Chapter 116: Bad News
"My apologies, Your Excellency," said the Arrainaian as he bowed his head and lowered his trident. "Please, have a safe journey."
Midnight looked down at the smaller creature and curled his top lip in disgust. He was now probably too far behind Merciless to catch up to her now. But that was fine. He knew how to contact her. This would not be the last time they would meet.
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"Jun Li?" I called out as soon as I got into the X94. I didn’t know if I had all of the Nightmares, but I needed to leave now. I looked at the chair just behind me and smiled at the pile of furs.
"Yes?" came the hollow voice of a busy Jun Li.
"How are you at deleting video feeds?" I asked as I buckled myself up. I pressed the one button on the control panel that I knew was the start button.
"You have not been cleared for departure," said Sha Shou 2.0 as I turned around and did a quick head count of the little cuties. 19? No, I must have counted wrong. They were running all over the place and climbing on top of each other, after all.
"Why do you need to have video feed erased?" asked Jun Li, sounding a lot more like his usual self. "Did you do something stupid?"
I looked at the furs behind me that Night was now sitting on. "Can you define something stupid?" I asked hesitantly. It felt like I was trying to sneak into a house after curfew or something.
"You are not cleared for departure," said Sha Shou 2.0 again as I disengaged my armor and let out a sigh. Yeah, I probably did something stupid.
"The space station is currently under attack; I fear for my life," I answered Sha Shou 2.0 in a deadpanned tone.
"Understood. Overriding the clearance orders. Closing rear hatch. Please prepare for a hasty departure," said Sha Shou 2.0, and I could hear sirens going off in the launch bay.
"Sha Shou 2.0, besides myself, can you tell me how many signatures are on board?" I asked, just remembering about the missing Nightmare.
"Excluding yourself, there are 20 signatures on board. Do you want me to erase them again so Jun Li cannot detect them?"
"Yes, please," I said, letting out a sigh of relief. I knew that I had miscounted.
"You did something stupid," chuckled Jun Li. "Impressive, but stupid."
"Did you see the Saalistaja beside me when I did it?" I asked with a smirk of my own.
"That I did. But I have to admit. You are adapting to the lighter gravity better than I thought you would."
"So happy to be able to provide you with a form of entertainment," I replied, wrinkling my nose. "But seeing as the Saalistaja has seen both my face and the armor, could you please get to deleting the video feeds so he can’t find me?"
"You are the one that thought the risk would be acceptable for furs..." said Jun Li haughtily. I swear, if his nose were any higher, he would drown in a rainstorm.
"Actually, they were really nice furs," I whined in my defense, smiling because, for the first time in my life, I actually whined about something.
"I think you are nesting. But I haven’t read of any situation where an actual human has started to nest unless they are in their third trimester of pregnancy. And even then, they aren’t building a nest, but rather cleaning it."
"I hate you," I grumbled under my breath. "I am not nesting. Humans do not nest. I just like furs and think that sleeping in them would be very nice and comfortable and something that I have never been able to indulge in when on Earth."
I was forced back into my seat unexpectantly as Sha Shou 2.0 hit the throttle, and we flew out of the hanger bay and away from the space station. "Might need to put this station on the do not travel list," I said to Sha Shou as I looked at the beauty of space stretched out before me.
I don’t get that feeling when I am in Jun Li because he is so big compared to the number of view screens that show me the outside. But inside the X94, I could feel just how small I was against the vastness of everything.
"Understood. Adding space station P3891 of the Etune Galaxy to the no travel for a while list," responded Sha Shou 2.0.
"Thanks, and once we are a safe distance, feel free to slow down and take the long way to Jun Li," I said as I adjusted the settings on the captain’s chair. I brought my legs up and curled into a ball, resting my head on one of the small wing-like things on the headrest. It was like I was in the middle of a dark night in the country where all you could see was darkness and stars for as far as the eyes could see.
"Scared to come home?" asked Jun Li from where he came from over the speakers. I could see an outline of him off in the distance to my right, but still allowing me the pleasure of experiencing space like this.
"Hardly," I replied with a snort.
"I have some bad news," came Jun Li unexpectantly. Undoing my seatbelt, I got out of my chair, grabbed the black fur, and walked back. Putting back on my seatbelt, I curled up into a ball again and placed the fur over my lap.
"All right, lay it on me," I said with a nod as my hands continued to pet the fur. Sensing that something was off, Night jumped up on my lap and started to purr for attention. With a smile, I began to pet him instead, laughing as he rolled over on his back, his eight legs up in the air. "Let me guess; you weren’t able to erase the videos."
"Hardly; that was done within seconds. They really didn’t have any security against an AI," scoffed Jun Li, and I watched the stars slowly drifting beside me.
