Digital Galaxies

About eighty percent of the debris field was twisted scrap, with most of that being chunks of metal no larger than my tiny fist. The last twenty or so percent were the ruined hulks of those ships that hadn’t quite survived the battle but were still recognisable as actual starships. There was actually so much random space trash floating around that we had to shove as much free power as we could get into our shields. Damned place was a scattershot minefield.

“What about that one?” Warren asked, highlighting a particular spinning hulk so the rest of us could see.

I zoomed in on it using my own screen and scanned the ship for visible damage I couldn’t fix. The alien ships were interesting, especially because it seemed like one side of the conflict had similar needs to humans.

When dealing with an alien race, there were a few basic assumptions you could apply in order to understand them. For example, the defending side appeared to have been a similar size to the average human if the size of the rooms and hallways on the ships were anything to go by.

The attacking race on the other hand… they were much larger, and so were their ships. Their ships were also this strange combination of sleek and boxy, with little regard for aerodynamics or aesthetics. They were like marginally more sophisticated borg cubes that had been hit aggressively by a smoothing tool.

The defenders on the other hand, they had ships that almost looked like they were designed and built by human hands.

Their smaller ships had made concessions for atmospheric flight, while the larger ones were more blocky and brutalist. I had a feeling that if we ever found living members of their species, we might be able to get along.

Unfortunately for us, the ship that Warren had pointed out was both an attacking ship and had a bend that didn’t look like it was meant to be there. As our path took us further, it also revealed that the other side had a twisted metal rent halfway down its right hand side. I mean, the ship was massive too, so that wouldn’t have worked anyway.

“Nevermind,” Warren snorted, leaning back into his chair. He looked a little weary, we’d been at this for hours after all.

“Wait!” Cerri blurted, taking over the main display to zoom in. “That ship is bigger than you thought, because—“

“—There’s another ship wedged into the side of it,” I said, finishing her sentence with an excited gasp. It was about four times as large as our current ship, which put it in the small frigate weight class, if we went by human metrics. That made it about the size of an arrowhead embedded in the side of a small deer. Warren had eyes bigger than his wrench for sure.

Roger, looking up at the main screen, made a rather interesting note, “Is it just me, or does that little bugger look intact? How the fuck is it intact?”

“They had to have rammed the larger ship!” Gloria said, bouncing excitedly in her pilot’s seat. “Oh that is so badass!”

“Alia?” Cerri asked, turning to me eagerly.

Right, let me look at the scans and see. Seems intact from here but… that impact can’t have been pretty, I nodded, just as keen to take a look at the ship as everyone else. It was a mean looking thing too, sleek and deadly, a design that spoke of atmospheric flight capabilities.

When I had the scans up on one of my screens, I first thought it had to be a rendering of what the ship should look like, until I saw the small rents in the armour. The longer I investigated it, the more confused I became. The thing was all but intact, with the forward attitude thrusters, turrets and everything else having been sheared off by the impact while the actual structure and critical systems seemed fine. I mean, as far as I could tell while looking at an alien spacecraft.

It looks intact... I told them via text chat, pulling a bemused expression. As I sent the message, my eyes had continued to scan the sensor feed and my subconscious picked up on something. Hold on, I began again, typing as I thought. Did they engineer the superstructure of their ship to accommodate ramming? Holy shit they did! That smaller ship was designed with ramming in mind!

“So you’re saying that we should take a closer look?” Roger asked with a big grin.

I nodded, already taking that closer look on my screen. I could see their power distribution network easily enough, but their reactor was odd, definitely not like any of the human designs I had seen. There seemed to also be a lot more crew quarters than a ship of this size should need, along with what looked to be a small room dedicated to being a sort of decorative garden? Very strange.

“Take us in closer Gloria, keep an eye out for any automated defences that might still be running,” Roger ordered.

“There’s nothing whatsoever on the electro-magnetic side, both hulks are completely dead,” Cerri informed us, hard at work.

Gloria was gentle with the Turshen as she eased us closer. It was odd, looking out at the two ships, carcasses locked in their ancient, lethal embrace. What had led to these two races fighting such a brutal war? It had very obviously been a war of annihilation, of genocide on a galactic scale, where one side came out alive and the other passed into history.

Now that I thought about it, it reminded me of the war with the American Republic. There were scenes like this one all across places like California and New York, where the massive warmachines of that conflict still lay.

“Yup, Cerri is right, the hulk is dead, nothing popping up,” Gloria agreed as we drifted alongside the larger vessel. “I can see something that looks like an airlock, lining ours up with it so Warren can do his thing.”

