When Juliet woke, Angel said, “I have several messages waiting for your attention. Don’t worry! None of them warranted waking you.” Her words forestalled Juliet’s already-formed complaint about keeping people waiting for her responses. Instead, she busied her mouth with a huge yawn and arched her back in a stretch, pleased that she could move her right arm again, though only at the shoulder. She felt some pain but nothing terrible. It was almost like she’d just overexerted herself in the weight room.

“I feel so much better,” she sighed, scooching back, propping her pillow up so she could sit up a little in her acceleration couch.

“You slept for more than ten hours, and the nanites were able to get a lot of work done.”

“All right, hit me with the messages.” Angel displayed a file labeled Honey and then expanded it into a video call, showing Honey’s face, her pale brown eyes bright with excitement, on a blurry background.

“Hey, Lucky. I’m in the hiding spot Bennet set up for us, and it’s great! More than that, if you haven’t noticed, I got a PAI installed! It’s not a high-end model, but a little better than my old one. Bennet picked it up for me when he was out buying parts for your arm. Don’t worry! It’s offline for now, other than using the ship comm system, but at least I can connect with you. I mean, I was hoping you could help me set up a firewall or something so I can use the net—I don’t know how all that works. Anyway, hope you’re sleeping well, and give me a visit when you get up, all right?”

The message ended, and Juliet, smiling, said, “We should keep her offline until we get off Titan, right?”

“We can set up a proxy through the Kowashi, so it looks like you or any of the other crew are accessing the net. Though, if you’re worried about her contacting someone or saying something that might tip off the authorities, we can put that off.”

“I’m not sure. I know I can trust Honey, but I’m not sure she knows everything she should avoid doing. You know?”

“I understand your concern.” Angel paused momentarily, then added, “Your next message is from Bennet.”

A new window appeared, and Bennet’s grease-smudged face appeared in it. “Hey, Lucky. I got the batts for your arm and rigged up some parts from the specs your PAI sent me. Come see me, and we can try to get it working. Altogether, the batts were six-forty bits. They’re not up to spec for your arm, but they were half the cost, and the note you sent me said you just wanted to get it working well enough to make it to Luna, so . . . yeah, come see me. Um, hope you’re feeling better—we were all a little worried after we saw the readout on the autodoc. Yeah, uh, bye.”

“Huh, that’s nice of him. He sounded kinda off; you didn’t say something mean in the message or anything, did you?”

“Of course not!” Angel’s voice went up an octave with outrage. “I simply said you’d worked yourself nearly to death and would appreciate if someone could visit an electronics outlet . . .”

“Angel! Don’t guilt people like that.”

“Was that unwarranted? I was simply being literal about your condition. Perhaps the tone of the message was lost in the text—next time, I’ll use a voice message. Are you ready for the next message? It’s from Alice.” She didn’t wait for a response before opening another video message window.

“Lucky, hope you’re feeling better when you get this. Good news—we got another fat bounty from the guys who tried to invade the ship. We all talked and agreed it should go to you. I’m transferring 68k to your bit vault. You earned it! We also were awarded 100k for the information you found on the synth. Per our earlier discussion, you seemed good with splitting that one with the crew, so we all got a nice 20k bonus. Our friend, the fixer-type guy, helped out a lot; we were able to submit the tip through him, and none of our names were attached to the information.

“On another note, we got an offer on the Bumble ahead of the auction. A ship broker was looking at the auction inventory list and reached out to try to head off the competition. Look, I know it sounds shady, and we might squeeze out some more bits if we stick around for the auction, but he made a decent offer—650k. That means a cool 325 for you. Altogether, you’re looking at a pretty hefty grip of bits for this little outing. I won’t do the deal until I hear from you, but I hope you’ll consider it; we should get off this rock as soon as the lockdown’s lifted.”

Alice paused and cleared her throat, then continued, “About the lockdown—chatter on the net is that a lot of big players are really putting pressure on the NAUC to open the port; they’re bleeding bits every minute these ships are locked down. Seems maybe the, uh, corp or individual that pushed them into shutting things down isn’t the only power player in town.” Alice’s image winked at her, and then the message ended. Juliet couldn’t help chuckling as she shifted to get more comfortable on her pillow.

“Any more?”

“Two more. The next is another message from Bennet.” As she finished speaking, a window appeared showing Bennet in his workshop.

“Yo, Lucky. Alice just told me about the Bumble offer. I think you should take it. Things have a way of coming out in an auction, and if people hear about the reactor leak and the lack of maintenance for pretty much everything on that ship, we’ll be lucky to clear 400k. That’s my two bits. Uh, call me when you’re up.”

“What do you think, Angel?”

