Alice cleared her throat, looked around the bridge, and then, with a rather wicked grin, said, “Eh, I’m just messing with you. If I think of a good question, you owe me, though!”

“All right, all right.” Juliet forced a chuckle, more relieved than she wanted to let on. After a moment, though, her face became more serious, and she asked, “Any word on the lockdown?”

“Yeah, Gil Boggs, one of our scrap contacts, says they’re already starting to clear the checkpoints at the port’s northern end. My money says they’ll lift it before the workday’s over, and ships will be blasting off soon.”

“I was gonna say we probably shouldn’t be the first ship to leave port.”

“Nah, trust me, there are a lot of ships losing a hell of a lot more money than we are sitting in these docks. Even if we tried, we wouldn’t be the first to take off. Imagine how irritated the ships orbiting Titan are getting! I heard a rumor that something like four hundred ships are being queued to enter the port; the docks are all full!”

“Holy . . . yeah, that sounds like a real mess for whoever has to organize it.”

“Some AI is probably doing all the work, don’t worry. Anyway, you’ll see a message from me as soon as I get the Bumble funds from the clearinghouse. You need anything else before I get back to these logs?”

“That’s it for now. Thanks, Alice.” Juliet scooted to the edge of the acceleration couch.

“No worries. Glad we got to know each other a little bit more.”

“Same.” Juliet offered a short, awkward wave as she stood and walked from the bridge. She wanted to find Bennet. It sounded like they’d be leaving port in the next few hours, and she wanted to try to convince the engineer to go shopping for some good food for the voyage. The first place she checked was the mess, and, unsurprisingly, he was in there, sipping a protein shake and speaking animatedly to Honey and Aya. The two women sat with their backs to the door, facing the bulky engineer as he leaned against the counter.

“. . . was thinking we could probably get them set up in the port corner of the hold, opposite the gunship’s nose. I’d say there’s a good ten-by-seven-meter open area there. Shouldn’t be a problem.” When he saw Juliet standing in the doorway, he narrowed his eyes and said, “Hey, Lucky. We’re talking about where we can set up the weights for the trip home, and did you eat my burrito?”

“I . . .” Juliet froze, her mouth open, but her brain unable to think of a proper excuse. “If I said no, would you believe me?”

“No!” Bennet growled.

“Listen, I was just about to offer to transfer you some bits to go shopping! I can’t leave the ship, but you can, and if I pay, will you buy us some good stuff for the trip? You have the best taste in food, Bennet!”

“Actually,” Aya said, scooting her chair back. “I have a list from Cel. She’s offered to cook, like, as often as we want her to. She used to work in a kitchen. Did you know that?”

“No.” Juliet frowned; aside from the fact that the two girls were fleeing a corporation that wanted Rissa’s unborn child, she really didn’t know anything about the two of them. Shaking her head, she looked back at Bennet. “Even considering that, you should go out and get us some good takeout—some burritos, noodles, whatever you want. I’m buying.”

“Well, you owe me for sure. I’ll get us a few things, but takeout doesn’t really keep well in the freezer. I’ll help Aya and give you the bill after I’ve found some food to replace your larceny.”

“Cool. I’m sorry, Bennet; I had a moment of weakness. Moments.” Juliet smiled at him and stared until he broke and smiled back.

“Can you guys pick up some practice swords while you’re out? I guess they might be kind of a specialty item, and I know you don’t want to go far, but maybe if you do a search and find something nearby?” Honey lightly tapped her fingers on the table, drumming hollowly against the scarred aluminum. “I’d do a search, but I’m still offline. Outside the ship, I mean.”

“No problem,” Aya said immediately. She stared at Honey with those big, bright, yellow eyes, and Juliet could see she thought Honey was too excellent for words.

“If we can’t get anything nearby, I have plenty of scraps I can make into sword shapes.” Bennet shrugged.

“Better than nothing, but they won’t be weighted right. I guess we could download some specs, and you could probably fabricate something pretty accurate, but I don’t know if you’re into that kind of thing . . .”

