Once more, I wish to thank you for your geneso- generot-, fuck, for your help. The ship works almost perfectly well now apart from very minor issues. A mechanic is currently looking at the life support thing that recycles the air? Got a bit stuffy on the way back to Freeport 14, but I didn't want to bother Miss Aspen with that. She was so stressed out, she almost got herself killed by flying into the sun in Inverness. Maybe she should get her autopilot checked when you two are at the Shrine. Must be a cool place to hang out!
Hey, uhm, with the money I got from this escort job I was able to repay you. I can't help but feel this was just a pity job, I think Aspen feared that I'd try to rely on her mother-henning me. We just had a little conversation but I think we understand each other a bit better now. I sent the money to your Aunexia ship. And, uhm, if you could, please tell me how much you paid for the Z-thing-software... thing. I appreciate your gener- your help, but if I can give Miss Harper one less reason to call me a thief and an idiot, I'd at least try it. Not that it matters much. I've really heard worse...
Anyway, I'll keep staying at Freeport 14, so if you need an escort, just call me. Or if you need someone to talk to, too. The bar here is quite nice when you're not getting scammed and touched. Would love to get you a drink. Or at the Shrine, if you want! You wanted to continue your history lesson, anyway, right? Preferably without Miss Harper, so the conversation doesn't contain more insults than necessary.
I don't want to sound pushy, though, so eh, it's just a suggestion, an offer, if you get bored or need someone to talk to!
In any case, it was a pleasure doing business with you! Good Nnnh-ight!
...neural.uplink detected...
...starting encryption...establishing connection...
identified: Lazurith
transmission point of origin: ?masked ( ⚠ Unregistered node! ⚠ )
current transmission has been successfully relayed to: ? nodes with a delay of: 49 minutes recalibrating... 31%
recalibrating... 78%
...TRANSLATING DATA...
Oh, heya kid... yeah, I really thought your Condor's issues would limit themselves down to a software level. I should probably have a closer look at it myself and see if there's anything that might short circ while you're in space, see if you've got ion scrubbers on, escape pods functionality, that kinda thing. I'd hate to see you get hurt, especially over something as silly as an oversight. Don't sweat anything over the software cache I got for you - you're good. I'm just glad you don't have to be hunched over a little PDA plugged into your console just to fly on that thing. It's really bad for your back posture.
You really shouldn't have paid me so quickly. I mean, I admire how downright honest you are, but it's not really necessary right now. You're struggling to keep afloat with basic things like food and water as it is, and you could have just paid me at a later date. I hope you still have some left for yourself.
By the way, I really don't advise you to talk about this "Shrine"... bar thing out in public. It's a very secret club for misfits like ourselves. A slip of the tongue from that could mean that some very bad people might shut it down, so keep it hush-hush, okay? One day we'll probably tell you more about it, but don't count on it. We're trying to keep a low profile there.
Ya gotta forgive Becca. She's a little rough around the edges. But I'll see if I can chat with her a little, I can tell her not to rub you off so much.
Though, I'll gladly take up on your offer, if you are feeling particularly bored. Aspen and I are running some supply runs, as you are aware. I'd love to tell you all about the corners of space we're visiting as we're flying around Sirius.
I was wondering about that, you know? I asked Aspen how old you two are, and how long you are already in space. You look barely older than me!
What is with all these tech things? Are those robot eyes? Like, do you not have normal eyes, or are those glasses? I have seen another man on the freeport who had robot parts all over his body. I asked the woman at the bar and she said he is also one of the Aunexians, like you! I wanted to ask him what those do, but the bartender said I should be careful with him. And then she said I should, in general, be more careful with the other visitors of the station! But this is all so exciting, like, you do not get to see such things on Pittsburgh!
Uhm, anyway! No need to worry about my financial situation, I have enough WaSPs for at least a month, and if I struggle with the rent, I can just hop back into my ship. The oxygometer... oxygeneto... oxygetat- the thing that makes air breathable is getting replaced in two days or so! And while the cargo bay does not have a shower or something, I can just strip down there and use the water Aspen gave me to get clean. All not much of a problem!
And I am working on getting another job! Do you remember the woman we met in the Clown system in Rheinland? I sent her a message because she asked for help, so maybe I can get a bit of money from her, too! I just hope she does not expect me to speak her language!
Oh, and do not worry about the Shrine! Aspen made pretty clear that I was too pushy, which is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to be, so I do undestand that she does not want me to know where the bar is. Like, she probably thinks I want something from her, so I am taking a bit distance for now. I do not have much experience with women, because where I lived in the past few years, there were none. Women are a lot higher in demand on the market. But you probably have a lot of experience! Maybe you can give me some tips so I do not make things awkward!
As for the drink, the doctor said I need to rest for a while. I had an appointment a few hours ago and he was said that two of my ribs were factioned and apparently I was lucky not to die from imperial bleeding! It was weird, he kept using medical words so I nodded most of the time, and then he told me that I really need to bring the third sample to the lab or else I need to get quarantulated, and one of the security people said I should just ask the woman next to my room to help me with that as she does that for a living, which is weird because I thought she does massages!
Erh, anyway, if you want to take a look at my ship, that would be cool! But no rush! The mechanics here seem a bit slow, and the bartender said I should make sure they do not charge me too much. But I trust that they know what they are doing, because they are doing that for many years already. They even found issues with the ship the diagnostics tool did not find. Whoever the idiot who owned the ship before was, he didn't have an amulinum magnet brush to clean the heat sinks! Honestly, the ship is doing so much better with me than with that dumbass!
I think your local comms are not working! I am trying to talk with you for half an hour now but you are not reacting, are you sleeping? I am super worried, please respond!
