Placing Ron in a position of authority was one Jessica and the team had debated for some time. In the end, they all had to admit they were still in a system filled with an overabundance of less-savory types. Extortion had been the name of the game here for centuries, and Ron knew many of the players, and what skeletons were in their closets.
Like Brooke. It turned out she had extorted so much money during her ‘inspections’ that she was one of the wealthiest people in the system. She had also tried to charter a ship to get off The Reach the day Derrick was arrested.
Ron had gleefully picked her up and put her in the slammer. It seemed that the two had never been fans of one another.
The hardest thing—at least thus far—had been finding a judge to form the backbone of a fair court system. The Reach had never been a place that engendered trust, and there weren’t many people considered to be fair and impartial.
It was Cheeky who brought the solution—the bartender named Bill. It turned out Bill had always given everyone an ear, and never told any tales. He had informally arbitrated dozens of disputes on the station over the years, and people often came to him for advice.
He had been nervous about the idea, but he was now the system’s one and only Judge. Hopefully, as they established reasonable laws, he would be able to help keep things on an even footing.
<I bet when you got all pissed off about having to clean those tanks, you didn’t expect deposing The Perry to turn into this, did you?> Iris asked.
<I wasn’t thinking much about anything,> Jessica replied. <I was just…I was depressed, honestly. I’d had so much purpose with the kids, raising them, caring for them, teaching them. Then it was like it had never happened. We were just back on the ship, hopping from system to system.>
<You went a little stir-crazy.>
Jessica laughed. <A little?>
<Well, Trevor and I kept you in line…mostly.>
Jessica looked around the large, oak paneled offices, and through the windows at the simulation of Lake Athabasca, and its low waves lapping at edge of the sand dune desert on its southern shores.
<You’re right about one thing, though. I sure didn’t expect this. But who knows how long RHY could take to show—if they even show at all. I think that we need to set a departure date and work toward that.>
Iris nodded in agreement within Jessica’s mind. <I think you’re right. We still have a long road ahead. We can’t linger here forever.>
<Which means I need to get cracking on finding a new Perry or Perina to take over after me,> Jessica replied.
She summoned the list of candidates she’d been going over. The Perry System wasn’t densely populated. A dozen major stations, the largest of which was Ellis Reach with its ten-thousand occupants. All told, the system barely had one hundred-fifty thousand inhabitants.
<Have you considered an AI?> Iris asked.
Jessica bit her lip. She had, but she didn’t think it would work—at least not yet. One of the first things the AIs from Sabrina had insisted on was the liberation and enlightenment of the AIs on The Reach—of which there were seven. Sabrina’s created an expanse, and helped the AIs learn and grow.
The Reach’s AIs had been blown away by how limited they’d been, and how they hadn’t even known. In a matter of days, they had taken up tasks which had helped the people immeasurably, and earned their trust.
Oria was especially good at station management, and had identified and repaired hundreds of failures while working with the maintenance teams to turn The Reach into a top-notch facility.
Jessica had considered offering Oria the job of Perry, but the AI really seemed to revel in managing the systems, and the comings and goings of people insofar as organizing timelines was concerned, but she had no desire to deal with the actual interpersonal conflicts.
<I’ve looked them over,> Jessica said after she’d considered her words carefully. <But I don’t think they’re ready—the AIs, or the people here.>
<You’re probably right,> Iris said after a moment. <Whoever takes this on is going to have a rough time. The AIs are still coming to grips with what it is that they are—dealing with that and managing a whole station full of you crazy organics would be too much. But you’re going to have to find someone soon. It’ll take time to transition them into the role.>
<What do you think about…an election,> Jessica proposed.
