After a moment of consideration Brian found himself chuckling a bit as well. “So how did that work out?” Even as he was speaking with Shia Brian found himself thinking on the ship layout. He wasn't certain what one was the best way to go so he was trying to listen to his instincts. He had been told before and experienced that often the choice that felt the most natural was the best choice.

“Well they decided that as there were more then one of her kind she wasn't lying. To her she wasn't a god. However, to them she was a god. They even developed many philosophical ideas on what a god was and what it meant to be a god or godlike. They used her actions to begin forming a sort of standard and when she tried to keep back they only resolved that respecting others right to develop their own ideas is a godlike action. It was pretty funny a lot of the time but they developed a very interesting culture. Now how are things coming with the ship design?”

For a moment Brian didn't respond but bit down on his lower lip. He had been hoping that during the conversation the answer would come to him. It didn't seem like things were going to become anymore clear then they already were though. “I'd like to look for mineral resources. As great as it would be to find a more advanced technology or something we could use and bring it home I'd much rather be able to say that this technology is ours, something we developed, rather then something we found. That probably isn't entirely accurate though is it.”

“Professor Kanson's design does depend on technology that was shared with humans that is true as well as some you've developed yourselves. I'm glad that you were able to make a decision so soon though.” As she spoke Shia was already forming the design for the ship. So far she had adjusted the detection equipment. “Now that has our scanning equipment taken care of. What else would you like. Oh!” A delighted giggle escaped Shia as Brian proceeded to make several rapid selections. “Now why did you make those choices?”

“Well. We need some cargo space but we don't need a whole lot of it. After all. Our goal is more to find the minerals rather then to collect them. Unless you're more interested in the money. I kind of doubt you are.”

“That's true. What about the engine design?”

“I was thinking that when it came to a mineral search we would need to be able to quickly gate between planets and areas of dense concentrations of dust. So the ability to gate large distances quickly then do a slow scan of a relatively small region seemed like the way to go. If we'd been hunting for dead or sleeping ships I would have gone with the design meant for long periods of travel at moderate speeds. I notice you didn't give me any choice whenever it comes to defenses. Hey Shia is this really how you tend to explore different regions?”

“Indeed it is. I specialize some of my cells for various forms of travel and activities then I split myself up. The only thing I can't part out like that is well my core.”

“Your core?” Despite his previous experience Brian once again risked looking down towards Shia's eye and into her cleavage. He was a bit relieved to find that her arms were now simply crossed over her chest.

“My core is a vital part of my mind and well my energy source as well.”

“Your mind?” It seemed strange. Whenever Brian had first learned of Shia he had almost thought of her as software. Like some nanobots programming she would exist in all of her cells. “You mean you have a group of specialized cells that do the thinking for you?”

“I.” For a moment Shia went silent and lightly flipped her bottom lip. This actually made it easier to think. It was an interesting aspect of her more human body. “It is much like my brain yes. Except that I can't just replace it. It is an essential part of my body. It's not like my other cells if we're still using that comparison.”

For a moment John went silent and considered what Shia had told him. Fortunately she was quiet. He felt a little nervous as he asked his next question. “So if it was destroyed that would kill you?”

“Yes. Well if it can be destroyed even I can't do that. I would say that if my core was separated from me I would die but I'm not sure about that. Is my core part of me and if we're ever separated the being that I am now would die or am I actually my core and I'm simply interpreting and interacting with the world through this form? We don't know that as to test it we'd have to risk killing one of our own and that's not something we're willing to try.”

“So none of you have ever been killed?”

“Nope! We are the only living beings that we know of who have never had a member of our species die.”

Once again Brian was stunned. Shia said that she wasn't a god but with a species description like that it was hard to believe. What other beings could live for who knows how long without a single one of them dieing? It didn't sound possible. “May I know where your core comes from?”

“We're not really sure. Well a bit of my people's history. We were made by another species but we had a disagreement with our makers and well things didn't work out. Our makers didn't make our cores though they found the first of them. Five to be exact. They didn't know where our cores came from either but they learned how to use them. Since then we have found others and proceeded to add to our species as well as study our cores. I mean. I'm studying mine right now. I can't say it's being very enlightening.”

“Hey is that one of the reasons you're so eager to find new stimulants!” It felt like a flash of light had gone off in Brian's head. He felt Shia's body positively tremble and heard it whenever her hands smacked either side of her head as if to hold it still.

“You are just so neat! That's part of it yes but it seems to seek out companionship is part of our nature as well! Now for a long time we believed that we could only find cores that already existed but two thousand seven hundred thirty seven years ago one of us gave birth as it were. Her core suddenly began to act strangely and her personality changed a little bit then one of my sisters core became two and we added a new member to our species after studying the new cores very carefully.”

“Are you that one?”

“No!” A slight chuckle escaped Shia as she turned away from the storage area and began to walk once again. “My core was found adding onto a star a bit before that.”

It seemed a lot to take in. When Brian had first began speaking with Shia and learned what she was capable of there was a strange feeling that there was nothing she didn't know. Yet she felt so comfortable talking about her core as some kind of alien technology. “Are you trying to trick me Shia? This is all pretty hard to believe.”

“Well shouldn't this entire thing be hard to believe? Perhaps I put you to sleep and hooked you up to a simulation. I could be no.” Shia found it hard to keep herself from laughing as she felt a shift in Brian's brainwaves. It wasn't that his thinking had changed but he was attempting a few thought patterns that would help in breaking free of a simulation. “You know those don't insure that you're not in a simulation.”

“Yeah but it's better then not doing anything. My brain hurts now.” Even Brian was made to chuckle while he rubbed his forehead. Shortly after telepathy had been learned people had began trying to find ways to resist it. They were now considered a form of self defense and at times even necessary for conducting business. You wanted to be sure you were agreeing to something of your own free will and not a carefully implanted thought. In general such techniques let you shrug off the affects of a telepathic command sooner rather then completely resist.

It would have been easy for Shia to form a path strait to her core. Instead she was taking a longer way around so that she could speak with Brian more before he saw it. “I'm going to go ahead and tell you with your perception my core isn't going to look impressive at all. So don't get your hopes up. If you were to see it on a planet you'd probably think it was a strange structure and little more then that.”

