of time for that. Now set yourself on top of that table," Amelia said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She was already too annoyed at others being worried about her.

Crash eyed her for a few moments before slowly and carefuly moving to the table. It took a few moments for Crash to upload fully from the spaider bot and emerge from the storage closet at the Guard bot. "A little better i'm not cold any more at least." the bot spoke in its mildly grating voice. The astrogator moved to sit next to the small table, drawing the metal chair back and setting her datajockey next to it.

The table was otherwise barren, save for a charging ports for the electronics, and a small, fluorescent lamp, which she turned on. The lamp cast a small island of light on the penumbra of the cabin. The astrogator reached for something inside one of the drawers, and pulled out a medium-sized black pouch, setting it next to the spiderbot. "You really feel hotter than usual, geez," she commented once she reached for the deactivated bot, pulling out the tools that she needed to unlock the top cover of the mechanic body.

The Guard bot stood next to the table, as if on sentry duty. It was a basic setting in the lower quality bot. "No I was very cold." The bot now didn't have a thermometer or any way to gauge the spiderbot's tempature. Meanwhile, Amelia continued with her work, unscrewing the top cover out and gently setting it aside the deactivated bot. She continued to dismantle the cat-sized robot, taking out the cooling fans that were right under the cover and setting those next to the other disassembled components.

"That's exactly why. The temperature is higher than usual, so you would feel cold," She said, 'just like a person.' The astrogator kept 'digging', taking her a good ten minutes until she reached what she was looking for, the spiderbot's processors. The small black rectangle in the middle of all the boards and microchips that was the spiderbot's central processor. The area around it was darkened from when Crash had overclocked the processor so that he could fly the ship and man the weapons at the same time, and the thermal paste that would have helped the bot to deal with that problem had turned into a dry crust.

"So this is why," Amelia commented. "I guess that the lesson is to never buy anything in Black Moon," she said, glancing briefly at the guard bot and pointing with the tip of a small screwdriver towards the edges of the processor. "The coolant paste he used was bad quality, so when it got too hot inside it solidified, which is in turn makes you overheat and feel cold all the time," she explained.

"And to think we spent money there..." Crash growled a little. It was trying to think if there was any extra paste somewhere, but in some ways this body was worst then the damaged spiderbot had been. "What can we do about it? Besides opening the computer core and scraping it from the main processors there..."

"Well, until we get to Dawn so you can get your hand on that coolant, I will just have to use my own stuff, so take it easy with all the data processing you're doing," Amelia said, fishing for something inside the bag.

"I have a large supply of liquid nitrogen we can use to build a cooling system for when I plug in to the ship..." The Guard spoke as It watched her save the Spiderbot, scraping away the crust caused by the thermal paste with the flathead screwdiver.

Once the task was done, Amelia pulled a small plastic container from inside the bag, it had a silvery substance inside. Next, she drew a small syringe from it. "This is meant to cool down small-time things like the Datajockey, so don't strain yourself, alright?" she said, drawing a small quantity of the silvery goop and injecting it on the processor. She used the business end of the syringe to spread it around evenly on the metallic surface.

"Yes Ma'am." The bot spoke it it's programed voice. "No doing a lot until I get better goop." The voice changed back to one that Crash normaly used in this body, "i'll have to transfer more of my mind into the Ship's core when I fly then."

"What do you mean?" Amelia asked curiously, while still assembling back the spiderbot.

"I ws running all of the processes for flying and fighing the ship through the spiderbot..." Crash spoke realized now how stupid that was.

"Once you get that liquid nitrogen you won't have to. You're fine this way," She replied, smiling faintly.

The bot nodded, "I'm sorry I have caused you nothing but problems since you found me... well even before that." Crash spoke quietly, strange sounding from this body. "You've done nothing but try to help..."

The astrogator stopped screwing the cover panel back on and turned to stare at Crash. "Hey, come on, you saved everyone's lives more than once, and you're great company too," she said, quickly adding the last part.

"if you say so." the bot spoke not entirly convinced. Though the statment did seem to quiet It down a bit.

"Oh, come on, Crash," Amelia complained, turning back around and finishing the repairs on the bot. "Are you always gonna be sulking like that?"

"All the time no... But when it suits me..." This repitition was followed by a bitty sound that could only be mistaken for laughter.

