Chapter 50: Moving In Together
"I am here," I said, trying to calm down the frantic Jun Li.
"Where?!?" demanded Jun Li just as I saw the ship appearing out of nowhere. This was the first time that I had ever seen him from the outside and he was incredibly impressive. He looked like a silver version of a cruise ship, only a lot bigger.
The bottom, where I knew was the weapons vaults, plant nurseries and that sort of thing looked like they came to a point, similar to the hull of a giant boat. Then there were about six or ten tiers on top of the hull, all with ports or windows to look out into space. I knew that the top tier was Deck B simply because the command center on Deck A was at the very top of the ship and it was shorter than Deck B by a significant amount.
There were two "wings" at the back where the engines were, but instead of being horizontal like on a plane, these two were vertical.
"Here," I said, bringing the X94 Sisalik fighter craft around to the launch bay.
"How are you flying that thing?" asked Jun Li confused. I really didn’t blame him. There was no way that I would have any idea how to fly something like this originally.
"Sha Shou helped me by pairing the ship’s command to my wrist unit. I guess that is how it is done with the Saalistaja," I said with a shrug as I watched the launch bay doors open.
"Begin docking sequence," said Sha Shou as the craft slowly entered the much larger ship.
"Who the hell is Sha Shou?" demanded Jun Li, clearly not impressed.
"She would be my helmet," I said with a shrug as the fighter craft gently touched down on the deck.
"Do you really think that she deserves a name?" asked Jun Li in a prissy voice as I disembarked.
"I don’t know," I replied with a shrug, "You seem to have been happy getting a name. Maybe I should get her a body too," I continued with a smug smile. The two of them would have to learn to work together in the future. I would not be putting up with so much squabbling and petty fighting.
Jun Li was silent as I left the launch bay and disengaged my armor. I didn’t know what it would do to Sha Shou, but I couldn’t live in the nanos for the rest of my life just to keep her happy either.
"Now," I said as I headed towards my room. I was more than ready for a shower and a really long nap. "Since we have the fighter ship, I think that it is time we headed to Thuzirus and started selling some weapons?"
"I don’t know," snipped Jun Li. "Why don’t you ask your new friend what her opinion is?"
"I think it is a great idea!" said Sha Shou, coming over the speakers, just the same as Jun Li. I paused my steps for a second and waited for the inevitable explosion. And for the record, it wasn’t a tiny one.
"How the hell did you get into my systems?!?" screeched Jun Li and I wished for more than just the first time that I had some way of muting him or removing the earpiece. Unfortunately, that was one of the biggest downsides to having it implanted into my brain.
"What? Like it’s hard?" replied Sha Shou smugly. "And wasn’t it you that tried to infiltrate me first?"
"I was trying to set things up for the human," said Jun Li, and for some reason, I took offense to the name ’human’. It was almost like I was getting designated to a pet status like a cat or a dog. And I was definitely not having that.
"Listen up," I said, having had enough of the two AIs. Even if Sha Shou wasn’t originally an AI, there was no denying that she was now. "I will not be putting up with this behavior from the two of you. If you want to act like children, I will treat you like one. Now, shut up, make up, and don’t make me put you two on a time-out."
I paused for a second, and when neither one said anything, I continued. "I need a way to be able to mute this earpiece and/or the speakers sometimes because I will not put up with your constant bickering. Get your shit together. I will be going to my quarters, taking a very long, hot shower, and when I get out, I expect you two to have reached an agreement and for us to be well on our way to Tatooine or wherever it is that we are going."
"Thuzirus," said Jun Li quietly. "The meetup is on the planet Thuzirus."
"You got my point," I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
"Have a good shower," said Sha Shou sweetly. "We will figure things out between the two of us and be well on our way to the black-market planet by the time you are done."
"Thank you," I said with a sigh as I pressed my handprint to the panel on the right side of the door. There was an answering beep of approval and the door slid open with a hiss.
Stepping inside my room, I waited until the door was closed behind me before letting out the breath that I was holding.
That was, without a doubt, one of the worst things that I have ever done. In fact, I might go so far as to say that I was scared. That was if I understood what the emotion was. Either way, when the ’tiny’ explosion happened, I didn’t think that I would make it back to Jun Li alive and in one piece.
Luckily for me, things worked out in my favor this time. But we all knew my shit luck so I wasn’t going to chance it and do something that stupid again.
Taking off the bodysuit that I had made out of the Kevlar fabric, I walked towards my bathroom and right into a running shower. Everything else could wait.