“Can I touch it?”

“In certain places yes just don't touch where I'm drawing or sending energy from. I'm not sure which it is. Oh! I'm going to warn you in advance though if anything strange happens to you, even things that I can't undo, while you're touching my core I am not responsible for them. Well I may be. I'm not consciously responsible for them and I do not promise compensation.”

“Hey I thought you said it was safe!”

“It is as far as I know. Our attempts to gather information about our cores have been limited though.”

“How?”

“Well we know that they respond to certain stimulants in a certain way. That's how we're built around them. However, when we try to gather deep information such as what they're made of we start getting a big blank. Imagine a primitive society coming upon a nanite factory with a very user friendly program running it and a massive power source. They learn they asking for bread results in it giving them bread and asking for iron results in them being given iron far more pure them they can make. Yet they don't know what's going on inside of the factory and whatever the factory is made of they can't find a means of opening it up. Not that we've tried very hard.”

“I can understand that. If your energy comes from your cores you could end up releasing quite an explosion if it is simply storing that energy rather then generating it. Do you have any fears?”

“At times I fear that my core is actually a type of organism we simply can't understand and I'm actually a parasite that's feeding on the life of another sentient being.” Shia felt it whenever Brian once again began to lean forward to better see her face. In response she pushed her breasts together making them appear larger though she kept her hands away from her nipples to keep her attentions from being too obvious. The objective was to achieve an innocent pose. She registered a response in Brian but it wasn't as strong as she had expected.

“That's a very depressing thought!”

“Well you asked for my greatest fear. That's my current greatest fear I admit it's influenced by this body I'm currently using. It will change whenever I alter my form further. Here we are.” As she spoke Shia opened up some of her larger body and stepped into a large room.

What first caught Brian's eye was a sort of crystal like fluid in the center of the room. At first he thought light was going through it and being refracted when he realized it was the only light source in the room. At anyone moment it appeared to be solid but then it would swell up or sink in gentle waves and seemed to flow. The fact that its mass appeared to be changing registered soon after as did the way the lights seemed to dance within the fluid crystal. Several large pillars extended towards the crystal though he couldn't see anything actually touch it or leaving it. “Is that your core?”

“Yes it is.” Shia wanted to ask Brian some questions but she wanted to see his response first.

“I can't see any energy being transferred where are the safe sites?”

“You can't see the color spectrum. Just stay away from the pillars and you'll be fine. Not that I would let you anywhere near them to begin with.” Shia gave a slight chuckle. It wasn't as if Brian's safety was even up to him. Even if he wanted to touch one of her power conduits she wouldn't permit it.

“The colors are beautiful but.”

“You should see the full electromagnetic spectrum. It's even more beautiful.”

“You've looked at it with human eyes?”

“I did just now. It was rather limiting. Would you like to see it through mine?”

Brian once again found himself feeling rather uncertain. He'd linked minds with Shia several times at this point. Rather then answer her question he had to ask. “Are you sure that you've seen how it truly looks? What if your eyes aren't even advanced enough to see the full spectrum?”

“I've tested that actually! I can refine my eyes further though that means giving up on other functions. You're actually right to assume even I haven't seen my core for its full self.”

Brian and humanity as a whole wasn't truly unfamiliar with this situation. They had found technology that was far beyond their own as they began exploring planets and even had some of it given to them. One gift had taken over twenty years for them to fully understand. It actually seemed to make Shia less godlike. They were an alien species whose technology was depending on a piece of alien technology that was far more advanced then anything they could build. On some levels it sounded reckless but Brian also considered how humans had depended on the sun for so long. “So I'm going to be the first human to touch your core?”

“Yes you are. You're going to be the first first human to touch me that way. Well you're actually the first human to touch me.” Shia's grin didn't show any signs of going away as she teased Brian a bit. As she reached up and took hold of him she unwrapped her hair from around him. “I'm just going to say in advance if this injures you I'll repair the damage. If it kills you. Well you'll be the first person that has ever died from touching my core so that's highly unlikely. In the event that it does kill you is there anything you'd like to have done?”

There was no fear on Brian's part. When one hundred or however many different species came into contact with something and it didn't hurt them it was fairly likely it wouldn't hurt you. Given Shia's behavior so far he was certain she wouldn't let him anywhere near her core if she thought it'd kill him. “If it does kill me don't start experimenting on other humans to find out why. Well no harmful experiments and even then they have to be volunteers. That and could you send my family some money as a final good bye from me?”

A soft chuckle escaped Shia as she nodded her head. “Sure. I had one companion that asked me to make a star in his honor.”

“That's a bit too dramatic for my taste.” By now Shia had set him on her fingertip and Brian had set down. As she elevated him towards her core he could feel something pushing against his body and even sinking into it. The feeling wasn't bad but rather warming. “Okay Shia I'm feeling something like well. Happy light.”

“You mean like a telepath inducing pleasure in you?”

To this Brian shook his head in the negative. “No. It's more like I feel like I'm being healed except I'm in good health. Is that something I should be alarmed about?”

“Yay! And no. That doesn't always happen but it has happened before. It's actually a really positive sign. Those companions I've had who feel such positive energies near my core tend to be quite pleasant to have around.” Shia didn't quite touch her core but she held Brian just close enough so that he could. She had to constantly move her finger to maintain her current distance from her core as ripples continued to move over its surface.

For a moment Brian just looked on. He knew that Shia's core wasn't reflecting light at this point. While it looked like it might reflect light he couldn't see his reflection in it despite it's high gloss surface. Her core produced light it didn't reflect it. Despite his intentions though he found himself having to more push his hand towards her core then reach towards it. He didn't know what to expect. As his hand grew closer to her core he expected to feel the temperature increasing but he couldn't feel any change in it. After a moment in which he simply held his hand still he finally reached out and touched it then quickly leaped into a standing position. “What was that!”

It was impossible for Shia to keep her concern hidden. Immediately she pulled Brian back from her core being careful to counter the force of inertia so she wouldn't harm him. She had already examined his body and knew that he hadn't been damaged which meant that it must have been a telepathic response. “What? Is something wrong?”