"Very funny," Amelia said sarcastically, drawing the chair back and getting up again. "Anyway, I have fixed the issues, you should be good for now," she added.

"Oh good." The Guard bot turned and went back into its storage place. There was a loud clatter when It left the bot and it fell. After a few moments the spider bot moved. It took almost a full minute before the Spider bot was able to stand and turn to look at Amelia. "Thank you... It is a bit better now... Less cold."

The astrogator waved the compliment dismissively, drawing the chair back under the table. "I think I'm heading back to bed, there's no way I'm going out after what happened earlier," she admitted, thinking again of the awkward situation.

"Did I miss something? I was hiding near the ship's core heating unit for quite some time." Crash asked from the edge of the table.

"No, nevermind," Amelia said, giving up on the matter. Her cheeks puffed as she exhaled slowly while moving to sit back on the side of the bed.

"But I want to know..." the voice sounded of a obnoixios little girl. "I WANNNA KNOW!!!" Crash said again a little louder, as It bounced about the table.

"I know this is another one of your pranks," the astrogator said, frowning, but still embarassed. She had to fight between being indignated by the spiderbot, or pushing the embarassment back.

"It isn't, I'm not sure why you are embarassed by Sienna being snoopy and busting in here, When you were trying to keep me warm." Crash nodded and tested It's volumetric projectors, and light up pink. Crash chittered at the color it was projecting and bounced around more, happy not to be cold.

"Right," Amelia said, scratching her head as she watched the spiderbot test its systems.

Crash paused and looked at Amelia, tilting Its whole head to the side like one would tip their head when confused. "I think you're trying to pull something over me... but I can't place it..." Crash dropped to the floor with a thud, then came slowly up to her feet. With it's front foot It poked her leg as it started flashing rainbow colors down it's sides, making the astrogator jerk the limb involuntarily.

"Please tell me?"

"If you don't get it, then there's no reason telling you why," she stated back. Amelia was sure it was just another prank from him.

The colors flashed a red before it faded through purple to blue. "Fine... but I'm not a child, I just don't get all your fleshy problems..." Crash sounded honestly hurt. The bot crawled under the bunk and teh blue glow from It shined out from the edges.

The astrogator didn't relent. Instead, she lay back down and pulled the sheets back up, covering herself. Her limbs still felt like lead, and there wasn't much that she would rather do than sleep.

After a few minutes of grumbling and the feeling of crash roaming about under the mattress, It popped up from between the bunk and the wall. "You want me to stay?" it asked in a seriously timid voice, as if Crash was nervious or somthing. It didn't want to say that It wanted to snooze next to her. You know if case there is another fault or something... yeah that's it. Crash was failing even lying to Itself.

Amelia pondered over the question for a few moments. "Sure," she said after some intentional deliberation, "You're gonna stay down there like the boogey man?" She asked.

"Can I?" Crash sounded honestly amused and interested at the prospect... "Do I get a pay raise, if I do?"

"I hope not," Amelia said, briefly remembering the moment where she was hanging by her fingers from turning into confetti.

"Ok... Hmm..." Crash though as It climbed up onto the bed. "Though I guess that I would have to interview with the Captain... Think I should call her in again to apologize again?" Crash pulled it's legs under itself as it settled in next to Amelia.

"Just... Don't piss her off or anything," the astrogator said, closing her eyes. Sharing the bed like that was somewhat awkward, but the company was welcome after what she had gone through in the past days, and Amelia slowly let the tension ebb away from her mucles to feel relaxed.

"Wasn't planning on it..." It chittered and rested it's head on her leg. "She's got enough on her plate... I think the other Freespacer might be plotting to eat everyone."

There was no reply, it was easy to see that Amelia was already sleeping soundly.

