Rifka thought she’d be more prepared. More ready to do something. Instead, her calculations showed Traveller would arrive in four hours. For three of those hours, she’d already scheduled to sleep. But, sleeping became impossible.

  Instead, to calm her anxiety, she imagined what she might say to the people in the ship.

  To keep her hands busy, she started preparing the precision medical operating equipment. She wanted to install her cybernetic eyes and their co-processors as soon as possible. This would be her key to monitoring the Lonely Mountain’s systems.

  So, she put her automated precision assembler together, and began feeding it the parts for the cybernetics medical suite. It only needed to operate on her face and eyes, but she wasn’t foolish. Even specialized, the suite needed precision calibration after assembly. A micron off in assemble could delay her installation for weeks, if not months. Erasmus had put the new cybernetic eyes in a white aluminum case. Rifka carefully opened the lid to see them nestled in sterile foam.

  They were just as Erasmus and she had designed them. The sclera had a blue compound hex sensors, only slightly visible on the surface as hair thin lines. The iris was more decorative than functional, but it was tinted in a dark desaturated lime green. In actuality, the iris was a programmable clear nano-machine that could be used to give Rifka a huge range of magnification effects, and sensitivity to much larger range of electromagnetic radiation than even the most abnormal natural eyes could achieve. All in a package that, if the materials matched the specification, would survive hundreds of pounds of force. Rifka carefully closed the lid.

  “These are beautiful. Thank you Erasmus.”

  “You are welcome.”

  Rifka spent the rest of her time thinking as she slowly gave the parts to the precision assembler to be assembled into the cybernetics surgery suite.

  Rifka had fed the last part into the assembler when her computer chimed again. Three and a half hours. Traveller moved at roughly one fifth the speed of light, and had begun a new burn to slow down. The radiation arcing off of it lit up the infrared scopes like a beacon.

  “It’s over a light second away.” Rifka said. “That’s a bit far to talk to them right?”

  “Little Rifka. You can try to warn them if you want.” Erasmus said. “You’ll never get another chance. If they come within a half light second, I’ll go out and greet them the way a dragon does.”

  “With a robot?” Rifka said hopefully.

  “With fire.”

  Rifka turned the directional radio toward Traveller.

  “This is mining station LM-25 to Traveller. You are nearing the lair of a dragon. Please turn away. Come no closer. Respond and confirm.”

  …

  Gjosta had a plan. The first part had become the most dangerous. But, it still needed to be done.

  Before Gjosta arrived in-system, the reports from the planet said, in summary, LM-25 had gone dark. Not a peep from the “dragon” or any of its systems. If luck had been on his side, this entire infiltration would have been done shortly after his visit to the archive. If the dragon was gone, they could land in the loading dock and recover the entire station.

  Unfortunately, the planetary authority had lied. They had detected signs the station had operational systems, and their reports downplayed the data showing LM-25 still had a resident.

  Gjosta needed to take a scan, and that meant approaching to the asteroid.

  Gjosta brought Traveller close and began the sort of sweep the primary systems a deep space explorer ship excelled at. This range, however, felt too close.

  “Keep the liminal drive ready for the jump,” Gjosta reminded Traveller. Not that she needed reminding. “Summarize what you have on the station.”

  “As the data file showed,” Traveller said to Gjosta, “the station still emits higher amounts of Gamma and X-ray radiation than a dead station should. My scans show more than expected infrared heat in the habitat sections too.”

  Gjosta had given up the habit of cursing from his time as a soldier. But, he wanted to.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “So, the LM-25 is very much alive after all. Squatters?”

  “Possibly. Or, there is something else. I found new satellite systems placed in orbit. Those could be weapons. Plan B?”

  “No.” Gjosta had a hunch that the passive detection system on the station were following their progress through the system. Plan B wasn’t stealthy enough. They would need to use the back door. “Plan Delta.”

  “Yes. I’ll set it up. And, Gjosta, I am just recieved a new signal from the LM-25.”

  “What kind?”

  “A digital radio signal with video; it’s an old Thor & Co. handshake code.”

  “One of the automated systems?”