“No. I just wanted to see what you'd do if I pretended to feel something.” Brian didn't even try to hide his laughter as a look of shock appeared on Shia's face.

Shia could have pushed her shock aside but she took a moment to hold onto it and roll it around in her mind. Feeling such a thing through her version of a human body was interesting. Amusement came soon after and she soon found herself laughing along with Brian. She had been applying stimulus after stimulus to him in order to discover how he would respond. It seemed that he had decided to apply a stimulus to her as well. His was a bit more of an aggressive one but she accepted it. “Well. That's a little disappointing now that I'm calm enough to realize it.”

Brian glanced up at Shia's face for a second and continued to smile before he turned back to her core. “So how did your creators end up developing the first of your kind? I doubt that they went in trying to develop an intelligent being.”

“No. They weren't. They found a few of our cores and began to experiment on them. I mean. If you found a material that you couldn't destroy no matter what you did wouldn't you want to learn about it? Just think of what it could do as armor.”

“True.”

“Eventually they found out that applying certain energies they got a response. They soon began working on how to tap into the energy produced or perhaps contained within our core. It just so happens that the system required to do so ended up producing a sentient being whenever they were finished. Well as much as they finished.”

“I take it the first of your people did some work on herself.”

“Once she became capable of doing so yes which was before our makers realized what was happening. Though I'm not sure makers are the right word for it.” Shia went silent and turned the eyes of her humanoid body towards her core for a moment before giving a shrug. “So is there anything else you'd like to try?”

“No thanks. I'm good. I am curious how far away from your core can you be and still receive energy?” Brian felt a little strange as he noticed Shia chuckling. “What?”

“Distance doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is how many cells I have dedicated to receiving the energy. This is also why there is no slow down in my thought processes even for portions of my body that are away from my core.”

“So you can transfer the energy and information instantly?” Brian actually felt his head hurting a bit whenever Shia shook her head no.

“No. It's just that. The cells that I use to interact with my core are capable of being in more then one place at the same time. So while they're with the part of my body that's off exploring they're also with my core. So there is no need to transfer the energy to them as they're still here.”

For a moment Brian said nothing. He wasn't certain he actually wanted to continue pressing the issue. After a few minutes of silence he made up his mind. “Could you try to explain that to me?”

“Sure!”

***********************************************************************************

April 6th – 3 hours later

Brian had given up on trying to understand how Shia's core functioned at least in detail. Given all the abilities she had it seemed like the best choice. She had insisted that if he'd allow her to modify his body and especially his brain he'd be able to understand but he'd declined. He still wasn't certain if he wanted to have her cells inside of him. It was actually something of a relief to find himself setting in front of a holoterminal practicing using the scanning equipment that Shia was preparing for the expedition. It was a bit surprising as well. For a while he'd wondered if he would actually be doing any work or if the equipment would handle it all on its own. “Okay I believe I found a promising location. Now I just set it as our destination and now what?”

Currently Shia was setting in the hanger section of her main body with Brian setting atop her right leg. While he had been focusing on learning to use the equipment she'd began putting together the portion of herself they'd be using to explore. She was including a series of human sized passages in the design with user support in mind so that Brian could move around within her and not feel like he was being carried. He could walk but the ground itself would move as well and in truth be responsible for the majority of his locomotion. “Well you selected full speed which really makes it hard to scan anything else accurately. Are you sure you should have done that?”

“Well now that you're asking no.” For a moment Brian went silent and looked back over his readings. “I see. As we passed by we could have examined a few other locations if I hadn't chosen such a high speed. Well let's see what about slowing down a bit.” Brian was a bit surprised whenever his interface suddenly flashed red and a warning popped up. “I see. Suddenly slowing down or speeding up is bad whenever we're talking about moving such large masses at such high speeds.”

“People don't tend to appreciate it whenever you leave ruffles in the fabric of space or time. They show up poorly if at all on many species sensors and have a tendency to cause serious problems whenever they hit them. Plus they can take time to straiten out.”

“That makes sense but we only just began moving. Surely you haven't reached those kinds of speeds yet.” Even though they weren't actually traveling anywhere Brian found himself working with the control interface trying to find out the exact consequences of his actions.

“In this case that's true. I wouldn't have even began really moving at this point or I could end up flinging the planets we're exploring out of orbit. Okay no red interface.” As she spoke Shia shifted the interface back to its standard display. She didn't intend on telling Brian every time he made a mistake but this time she'd let it pass as it was practice.

“Thanks. So what am I going to be doing whenever I'm not examining readings for valuable minerals?” So far Brian had been doing a good job of not thinking about how he was setting on Shia's leg. He was beginning to wish that he had something to lean back against though.

“You know if you moved further up my thigh could lean back against me.”

“Hey! Are you reading my mind?” Now Brian turned around and found himself looking up at Shia's face. This proved to be something of a task due to her rather noteworthy chest.

For a moment Shia just grinned. “No. I'm just reading your body language. Well if you don't want to lean against my thigh how about this.” As she spoke Shia had quickly formed a smaller version of her body one just a little taller then Brian. He didn't even seem to realize what was happening until he felt something lean against his back and glanced over his shoulder looking directly into her smiling face as she looked over her shoulder.

Currently Brian found himself setting back to back with a smaller version of Shia. The speed with which she had produced the smaller body nearly made him stand up but he was able to keep himself grounded. His grin tried to grow further as he noted that this smaller Shia was also using an holoterminal. It was actually quite a surprise that she didn't have him leaned back with his head snuggled into her cleavage given her previous behavior. She had promised that she would stop trying to seduce him and it seemed like she was holding herself to it. Though with how she spoke at times he wondered how well. “That's um. Yeah that's fine. Hey Shia are you just taking your time with making this exploration vessel? You tend to make things so quickly.”

“That depends entirely on what I'm working on and the resources I have on hand. I'm not dedicating all the sources I could to its construction.”

“Yeah. You mentioned earlier that you're having some conversations even now. Okay so back to the simulation.  Wouldn't the captain normally be the one to decide what areas we go search and how quickly?”

