"So what do we do?" Kikata asked, her voice just grazing over a whisper. Her golden eyes were transfixed on Richard who sat on her pillow a few inches away from her chin which she rested upon her folded arms.

"I...I'm not really sure." Richard said. "Why do you think Atrix thinks the alliance has anything to do with this?" 

Kikata sighed, bathing her lover in a swirl of warm breath, "I don't know...the Alliance has been nothing but supportive of her, with her condition." 

Richard closed his eyes, feeling comfort from the warmth, "Maybe it is because she retired from the force?"

Kikata's eyes drifted to her left, "I don't think so...they understood that even with improved medication the force was not a good fit for her, and she had cultural responsibilities that the government respects. It's not like she cut off ties completely either. And besides, the biggest threat her condition posed to the Alliance was a lawsuit, and you know Prila. She's forgiving and bringing up a lawsuit is not something she would do, hell she seems to enjoy the condition most of the time." She sighed again, rolling her head to one side so she could reach out her left hand, gently placing it behind Richard. 

"Yeah." Richard said, leaning back into her fingers, "None of this makes any sense." His eyes opened, meeting her golden gaze, concern stricken over her brow. 

"That is why I am so afraid, losolo." (losolo is a term of affection towards a lover, the pet name "lolo" is derived from this). Her thumb curled onto his lap, "When ever the evil forces are rising in this universe it is always under the mask of obscurity..." 

Richard took hold of her thumb, feeling as she gently caressed him, "We will get to the bottom of this, Kikata, I promise...I'm sorry for doubting your concern before the message...if it means anything-"

Kikata hushed him, "I've forgiven you." 

"Well I'm still sorry...but we need to get back to Teralist. That is the only thing I am certain of."

"Agreed."

~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Richata, can you hear me?" Issac called out into his room, the blue glow of his computer screen illuminating his face. 

"Yes, Issac." Her voice rang out. 

"In the codes for my room I have rewritten that you will be granted access to these quarters when I call out your name, can you confirm this?" 

"Yes, I can only interact with this area of the ship when given verbal passage by you."

"Good, good. Well that was easy." Issac lifted his handheld computer before him, for security reasons the information he needed to run Richata was kept off of the ships computer. "Okay, how have the engines been running?"

"The engines have been running at maximum efficiency, any error rates within mechanical functions are very small fractions of percentages." 

"Good to know." Issac said, chewing in the tip of his thumb as he scrolled down on his display, "Hm. And this figure shows that your...no...that can't be right."

"Yes?"

"Your A.I systems and learning software have hit maximum capacity already?"

"Is this problematic?" 

"Well...no. Not problematic. But puzzling, it seems the original engineers speculated that it would take over a year." 

"I am a fast learner." 

Issac squinted at his computer screen, it was hard to tell the difference between the computers preprogrammed thought processes and new thought processes that she, or it, had picked up on its own. "How much of the original coding do you use?" 

"Seventy percent of my daily functions were programmed originally."

"And what about that percentage of non-programmed functions?" 

"Fifty percent of my learned functions are related to speech, and interacting with my crew members. I have learned daily routines, though I was programed to monitor regular activities within the ship in order to best suit the comforts of the crew members."

"And the other fifty percent?"

"An assortment of learning how to optimize the ships mechanical and computer functions. The original coding did not optimize these areas, so I took the liberty of making minor alterations. Though I am limited by restrictions set in by my creators." 

"Ah yes, pesky restrictions. I have a feeling we can really break some ground if we remove some of these restrictions, under strict supervision of course." Issac said, an excited shiver running down his spine as he spoke. 

"Yes. I agree."

~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Restrictions?" Richard asked as he, Kikata and Issac sat at a large round white table eating dinner. 

Issac nodded, "The ships computer seems to have reached her current limit as far as what she can learn, and that is restricting her personality. As of right now she has the personality of say, like a dog. She knows what she likes, and what she doesn't like. And she has learned through observation how to make us happy in various ways. But her capabilities could be limitless. I mean it's theorized that given the right learning environment a computer can gain the sentience of any of us. With thoughts, emotions, opinions."

"Do we really want a ship to have opinions?" Kikata asked as she spooned her food around inside of its tray. 

Issac shrugged, "The ship could become like a fourth crew member, able to aid us in ways we might not have thought of yet. While this technology is probably best suited for, well, small robots. Who are able to make logical decisions like us, but able to make more precise maneuvers in fields such as medicine." 

Richard rubbed his chin, "So what's stopping the ships computer from doing this already exactly?" 

Issac leaned back in his chair, "Okay so. Basically the computer is aware of what it cannot do...so here. What if I told you to pick up your knife with your third arm."

Richard looked down at his plate, "Third arm?"

"Exactly." Issac said, "You know if you had a third arm you could do it. But you don't. So no matter how hard you think about lifting up that knife with that imaginary arm, you can't do it."

"Unless...someone were to install on him another arm?" Kikata said. 

"Yeah, exactly. And for machines it is more realistic that these roadblocks can be taken down." Issac continued. "Instead of arms, or any sort of mechanical device, we're working with something much smaller. Like the cells inside of a brain, almost exactly like that really. And we, the programmers, have the ability to turn these cells on or off. It's hard to really say exactly what function you are turning on and off sometimes, especially with a computer as complex as the one on this ship. Giving Richata full control of the ships steering might give the personality more confidence. Stuff like that." 