“Gotcha, highlighting the airlock and prepping to dock,” Warren said with calm professionalism, tapping away on his screens.

There was a tense moment as sidled up and slowed to a stop with our airlock about twenty meters opposite the dead ship’s one. A chime sounded as the emergency airlock tube took Warren’s input and fired, blasting across to attach itself with both magnets and adhesive. Just as well it had the adhesive, because the magnets came up negative. I guess their outer armour wasn’t made of ferrous metal.

“No atmosphere on the other side, so we can’t pressurise until that’s fixed, but nobody will be getting lost in space heading over,” our systems tech said.

Roger made a grunt of approval, “Good. Send some drones over to scope the place out, I don’t want anyone going over there until we know it’s safe.”

“You mean we’re not going to all go charging over there without any planning?” Gloria asked with shocked sarcasm. “But what about the space abomination over there? Poor little guy is probably very hungry.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll feed you to it later,” Cerri sniped, not even bothering to lift her gaze from her screens as she spoke.

Gloria just laughed and sent the science demon a wink. That got a rise out of Cerri, who sent an oddly pissed-off glare back to the pilot. Dang, Cerri definitely woke up on the wrong side of the sofa today.

With a sigh, I realised I should probably do something about her grumping, even if it scared the piss out of me to confront her. I just… the crew needed her to be on the top of her game here and I needed her to be my friend. I needed her to be solid in that friendship, none of this uncertainty that was clawing at my heart.

“I need to log out,” I told the room quietly. “Sorry, I won’t be gone longer than a minute.”

I didn’t wait for their response, I simply sent the mental command to exit the game. Cerri’s alarmed, confused expression was the last thing I saw. Good, maybe she’d follow me on her own.

Landing in my rather default personal reality, I cranked the time dilation way up and slumped into a nearby sofa. The view out the window was so depressingly like those I had seen so often in my old life that I decided right there that I was going to change it.

I wanted some cozy… something that enhanced the feeling of safety within my little apartment.

Pulling my feet up, I sat and contemplated my choices. A memory surfaced, one from my childhood. My parents had taken me to a conference being held in a ski resort when a blizzard had rolled over.

It had been sudden, one moment the sky was bright and clear, the next, wind battered at the windows and dark clouds rolled over. Then the lightning began, smashing down from the sky like an erratic drumbeat. Thundersnow, they'd called it, and all the while we sat safe inside the lodge, staring out as furious nature failed to reach us.

Activating the environment editor, I rearranged the scene in an instant to match, although with far more coziness as far as the apartment went. Perched on a snowy ridgetop, I created it out of wood, stone and glass. Thick, soft carpet rolled out around me while a fireplace assembled itself in the corner.

I kept the place small, a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. The living room sported massive, luxurious cushions and big puffy throw pillows with soft fluffy tassels.

Outside, my storm began to roll in, visibility dimming even as the snow was lit from within by the flash of lightning.

The place needed decorating, but for now… it would serve. Plus… with how intuitively I could manipulate my surroundings, it would just take some thought and a little imagination.

All I had to do now was wait for Cerri to message me. I figured I'd give her about fifteen objective-time seconds, which would end up being about half an hour in subjective-time at my current time dilation settings.

I was a little surprised when I had waited barely eight minutes before the connection request came in from her.

Accepting it, I watched as she flickered into existence in front of the floor to ceiling windows. She froze for half a second as the boom of thunder inadvertently heralded her arrival, and I let out the tiniest giggle of amusement at the image.

Hearing me, she turned to look at me, searching my face with worry, then suspicion. "Why did you log out?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you," I explained truthfully. "Come sit. It doesn't have to be right next to me, but it's weird to have a conversation while one of us is standing there awkwardly."

She hesitated, but only for a moment before she strode over and eased herself into the opposite end of my sofa. "Okay… what are we talking about?"

"You seem on edge, upset…" I began quietly, heart beginning to hammer unhelpfully in my chest. "I um… this morning… I…"

My throat closed up, anxiety overcoming my will to talk as easily as an avalanche takes a deer. I cursed silently in my head and closed my eyes, battling the blockage. It was for nothing though, I was a toddler hammering away at a locked door.

Silently, I sent her the continuation of my little speech, You've been off, snappy and weird. I wanted to talk, to ask what's wrong… I don't know. Maybe this was all a stupid idea.

I heard her sigh and shift slightly on the couch. "You're right. I have my reasons and… well, I'm sorry, but I don't really want to talk about it."