"Well fine you fall asleep on me and crap." Crash growled a bit scooted closer and then relaxed, starting to surt the interwebs.

~~~~~

Hours, and about 300 gb of porn later.

Amelia slowly stirred where she lay, stretching her arms to her sides and arching her back as she woke up. She didn't notice that she was slowly pushing the spiderbot away from the bed either.

With a loud thunk Crash crashed to the floor. Coming out of his digital medatation, (also known as surfing the nets) It looked up on the bed to see the Astrogator shifting about, "You could have asked if I was in your way..."

"Hm, what?" Amelia asked, still half asleep until, at last, she seemed to remember where she was. With a jolt, the astrogator opened her eyes wide and looked around the semi-dark room. "Crash?" She asked.

"Yes..." The spider bot shifted about and started crawling back onto the bed. "What can I do for you on this late evening?"

"Oh," She started to say, half getting up and supporting herself on an elbow as she watched the spiderbot. "Sorry," Amelia said, still trying to shake off the aftermath of sleep from her head.

"Its fine, and here I was worrying about knocking you out of bed this whole time." The lights down Its sides and back flittered in a little pattern, "So what caused you to wake?"

The astrogator chuckeld at the bot's initial comment. "Just woke up. I don't think I've slept this well in a long time," she commented.

"Well I'm sorry, I'll try to keep you from falling asleep so deeply." He started stepping on her gently but firmly. " Now you won't worry about it."

"Crash!" Amelia exclaimed, rolling to the side so that the spiderbot was no longer on top of her. "I didn't say it was a bad thing," she explained.

Flopping over on to It's back, Crash looked up at her. "I see... So no dancing on you in the night... Well poo..." The lights flickered again and the mandables chittered. "Well I'm pleased you slept well."

"Thanks," she said, smiling softly and staring at the length of the spiderbot. Normally, she would be pretty scared of spiders, especially considering what had gone through on the last job, but not so with Crash. She felt strangely at ease near the spiderbot. "You were awake this whole time?" she asked.

"Sort of... You wanna see what I've been doing?" Crash asked with a bit of mischief in it's voice.

"I don't know, what were you doing?" She asked, noticing the mischief on the spiderbot's voice. She wondered for a moment how he could keep up with such a vast quantity of those... "hobbies" of his.

"Well I was surched the nets for new porn, it's a hobby, then there was the fact I was looking around the digital map of Dawn station. Looking for the best places to visit. Did you know they had a spa there? With locker rooms that don't have real security?!" The Bot chittered there for a moment.

"And people don't just steal things from there?" She asked. How curious of those Yamataians, naive even.

"Along with that I was playing a role playing game with a person on Nepleslia and I was going over the storage rates for my stuff that is awaiting us at Dawn station." the bot paused for a moment. "There was alsoa bit of data i found in the Yammy military data base about the captain, and there was the bit of time I was sitting here counting bolts in the room. All fairly boring things."

"Well, I guess not sleeping has its disadvantages then," she commented.

"Well Yeah. I guess it does. Though at least I am still able to do these things. The captain hasn't taken away my net priveleges."

"Man, that would be like keeping your kids from accessing the interNEP," she mused, chuckling at that. It was easy to speak her mind like that next to the freespacer.

"Yeah.. my kids...." Crash fell silent for a few moments. After the pause It kicked up a screen that was showing hundreads of images of porn that It had been surfing through.

"Oh, damn it, Crash!" Amelia said, looking away from the mosaic of imagery that the spiderbot had projected against the cabin's wall. "Turn that off," she demanded.

"Fiiinnneee." it had done it's job, so Crash killed the screen, "What would you like to see a movie or something?"

The astrogator's eyes perked up at that. "Yeah, did you have something in mind?" She asked, thinking about how she had initially planned to do that but had instead succumbed to sleep.

"Not really but I can rip what ever you would like from the nets." Crash thought for a bit about what movies It had seem in the past, most though would be classics by now.

"Oh man, there was this detective movie I've really wanted to see..." She started to say.

"Oh? what is it called?" Crash was already scanning through the archives of detective movies. Though he wasn't sure which one she would like to watch.

"Man, It was on the tip of my tongue, you even talked about it earlier," she started to say, trying to remember the name.

"The only movie that was close to a detective movie was the Live Hard movie..." It thought for a few trying to think if there were any others.