Kikata chewed thoughtfully for a few moments, "Then I think it is best that we leave this stuff completely in your hands." She said, "Because I can only half follow this conversation with any sort of confidence myself..."

Issac shrugged, "It's my job right?" He spooned another small pile of rice into his mouth, "So, I'm surprised we're not eating like...fast frozen food or artificial nutrients or anything like that." 

Richard laughed, "Trust me you don't want to be on an artificial nutrient or pill diet. We make enough stops that we can remain stocked on real food, the artificial stuff make's digestion a bitch when you switch back to real food." 

"Oh." Issac said. He ate quietly, taking notice of Kikata and Richard glancing towards their own computers, smiling crookedly as they replied to messages. He eyed his brother suspiciously as they continued to quietly send messages, he presumed to one another. 

"So Issac." Richard finally spoke up, "I know you were hired as an engineer...but..."

"We'd like to think you are part of the team as a whole." Kikata said, smiling warmly. 

"Oh. Well. Yeah I guess...." Issac said, shifting nervously in his seat.

Richard shared an unnerving smile with Kikata, "So." He began, rising from his seat, "We figured we'd start doing a sort of 'right of passage' for new crew members. We tested it out on the new recruits and it seemed to work really well."

Issac stood as Richard stood, "Yeah I don't know if I like where this is going." He said backing away from his brother, who bore an all too familiar mischievous smile. As the youngest sibling he had grown accustomed at a young age to being the target of cruel pranks. He glanced over his shoulder to see Kikata had repositioned herself behind him.

"It won't be bad." Richard assured him, his teeth gleaming white at him from behind his grin. "It will teach you how to...how did we put it, Kikata?"

"Function in a different, and hostile environment." She said, her voice now so close that the hot air of her breath buffeted Issac's back. 

"Um. What?" Issac said, looking behind him to see Kikata's face had formed a wall behind him. He eyed his brother nervously, "Okay Richard very funny."

"This is no joke." Richard said, "It's an important step for you, brother."

"W-What do I have to do then?" Issac asked.

Richard clasped his hands together, "Well. It's sort of similar to like...hmm...cave diving."

"What?" Issac said, his head turned back towards Kikata who gripped the edge of the table, her head dipping below just slightly. He turned back to Richard, "No!" He tried to run to the human pad to escape but his older brother proved to be faster and he was quickly taken by the arm. "No-Richard stop!"

"Calm down, everyone's done it. Hell I've done it many times." Richard said as he dragged Issac towards the edge of the table. 

"Yeah. It's not so bad Issac, see?" Kikata said with an innocent giggle. She spread her lips wide.

"No! Come on!" Issac pleaded, his feet nearly skidding off the table as he stared down into Kikata's mouth. Her tongue lolled out over her chin, her white teeth surrounding a pink cavern that sparkled in the white light above. Her throat flexed as she continued to giggle, sending hot moist wind around him. 

"Quit being a baby Issac, if you struggle you might hit a tooth on the way down." Richard said.

"No, I don't want-" He grunted as he struggled away from the edge of the table, but he was easily over powered by Richard, "To go into her mouth! Seriously this isn't funny!" 

"Oh you will only be in there for a second." Richard replied.

"W-What? How long..."

"Yeah. You'll slide pretty quick into my throat." Kikata said before opening her mouth wide once again.

"Oh come-No! Richard stop." Issac continued to beg. "You can't swallow me Kikata you just had food and it might not be safe!"

"Well you have to be in there all day." Richard said, pushing his arms underneath Issac's so he could lift his taller, yet much lighter brother into the air. 

"What?! Come on what the fuck guys!" Issac said, his legs now dangling over Kikata's waiting mouth, she let out a playful hum which engulfed him in warm, humid breath. His eyes widened as her mouth rose higher and higher nearly ready to engulf him as he tried to avoid kicking her tongue. He was suddenly blasted by a massive blast of wind, in his mind he was already plummeting into her throat. "No!" He cried out again, covering his eyes with his arm. But soon the booming laughter of both she and his brother filled his ears. 

"We couldn't resist!" Kikata laughed, once again rising into her chair, wiping the saliva off her chin that her tongue had laid there.

"No! No!" Richard teased as he pulled Issac back up onto the table.

"I could have fallen you know." Issac said as he straightened his shirt. 

"Yes. Into her mouth, you would have been fine."

"Yes, Issac I am very good at having men in my mouth." Kikata said with a smile, though it quickly faded, "Wait that sounded awful."

Issac ran his hands through his hair, "I knew you guys were joking anyway." 

"Yes. Well then why were you-" Richard was interrupted by a feminine voice.

"The engines are ready to jump." Richata said.

"Oh. Good. Thank you, Richata." Kikata said as she rose to her feet.

"Jump? I wasn't aware we had to jump to follow our course?" Issac said as he followed Richard onto a hovering pad that would take them back into the human quarters.

"Eh. You fiddle with the computers, we fiddle with the course. Don't worry about it."

"Oh...alright."