“Yes but we don't really have one of those. After all I'm the ship and you're the exploration and procurement officer.”

Brian gave his head a slight nod. “You know we never talked about what kind of hours I would be working either.”

“Well you can work as many hours as it takes to get the results that you want.” Shia didn't intend to force too much structure on Brian. The exploration wasn't her main interest after all. “You're beginning to wonder if you're really suited for setting at an interface for hours on end several days in a row just scanning different regions of space.”

“Yeah but also what about linking our minds together? You had me practice that earlier.”

“We can do that right now! There is no need to use the terminal you simply expressed a desire to have more space. If you want to link your awareness to my own and try working through that I'd be delighted to!” That hadn't come out right. Shia preferred to have her companions link their minds directly with her own. It allowed a level of stimulation that couldn't be achieved otherwise. However, most were uncomfortable with such things. Brian had done well his first few times but also seemed a bit fearful and uncomfortable.

Brian had indeed stiffened up seeing how positively Shia had responded to his suggestion. He hadn't considered that she might be taking it easy on him. “Well. You showed pretty clear intentions to have me work using mental interface. I just wondered about that. Even whenever it came to designing the ships basic layout you used a mental interface.”

“Darn. I hoped that you wanted to use a mental interface rather then using this slow clunky method.”

For a moment Brian was silent. “I'm not sure if my head has fully recovered from the last mental interface. I hope you don't take this as complaining but I guess it is. When I was taking classes to be involved in space exploration I imagined it as being a bit more exciting. Do people really just set at holoterminals for hours on end like I'm doing?”

“Well most of them listen to music while they're going it. Those who are really good at mental processing might even watch a show while performing their responsibilities. I guess you spent more time in your classes focusing on what happens when something is detected. Then determining if it's worth going to investigate and how to compensate for environmental problems. That is important but based on my own experience. As in when I'm searching worlds by myself. You spend roughly ninety percent of your time looking for something worth investigating and then ten percent actually investigating it. Yeah that is right according to James.”

“James? Oh! You're talking to someone right now aren't you?”

“He has the same job as you but they're hunting for atmospheres that could be easily turned into reactor fuel. He works for in energy production.  Now he's talking about how it's been three weeks and they've only had two promising hits but not promising enough to go look at. They sent some drones to examine the location for them. He recommends you find some music you enjoy listening to and just get into the flow of things. That and having someone to speak to helps.”

Once again Brian felt warning bells going off. “Hey! Is that why you chose this game?”

A delighted chuckle escaped Shia as she nodded her head. “One of the reasons yes. This is one of those jobs that insures you're going to have lots of time to talk to and interact with me. Oh James said that if you want a job that keeps you busy find work in basic repairs or none critical system repairs. Apparently someone is always messing something up.”

“Don't machines handle that?”

“I don't even need to ask him about that. Repairing the machines that handle the repairs are often one of your primary responsibilities. You always want a few people on ship that can handle repairs in the event the machines that handle the repairs break down. If you're not working on something small you're helping the official mechanics with their job. It's actually how many people find work as a ship mechanic they begin working in none critical systems until they have enough of a reputation and experience to move up. Unfortunately I can't really let you work on repairing me. Oh! V'ban also says you'll be grateful for these times of quiet whenever the real work begins. Especially if you're hunting for dead ships. Guess who's responsible for scanning them and making sure they're actually dead?”

“I read about that in class. It made mention of the Allure find. Some explorers found a dead warship which turned out to be a lot less dead then they believed.” As Brian spoke he was actually thinking of the safety Shia was providing him with. They were a lot of dangers that he would typically be responsible for noticing and informing the captain of. You didn't just find minerals on a world you also needed to find possible dangers.

“In your case V'ban says you need to keep an eye out for illegal gathering operations. Keep in mind even if a region of space isn't settled someone has typically claimed it and will expect a fee to be paid. Well you don't have to worry about that where we're going to be exploring no one has a true claim.”

“Isn't that known as. We're so far out I'd like to see you try to enforce it?”

“Yes but it is quite acceptable in terms of your species laws.”

Brian gave a slight chuckle before nodding his head. “That's true but that's because if we tried to honor everyone's claims we wouldn't be able to get off our planet. The Yazen like to claim as they were the first to achieve space flight in the galaxy then everything in it that isn't a species home world is rightfully theirs.”

“They're lieing about that.” Before continuing Shia leaned a bit more firmly back against Brian with her smaller body and leaned her head back on his shoulder. “I also remember someone finding it very amusing whenever they tried to force those laws on the Zarog.” As she spoke Shia brushed the side of her head against Brian's jaw for a moment. She chose to keep her grin hidden as she felt him shiver a bit and quickly set up. She needed to keep her actions friendly or he might accuse of her of breaking her promise.

“I uh.” Brian felt like his head was in a fog and he couldn't see where he was going or think of what he wanted to say. Once Shia set up his mind was able to catch up to the wrest of him. “It's not like I was happy with the loss of life. I was pretty amused that the Yazen were shown they can't just push other nations around. It really seemed stupid that they even tried. Sure the Yazen achieved space travel fairly early but they live on a low gravity planet and the Zarog had quite an advantage in both their weapons and defensive technology. You say they're lieing though.”

“They're numerous species that developed effective space travel before they did. The Telesi achieved effective space travel centuries before they did. You humans did as well. I guess they didn't really cover them in your studies.”

“No. I just knew they believed that they achieved effective space travel first and thus owned the entire galaxy.”

Shia gave a slight snort as a display of annoyance. “No Brian. They don't believe that. They say that in order to justify their claims and their hostile actions towards others. Well you can't be expected to know the history of every species you share the galaxy with. You have more important things to learn.”

To this Brian gave a nod. “So you'll be handling the roll of legal operations officer as well?”

“Yep! Your knowledge of interstellar law is skeletal at best after all. I like to be careful when it comes to who I offend.”

“Really? Shia I know I haven't known you for long but I can't see you offending anyone.”