Amelia snapped her fingers, suddenly remembering what she was trying to. "Got it! It was called Funky City Confidential!" she said, grinning at remembering the name that had been on the tip of her tongue.

"Ah yes, right. Give me a minute" Crash sat there asn started downloading th emovie, both to It's internal database, and to Amelia's Datajockey. "There we go."

"That was fast," the astrogator commented.

A new volumetric screen popped up before her with the movie starting with it's opening credits, making Amelia rearrange herself on the bed, staring at the projected screen and supporting her head with the ball of both her hands, crossing her feet behind her.

Crash climbed onto her back and relaxed Its legs under itself. Settling in, Crash quietly studied the film being projected. Crash had never really watched a detective flick before so this was going to be something new, while Amelia watched it intently, periodically swinging her legs as she watched the movie.

~~
One Detictive movie later
~~

With the end credits rolling, Crash allowed itself to fall of of the Astrologer's back and onto the bed. "Was it what you expected?"

"Oh, I liked it," Amelia admitted, but paused to think more of what to say next. "Though, the ending was kind of a let down," she added. Being a fan of the genre, she had really seen better movies than that, but it was by no means a bad one. It wasn't a good one either, but it had been good to kill the time.

"Yeah? I thought the detective should have shot the lady when she first came into his office... would have solved a lot of his problems right there..." Crash laughed his chittery laugh.

"Maybe, but what would be the fun in that? A detective is someone who sees a mystery and wants to see it through until it's solved, not take the easy way out like that," Amelia said, looking at the spiderbot. " That's why he acted like such a dick in the movie, after seeing all that stuff that he did, it kinda turned him numb to most of the things," she explained.

"I see. She still should have been shot... She was obnoixus and caused half the situations..." Crash would have frowned, that is if It had a mouth. "I know if she would have come into my office I would not have taking her commission, and I turned down a lot of those back when I was in the biz..."

"The biz?" Amelia asked, curious.

"I told you what I used to do, I would take contracts for diffrent pictures or videos that collectors wanted. Some where just rare and hard to find, others on private databases, Some required me hireing film crews, and break-in artists..."

"Oh," she answered. She had somehow forgotten about that. The astrogator opened her mouth again to speak, but closed it, seemingly at a loss of words.

"Why do you think i have so many images and vids to share..." Crash craswled up so it's eyes were close to her face, and whispered, "I can get you any thing you'd like... anything..." the last words was in a very conspiratorialtone.

Amelia leaned away from the bot. "No, I'm fine, thanks," she said, suddenly remembered the images that he had sent to her datajockey some time before. She wouldn't be caught off-guard like that again.

Dropping back down to the bed Crash looked up at her. "The offer is on the table. And I got plenty of free time when you all meat sacks are sleeping." Crash started thinking, 'maybe i should get a good data dump made up for the captain, that might make her happier.'

"Well, you already know my answer. I'm not a pervert," Amelia said, looking away from the spiderbot.

"I never accused you of being such... honestly it is heathy to experience things like this and not repress it." Teh bot nodded its head as it continued. "If it wasn't would there be things out there with some of the galactic royalty? MMMM??"

"Maybe, I don't know," the astrogator said. "I don't look at those things, and I'm fine," she added.

"Well to each their own... Though it makes me wonder what you do to...um... you know..." Crash started glowing bright pink.

"To what!?" Amelia asked, somewhat distressed.

If crash had a foot, and a real mouth they probably be trying to see how far the foot could get in the mouth... "Um... Never mind... I uuu... So how about this weather..."

"Fine, I guess," the astrogator said, pulling out her datajockey and lying on her back against the bed.

Crash sat there stareing at her trying to figure out a way to ask, and if It should even ask. For once since waking up Crash was feeling like there was a line that one should not cross, you know besides killing the living beings on the ship. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what? You didn't do anything," Amelia said, lowering the datapad to stare at the spiderbot.

"I uhh... Well shit..." Crash was now glosing almost dark pink... if that was a real color and not red. "Just accept i'm sorry and please... don't ask why." Crash was truly embarrassed over the situation. hell he had asked that question thousands of times before, why was this time diffrent?

That was her turn to smile. Amelia chuckled at being able to turn that conversation around at the freespacer, it had made her somewhat used to what would've otherwise been embarassing situations. "Relax, I'm just messing with you," she said, smiling.