You are still not reacting and I can not see you in the cockpit because of the light reflection!
Uhm, I have an EVA suit! I do not know if you are alive or not, but I am going to put it on and come to your cockpit window! Maybe I can rescue you before it is too late!
...neural.uplink detected...
...starting encryption...establishing connection...
identified: Homerunner
transmission point of origin: Elgin node
current transmission has been successfully relayed to: 0 nodes with a delay of: 0 minutes
...TRANSLATING DATA...
Nnnghhhhh. Sorry 'bout that, kiddo. I really did hit the sack back there, these last few days have been kicking my behind like a rented mule. I am very much alive. They've dragged my ship back inside and lord knows how much more I'm going to be reprimanded for passing out in space. Thanks for worrying, though. But please be careful with spacewalking around a de-shielded ship. Doing that can be extremely dangerous if you're not tethered.
I've got to finish some reports right now, I got some people worried sick. I'll comm you again in a couple of hours.
Uhm, eh. I will try to come back soon. Just had a shower and wiped my flight suit clean, it is drying right now. I did not want to cause a drama, I just- could not bear the mocking while, well, I threw up and lay in front of the toilet and could barely breathe and the ghost slut talking to me in my head was, it was just unbearable. I do not want to have more than my own thoughts in my head. I hate it. I do not want that. I get abnormally angry.
Uh... I feel like space is a bit too much for me, sometimes. I really just want to spend time with you, make some money, know that Miss Aspen is alright and all that. But there is so much politics and angry people and weird alien ghost sluts and analchromatic commutantism and all this, and stupid colony ship captains getting you into trouble, and I panicked when you got called in to fight the Xenos, I was unable to move! I just wanted to help and protect you but- I could not move at all. I-
I have two friends, one is Miss Aspen and the other is you, and I do not want to lose either of you. I need to learn what to do when something like that happens again. And I need to learn to understand all these complicated words. When Mister Klugmann says something, I understand nothing. I could listen to his voice for hours, he sounds so intelligent, but I do not understand anything. I feel like Miss Harper and you and Julie are the only ones I really understand. And I do want to be friends with Miss Harper, too, and with Julie.
Uhm, I-
Uh-
I-
I will put on some clothes and then try to get back to my ship. I feel better now, somewhat.
From:____ ____LevanHarlow
To:___________Lazurith
Subject:______Going back
Hey.
I have stuffed my things into the cockpit and cargo hold, and am making my way back to Liberty now. I want to go to Pennsylvania first, see if I can see Aspen for a last time. I just want to know she is doing well. Maybe I can find her where I found her when I first met her.
I do not know what is happening, Kris, but, I- I am not made for that. A few days ago I got my first kiss from a woman, then I find robot ships and aliens and ghost sluts and all those political people speaking complicated words. Maybe Aspen was right, I should go to Erie and find peace somewhere where a very simple person like me belongs. Maybe they have a mining company down there, where I can apply my experience with a plasma cutter. Or maybe I do what Tamara said and go down her kind of business road. According to her, I have the right caliban for that, and am pretty enough.
I do not know. Right now, I feel exactly the same as when I left Pittsburgh, just with less pain and a lot more WaSPs and money. I wish I could have spent more time with you, Lazurith, but I am way too scared of everything, and not clever enough to understand why things are the way they are. Maybe if I had been to school for a few more years, things would be different.
I hope Rebecca can protect you. I certainly cannot. I am useless.
identified: Lazurith
transmission point of origin: Elgin node
...TRANSLATING DATA...
...Let me tell you something, Levan. I hope you're sitting, because this could take a fair bit.
Sirius is full of evil and dangerous things. Life out here is actually a little better than how it is in the safety of a planetside house, because God knows how horrible it is down there, they'll skin you alive for a dime. It is nonetheless still filled with mad people with insane ideologies, literal aliens and madmen who want to blow up people for fun. I would know, because it literally happened to me. But it doesn't mean you have to live with it. You can avoid them. You can find your own safe place. There is good, and there is bad out here. And if you really want to stay afloat around the stars, you're going to have to learn how to avoid the things you're afraid of, and learn the difference between good and bad. I can help. You have a whole life to learn how to walk above that measly little line.
I can honestly understand every bit of terror you're going through. I've gone through in horror of those things myself two years ago. I was scared shitless when they would rummage through my head, and whispered and smiled and touched me without my consent and fingered through all my memories like they were archive folders. But these... creatures are real. And it's better if we all stay away from them, as much as possible.
...Heh. You know what. Erie is a goddamn funny coincidence, of all the places you could think of. Right now, I'm stuck here doing something very ugly I'd rather not be doing. I'd rather be exactly there, where Aspen lives, under big green fields of grass and nice winds all around me. But hell, if I can't get there, I hope you can manage to settle there.
It's likely that the line of work I'm in will get me killed, eventually. And while I might not be around to live this grassy dream of mine, you can. What you have right now in your hands is a clean, fresh start to live anew. You're a very capable and strong boy who's had to endure horrible things, and you are not stupid or any less capable than anyone else. I know you can live the life you deserve, meet the people who you should meet and finally be happy for a change. Because you're alive, Levan. And that's all that matters.
If you're living... just... let me know where you're going. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you. I'll drop by and visit you every now and then, maybe bring you more food rations to chew on. And if your stomach is feeling ready for it, maybe some actual cooked food from Kusari. Have you ever had smoked cod from Honshu?
Please let me know what you think. I'm looking out for you, Lev.
...Oh, and for God's sakes. Do NOT listen to Tamara's advice.
I don't think that lady's doing too well in her head.
Because her kind of "business road" will literally ruin your life.
If I ever hear you're resorting to that kind of thing, I will be very, very upset with you.