Juliet snorted as Honey trailed off, well aware that she was baiting the engineer. Bennet confirmed her success when he loudly proclaimed, “I can make a perfectly balanced piece of dull metal.”

“If we don’t find something for sale nearby,” Aya reiterated, standing up and scraping her chair back. “We should go, Bennet. Chatter on the net is that the lockdown is lifting soon.”

“Okay, okay.” Bennet noisily slurped at the dregs of his shake. “Let me change my shirt. Meet you at the airlock.”

“What about you, Honey?” Juliet asked. “Got anything going on?”

“Nah, already feeling stir-crazy. I know part of it’s in my head, knowing I can’t leave the ship right now. Also, the whole no net access thing is driving me bonkers.” She held up a hand. “I know, I know. It’s for the best. The girls told me they’re offline for now, too. I guess when you have big, rich corpos looking for you, it’s best just to lay low. Don’t sweat it.”

“I can download some media for you guys and put it on the Kowashi’s network if you want. Send me a list of shows or whatever, and I’ll do it.”

“Oh, nuclear! Yeah, I’ll do that. Should I tell Cel and Rissa, too?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m gonna go chill in my bunk for a while. I’m still feeling kinda drained from the last couple of days, and I’ve got a book in there that I want to read. Have you ever read one? I mean, a physical, paper book?” Juliet was still leaning in the doorway, and three sets of eyes turned toward her. Bennet shook his head, amused, knowing full well what book she was talking about. Aya nodded, her eyes growing big with interest, and Honey squinted at her as though she was speaking French.

“Why on Earth . . . or Titan, would anyone do that? You can get any book you want in high-definition text with audio accompaniment on your AUI!” Honey shook her head, and her puzzled expression changed to one of amusement. “Don’t answer, don’t answer. I know you and your quirks well enough by now.”

“Quirks. Yeah, I’d say that’s a good description. Is it a quirk when someone keeps eating your very clearly marked food?” Juliet felt her mouth falling open at Bennet's words, and she darted glances between the two. Were they about to start ganging up on her? It felt like they were about to start ganging up on her.

“Maybe it’s an idiosyncrasy?” Honey giggled as Bennet stepped toward the table and held up a meaty hand for a high-five.

As they slapped their palms, Juliet snorted. “I see how this trip is going to go. ‘Kay, I’m out. Honey, message me with what you want on the net and . . .”

“I was going to say I read a lot of paper books when I was growing up,” Aya interjected. “My uncle had a shelf full of them in his cabin. I bet Shiro still has them somewhere. If not in his cabin, which used to be his dad’s, then in a box somewhere on the ship.” She stood up and approached Juliet while she spoke, and her eyes twinkled with excitement. “I could go ask him for you. Do you want me to? They were westerns and fantasy novels. Do you like westerns? I loved how the good guy always had a quick draw shoot out at the end and . . .”

“Woah!” Juliet laughed, clamping her flesh and blood hand over the girl’s mouth. “I haven’t read or watched hardly any westerns! Don’t spoil ‘em. That’s with cowboys and stuff, right?”

“Yes!” Aya pulled Juliet’s wrist down, freeing her lips, and continued, “You’re going to love them! I’ll look when Bennet and I get back. If I can find them, I’ll bring ‘em to your room, okay?”

“That’d be terrific. Thank you.” Juliet smiled, turned to the still-smug Honey and Bennet, and stuck her tongue out. “Your loss!”

“Oh, brother,” Honey sighed. “Bennet, can we set up some mats for sparring near the weights? I think Lucky and I need to have a go.”

“Oh? You fight? I used to be something of a boxer . . .”

Honey’s eyes widened, and she held up her hand for another high-five. As the big man slapped it, she said, “This trip is shaping up to be more and more fun!”

Juliet noisily blew out a breath, flapping her lips. “Have fun shopping. I’ll be in my room.” Then she gave Aya’s shoulder a friendly bump with her knuckles, winked at her, and turned, walking toward her quarters.

“Do you feel jealous of Honey and Bennet and their camaraderie?”