“Ah! Thank you! I try to be polite and respectful towards the cultures of others.” For a moment Shia changed the display of Brian's terminal into an image of her face smiling at him before quickly changing it back. “It's impossible to avoid offending everyone though even for me. Some simply become upset over your existence alone after all. When you consider my destructive potential my existence is actually a violation of several arms agreements as well.”

Brian actually found himself caught a bit off guard by Shia's admission. He knew that she was powerful. However, the idea that she might have enough destructive potential to violate a few treaties hadn't really sunk in. “Well don't those only apply to nations?”

“Technically yes but that's only because no one believed someone could have such destructive ability whenever the laws were being written. I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone else. You're doing a good job with those scanners. Your classes prepared you well.”

“Thanks.” As Brian watched the screen he relaxed a bit and lowered his hands to either side of him. As he placed his palms against Shia's skin he was made to remember that she wasn't just setting behind him. He was actually setting on top of her right thigh. His body tensed up for a moment but he forced it to relax. “So you really plan on carrying me around like this?”

“I would prefer to. If it makes you uncomfortable though I can use a smaller body to interact with you.” Shia had noticed how Brian had become more relaxed whenever he had a version of her the same size as him. As strange as it felt to use such a small fragile body to interact with someone the benefits were clear. Even if he didn't ask her to she would have to make it a point to keep a human sized version of herself around him.

“No. It's fine. I'm just wondering how certain things are going to work.”

“Brian while you're waiting for your scans to give some more details would you like to play a game or perhaps watch a video of some type?”

“What do you have to watch?” Brian felt a little silly whenever he heard Shia chuckle.

“Unless you want to create a mental pathway with me that would take a little too long for me to answer. I have a wide assortment of memories both fictional and true that you could enjoy. Then again I suppose I shouldn't distract you too much from your job. How about we begin with some nice music?”

“That sounds good.” It surprised Brian whenever a rather upbeat song met his ears. There were no words at least no words that he could make out but it was rather energetic and even a bit exciting. After a moment of listening to it he even caught himself lightly smacking Shia's thigh in tune with the song. “What is this?”

“It's a little something I've been working on based on your preference in music.” Shia had been tweaking her tone of voice before to better excite Brian. She had slowed down such practices in accordance with his request. Fortunately she could still work through the music. She couldn't use anything that was too seductive at the moment or her intentions would be revealed so she had opted for something that would excite him in other ways. She rather disliked it whenever his hand went still though she was happy whenever his fingers returned to her skin.

“It's nice. So you made this for me?”

“Yes I did.” First she would need to get Brian focused on his work again so that he wasn't thinking too much about what his hands were doing. Then she could use the music to encourage certain actions and emotions. As she considered the song Shia was beginning to modify her shirt. Brian would notice if she were to suddenly expose the underside of her breasts but she could shorten and tighten the shirt. Once he had adjusted to the new dimension she would then go further until she began to expose more of her skin to him once again.

Brian actually found himself bobbing his head to the music before looking towards the screen again. “Now are you going to be adjusting the music to find what sounds improve my productivity the most?”

“Well I wouldn't be being true to my nature if I didn't. Are you by any chance ready to try a mental link again?”

“Not just yet. It hasn't even been an hour since the last one.” Brian didn't quite know what to think whenever he felt some of Shia's hair brush against his face. Rather then say anything he turned back to the screen. Currently they were still in transit to their next location and he had to remind himself they were traveling a great distance. The journey Shia had casually agreed to would have normally taken well over a week. His instruments told him that it was going to take them less then thirty minutes. “Shia I'd normally have to gather a lot more information before we took a journey like this wouldn't I?”

“Yes. You'd also have far less help processing the information and have to make sure the information is good. Though you'd also normally have others working with you to do that. You'd also need to consider fuel. Long journey's are simply too expensive to take repeatedly and not find anything.” As she spoke Shia brought up some additional information on Brian's readout.

“That's. Shia I believe that we've got combat. Oh crap yeah we've got combat.” Brian chuckled a bit. If this hadn't been a simulation he wouldn't have found it funny in the least. From his readings though he was certain that two other ships had come out of faster then light travel ahead of them and began fighting. “What else can you tell me about them? Er wait! Shia I believe two ships have come out of faster then light travel and are fighting in our path. What do you want to do?”

“Huh? Why are you asking me?”

“Well you're the captain.”

“I'm not the captain I'm the ship.” As she spoke Shia's little body set up a bit further and turned to face Brian. He'd done the same. She didn't try to remove her smile.

“You're a lot more then the ship. You have clearly claimed responsibility for the ship's crew and that's the captain's job.”

“No. That's the medic's job. I mean. Just look at the way you chose our next destination. Clearly you're more of the captain them I am.”

“I made a suggestion you're the one that chose to accept it. I can't take command of any of your systems and a captain would have a manual override.” Please don't give me a manual override shot through Brian's mind much to his surprise. It was a strange thought but being responsible for Shia's actions seemed a bit frightening to him. “We don't have time to argue about this anyway. We need to decide what we're going to do.” As he spoke Brian turned back to the screen. “From what I can tell one of the ships is lightly armed but very large this suggest a merchant ship. The other is smaller and heavily armed. I believe we're dealing with a pirate situation. We need to call the authorities but given our location should we stop and help or go around?”

“Spoken just like a captain except for that last part.”

Brian gave a slight grunt in response to Shia's comment and turned to face her. Rather then look at her smaller body though he turned his attention to her massive one. “Spoken like an exploration officer. Now you brought up the scenario what are we going to do?” In truth Brian would want to stop and help in such a situation. There could be more to the situation then he realized but that could wait until later.

“In this case we're going to stop and disable both of the ships. Then we're going to find out exactly what is going on. Begin looking at the estimates as far as the damage we're going to cause to time and space in the region and then plan the best stopping pattern quickly.” Shia continued to grin when Brian turned back to his screen. He didn't notice that she'd changed the music a bit on him.

“Let's do this using a mental interface I can work faster that way and lives might be in danger.” Brian had to fight back the urge to collapse as he felt Shia once again connect directly to his mind. When he tried to pull himself back up it was a surprise when he felt like he was being lifted. Likely Shia was providing him with additional support but he didn't have time to worry about that. It was amazing how much clearer the data appeared to him and he was able to work through it. He didn't hear Shia's response with his ears this time.