Iris snorted. <Do you think these people are ready for self-governance? They have virtually no experience in it.>
<Maybe someone will step forward, someone with the gumption to get the job done. Getting elected by their peers would help them get the confidence boost, versus me just appointing someone.>
<Look at you, all governoring,> Iris said with a smile. <Tanis would be proud.>
Jessica laughed aloud. <Just feels good to finally leave a place in better shape than we found it in.>
<Perina!> Oria interrupted her thoughts. <I have five ships on scan, approaching the station.>
Jessica wondered what had facilitated the alarm. The Perry Strait wasn’t the busiest place in the galaxy, but there were always a few ships on inbound vectors.
<Why the alarm?> she asked.
<They didn’t fly in through the system…they just…appeared.>
“Shit!” Jessica swore. <How far?>
<They’re one AU from Seaway, and not moving too fast. If they maintain their current vector, they’ll be here in…oh, nope, they’re accelerating. I give them four hours.>
<OK, everyone,> Jessica called into Sabrina’s shipnet. <Our guests have arrived. They jumped in. We have four hours until they arrive.>
<Say what?> Cheeky exclaimed. <Four hours? How are we going to be ready in four hours?>
<You better get back down to medical,> Jessica advised. <You’re about to become Retyna Girl.>
JUMP GATE
STELLAR DATE: 05.15.8940 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Perina’s offices, Ellis Reach
REGION: Perry System, Stillwater Nebula, Perseus Arm
“Hot damn, you look good purple!” Jessica said when Cheeky walked into her office.
Cheeky spun and gave a short bow. “Discount Retyna Girl at your service.
Jessica rose to look Cheeky over, nodding with satisfaction. Her skin was purple—though a slightly different shade—as was her hair. She wore tall heels to approach Jessica’s height, and the purple skinsuit made her look curvier than she was naturally.
The best part was the glow. Finaeus had nailed it, specifically by not nailing it. Rather than the variations of Jessica’s bioluminescent glow, Cheeky’s was well-nigh neon. It was both very purple, and very much the wrong purple.
“Finaeus did a great job,” Cheeky said with a wink. “Somehow he made me look as much like a sex-bot as you without having to pull out half my ribs.”
“Hey,” Jessica said, patting her abdomen. “I’m only missing two ribs, not half. Those ones are extra, anyway. How are you managing with all that pesky clothing touching you?”
Cheeky laughed. “Finaeus did something to my sense of touch when he made my skin glow. I can barely feel anything,” Cheeky said as she pushed on her cheeks. “It’s really weird.”
“Yes, well, stop touching yourself like that,” Addie said, shaking her head as she came into the room behind Cheeky. Today, however, Autonomous Human Assimilation Personage wasn’t Addie. She was the new Perina.
The AHAP appeared to be a tall, white-haired woman with a severe expression, and piercing eyes. She exuded power and control in her dark suit.
Although Jessica had worked to ensure that no images of herself had leaked out after she’d seized control. She knew that it would be impossible to hide the fact that a Perina was now in control of the system. Hence the AHAP masquerading as the woman in charge.
“How do you like your office?” Jessica asked.
The new Perina walked around the space, examining it with a critical eye. “I suppose it will do. The décor is not quite to my taste, but we�
��re on a short timeline here.” The Perina stopped and ran a finger along a counter. “Needs to be dusted as well.”
“Finaeus, cut it out.” Cheeky laughed.
“Oh! So you opted not to let Addie run with this herself?” Jessica asked with a raised eyebrow.
Finaeus-Perina nodded. “Addie probably could have—stars, she did you for several days back at Serenity. But I’ve been getting bored. Plus, I wanted to try this out, see how it works. It’s very convincing. I actually feel like I’m in this body. I’ve got a nice set of knockers too.”
“Finaeus. Stop that, it’s unseemly,” Cheeky admonished.
Finaeus-Perina snorted. “I adore you Cheeky, but you live in a glass house when it comes to unseemly.”
Jessica laughed, and Cheeky blushed…or, rather, her neon purple glow took on a slight pink hue.
“Sorry that you have to hide so much, Finaeus,” Jessica replied as she leaned against the desk. “If you weren’t so damn famous….”