“Nah, they’re just busting my . . . chops. It’s my fault for eating Bennet’s food, you know; if I hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have been looking for a partner to tease me. You know how it goes; tomorrow, we’ll all be teasing someone else. Probably Bennet.” Juliet laughed at the idea, mostly because she knew she was right. He was the most frequent target of ribbing on the ship.

“It’s good that you have such good friends around you. I wish you could find someone who meant more than friendship to you.”

“Oh, God, Angel. Are we starting this again?” Juliet groaned, stepping into her room as the door haltingly slid open. “Need to lube the runners . . .” She ran a finger overhead along the door’s track and frowned at the dry, desiccated lubricant. “This stuff has to be twenty years old.”

“It’s part of my core functionality, part of my personality, to want you to be happy in every aspect of your life.” Angel ignored her commentary about the door.

“Well, as we’ve discussed, you’re not just a program. You’re not bound by any kind of algorithm to insist that I have a ‘mate’ or whatever.” She kicked off her boots, picked up the hard plastic case with her copy of The Great Book of Amber inside it, and fluffed up her pillow.

“No, you’re right. I’ve easily avoided fixating on the issue, but can you explain your reluctance to find a romantic partnership? If I understand, it will help me see why I should focus on your other needs.”

“It’s pretty simple, Angel; I’m wanted by a few very dangerous people and corporations. I’m always on the move. I’m not a one-night-stand kind of girl, you know? I want something romantic, but I can’t devote the bandwidth I need to it right now. I’ve done pretty well in the friend department, but that’s all luck, you know? I happened to meet people I liked whose goals sort of aligned with mine. If I had something romantic with someone like that, it might work out for a while, but that hasn’t been in the cards, has it?”

“No, I suppose not. Thank you for explaining.”

“There’s more to it than that, actually. I’ve thought about it, and, well, if something happens, if someone from my past catches up to me, I’d have to bail. I think friends will understand that, especially if I explain myself, but someone who’s ‘in love’ with me? I think it would be a lot harder.”

“I . . . would it be hard for you as well, or just the person you might be in a relationship with?”

“Both of us, you goof!”

“I must admit, I was only thinking of your welfare in my earlier concerns about your romantic well-being. It makes sense that you’d also be concerned about a mate’s feelings. I’m going to have to spend some time ruminating on this matter. Before you get into your book, I have something you might find interesting.”

“What’s that?” Juliet crawled atop her acceleration couch and, with a sigh, scooched back onto her pillow.

“When we were in the gunship earlier, I noted what I thought might be the original universal ship identification number on an exposed piece of the frame. I ran it through the Sol System Flight Regulating Commission to see what records they had on the ship’s ownership history.”

“Oh my gosh! Why didn’t I think of that? Why didn’t Alice or Bennet?”

“They probably did but haven’t gotten around to it. Or perhaps they got a report when they claimed the salvage but haven’t looked at it closely. I thought it might be interesting to see the ship’s prior designations.”

“Yeah, I would say that would be very interesting. Tell me what you found!”

“Originally commissioned in 2056, the ship was designated the Takamoto Sakura. It was sold as scrap in 2062 but resurfaced in 2064 as the Venus Thresher. The ship was registered as destroyed and lost in combat in 2072. It resurfaced in 2080, purchased from a private individual by a shipyard on Mars, and later recommissioned as the Gorgon III. Again, the ship was registered as destroyed or lost in combat in 2089 and hasn’t been registered again since.”

“So, it’s been either sitting around as junk or flown illegally for nearly twenty years?”

“That’s correct.”

“What did its original name mean? The Sakura part.” Juliet liked the sound of it, but was it bad luck to take on the ship’s original name? She wanted to know what it meant before she pursued the question.

“Sakura is the Japanese name for the cherry blossom. It was their national flower.”

“Was?”

“Well, like most of the nation-states on Earth, Japan exists mostly as a culture now. Various corporate conglomerates hold those lands and control the political climate in that part of the world . . .”

“Oh, yeah, I get your meaning. Well, Sakura was a heck of a lot different from its other names. Thresher? Gorgon III? I don’t like those. I almost want to give it its old name again. Do you think Shiro and the others would go for it?”