“That's an acceptable stopping pattern. Once it's done we're going to need to spend about a quarter of an hour in the region so I can make sure the damage to space is repaired.”

“Repairing damage to space itself is only a fifteen minute job for you?”

“That depends entirely on the amount of damage done. If I had to use the body that picked you up on the space station this would be a problem. We would be there for days while I repaired the damage and it would be much more dangerous.” As she spoke Shia was already doing the stop in the simulation. Brian was actively working to monitor the situation. Shia couldn't help but send him some jolts of pleasure thanks to him prompting her to create a mental connection with him. She wanted to reward him for his efforts.

“So have the two other ships began communications with us yet?”

“I tried but they haven't responded. The ship that we believed was under attack is however a Yazen ship. I'm currently going through their records as well as the records of the pursuit ship to find out what's happening.”

“Wait. That means you're already hacking their systems!”

Now Shia gave an amused chuckle. “Yes I am. I prefer to be well informed during these situations even if I have to look at some private information.” While what she said was true Shia wondered how Brian would respond to this situation. What she was doing was technically an attack on both ships. Given that she had disabled them both she had already attacked them both of course even if no permanent harm had been done. 

“Shia you stopped the ships from attacking one another in order to prevent them from killing one another. Just because you can hack through their security easily doesn't make looking into their private information right though. I'm going to have to protest against this path of action.” Brian risked glancing behind himself and noticed the look Shia was giving him. It didn't surprise him that she was grinning. He still nearly jumped to his feet whenever she proceeded to lean forward bringing her face closer to him and giving him an even better view of her chest which looked like it might come down on top of him.

“Now how do you intend to do that?”

Even as he had been speaking Brian had been considering his options. Fortunately he already had a response prepared. “I'm afraid I'm going to have to report you to the authorities whenever we return to human controlled space. What you've done is going well beyond reasonable intervention.”

“Report me! Don't you think that's a bit much. It's not like they'd ever know I hacked them.” As she spoke Shia pushed a good deal of concern into her voice. She didn't mean to be sarcastic but rather she wanted to play with Brian. She was curious how far he was willing to take his disagreement.

“I don't believe I have any choice in this matter. I'm not sure if I can work with someone who ignores the T.A.G.B. Guidelines so openly. What we should do is open up communications with both ships and contact the nearest police or ship with the authority to handle this situation legally.” Brian felt a little silly whenever he heard Shia chuckle and realized his mistake. “Except we could be months away from one of them actually getting here.”

“Yes.”

“Then we should request to be deputized and do this the proper way. I know we're not in human controlled space so we're technically not bound by those laws but the T.A.G.B guidelines were established so that we could always return to human controlled space as well.” Brian was curious how Shia would actually respond to this. She did seem fond of testing him. Right now she also seemed to be testing if he could avoid looking at her cleavage which was many times deeper then he was tall while speaking with her. So far he was failing horribly.

After a moment Shia's lips parted into another open smile. “Brian you're such a fun companion to have around. Fine. I'll detain the ship while we gather information and get an official decision on what we should do. Oh except it isn't earth sending us the official decision. It seems we've got the attention of the Zarog! Do you remember what the T.A.G.B. say about this situation?”

“We have to take into consideration how close we are to their territory and their presence in the region which means.” Brian took a moment to check his readings. Instead of looking at the screens though he simply tried to remember the information and felt it flow into his mind thanks to the mental link. “Oh boy. I guess we go with the Zarog's decision.”

“You guess?”

“Fine! It's just well.” Brian gave a slight sigh. The Zarog could have some very harsh and permanent punishments whenever it came to pirates and to a Zarog any star ship that was used in theft primarily was a pirate ship. “What is their decision?”

“Hack the records and send them a copy of the data as well as any communications with the crew of either ship. They'll make a ruling then. As we have been deputized by the Zarog military we are to be prepared to execute any and all that are determined to be pirates. Oh they appreciate our cooperation and give permission to destroy either of the ships if they should somehow resume hostility against us.”

Brian knew that Shia wasn't actually speaking with the Zarog. Yet the situation she described was very fitting for them. There was something wrong with it. He just needed a moment to put his finger on it. “No way. Even if they're considerate pirates there is no way you'd execute someone that doesn't pose an immediate danger especially after you disarmed them.”

“Ah! You got me.”  Shia took on a more relaxed pose as she set back up and leaned back a bit with her larger body. Her smaller held its position in order to continue offering Brian support once he settled back down. “I just wanted to play around a bit and see how you would handle a pirate situation. I had hoped that you'd take more of a leadership roll on it. My standard method of dealing with such things would be to detain the pirates and hand them over to the appropriate authorities. I determine who the appropriate authorities are based on our location and who they attacked. For example let's say it had been a human ship instead. I would want to contact the Terran Alliance.”

Brian had noticed whenever Shia change the readout for the ship for that of a human one. “Would you consider turning over Yazen pirates to Yazen authorities and letting them be judged by their own people? The greatest justice isn't always served by handing someone over to their victims after all.”

“It isn't always served by handing them over to their own people either.”

Brian gave his head a nod in agreement. “That's true.”

“I would consider it though but I'm afraid I don't put much trust in the Yazen government.”

“If we're talking about justice wouldn't a being that's lived tens of thousands of years if not more so and encountered many other species and cultures be a better judge of what's just.” It surprised Brian whenever Shia gave a slight chuckle.

“That's a dangerous kind of thinking. I'm older then you so my justice is right and yours is wrong is a way for someone to become corrupt very quickly. I'm already a little uncomfortable with deciding who I should hand the offender over to. After all I know what the Zarog are most likely going to do to the pirates. If I were to kill them it might even be seen as a mercy.” Shia gave a bit of a sigh and slowed down on working on the parts of her body she would be using to take Brian exploring and dedicated more of the energy to thinking on the ethics of her current situation.

“So you're not fond of passing judgment on other species?”

