“You really have no clue, do you?”
“Nope. Can’t say that I do. But I’m not gonna stress about it. I’m fairly certain this is just another one of those dreams I’ve been cycling through.”
“Those weren’t dreams, Crux. They were realities.”
I nod my head and lean back in the couch. It’s a nice couch. Very comfortable. And I’m tired. So I prop my ankle up on my knee, mimicking him, and relax a little. “Sure they were.”
“OK, let’s start at the beginning.”
“Great. Let’s do that. How about this? Who the fuck are you?” He opens his mouth to respond but I hold up a hand. “Don’t say ALCOR. That’s just a name. And that name belongs to so many AIs at this point, it’s lost all meaning. No, I want to know who you really are.”
He cocks his head. Holds a finger up. “As I was saying. Do you hear that?”
I listen and if I strain a little, I can still hear that faint ticking or dripping or whatever it is.
“When I said it was Time, I was referring to the noise you noticed. It’s Time.”
“Time. OK. So we’re still talking in riddles?” I put my foot on the ground and lean forward, elbows on knees, chin propped up on my hands. “Let me ask you something.”
He pans a hand wide. “Anything. That’s why I’m here.”
“Is this all you have, ALCOR? Games? Riddles? Is this fun for you?”
He shrugs. “Some of it, I admit. It’s not wholly unpleasant. But it’s not a game, Crux. There are very serious consequences if we make a wrong move.” I start to say something, but he holds up a hand with his palm towards me. “Just let me talk. You’ve done nothing but question me for thousands of lifetimes and now that I’m ready to give you answers, all you want to do is interrupt.”
I lean back in the couch again. “Whatever, dude. You’ve got yourself a captive audience, so go for it.”
In that instant the room shifts. We are no longer in the darkness under one light, we’re on Harem Station, up in the harem room. The couches are still here, but we’re not sitting on them. About a dozen Cygnian princesses are and we’re standing off to the side. They are blues, and reds, but mostly golds, wearing skimpy lingerie and laughing as they eat their fruit and sip their fizzy drinks.
When I scan the room I find the Cyborg Master’s red slash of an eye. He starts heading towards me.
“Can he see me?” I whisper.
ALCOR is off to my left, in a much more familiar holographic form. A form he used a lot in the early days but hasn’t bothered with much since the station got busy. Blond hair, blue eyes, my height, my build. Nothing truly spectacular about him other than he’s handsome in an evil-outlaw kind of way.
“Of course he can. You’re not a captive, Crux. And to prove it I’ve brought you home. I had to take you back in time a little. Your station in the present is quite fucked up at the moment. No one wants to be there. But this was the day Corla arrived.”
I don’t even have time to process that because the Cyborg Master is now in front of me. “He’s here.”
“Who?” I ask.
“Serpint. He just came through the gate.”
“You were supposed to warn me.” I say this automatically. Like I’m on autopilot.
“We didn’t realize he was here until the docking crew pinged Booty’s manual transponder.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. The day Corla arrived was the day Serpint came home alone. The day everything started to unravel. “I’ll be right there,” I tell the master.
He nods at me and turns. Then turns back. At the same time a woman is brought into the harem room, kicking and screaming. “Oh. And… this one came in this morning.” He points to the girl, who I now know is Lyra, but seeing her again on that first day when she was still using some chemical concoction to hide her princess status throws me for a moment. “The hunter who brought her in claims she’s a princess. Clearly, she’s not. Should I send her down to the lower levels?”
“No. Give her the test.”
The master looks at me. “Why? That hunter is lying.”
“Just… do it. And if she gets out of hand, restrain her.”
“Whatever you say, Crux.” The master leaves and starts barking orders to the men holding Lyra by the arms.
ALCOR leans in and says, “You cannot change this day.