“I think it would be wise to conclude business as quickly as possible so we can leave this moon as soon as the lockdown is lifted.”

“I feel the same. What about the last message?”

“I was saving it for last because I think you’ll be excited by it. It appears to be from Ghoul.”

“Seriously?” Juliet’s voice rose with surprise as she wriggled herself further up so she sat one foot folded under the other leg on the acceleration couch.

“Yes! She replied to the message we sent her. I received an alert when this message arrived two hours ago.”

“Which means it’s how old?”

“Not terribly—on Titan, we can get communications from Earth in about two hours, depending on the position of the planets.”

“Okay, okay! Play it.” Juliet watched eagerly as a video window opened, and she saw Ghoul's face before a park-like, generated background. She looked good, healthy even—the dark circles that had marred the pale skin around her eyes were gone. Her blond, almost white hair was longer, but not by much. When she smiled and started speaking, Juliet immediately noticed that her chromed teeth were gone, replaced by perfectly natural-looking, white ones.

“Hey, Juliet. I don’t know where to begin except to say I got your message, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I pulled that chicken-shit move and bailed on you. I’m glad you’re still operating; I was keeping tabs on your SOA card, and when I saw it go dark, I was afraid you’d quit or . . . worse. What you said in your message, the . . . words. They were just what I needed to hear. I know that sounds corny, but damn, it was like you were looking into my head. I guess we have more in common than I thought. I’m sorry you’re having some hard times, that you had to learn some of the lessons I’ve been trying to cope with. I’m grateful for your forgiveness, even if it feels like I don’t deserve it. Knowing you aren’t out there . . . hating me—it means everything. I tried to patch things up with my sis, but she’s not as forgiving as you.”

Ghoul’s scratchy voice stopped for a minute as she reached up and rubbed the back of her hand over one of her blue eyes. Juliet could see the moisture in them, welling and reflecting the sunlight. Was the park generated, or was she really sitting on a bench surrounded by greenery? “Anyway. I did my best, saw she was doing okay, and set up a fund for her daughter. I’m an aunt. How about that?” She chuckled and shook her head. “I feel better about things, and I know you’re no small part of that. I’m getting back into it. Gonna send my card out to some fixers I know. Maybe we’ll run into each other, huh? I know you’re trying to stay anonymous and all that, but you know how to get ahold of me. I think I’ll check out one of the megacities on the coast. East or West? I don’t know yet! Maybe I’ll flip a coin. Hope I hear from you soon.”

“That’s it?” Juliet asked, surprised the call ended so abruptly.

“That’s it, but it seems she’s doing well. That’s good, isn’t it?”

“She seemed better, yeah. Something about it, though. Something didn’t feel right.” Juliet touched her stomach with her left hand. “In here.”

“Your gut.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. I’ll have to watch it again, but let’s hold off responding to that one.” Juliet frowned, annoyed that something she’d wanted to happen for so long had triggered something, some nervous feeling, in the pit of her stomach. She’d learned to listen to her instincts, though, and something told her there was a problem with that message. “Call up Bennet, would you?”

“Yes.”

The comm line blinked twice, and then Bennet’s face was on her screen. “Yo! Feeling better?”

“Much! Think you can get this dead weight working?”

“Uh, your arm? Yeah, let’s see what we can do. Come to my workshop? Hey, about the Bumble . . .”

“Yeah. Yes, Bennet, I’ll agree. I’ll tell Alice while I head your way. I’m gonna stop for coffee and breakfast, though.”

“Right on. That’s great, Lucky! Shit, man, we might actually get this gunship working! Shiro’s in a damn good mood considering the lockdown and everything; I think it’s the first time he’s seen positive numbers on his balance sheet in a while. I mean, assuming we do the sale, but it sounds like we’re going to so . . .”

“You’re babbling, Bennet!” Juliet laughed, then scooted off her bed and said, “Listen, I gotta get dressed with one arm, and it’s going to take some concentration. See you in a few minutes.”

“Okay, okay . . .” He seemed like he wanted to say more, but he closed his mouth and nodded, then cut the connection.

“He’s chatty!” Juliet chuckled, digging around in her built-in dresser for clean clothes. She settled on clean underwear, athletic shorts, and a tank top—the easiest things she could think of with her heavy, non-functioning metallic arm. Her bloody outfit from the job was piled in a heap on her floor, and she made a mental note to destroy it after she got done with Bennet. Thinking about it, she figured she should probably hide her guns in the gunship with the girls. Who knew how thoroughly they might search the Kowashi and if they’d take her weapons to analyze their ballistics?

“He’s clearly in a good mood. I think everyone is happy that you didn’t die on your mission.” Angel paused, and Juliet thought she was done speaking, but then she said, “I wonder if Lemur had a team waiting for him.”