“Well. That depends on what you consider passing judgment. I don't have any trouble deciding on who I want to help and I feel no shame or guilt when I choose not to help someone. Now I'm talking about in terms of sharing technology or providing resources. That kind of judgment I have no trouble passing. However, deciding to kill someone that's a lot more difficult. I don't want to be the monster or the god that passes judgment on others. I want to nurture and experience other life forms.” Shia actually felt herself blushing a little bit as she talked about this subject. She felt excitement talking about it but also a form of relaxation.

“So what about our current situation? Do we take the ships and their crew on a several months journey? Part of this scenario is we're too far out for us to travel to the Zarog authorities. You know if you brought the crews and especially the ships to them in a matter of hours they'd respond to how quickly you made the journey. I'm pretty sure you're avoiding making your abilities too well known just yet. Would it be alright if we shut down the mental connection as well? My head is beginning to feel strange.”

“I want you to help decide! You know you're going to have to do some real work.”

“Hey now. Setting at a terminal for hours on end is real work.” As he spoke Brian felt the mental connection with Shia cut off. Certain facts began to rapidly fade from his mind and for a moment he couldn't really think. It felt as if he had become significantly dumber in an instant and with that there was a feeling of frustration and discomfort. Part of him missed the knowledge. He noted Shia giving an open sigh.

“I can't wait until you're more comfortable touching me so I can maintain the link longer. Now Brian you're one of the officers on this ship which means you have to be involved in the decision making and this is a big one.”

Did she have to say it that way? Brian felt his body responding to Shia's words despite his head still being in something similar to a fog. “I'm the only crew member in you though.”

“That doesn't change the fact that you're an officer and I want your input.”

“Because you're the captain?”

“I am not the captain.” Shia gave a slight chuckle and stuck her tongue out at Brian for a moment. He was going to have to do better then that if he wanted her to make a mistake and admit to being the captain. “This is a partnership in which we make decisions as a team.”

“I vote to make you the captain then.”

“Sorry but your half the vote isn't enough to overrule mine using the standards set forth by the T.A.G.B.”

Brian gave a slight snort before taking a moment to rub his head and think. “Could we hold the pirates until we can hand them over to the Zarog authorities? But Shia. What if the Zarog already ruled that the pirates are to be executed. Sense you were deputized by them you can't just ignore them It'd be like ignoring the orders of a superior officer.”

“That's not entirely true. There is room for negotiation. If I can deliver the pirates to the authorities safely that is acceptable. However, by contacting the Zarog and becoming involved with them it's true that I have agreed to follow their rulings and their laws. If they give a direct order though.” Shia took in a breath to give her and Brian a pause. “Yes. There could be legal consequences for such actions that could hinder my ability to operate in Zarog controlled space. That said. I wouldn't be the first that had been insubordinate about such things. They tend to actually let things slide so long as you didn't make the situation worse. Which I suppose we might have. The Zarog ship was about to destroy the pirate one.”

“I had almost forgotten that part.”

“Yeah. Now if we had saved the Zarog ship from the pirates the situation would be different. With the path that we've chosen though I would have to destroy the pirate ship or execute its crew if those were the orders.”

Brian gave a slight shiver. He had learned before that this kind of situation could come up. He had even been forced to debate the ethics of certain actions. It wasn't just a matter of ethics in many cases they were also consequences. “It kind of reminds me of a debate I had in class. We were the ones attacked by pirates and we managed to defend ourselves. However, we didn't have a life support system that could sustain us and the crew of the pirate ship then during the fight we'd knocked out their life support. We had a lot of debate as to what we should do. Some wanted to leave the pirates to die, others wanted to try to repair their life support, some wanted to finish them off and some wanted to save the ones we could.”

“I remember. I liked to observe your classes.”

For a moment Brian knew Shia's words were strange but he wasn't certain why. The answer came a moment later. “You were listening in on our communications?”

“Not just yours. It's not like I'm trying to spy on you though. It's sort of like well. Brian your communication methods are sort of like billboards to me. Even with your encryption they're just too easy to read. It's sort of like you're posting billboards in a different language. In your mind you believe they're secure because not many could read that language. However, I am fluent in that language and many others.”

For a moment Brian said nothing but gave a sigh. “Okay you make a good point. So what did you think of my decision?”

“It was entertaining. I thought the way you arrived at that decision, at least from what I could tell from examining your wording, was very interesting. You had a valid point that the pirates could pose a threat to your crew if you took too many on and as the captain your first responsibility is to protect your crew. Given your situation I can understand your decision to depart especially given the fear of other pirate ships in the area. For all you know they were stalling for time.”

“Yeah. Though I dislike the idea of leaving people to smother. I'm surprised you didn't mention other pirate ships showing up to aid the one that had been disabled.”

“It wouldn't have changed the situation in our little scenario.”

Brian gave his head a nod and began to rub it. Now that the mental link with Shia had been closed for a while his head was beginning to feel even stranger. He didn't bother asking if he was alright. He had no doubt that Shia was watching his health very carefully. “So in this case would you be okay with detaining the pirates and handing them over to the Zarog for an actual trial?”

“Yes I would. We could even leave the pirate ship for the Zarog mining ship that had happened upon the pirates.”

For a moment Brian was about to question Shia about the supposed ship being a Zarog mining ship but then he remembered how the Zarog tended to function. The would send out a ship that was suited for some mining but primarily for combat. Once they found a suitable location they would set up camp and defend it while additional ships were sent to actually secure the material. “So do you think refusing to execute the pirates would actually change anything? I mean if the Zarog have already determined that they're to be executed.”

“It would. They would be handled in a different court.”

“Huh?”

“It's unfortunate but certain mechanisms of justice are difficult to make use of whenever you're far from resources. The Zarog court that handles events happening in deep space is different from the one that handles things in a more settled area. Now I'm not saying they probably won't be executed. They're pirates and this is the Zarog. They're just less likely to be executed and judged more on a case by case situation. I was surprised whenever you weren't taught that in your extraterrestrial species classes one, two or three. The Zarog are one of humanities primary allies after all.”

For a moment Brian said nothing but considered what Shia had told him. “So what would convince them not to execute a pirate?”