“Perhaps, but don’t be hasty; it’s not a decision that needs to be made any time soon.”

“Yeah, good point.” Juliet chuckled, an image running through her mind. “Imagine if we painted it real nice, like a pale blue or something, and then had a bunch of cherry blossoms along the sides, behind the cannon barrels. Heck, what if we kept the name but used the English version? Could you imagine what pirates would think when the Cherry Blossom started collecting bounties?” She scooched further into her pillow, imagining the scene as the beautiful, deadly gunship with its frilly name started taking names and kicking ass.

“I rather enjoy that image.” Juliet could hear the same wistfulness she was feeling in Angel’s voice.

“Something to think about anyway. Won’t hurt to propose the idea.” Sighing and shaking her head, bringing herself back to the present moment, she started prying open the box containing her expensive paper artifact. In her opinion, owning a book was one thing, but she should also be able to say she’d read it.

Perhaps guessing at her motivations, Angel said, “I could get you a digital copy of that book so that you don’t sully or damage the pages . . .”

“No, Angel. I want to experience it. I’ve only ever seen people reading books like this in vids. I’ll be careful.”

“Don’t bend the pages.”

“Huh? Why would I?”

“People used to do that—bend the top corner of the page to mark their reading progress.”

“Uh, don’t worry. I won’t.” As she spoke, she finally got the book out of the box and, with a pent-up breath, carefully began turning the pages, starting with the flyleaf and working her way past the table of contents to the first page of the story. As she began to read, she lost herself to the beautiful prose and the images that came into her mind. For the first time in a long while, the worries of the day slipped away entirely as she put herself in Carl Corey’s shoes and began to unravel the mystery of his amnesia.

If she hadn’t had a clock on her AUI, she wouldn’t have realized how much time had passed when Alice spoke into the crew comms, “Lockdown is lifted! I’ll wait around for a while to see if we get that transfer from the clearing house, but we should be able to start burning for Luna tonight.”

Juliet blinked her eyes and closed the thick book, trusting Angel to remember what page she’d been on. Looking at her clock, she saw she’d been reading for nearly four hours. “I’ve never read for so long without realizing it!”

“It’s a good story, isn’t it?”

“Did you read ahead on a digital copy?”

“No! I’m reading with you.”

“Good!” Juliet laughed and gently placed the book back in its protective case. “Promise me you won’t! I want you to read this one with me.”

“I promise. I enjoy the shared experience, too.” Angel paused momentarily, then added, “I have another project I’m working on while I wait for you to turn the pages anyway.”

“Oh?”

“Yes! I’m designing a flight and combat simulation program for you. We’ll need you to get a dream-rig to take full advantage of it. I’m also creating a self-paced curriculum with interactive lessons for you so that you’ll easily pass the SSFRC pilot licensing exam.”

“Really? Thank you, Angel; that’s really sweet. Um, do I need a pilot’s license?”

“Not everywhere, but some ports won’t let an unlicensed pilot dock. Some jobs or clients might require one as well.”

“Thanks for thinking of that. I’m excited to get into your simulation, too! If I end up going to learn or work with one of Alice’s friends, it’ll probably be best if I know a thing or two about flying, huh?”

“Exactly my thinking.”

Juliet loved the feeling she got when Angel sounded proud of herself. For probably the hundredth time in the last week, she reflected on how lucky she was to have her. She wondered about the mysterious guy who’d given her away. He’d been minutes from death, and instead of taking the PAI to the grave, he’d wanted to give her to Juliet. He’d wanted to give a complete stranger a chance at something more. She wished she could do something to honor his memory. “First, I need to learn more about him,” she muttered.

“What?” Angel sounded entirely confused.

“Something of a long-term goal I just thought of, Angel. I’m afraid it has to do with WBD, and I don’t think we’re quite ready to take them on.”

“I agree. You’re getting closer, though. You’re a long way from the naïve scrap cutter I first met when you put me in your head.”

“You’re not exactly the same, either, sister. Not even close.”