“Or infamous.” Finaeus-Perry chuckled. “But thank you, I appreciate the sentiment. It’s nice to go for a stroll and not have to worry about people spotting me. There’s only so much I can do in the small lab I’ve carved out on Sabrina. Especially with how much time we spend in the dark layer. There are a lot of experiments that are far too risky to run in there.”
“I really don’t like that you run experiments aboard the ship at all,” Cheeky said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Cheeky, my beautiful blueberry, I’ve survived for over five thousand years running experiments on nearly every sort you can imagine. I’ve never—well, very, very rarely have I blown up the ship I was on.”
“So much confidence has just not been established,” Cheeky replied.
<The RHY ships are within a light-second now,> Oria advised. <I suppose you’re in charge now, Finaeus?>
“My dear Oria, I’m always in charge,” Finaeus said as he-she sat at the desk and spread his-her hands on the mahogany surface. “Hail them.”
<Of course, grand Perina.>
“Wait!” Jessica called out. “Finaeus, we need guards. You’re not just going to have fake Retyna Girl in here on her own.”
Finaeus frowned. “I suppose not, though I bet I could take her. Especially with Addie’s body. Jessica, go fetch Andy and Karl. They’re in on all this, right?”
“Stars,” Jessica muttered. “Yes. I’ll be in the hall watching over the Link.”
Jessica walked out of the room and beckoned Andy and Karl. “You’re up, guys. Be gentle with Cheeky, she’s not as tough as she likes to think she is.”
“You got it, Perina,” Andy said with a nod. “Kid gloves, that’s us.”
Jessica leaned back against the wall and brought up the room in her mind, watching and praying that Finaeus wouldn’t do anything stupid.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the man, he just had a habit of not taking things seriously enough.
<Kinda like you at the beginning of this little adventure?> Iris asked.
Jessica drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly before responding. <I suppose, yeah. I was a bit blasé, wasn’t I?>
<Reckless would be more like it. You’re lucky Trevor and I are so patient. We both agreed to let you get whatever it was out of your system.>
<I’m starting to feel ganged up on. You talk about me behind my back?> Jessica asked with a quiet laugh. She knew they did. The pair had become close friends over the years, even more so during their time in The Dream.
<Frequently, yeah,> Iris said with a smirk. <Seriously, though, I’m glad that being the Perina has helped you get your head back on straight, even though I would never have guessed that head-straightening would be a possible outcome.>
Jessica laughed aloud. <You know me, give me a star system to run and I perk right up.>
<I’ll keep that in mind.>
Via her monitoring on the Link, Jessica saw that Oria had connected Finaeus and the RHY representative. She set aside her thoughts of how being the Perina had brought her out of her empty-nester’s slump. Maybe she had needed something important to take care of….
In the room next door, Finaeus-Perina said, “Welcome to the Perry System,” as a holographic figure appeared before his desk.
The RHY representative was a man, and bore a striking familial resemblance to Phoebe, the marketing executive they had met in the Naga System.
<My money is on cousin,> Iris commented. <Phoebe said her uncle runs RHY, and I can’t imagine him coming out here to grab you.>
<If they have jump gates it’s not a long trip, though,> Jessica replied.
<Here, no. Back, yes.>
<Unless they plan to make a gate here,> Jessica said, worried that RHY would do just that. No one in the Perry System would benefit from that happening—though it would change the face of trade in the Stillwater Nebula.
<If we couldn’t build one at Star City because of its proximity to the nebula, I don’t see how they could build one in it,> Iris replied
While Jessica and Iris had discussed gates and the man’s relationship to Phoebe, he had responded.
“Greetings Perina. My name is Rath, vice-president of RHY’s R-Bio Division. We received word that you have found the person who was used as the model for Retyna Girl in the Naga System several years ago.”
Rath nodded slowly. “I was wondering if you knew about jump gates out here. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that there were settled systems this deep in Stillwater. It’s very curious.”