"So you knew what I was asking and you have been being mean about it?" Crash asked a bit incredgulisly.

"Well, Crash, that's because it's something you don't ask people about," she explained. "It's a private matter," she added.

"And why is that! Why should it be a private matter... It's a fact of life..." Crash asked trying not not be on the defense.

"Because it is!" the astrogator exclaimed. "Gosh.."

"But why... I would tell you..." Crash nodded again. "You wanna know?" But she didn't answer, and instead kept staring at him.

"it involves some engine lubricant, a power drill, six egg batters, and a lamp post. it is very difficult."

"No, nevermind! I don't wanna know," Amelia said, raising the datapad again and trying to seem like she was actually looking at its screen.

"You sure... I could be classified as a class 3 war crime in some areas of space." Crash was fighting the urge to laugh now. It was just trying to get under her skin again.

"Yes, I'm sure," she stated.

"Well then I'll just record it next time, and when you are ready I'll show you." Crash fell over onto its back and started wiggling it's legs in the air. "I'm more interesting then watching a black screen..."

"How do you know that?" Amelia asked. How had he figured out the Datajockey was off?

"Simple detictivery, your face isn't lit up by the screen... with the half light in the room, that screen should be lighting your face up like it was a spot lamp." Crash chittered.

"Oh, good work, detective, guess I'm guilty as charged," Amelia said jokingly, lowering the datapad and looking back at the bot, a small smirk forming on the corner of her mouth.

"That and I have a link with that datajockey, so when I can see it or can't get a ping back from it, It would be off, or disconnected from the nets." Crash chittered again and poked her with a leg. "Or Magic!."

"Well, the point is, you don't ask around people those kinds of questions," she said. "Unless you're one of those Yamataian freaks," she added.

"But I was trying to get to know you..." Crash said as it continued playing with the little figer claws at the end of Its legs. "It was just a simple question. Specaily for one who used to deal with that day in and day out."

The astrogator sighed. It seemed that Crash wouldn't leave her alone on that subject until she told him what he wanted to know. "Alright," she started to say, her cheeks already starting to flush, although there was still a slight expression of mischief on her face, and she told him.

"Ewww... But that's all wet and mushy" Crash said freezing, never in It's years did Crash think she woudl tell him. "Why.. why would you tell me that!!!"

"You wouldn't leave me alone!" Amelia said, trying not to pout. "And you said it was no big deal," she added, looking somewhat betrayed.

"Well It isn't, but I really never thought you would tell me, so i was bugging you.. like trying to get you to give me everything you own." Crash was panicky, It didn't want to offend her, noe did It ever want to betray her.... It's mischief and games finally back fired.

"Well, maybe I was joking," Amelia suggested with a coy smile.

"Were you? I mean I don't think we have those things on the ship..." Crash asked thinking.

"Oh, I don't know anymore," the astrogator said, suddenly balling her hands into fists and checking her nails.

"You mean you brought those items aboard? Do you keep them secure? Cause if I even bump into one.. It'll short me out..." Crash joints locked up in worry."

"I was just joking, by the way. I'm not into those things," Amelia said, looking back at the spiderbot.

"Were you? Are you sure..." Crash asked thinking this all through... It would explain her reluctince to tell It about what she does, but then again it seemed a bit extreme, creepy Lorath and their tastes...

"Yes, Crash," she answered, staring at the spiderbot dead in what could only be its optical units.

"Well then..." Crash about to ask again, but caught Itself. "What are we going to do when we hit port? Are you going to go to one of those spas?"

"What? No, maybe, I don't know if I should," Amelia said. She had never bothered with that kind of stuff, and saw it like some unnecessary expenditure in most cases.

"Why not? I think you'd look cute in those skimpy swim clothes you all like instead of being free and naked in waters..." Crash retored as It thought about diffrent activities there were for hIt.

"Ew," was all that Amelia answered.

"What being nude is great... Look at me... I don't wear clothes, not one bit." The bot Chittered and waved it's legs about showing off the nudeness of the metal body.

"Ugh," Amelia said, rubbing her forehead with one of her hands.

"What, you never noticed?"

"That is a silly comparison."

"How so?"

"Because," Amelia started to say, throwing her arms around, "I'm a fleshly, and you actually do wear your own kind of clothes all time time. You don't walk around with your components bare for everyone to see, do you?" she asked.

