That debate occupied my attention for a few thousand milliseconds. Finally I decided to go with happy. I’d already gotten into one scrape, and I could easily have gotten shot by one of the trolls. So it made sense to be prepared.
The surgery bots replaced my other kidney, and part of my liver. Then they carefully rebuilt my burned side, and closed up the bullet holes. They even replaced the flesh I’d torn off my fingers, and laid down pink new skin over all my injuries. I could have done without the microbots flying around inside my lungs, replacing dead cells one by one. But I had to admit, they got the job done.
It was a huge relief when it was finally over. A swarm of microbots scrubbed every trace of debris from my skin and then retreated, leaving an attendant bot to levitate me onto a floating bed. It carefully tucked me in under a warm sheet, and I sighed in relief. I felt so much better now. No more pain to ignore, and I’d be back on my feet soon. I just need to rest for a bit first.
I woke to the realization that there was someone watching me.
For a few milliseconds I was confused, until I realized that I’d dozed off. I was lying in a bed in one of the medbay recovery rooms now. My pinkie was still plugged in to a power cable, and the feeding tube and… other tube, were still there. But three hours had gone by, and my repair system had pretty much finished integrating the replacement parts. My power cells were fully charged, and my damaged armor was starting to grow back. No excuse to ignore a visitor, then.
I couldn’t talk with the feeding tube in my throat, so I opened a com channel as I turned my head to look at him.
“Am I in trouble, sir?” I asked the captain.
He glanced at the monitor on the wall beside my bed, and raised an eyebrow.
“Should you be, Alice? Perhaps you’ve been up to some mischief I’m not aware of?”
The back of my hand had a decent view of the monitor screen. It said I was asleep? Oh, well, I guess my organic parts were. Including my brain. Great. Well, he hadn’t freaked out yet. Maybe it would be alright? Yeah, just focus on the conversation.
“No, sir. Nothing you don’t know about. I kind of shot up the vehicle bay, though, and some of the maintenance tunnels.”
“Some collateral damage is inevitable in a boarding action, Alice. I’d say you did far less damage than the bots would have, if they’d been left to operate unmolested a bit longer. You did well to discover the problem.”
That was a relief. I’d been a little worried he might make me pay for the damage.
“I am, however, a bit confused at your later actions. Did you somehow miss my discussion with Naoko regarding the concept of cooperation among the crew? Or perhaps you thought such concerns don’t apply to you?”
I winced. “I, um, no sir. I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand what I should have done differently. We needed to cut the power to those fabricators fast, and there was no one else in position to do it.”
“You should have told Lina what you intended to do, and trusted her to make the right call,” he replied. “Alice, do you have some difficulty with having an android as a supervisor?”
“What? No, sir! There just wasn’t time-”
“Then there certainly wasn’t time for mistakes,” he interrupted me. “I have gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to ensure that I employ the best people available, and provide them with the best possible support. Lina has performed commando operations before, and while her current body can’t match your stealth she could easily have been in position to cover your exit. Which, I’ll point out, was fumbled rather badly.”
I hung my head. He was right, I’d completely screwed that up. Why had I been in such a rush to plug into that outlet? Sure, it got my manipulators online fast, but the sudden heat load ruined my stealth. If I hadn’t done that I probably could have snuck right back out of there.
“Yes, sir. I know, sir.”
“Well, we aren’t going to have a repeat of that fiasco. We can put you through commando school if that’s what you want, Alice. But until you’ve been properly trained I expect you to coordinate your activities with someone who has more experience. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
He hesitated.
“You will remember this when you wake up, correct? Or are you spoofing the medical monitors?”
“No, sir. That would be a really dumb thing to do. I, um, I don’t really understand how this works. I guess I must be an AI that thinks it’s Alice, since my brain is still asleep. But the integration is so seamless I can’t even tell the difference unless something like that gives it away. I’ll remember everything when I wake up.”
“Ah, that’s good to hear,” he said. “Then there’s no confusion about what name should go on the commendation.”
“Commendation?” I gasped.
A hint of a smile touched his lips. “Repelling boarders is not normally a part of a cabin girl’s duties, Alice. Perhaps you were unaware? Well, regardless, I’ve received no less than six nominations and I’m not in the habit of ignoring such things. I’ve entered a Distinguished Service commendation on your record, for service to the ship above and beyond your expected duties at great personal risk. That comes with a bonus of three month’s pay, and two additional prize shares from the recent engagement.”
I felt my cheeks heat. A commendation! I wasn’t even properly hired yet, and I already had a commendation. I had to fight down a sudden urge to squeal and jump up and down like a little kid.
“Thank you, sir!”
“You’ve earned it. Just make sure the next one isn’t posthumous,” he said sternly. “If you need to resort to heroics, you’re doing it wrong.”
“I understand, sir. No more heroics from me. Um, you said something about prize shares?”
“Yes. Zanfeld has a small shipyard, as I’m sure you noticed, and they’ve agreed to haul in the wreckage of that pirate ship for salvage. Sleeping Dragon is splitting the take with us fifty-fifty, and forty percent of whatever we get will be split among the crew. It wasn’t a very big ship, mind you, but I expect when all is said and done the deal will put a few thousand credits in your pocket.
“A few thousand?” I choked. I’d never dreamed of having so much money.
The captain chuckled, and patted my head.
“There’s a reason people take the risk of serving on ships like the Square Deal, Alice. Now, why don’t you get some rest? Things are going to get exciting soon, and you’ll want to be at your best.”
“Oh?” More exciting that fighting an army of bots in the middle of a space battle? That was ominous.
“That attack has yakuza fingerprints all over it,” he explained. “The ship was from the Seven Sons pirate clan, and they would not attack a target like the Square Deal on their own. Rei has just started her analysis of ‘Mr. Desh’, but she’s ninety percent sure someone replaced the original with a replicant. That would take inside information from his company, which isn’t the kind of thing a small pirate clan would be able to get.”