“If they had just relied on fear and shock while not actually killing anyone, if they had only recently become part of the crew or if their activities had always been rather none violent. Let's take for an example a medic on a pirate ship. You know they need medics out here to. Now so long as the medic had not participated in torture or combat it's very unlikely that the Zarog would execute them.”

“What is their standard procedure in that case?”

“It depends on how good the medic is. I've seen them put to work in hospitals for well very low pay and for a long time. They were watched quite carefully and each patient death or injury was looked into in most cases. I'm sure you know the Zarog aren't big fans of life in prison or simply detaining someone.”

“Yeah I've heard they work their prisoners especially if it's another Zarog.”

Shia couldn't help but chuckle in response to Brian's comment. “I would feel better handing a Zarog over to a human court for trial then their own courts. To the Zarog each and every one of them serves as an example of their species to all others. Thus when one of them commits a crime it makes all of them look bad. So their courts tend to be much harder on their Zarog criminals whenever they involved a member of another species. Well you know this.”

“Yeah that we did cover.” As Brian spoke he noticed something on his screen and quickly turned his attention towards it. After a moment working the buttons he had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep himself from bursting into laughter. The words nice job had suddenly appeared on the screen and he realized Shia was checking to be sure he had continued his work even while they talked. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

“So did you consider any Zarog companions?”

“I did but it's even more difficult to find a suitable Zarog companion then a human one. The way they respond to something they consider superior just makes working with them so difficult.”

“I can see that especially with a divide as big as the one you represent.”

To this Shia gave a nod. “Yeah.”

***********************************************************************************

April 6th – 2 hours later

“Did you make yourself smaller?” Once again Brian found himself being carried by Shia. Now instead of being inside of her main body though they were inside the ship she'd prepared for them to go exploring. It was much larger then what she'd used to pick him up when they'd first met and even that had been large. It wasn't surprising that she'd used a smaller body to retrieve him though given how unwelcome such a large ship would be near a populated human world. The body was however much smaller then her main body and as he looked at Shia he could swear she was smaller.

“A little bit. I had to in order to maintain the structural integrity that I wanted. You know the wider a space is the weaker a ships structural integrity.”

Brian was actually a bit surprised. Shia seemed so powerful at times but then she worried about structural weaknesses. “Shia what are you worried about exactly? I mean. Even if you had maintained your previous size and made the halls large enough to accommodate that body what could threaten you other then one of your own?”

“Are you sure you want me to answer that? Do you really want to know what horrible monsters are just waiting out there in deep space?” As Shia spoke she lowered her voice and took on a more threatening tone. She was quite amused whenever Brian didn't show a fear response. He had apparently realized that she liked to joke around.

“Sure.”

“The unknown. I have to ask myself. If an unknown threat was to attack me and I couldn't handle it what level of security would leave me feeling like I had done you justice. This body based on the data I have provides satisfactory security. Well for the time. I'm sure I'll want to stop and make modifications to myself in a few weeks once I've developed enough upgrades.” Shia once again let her voice return to normal except not quite. There had been some tweaks she wanted to make to her voice that Brian might find more pleasing. He had asked her to stop such behavior before she could make them though. She couldn't make all of them without drawing attention but this was a good time to make a few.

“Well this is most assuredly more security then I ever believed I deserved before.”

“You humans don't seem to appreciate how valuable you all are. Oh! It's so hard at times. My sisters and I have roughly monthly debates amongst ourselves as to if we should begin gathering up the sentient species we wish to protect and absorbing you into our bodies while creating a new virtual world for you to grow and thrive in. We've talked about different methods of doing it so you wouldn't even know it had happened and we've debated so much. In the end we always come to the decision that taking your bodies from you isn't right and the risk to you is too high. That is. The risk that we might end up stripping away what makes you so precious.”

“Monthly!” Brian didn't have to fake alarm. He truly felt it as he listened to Shia. The fact that her and her sisters could likely carry out such a plan was even more troubling.

“Yes but we've never come close to carrying through with the plan. It tends to be triggered whenever we lose several precious beings in a short period of time.”

“Plan? You actually have a plan?”

“It's hard to have a serious discussion about such an important undertaking without one.” It was clear to Shia that Brian was upset and that wasn't surprising. It would have been simple enough not to bring such issues up but she wanted Brian to know her. That included knowing the aspects of her being that he might find objectionable.

For a moment Brian went silent then gave a sigh. “Okay for the record I'm not comfortable with the idea of being contained in a world that's controlled by someone else.”

“Doesn't that mean you shouldn't be comfortable with your current existence?”

“I. Well I guess you have a point. We can't be certain that we're not in a simulation already. Still I don't want anyone putting me in a simulation if I have anything to say about it. So speaking as a human I don't want you to rewrite my reality.”

“Well I didn't believe you did. Don't worry Brian. Like I mentioned it never came close to being agreed upon it's just something we've spoken about and will speak about again whenever we suffer enough loss.”

“I'd rather if the conversation didn't happen.”

“Well you might be able to do something about that. You'd have to provide new data that would indicate such steps would end up costing us something even more precious. I can't think of anyway for you to do so that you would agree to but perhaps simply by working with me you'll provide additional data.”

“That or I could end up providing data that would support such methods.”

“That's true.”

“Okay. Still this is just the desires of one human speaking for himself. I don't want trapped in a simulation and would consider it an assault upon my person if such a thing was done to me. Now I probably wouldn't ever realize what was going on but still I'd consider it an attack if I learned about it.”

“I understand and your objection to such methods will be included in the data the next time my sisters and I speak on the subject.”

“Really?”

“Yes really!” Shia couldn't help but chuckle as she noticed the look of shock and disbelief on Brian's face. “Now I've finished preparing the sensory components that I'm going to permit you to use during our exploration. For now. Would you like me to show you to your work area so that you can get to it?”

“I suppose I haven't done enough to fill up a regular work day have I?”

“If you're talking about a standard work day you still have three hours left. However, you are suffering fatigue from networking your mind with my own. It's actually a credit to yourself that you're still functioning as well as you are.”