"No but you don't walk about with your guts hanging out." Crash chittered, "But that is besides the point. You need a skimpy swim suit and a trip to the spa..." The bot glowed a bit blue and started playing with it's feet again.

"I'm most definitely not doing either of those," she said.

"Why Not!!! I'll even pay for you to have a nice relaxing day... I doubt it'll be worst then hanging out with me all day long. Expecaly with what I've got planned for part of the day."

"Why, what did you have planned?" She asked, once again looking genuinely hurt. She liked hanging out with him.

"Well I have to go and check on the stuff I have... Then I need to go and buy some crap, like bedding for her highnyess. Then there is the trip to what ever spas you're not at, got to steal all the panties and bring them back aboard. Then there is lunch. A quick bite of power from the stations power grid. Then I thought I'd go shopping for a present." Crash counted the list off on It's legs. "then I figured we could do something in the evenning."

"You've got it all planned out, huh?" She asked, dropping her back down on the bed. "And who's the lucky person who's getting a present?" She asked.

"None of your business... I might have met some one and I wanted to flirt with them.. and a good present is always a good way to start. Right?" Crash asked thinking things through.

"Oh, alright then," Amelia said, dismissing the thought. The point passed through her like the ship passed through space at FTL speeds. "If you need me to buy it like last time, just ask," she added.

"I'll be trading some of my holdings for it, so my cash can stay safe with you." The bot went back to playing with it's feet in the sai, "What do you think I should get? I've never bought anything like this before."

Not wanting to push the subject of how she didn't think she should be keeping his money, Amelia decided to go after the inquiry. "I don't know, just... I'm pretty bad at giving gifts to other people myself, it's just one of those things that when you see it you go 'Oh, I bet they are gonna like that!' Kind of thing, you know?" she asked, making a deeper voice when she mimicked whoever it was.

"Well that is silly." Crash gumped as It thought things through hopeing to come up with a really good gift. "Last time I tried that the captain yelled at me for sending obscene data to her personal computer."

Amelia squinted her eyes shit, rubbing the bridge of her nose. That was funny and frustrating in equal parts. "It has also to be something that doesn't embarass them, Crash..."

"Well? Then how will I know it won't embarass them? Honsetly... HOW?" Crash pointed It's forward leg at her as if to make a point.

"Well, just try to put yourself on their place. See what they like doing and come up with something from that," she said, smiling faintly at his display.

"But all I know it that they like being fleshy and smelly all the time." Crash chittered and flittered it's claws about in the air. "Yep."

Amelia shrugged, raising the palm of her hands to the air in a 'whelp, what can you do,' expression before lying back down on the bed.

"Well... what would you want?" Crash tried a diffrent tactic. It was being relentless about it, but Crash wanted to make sure what It got was something that would be nice.

"Me? Why?" Amelia asked.

"What would you like, If someone got you a gift? Did I switch language protocals again?" Crash grew silent as It checked to see what language it was using.

"Oh man, I don't know. I think it would be the thought that counted more than the gift itself, but it wouldn't help if it was something I would be using a lot too," she admitted, nodding at that.

"Those are just attributes, not names." Crash nodded before flipping over and crawling up the wall to the bottom of the upper bunk and looking at her from upside down. "So, fleshies like upgrades?"

"Upgrades? Like cybernetics?" She asked.

"Yeash... I would love it if I was one of you, to get less fleshy bits installed. Oh I can remember my first upgrade, It was a left arm, the replacement had a can opener and a nail file accessory."

"Well, some people just like being... You know, them, as in the original them," Amelia said, shrugging.

"Then if you don't want an upgrade, what does an Astrogator want?" Crash hung there by the four center most feet the other four legs were splayed out below.

"Well, I already have this," Amelia said, reaching inside her sweater with her hands. She pulled out a burned out fuse, carefully tied by a reinforced string of a thin rope.

Crash saw the fuse, It had given it to her as a silly thank-you gift. Its grip on the upper bunk failed and Crash silently fell back to the bed looking at the necklace.

"Crash, you're doing it again," The astrogator commented.

"Doing what?" It answered slowly trying to think through the large data dump that raced through its ram and processor, all trying to get in there first.

"Dropping down on people like that," she explained, staring at the spdierbot.

"Sorry..." the voice was drawn out as if the sound card was trying to process a lot too. "I must have lot my grip. my apologies"