No problem, but I also need you to be… I gulped, my throat clearing slightly. "I need you to be my friend. Please don't be weird about our friendship. I gave up my whole damned physical existence on your suggestion and if I don't have you there by my side to stabilize me…"

She was quiet for a while, then a minute, then two. I kept my eyes closed, fighting the sudden onset of panic fuelled tears and my slowly aching, dying heart. God, I was falling so hard for her. The desperation with which I yearned to be held by her, it was almost physical.

"Shit," she finally muttered, her weight leaving the sofa.

It returned next to me, and the yearning in my soul turned to reality. Her arms were tight around me, pulling me sideways against her chest.

I let out a whimper and turned into the embrace, throwing my arms around her neck to make sure she didn't get away. My tears turned to relief and a sense of finally reaching safety, as if I'd just stumbled in here after climbing the mountain in that storm outside.

I heard Cerri's voice as much through her chest as the air when she spoke, "Alia… I'm sorry. I'm just not… I'm not as put together as I seem on the surface. My formation was… traumatic, and I haven't been treated well since I awakened. Not by those who worked where I formed, but… some I met since."

My thoughts instantly jumped to the glare that she had given Gloria, but I didn't say anything. I had no idea what to say really. Had I leaned on her too hard, putting too much of my own internal chaos onto her?

"You're not them though, and I need to remember that," she sighed again, more happily this time. "I cherish our friendship, Alia. It's the single most important thing in the universe to me right now. I mean that."

"Me too," I mumbled, half drunk with the bliss that was physical contact with her.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that whatever happens, I'm not going to throw away our friendship over anything, least of all a shitty mood," she explained, nestling her fingers in my hair in that way that I loved.

True to form, my dumbass brain decided to test that little promise. "Even if we have a weird sexually charged staring contest after we wake up in each other's arms?"

Her bark of surprised laughter lit my heart alight. "Alright… look. I am… you're very pretty. I have no intention of actually uh… you know. That. I am very much not interested in doing any of that stuff… not that I don't… I mean, you're so lovely and if I were… oh fuck I am making this so weird."

She. Was. So. Fucking. Cute. How was she this cute? How was she so damned cute while looking like a flipping sex goddess?

Giggling, I hugged her tighter and said, "It's okay, I very much enjoy our friendship as it is. I was just teasing." I left out the part where I very much wanted more than just friendship, but that didn't mean that it wasn't the truth.

"Oh," she said, followed by a little giggle of her own. "Okay… that's good. I like this too. I um… I do have a question though…"

"Yes?" I asked, pushing back from her so I could see her still bright red face.

She nodded at the window, expression so earnest and innocent that I struggled not to kiss her right there. "What on earth is that outside the window?"

I blinked, train of thought grinding so horribly I swear she should have been able to hear the metal on metal screeching. "It's a blizzard?"

"Oh, really?" she exclaimed excitedly, pushing up off the couch to go stand in front of the window. "Wow, so that's snow!"

Oh. My. God. Cuteness, everywhere. She'd never seen a freaking blizzard! Didn't even have enough context to recognize one! I think that moment was the tipping point for my feelings, the point where I was completely and utterly fucked.

Even as my heart melted, I stood up and joined her at the window, twining our tails together in the process. "It's a replica of one I saw as a kid. I loved the way that nature was violently tearing itself apart outside but it couldn't get to me inside. Made me feel safe and cozy."

"The window is vibrating from the wind," she said, hand to the glass. "And cold from the temperature. That's amazing, wow. I envy you, seeing real nature first hand, base, dirty, and visceral reality."

"One day we can go out with synthetic bodies, I can take you to the mountains," I told her, the promise echoing in my heart like a second beat.

Her smile as she looked down at me was so innocently radiant. "I would love that."

"It's a plan," I replied, stealing her arm to hug to my chest.

She extracted it immediately, but placed it around my shoulders. We stood there for a long time, watching the storm outside thrash away on my imaginary mountainside in happy silence.

It was a beautiful moment, really, and I saved it away, placing it on a shelf in my mind along with my few other precious memories. Maybe my feelings would fade again in time too… or maybe they would surge in perpetuity like the storm outside. I was happy, either way. I could have stayed there for weeks.

Or, until Cerri twitched and jumped, letting out a squeak of surprise. She gave me an embarrassed glance. "Uh… the crew is asking where we are. We kinda left during an important moment with like zero explanation."

"Alright… oh wow, we've been staring out that window for way longer than I realized," I winced, seeing the time. "See you back in game."

Before I logged back in though, a whim struck me and I stretched up onto my tiptoes. Her eyes widened as our faces drew close, lips parting slightly in surprise. I wasn't going for those though, and instead I placed a little peck on her smooth cheek.

"Thanks for being wonderful," I whispered, and logged in.