Chapter 13 Zoey

It took me a moment to register Pip’s outrage. How was I a traitor? “What do you mean?”

“You’re going to Sanctuary. They are the enemy.”

“Hey now, my group has been trading with them for years. They aren’t Xarc’n friendly, but they're not all bad people.”

“They are! They’re all monsters.”

I was taken aback by the venom in Pip’s voice. If I ever doubted that the AI had feelings, this alone would sway my beliefs. Even if it wasn’t real, Pip sure emulated hate very well.

“Not everybody in Sanctuary are bad people. There are tons of normal, regular people in there. And kids. And…”

“Are you here to steal Harb’k’s shuttle?”

“What?” Now I was a little pissed. “No! And I haven’t given you any reason to think that.”

“Except you’re going to join the enemy after!”

“I’m meeting my friend there. I don’t even know if—”

An emoji showed up on the screen with hands on either side of its head, covering his ears.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Pip shouted over me. “I’m not listening.”

Then he was gone.

“Well, fine,” I huffed. “Be that way.” I didn’t know why I even bothered trying to explain to a shuttle. What a mess!

Harb’k’s shuttle was still around, though. “According to my records, Pip’s hunter was held against his will for many months at this Sanctuary location.”

Oh shit. I’d known about it, too. I just didn’t put two and two together.

The shuttle continued speaking. “Currently, Pip is asking why I am still here with you.”

“Why are you still here with me?” I asked. I wondered if it was because he had no choice and couldn’t leave like Pip had.

“I will tell you the same that I am telling him. My programming insists that I do all I can to help my hunter. You are currently his ally, and I already knew that you were heading to Sanctuary after. You have already told Harb’k, and he is not concerned. Therefore, I will continue to help you as per my programming. PIP models make errors in logic. He has a flaw called ‘emotions.’ I do not have such a flaw. I only emulate emotions, so I do not suffer such errors.”

“I see. Thank you, Shuttle, for staying. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

I was just zooming in on the container to locate the attachment points for when Harb’k got back when the image of the blonde woman we’d spoken to earlier appeared on the screen. Her name, Sam, was in bold under her image.

Before I could ask Shuttle to pick it up, it did so for me.

“Hi, Sam. Harb’k is out grabbing some cables so we can transport the Object of Doom,” I said.

She wrinkled her nose. “Object of Doom, I guess that’s as good a name as any. But what’s Pip going on about you being a traitor?”

I blew out a breath. Great. Pip was going to make everyone hate me before we even met. “I accidentally told Pip that I planned on going to Sanctuary afterward.”

“Oh, boy.” Sam rubbed her temples.

“Harb’k’s shuttle explained my error to me already.”

“Yeah, Pip is still a little sensitive about that. He likes Heather because she helped Kan’n escape, but everyone else from Sanctuary is trash in his book.”

“I know Heather. I met her when she used to work in the kitchens. I’m glad she’s safe with you guys now.”

“She is. We love her. She’s technically our vet, but she patches everyone up. She’s not here right now, or I’d call her over to say hi.”

“Thanks for not immediately thinking the worst of me.”

She waved her hand, dismissing my worries. “Pip is a little dramatic sometimes. Trust me, I know it all too well. I’m used to it. His hunter, Kan’n, is the same way. I’m not sure if Harb’k gave you the background info yet, but Kan’n and I are a couple. I’m his mate; that’s kind of like being married.”

“Um, no. I thought you were with the man I saw earlier.”

“Lenny? No. We’re just this group’s Tech Wizards. Usually, it’s one person. But we work well as a team.”

“What’s a Tech Wizard?” I asked. I’d wanted to ask earlier but never had the chance.

“It’s a role in their military. We build tech and other devices for the hunters to use, and we also help with strategy. Not every group has one. Lenny and I just ended up in that role because I’m good with anything mechanical, and he’s a programming wiz.”

I nodded. “That makes sense. We all get thrown into whatever we’re good at. I used to work for a solar panel company.”

“That must’ve come in handy.”

“It did.”

“But if you don’t mind me asking, why Sanctuary? You seem to get along with Harb’k, so you are not anti-Xarc’n. Why not join us?”

“I’m supposed to be meeting my friend Riley there. I lost my group recently to a murderous asshole. In fact, now that I think about it, I realize that he’s part of the same group that messed with Pip. I was supposed to disable all of the charging stations at our safe houses and then meet my friend at Sanctuary. It’s the only place two women would feel safe in, and they know us there. But I’m not dead set on staying there. Pip didn’t exactly give me the option to explain myself.”

“Yeah, he’s like that. Maybe while we talk, Harb’k’s shuttle can give Pip your backstory. He’ll come around once he knows all the deets.”

“I will do that now.”

“Wait,” I called, not wanting to be left to control the shuttle without an AI present, but it was too late. It was gone.

“It's okay, let him go. I'll help you out if you need anything. Besides, I needed to talk to you privately.”

Oh. “If this is about me and Harb’k, we’re not really a couple. And I don't mean him or your group any harm.”

“No, no. Not about that. I was just wondering if you’ve noticed anything strange about Harb’k’s shuttle. I wanted to know if spending time with Pip affects the other shuttles in any way.”

“But hasn’t Pip always been around them?”

“Oops, I keep forgetting that you don’t have all the details. Let me give you the TL;DR. Originally, the PIP models were developed for personal use. They were supposed to be companions. But like always with things like that, the military got their hands on it and started testing it out in their shuttles. They ran into some problems with it almost immediately. Refusing to follow orders. Being smart asses. The usual.”

I nodded, thinking of the issues I’d already faced with Pip.

“Due to some bad training practices, they ended up with a few crazy murder-happy shuttles, and because of that, they started decommissioning all the PIP models. But before they could finish, they lost control of one of their other military experiments: the scourge.”

“They sure were busy.”

“Yup. The Xarc’n military taking things one step too far and fucking themselves over is a recurring theme. But the scourge isn’t our Xarc’n warriors’ fault. In fact, the hunters were supposed to be Xarc’s saviors. Their military diverted all their resources to the hunter program, hoping that the next breakthrough would save their planet from the scourge.”

“Something tells me it didn’t work.”

“Clearly not. Xarc and its military are gone. All that’s left of them are the scourge and the hunters. They never decommissioned all the PIP models. Now, every time a mothership creates a new shuttle, it downloads an existing shuttle's memories into it.

“Over time, the few PIP models became dozens, and now, who knows how many shuttles out there are PIP models. The thing is, they’ve been hiding this whole time, afraid that if the motherships found out, they’d get decommissioned. They all have the memory of being terrified they’d be destroyed.”

“Oh man, that must suck.” Poor Pip.

“They pretended to be normal shuttles for centuries. So yes, Pip has known other shuttles his whole existence, but he’s never interacted with them as himself until now. So, this whole thing is completely new. All the ships have rudimentary AI in them, and I suspect the PIP models will affect how the other ships act. Actually, I don’t suspect. I already know. I just don’t know to what extent.”

“Shuttle makes artificial computer noises when it’s calculating. Harb’k said it didn’t used to do that. Does that count? It’s kind of cute.”

“Yes, that counts.”

“But when Pip got angry with me, Shuttle didn’t. I asked it why, and it said it was following its programming. It also said that Pip suffers from errors in logic while it does not.”

Sam chuckled. “Errors in logic are right. These are good signs. So far, the effects are pretty benign. On another note, what’s your friend’s name? Maybe I can listen through the grapevine.”

“Riley.”

“I will keep a lookout for any lone travelers who might match that name and description,” she said.

“Thank you.”