  “I can play it for you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  A beautiful woman appeared on Gjosta’s screen, with shorter length green glowing hair, bright green eyes that glowed around the edge of the iris, and the sort of ash-grey pale skin that spacers get when they do not get exposed to UV. To Gjosta, she looked like the ghost of a princess from a forgotten kingdom.

  Gjosta felt frozen. He studied the curve of her jaw and the unlined face. A memory he had felt entirely forgotten came back to him.

  ‘She has her natural eyes,’ Gjosta thought. ‘How old would she be now if she was part of the same project? Four hundred years? More? She looks like she’s less than two decades old.’

  “Is this transmitting now?” Gjosta murmured.

  “It’s a recording. But the channel is open, so you can connect back to her call.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  The woman on screen began talking. She warned them. Not only that. She did not warn ships in general, she warned Traveller specifically. This message hadn’t been prepared in advance.

  This meant she was either an AI projection or she was a real. A BE human. After centuries alone, Gjosta realized he wasn’t. He thought those feelings lost and gone, but he still took a moment to recover before he signaled Traveller to connect him with his sister.

  …

  “This is Traveller’s captain, Gjosta speaking. Please respond.” The image that came through the connection had a delay. Rifka saw, for the first time in 12 years, a human man. Darkness framed his face. His hair matched hers, glowing slightlyb. He had a short white beard. She reasoned he looked younger than he was.

  “This is … LM-25. Please turn around. You are floating toward the debris field. This area of space belongs to the Lonely Mountain.” Rifka tried to keep her voice firm.

  “Sister? I … your eyes are beautiful.” The man’s voice sounded smooth, but slightly roughened.

  “Um, what?” That wasn’t on the list of responses Rifka prepared for.

  “Am I mistaken? You are a BE human from one of the programs, aren’t you? How long ago?”

  “I’m not sure.” Rifka answered reflexively.

  “You weren’t born on LM-25, were you?” The man’s face looked serious and stormy. Rifka had no idea why.

  “No. I was born on an Ark ship.”

  “Ah. That’s why you’re a woman. The military programs insisted on men.”

  “Really? Wait. No. I can’t talk. You’re in danger.”

  “Are you dangerous?”

  “Not from me.”

  “Then its settled. I’ll bring Traveller into the habitat docks and we can talk face to face.”

  “No, it’s the dragon. They won’t let you dock.”

  “If you are a prisoner there, then I must. There are so few of us left. Sister, you must know that LM-25 is the property of Thor & Co. You’re squatting. It’s ok, though, I can keep them from arresting you for trespass. I have privileges.”

  “If it’s about the law, then I own the Lonely Mountain by adverse possession and right of conquest.” Erasmus said. Their visual didn’t appear on the connection, but Traveller’s captain heard them.

  “Who is this?” Gjosta asked.

  “The Dragon Erasmus. I have let my daughter Rifka try to persuade you to leave. You are still drifting toward my mountain. Leave.”

  Even over the video, Rifka could see Gjosta’s expression grow harder. A little muscle twitched in his jaw, and his eyes narrowed.

  “You are a rogue AI, and I’m here to put you down.”

  “I AM A DRAGON.” The lights in the station jittered, and Rifka felt an unfamiliar vibration through her feet. It felt like the entire mountain shook.

  Rifka’s sensor suite picked up the launch of LM-25’s defensive missiles. Over a hundred, launched from the surface from places Rifka didn’t even know had missile silos.

  “What did you do?” Rifka asked Erasmus, as if it wasn’t obvious. Her heart pounded. Erasmus had attacked.

  For a second, Gjosta did not react.

  “Rifka. A pleasure to meet you. I’ll see you soon.”

  The transmission cut off.

  “Erasmus. Stop. Please.” The missiles travelled sub-light. They were fast, but not so fast that they couldn’t be redirected if Erasmus acted now. The Dragon could order self destruct or re-aim them at the star.

  “That man is a soldier for his company. This is the only way I can drive him off without killing him outright. He will use his ship’s liminal drive to leave.”

  “But, what if he doesn’t?”

  “Then he will die.”