"Alright," Amelia said, then looked around the dimly-lit room.

Crash rolled off of Ameila onto the floor. Silent It sat there thinking, for a few moments, until the silence was just too inconspicuous for Amelia to ignore it.

"Why are you so quiet all of sudden?" She asked it, perking her head up from the bed to look at the spiderbot.

"Thinking... Why are you?"

"Dunno," she admitted, laying back down against her bunk and this time turning on the screen of her datajockey.

"It's on now..." Crash said thinking though a lot of stuff. It hated when It got interspective, things explode when Crash got this way.

"Yep," she confirmed.

As Crash silently sat there trying to work everything out, Images started flashing on Amelia's Datajockey. First images of her and the fuse, then others, including their walk on the moon, and the silly drawing in the airlock. Her expression visibly softened at that, prompting her to lower the datajockey and stare at the Freespacer, the same faint smile on her face.

The images continued and started showing what Crash had dreamt as It was over heating, the images of him, and all of the spiderdrones that looked like him, attacking her... Crash finaly spoke up, and loudly. "This is stupid! You're stupid... This Ship is stupid!" Crash stood up and started up the wall not paying attention, It was a totally wrong wall for any kind of egress. The astrogator's expression twisted into one of someone who had just been hurt, but not at the spiderbot, had she not talked to him after she pulled him out of the computer room. Living through those images, like he had said he had, certainly wasn't something easy, and it seemed to her that he was living that all over again.

"Crash!" She exclaimed, trying to get his attention.

"What?" Crash looked over at her, and lost grip of the ceiling beam. Again Crash crashed into the floor and flipped over. "Meant to do that..." The spiderbot even seemed embarased that It fell.

"You're drifting again," she explained, choosing not to mention the images on her datapad.

"Drifting? No. Falling... You have your world to meaning scripts running alright?" Crash asked looking at her a bit dubiously.

"No," she admitted, looking guilty.

"Hmmm... Do I need to open your head and rummage about in there?" Crash sounded a bit evil when the words came out. The Bot started moving back towards the bed to climb up there towards her head.

"Noo!" She said, giggling when she felt the tiny end of the spiderbot's appendages tickle her head. That was something that it had taken some time to getting used to.

"Then a good kick to the side?" Crash chittered before crawling back down to her lap. Curling Its legs under it's body, Crash started thinking again.'

"Nah," she said, bringing the Datajockey up again. She quickly closed the latest images, but actually saved the good, meaningful ones from their trip onto the device's Hard Drive. She didn't have the habit of taking pictures of stuff like that, thining that they deserved more to be committed to memory rather than image, but those pictures were quite pleasant to look at.

"Well then I am out of repair suggestions, unless you want to talk to that other freespacer... Though I think there might be a few bolts loose in her head..."

"Six Four means well," Amelia said, staring at the spiderbot. "Just like our captain. You should give them a chance, you know, instead of pissing them off with your taunting," she added, more serious then.

"I haven't taunted the Six Four unit, that would be beneath me." Crash said, thinking the change of subject was nice reprieve.

"You know who I meant," she answered.

"Yeah well she is worth the effort." Crash responded, "Plus it'll just make it all the better when I turn over my new leaf and become the happy bubble spiderbot you all want." Crash chittered and thought of those stupid cartoons all kids watch.

"Whatever," Amelia said, giving up once again on the subject. She simply contended herself to picking up again the book she had been reading through, another Noir novel.

"Well if I started to be all nice to her, she'll not treat me or you any diffrently." Crash shrugged with its four legs. "She'll treat us like she treats that old man, her old friend. Seems like this way I can have fun while being growled at."

"She is actually treating me way better than before on that day," Ameia interjected. "It's like she finally realized that she can't bully people into compliance," she added.

"Well that is good. I guess" Crash shifted a little, balancing the weight evenly. "I think Six four drugged her... that's all."

"I wouldn't be surprised."

Crash sat there silently as she read her book, not knowing what the bot was truly thinking. The biggest item on It's mind was the issue of what did Amelia really meant to Crash. On one hand she was a good friend, on the other she was flesh and blood, and would reject the bot for not being the same. The dilema out weighed the issue of the silly Captain and her need for a totaliary dictatorship. Crash kept going over why she was the one that was attacked in the heat dreams, and why It kept so close to her.