“That’s a dark thought, Angel. I don’t know if he did, but it’s not my fault he told me almost nothing about himself. Something tells me he was a solo act, anyway. Didn’t you get that impression?”

“Yes. His SOA card doesn’t reflect many team operations, and I don’t see a pattern of him working with the same people.”

Juliet nodded, walking out of her room and making her way to the mess. She saw spots of dried blood on her bare arms and knees and frowned, wishing she’d taken a shower; that wasn’t her blood, she was pretty sure—it was Lemur’s. “Any sign that they’re searching ships yet?”

“I’m sorry! I should have told you right away, but I got distracted by the messages. They are searching the ships and have been for hours. I’m watching their progress and predict they’ll reach the Kowashi in two to three hours.”

“Okay, no worries. Please set a countdown on my screen and keep an eye on their progress. I need to clean up some evidence before they get here. Any indication of how thorough they’re being?”

“I’ve been watching through the camera network, and they’re spending between ten minutes and an hour on each ship, depending on the size. On vessels sized similarly to this one, they’re averaging thirty minutes.”

“So that’s not very thorough, right?” Juliet asked as she turned into the mess. She was the only person there, which was fine with her; she intended to raid the fridge and eat the tastiest-looking food, regardless of ownership.

“No. I can’t imagine a person covering every nook and cranny of this vessel in thirty minutes.” As Angel answered her, Juliet pulled out a foil-wrapped, half burrito that someone was saving. She grinned as she began to salivate and carried it over to the microwave. She unwrapped it and put it on a plate as Angel continued, “I’ve been eavesdropping on the corpo-sec units doing the searches, and they aren’t enthusiastic. They clearly don’t know what kind of girl they’re searching for or why she’s important. They have Lilia’s description and Honey’s, but ‘female mercenary’ is the extent of the description for you.”

Juliet zoned out while the microwave warmed up somebody’s—no, Bennet’s, she knew they were Bennet’s—leftovers. When it dinged, she took it out and tore into it, savoring the chicken-flavored protein, rice, and beans. It wasn’t spicy enough for her tastes, but it was good. Inspiration striking her, she looked through the fridge for some salsa but had to settle for an old bottle of “Solar Heat” hot sauce. Five minutes later, with a pleasantly tingling mouth, she wandered down toward engineering, sipping a cup of black coffee. Thinking about engineering and Bennet, she realized she hadn’t heard from Aya, so she had Angel call her on comms.

“Lucky?”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just helping make the girls comfortable in the cargo hold. I’ve got a line bringing power in from the Kowashi, and right now, I’m working on getting the waste system working so they can use the bathroom.”

“Oh, that’s awesome, Aya. Thank you. I’ll come help after Bennet gets my arm working.”

“You think he can?”

“I hope so. Anyway, I was just wondering what you were up to.”

“Cool. I’m glad you’re okay; your friend’s telling me stories about you.”

“Oh, man! Tell her I’ve got stories too, all right?” Juliet covered her eyes, smiling, and added, “Nah, it’s okay. I’ll let you get back to it. I’m almost to Bennet’s shop.”

“Talk soon.” Aya cut the line.

“She’s pretty great, isn’t she?” Juliet asked as she strolled into Engineering.

“She is. I’m glad she’s seeing to the comfort of our guests.” Juliet thought it was cute how Angel called them “guests,” as though she and Angel were part of the Kowashi’s crew, but when she thought about it, she realized they were; Shiro had said as much. Her absurd, huge smile faded when she turned toward Bennet’s shop and saw him sitting on a shop tool across from Engineer, grunting and straining, arm wrestling with the synth.

“Oh no! What’s going on?” she asked in mock outrage. “Engineer, did he bully you into doing that?”

“No, ma’am. He was mocking my mismatched arms, and I told him that my right arm was quite high quality and at least as strong as his.”

“I was not mocking them, Engineer,” Bennet grunted through clenched teeth, his face beet-red. “I just,” he panted, pulling with all his might as Engineer’s arm creaked and his metallic elbow ground into the tabletop, “said we should try to get him,” with a satisfied exhalation, he finally pushed the synth’s arm down to the table, “some parts that matched.”

“Oh, brother,” Juliet groaned, moving closer to the table. “Engineer, don’t let Bennet goad you into any sort of physical contest; he thrives on them.” Bennet started to grumble a response, but Juliet spoke over him, “Hey, have you thought about a new name?”

“Me?” Engineer asked, his eyes blinking rapidly as he stood up and moved away from the table.

“Yeah, you goofball.” Bennet slapped his forehead. “None of us are doing a name change anytime soon.”