“Word tends to get around,” Finaeus-Perina replied. “About jump gates, that is. Even for those of us just trying to scratch out a living out here.”
“So, you said that you have the woman named Jessica, who was injected with our product for her shoot as Retyna Girl. You sent back some very convincing video of her, but now I’d like to see her myself.”
Finaeus-Perina smiled coolly. “I’d like to know what you’re willing to offer in trade for her. From what I saw in the news feeds, you took a very large hit when you lost the Retyna product line.”
Rath snorted. “More than your system pulls in over ten years, I imagine. Now show her to me or we leave now.”
Finaeus-Perina sighed, and waved her hand to indicate Cheeky, who was bracketed by Andy and Karl—who held her arms. Cheeky, for her part, looked exceptionally morose—her hair was disheveled and she slouched in the grip of the guards.
“Show me her face,” Rath said without an ounce of compassion in his voice. Andy reached over and pushed Cheeky’s purple hair aside, then shoved her head back—not too roughly, but enough for Rath to believe she was a prisoner.
“What’s with her skin? Is it degrading? She doesn’t look right at all,” Rath said, turning to someone next to him that wasn’t being projected.
A moment later he pulled another person into view, and Jessica almost laughed to see Phoebe. The woman was alive, which Jessica had hoped wouldn’t be the case after the explosion on Hermes station, but her joy was derived from how mortified Phoebe appeared to be.
“But…we saw vid…she was here! You have to believe me Rath, the person in the vid was her! I don’t know who this girl is, but we have to find Jessica! She has the microbes; I know—”
“I assure you,” Finaeus-Perina interrupted, “this is the same girl. I have Retyna Girl. If you’d just dock and come see her, I’m certain that you’ll realize she’s the genuine article.”
Rath pushed Phoebe back out of view. “That’s it Phoebe. That’s it. Third strike and you’re out. You’ve had me flying oall over the OFA chasing Retyna Girl sightings. And this time we just had to jump into the ass crack of nowhere. You’re finished.”
They could hear Phoebe wail off camera, and Finaeus-Perina spoke up again. “Please, come to the station, see her for yourself. Take sam
ples.”
“Do you take me for a fool,” Rath replied. “So I can become your next hostage? I don’t think so…though I have half a mind to send you Phoebe. Maybe she could do some promotional work for your…whatever it is you do out here. Fuck knows she’s finished at RHY, even if dad does owe your father a favor or two still.” He said the last facing away at where Jessica presumed Phoebe stood.
“I’m open to that, we could use her to—” Finaeus-Perina said, but the connection closed and Rath was gone.
Jessica opened the door and walked back into the office. “I can barely believe that just happened. Did that just happen?”
Cheeky tapped Andy on the arm and winked at him. “You can let me go now.”
Andy coughed and stepped back. “Sorry I was a bit rough there.”
“Rough?” Cheeky laughed before giving Andy a slow wink. “Seriously? That’s not even close to rough.”
“Uhh…I feel very uncomfortable right now,” Andy said and turned to Jessica. “Can we go?”
“Yeah, good work, guys. Take the rest of the day off,” Jessica said and patted them each on the shoulder as they walked past.
<The RHY ships are doing something,> Oria said, a nervous tone to her voice.
Jessica put the view of the five ships on the room’s holoprojector. The ships had all ceased decelerating, and one of them was deploying a series of objects.
<Is it a weapon?> Oria asked.
“No,” Finaeus-Perina replied, his-her eyes widening. “It’s a jump gate.”
Over the next hour, the RHY ships constructed the jump gate, their vector bringing them closer and closer to Seaway. As they watched, the rest of Sabrina’s crew had joined them in the Perina’s office, watching as the RHY ships constructed a doorway home.
“Shit,” Finaeus muttered. “They’re going to let it fall into the planet when they’re done.”
<It’ll take another two hours before it hits the cloud tops,> Oria said.
<I could get there in time if we leave in the next thirty minutes,>