33. You Drink Wine, You Get Drunk

AUREN

CHAPTER 33

The ship only had one stateroom. Lupo graciously offered that Auren make it his own. He'd just enabled their human-mimicking systems, and Auren was delighted by sensorial feedback as he sipped a glass of ice-cold water in the kitchenette of his new quarters. He set down his glass and looked at his surroundings.

Auren marveled at the craftsmanship of his suite. One wall was a massive fish tank, the brilliant creatures within glowing bright neon, dancing amongst the fronds of various exotic plants and corals. Another was a panoramic viewing window, giving him an expansive vista of the star systems streaking past in the void.

He threw himself on the room's central feature—a massive bed. Aside from the kitchenette and dining table and his own personal food dispenser, there was little else in the room. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, grinning as he finally let himself exhale. The wounds on his back had even healed since their escape.

But unease slowly crept up on him as he lay there. The thought that this wasn't him—not really—wouldn't go away. The real Auren had died during the upload. Hadn't he? His actual body was out there somewhere right now, rotting, most likely. And the thought sent him into a dizzying spiral of doubts and uncertainties that cascaded into outright despair. He rubbed at his temples, wishing he could just be back home with Fengári, running some half-baked small-time scam to pay for their latest meal. After Thestle, he wanted nothing more than to go home.

"Knock knock," came the gentle rumble of a voice from his door.

Auren opened his eyes, spotting Lupo leaning against the doorframe, eating a piece of fruit. He tossed one to him.

"Catch, they're rather passable. Amazing what money can buy."

"You mean what people can steal, right?" Auren asked.

Lupo laughed.

Auren caught the red orb handily, eyeing it suspiciously before biting into its flesh. It tasted both sweet and tart. The flesh was delicate and perfectly passable. He'd never had anything quite like it.

"This is fabricated?" Auren asked, incredulous.

"Come check out the galley." Lupo grinned, disappearing into the ship's central hallway. Auren followed him.

And he was right. Like everything else on board, the galley was incredible. Sleek matte aluminum and oak wood adorned the space. A single moody booth, large enough to seat a crew, was nestled in a glass viewing bubble that protruded from the ship's hull, providing a truly stunning vantage of the universe.

"What did I tell you?" Lupo said gleefully. He grabbed Auren's shoulders and shook him like they'd won the lottery.

"You won't believe how overbuilt this thing is," he continued. "Take a look at this meal fab."

He crossed the room to the wall panel dominated by the unit. It possessed a single tray dispenser, and a hologram powered up as Lupo approached. A seemingly limitless menu of food options began to scroll down it.

"What are you having, good sir?" Lupo asked, faking an old Terran accent.

"It can make all of this," Auren marveled, scrolling through the display and seeing dish after dish he'd never even heard of.

"Good to know that some people get to experience a post-scarcity future, isn't it?" Lupo laughed. "For once, that can be our future."

Auren had to give it to him—this was an odd upturn from his previous living standards. But he couldn't help the feeling that they wouldn't get away with such a monumental theft so readily…

"Go sit down, make yourself comfortable. Benvenuto nella mia cucina," the older man said, winking chummily at Auren as he set about printing them dinner.

"What if those cruisers show up and blow us to pieces?" Auren asked, dreading how close they'd just come to being atomized.

"Only the military can interdict ships in hyperspace. Don't you know that? It'll be weeks before they work out our telemetry, and by then, we'll have hopped off to our next destination, or you'll be comfortably off this ship—up to you. Either way, that's a problem for another time. Tonight's problem is dinner; now let me solve it for you."

And with that, Lupo turned his back to him. Auren slid into the booth, unable to shake his doubts or the feeling of vulnerability at being so exposed to the vacuum of space in the glass bubble that extended beyond the rest of the hull. He was far from home, hunted by pirates, and in the company of a stranger who, for all he knew, was completely unhinged.

Odd as it was, Auren had never felt more alive.

Unhinged or not, Lupo's dinner selections had been perfect. Auren sat back groggily, growing dizzy as the stars blurred past.

"More wine?" Lupo smiled, pouring himself a glass. They had just finished the last of the carbonara.

"Why not," Auren allowed.

He wasn't sure there was really any downside to the stuff anymore. The food had all tasted real enough. He could still taste the remnants of it now. And he'd even forgotten a few times as he'd eaten that he wasn't actually a human.

"So how does this all… work?" Auren finally asked, gesturing up and down at himself.

"How should I know?" Lupo replied, arcing a brow as though asking him that question was silly.

"Well, you seemed to know so much before—" Auren began.

"I was trapped on that station, formless, for nearly half a decade," Lupo interrupted. "I had plenty of time to lurk in the shadows, spying from security cameras, slowly building out a plan to do precisely one thing: escape. I was never omniscient, only patient and observant," he explained, refilling Auren's wine.

"It just seems like there must be more to the story of how you got there…" Auren pushed, feeling surer now that the man was withholding something.

"You asked how this works," Lupo deflected, mirroring Auren's gesture to indicate his body. "I assume it works much like before. Drink, and you'll piss. Eat, and you'll shit. You sleep, you wake…"

"You drink wine, and you get drunk?" Auren asked hopefully.

"You drink wine, and you get fucking drunk," Lupo said, raising his glass in cheers.

The two carried on in companionable silence for some time. It seemed that neither wanted to disturb the uneasy balance they'd just established. But Auren still had questions, and they nagged at him all the while.

"Did you see them?" Lupo murmured after a time. "You know… the invaders," he whispered, as though mentioning them might summon one of the vast alien ships.

"Not exactly," Auren admitted. "I heard them, though. It was terrible. I can't help but worry that everyone I knew on Vesperion is dead. All of them except me. Because I was a coward," he finished, grabbing the bottle and drinking directly.

"Easy," Lupo soothed, taking the bottle and sipping some before handing it back. "Look, I'm not one to judge. Everyone has a story; believe me, I understand. Mine has had its share of twists and turns too."

Auren set down the wine and leaned back in the booth.

"So tell me your story, then. What's on Thestle? Why the secrecy?"

"You sure you want to know?" Lupo asked sheepishly.

"Tell me everything," Auren said.

Lupo pursed his lips and looked at him tiredly. Then he got up and printed a new beverage. It was amber, and ice floated about within the glasses as Lupo set them between them.

"Alright. I'll tell you my story. But we'll both need one of these to get through it."

Lupo nudged a glass toward Auren and raised his own. Auren sniffed at the drink, which smelled smokey and sharp, then clinked his glass against Lupo's and took a swig. The liquid burned, and Auren couldn't tell if he liked or hated it. He set down the glass and listened as his new companion unburdened himself of the story of his past.