“Oh, well, I had several ideas. Perhaps you’d like to hear them?”

“Yeah, that’s why I asked,” Juliet chuckled, taking his vacated spot at the table and laboriously swinging her dead, metal arm atop it.

“I’ll get the new parts.” Bennet turned toward the little doorway she’d helped him fabricate, ducking through into his workshop.

“Do you like the name ‘Charlie?’ I was reading some old classics and rather enjoyed Flowers for Algernon. Have you read it?”

“It’s very good,” Angel said, eliciting a frown from Juliet.

“No,” she said, “I haven’t, but a good friend has. I wish she’d have talked to me about it, but she has her own life, I guess . . .” She let her words trail off as she heard herself. “Sorry, I’m being a bitch. I know you do a lot of reading when I’m sleeping or whatever,” she subvocalized.

“It’s about a man, a fellow with a rather low intelligence quotient. He’s put through an experiment by some well-meaning scientists and . . .”

“Woah!” Juliet held up her hand. “Spoilers!”

“Apologies. In summary, I found the character very likable and rather tragic, and I found myself somehow commiserating with him. It’s a strange sensation, finding commonality in something so extreme, but that doesn’t change the fact that I liked him.”

“Is that the name you want?” Bennet asked from the doorway, a toolbox and several cardboard packages in his arms.

“I like it, but I have other ideas.” Engineer’s LED eyes blinked with his words, giving his expressionless face a little character. His voice was tinny, and Juliet wondered how much an upgrade to his face would cost. Were synth parts just like human cybernetics? She didn’t think so, but she had no real idea.

“Let’s hear ‘em,” Juliet said as Bennet started to work on unscrewing and prying off the scorched plasteel plates on her arm and hand.

“I’m rather fond of the twentieth-century author Raymond Bradbury. I appreciate how he characterized robotics and intelligence outside of humanity. I think ‘Bradbury’ might suit me.”

“Oh!” Juliet said, wrinkling her nose at the heavy, burnt plastic odors coming from her arm. “I like that one!”

“It’s cool,” Bennet agreed.

“I have one other idea,” Engineer said. “I enjoy watching a corpo-sec drama set in New York, Glitter Streets. One of the characters is a corpo-sec crime technician named Sandy. She’s very clever, and I think the name would be fine for me. It’s gender-neutral, did you know that?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess Bradbury is more masculine-sounding. What do you prefer? I’ve thought of you as masculine, mainly because of your voice and, uh, shape.”

“I could modulate my voice to sound more feminine if that were my preference. I don’t think I prefer a particular gender. I’ve thought of myself as male up to now, though. Well, mentally, because I have no sex organs.”

“Yeah, we get it,” Bennet chuckled, pulling off the largest of Juliet’s arm plates. Beneath was a mess of melted plastic, the remains of her arm’s largest bio-batt. “Sheesh, gonna need to scrape these old batteries out. Same with the wires. Heat gun might help . . .” He started digging through his toolbox.

“My favorite is Bradbury, but I want you to choose the name you think best suits you,” Juliet said.

“I like that name as well,” Angel said for Juliet’s benefit. “It reminds me of one of my favorite short stories, written, of course, by Ray Bradbury. Before you feel annoyed, Juliet, I’d love to read it to you; would you let me read it to you tonight before you sleep? I think you’ll enjoy it and it will give us something to discuss. It’s called There Will Come Soft Rains.”

“I’d like that.” Juliet smiled, a mood so pleasant overcoming her that she almost started humming.

Engineer took her words as meant for him and said, “I, too, would like that. Henceforth, my designation shall be Bradbury."

“Oh, great,” Bennet sighed. “Another B name on the ship. Now I have to use more than one initial to mark my stuff. Hey, speaking of my stuff, I lost a big carton of Thai takeout last night. You know anything about that?” He narrowed his eyes at Juliet, still digging at the plastic with a flathead screwdriver, holding a heat gun a few inches away to soften it.

“I’ll buy dinner next time we go out! Drinks even!” she squealed. “Just pay attention to what you’re doing there!”

“I was looking forward to those leftovers,” he groused. “You think it’s easy to get food to the ship right now? The damn checkpoints are slowing everything down out there!”

“Speaking of checkpoints,” Angel interrupted, “I believe one of the search crews will reach the Kowashi’s berth in the next ninety minutes.”

“Uh, I’m sorry, Bennet! I can’t say it wasn’t intentional; I dug around in the fridge until I found something with your name on it ‘cause you always have the best food.” As his eyes widened in outrage, she continued, “We need to hurry, though. I think we’re getting searched soon, and I have to hide my guns and dispose of some bloody clothes.”