“What… where?” Christiane mumbled as she woke up.

Mayu held a towel up for Christiane to dry herself off, “Ms. Christiane, you needed time to rest. Something injured you.”

Christiane sat up and held her head, “Christiane? My name’s... Chris?” she swore, “My head feels so heavy.”

Mayu looked troubled, “Mr. Ryan, they are having trouble remembering like I worried.”

Ryan expected something like this, but hoped they were wrong about them having memory issues, “Yeah. Maybe they’ll get it back, eventually.”

Mayu nodded, “I want so too.”

Christiane looked at Mayu, “Who the f… who are you?” She shook her head as if she was trying to clear it, “Why don’t I want to cuss?”

Ryan hoped the not swearing meant something good, “I’m Ryan, and the beautiful Woman is Mayu.”

Mayu blushed at Ryan’s comment, but turned back to Christiane, “I am happy you are awake.”

Christiane shook her head again, “Mayu… I… yeah, I remember. Married with a kid. Ryan… seems wrong… Oh! Luna!”

Ryan hoped that was one thing she’d forget, “Yep. Looks like your memories are coming back.”

Mayu sat on a chair she’d brought in from the food room, “What is the recent thing you remember?”

Christiane covered her face with her hand and appeared to concentrate, “I… We’re on a ship, Luna, and… we want to get home… aliens… something needed fixing or we’d blow up… the door, to the… wormhole FTL, yeah, wormhole FTL was giving a warning so we hid.” She looked up, “That’s all I remember.”

Mayu smiled, “Good! You can remember better now.”

Ryan felt relieved, “We were worried you’d died again.”

Christiane looked around, “What about the others? The noisy one and the dumb narcissist?”

Mayu gestured to the two tubes holding Plank and Roty, “They will wake soon.”

Ryan checked their status, “Roty’s next in a few minutes, and Plank a minute after her.”

Christiane pulled herself out of the tube and dried herself off, “So I’m the first one awake, huh?”

Mayu nodded, “Ms. Christiane is smallest, so healed fastest.”

Christiane nearly slipped as she wiped off her left leg, “Ya know, my pride as a man feels hurt hearin’ that.”

Ryan snorted, “You still on about that?”

Christiane sighed, “Ya know what, I don’t care anymore.”

Mayu looked down, “Ms. Christiane…”

Christiane noticed Mayu’s reaction, “Somethin’ wrong?”

Ryan remembered the scans, “Not wrong, but we found out some stuff while we were trying to fix… ah heal you so we’re going to have a meeting once everyone wakes up to explain some things.”

Christiane still seemed out of it, “Some stuff? If I weren’t so… so… so out of it right now… I can wait.”

Mayu offered a chair to Christiane, who collapsed into it.

Christiane closed her eyes and leaned the chair against her tube, “Let me know when…” she groaned, “Ah, Roty… When Roty wakes up.”

Mayu moved her chair to face Roty’s tube and sat down.

Ryan focused his attention back to where he was finishing installation of another power cable and finished it not long before it was time to revive Roty.

Ryan gave the command to open the tube.

Roty’s tube opened, and she woke up moments later, “Mah head feels like it's stuffed with cotton…”

Christiane looked over just long enough to see Roty before closing her eyes again.

Mayu stood from her chair, moved next to Roty, and offered her a towel, “Ms. Roty, how do you feel?”

Roty sat up and wobbled a little, “Body feels fine, but mah head feels heavy.”

Mayu gave a slight smile, “It will be fine. Ms. Christiane’s memories came back quickly.”

Roty looked at Mayu, then to Christiane, “Christiane?”

Christiane raised her hand and waved, “Hi.”

Roty looked back to Mayu, “M… Mayu?”

Mayu gave a look of relief and smiled.

Roty looked at the camera, “...And the ship is… Ryan? No… Luna?”

Ryan only felt a little disappointed she remembered him as Luna now, “Nice to see you awake again.”

Christiane sat up in her chair, “How long were we out?”

Ryan thought to the last day and a half. He’d distracted himself with repairs and helped Mayu study the scans and do more tests.

He worried about Mayu almost as much as the others, but she seemed to take things better than he’d thought she would.

Mayu offered the towel to Roty again, “One day and a half.”

Roty took the towel, got out of the tube, and dried herself off, “Thank you, Mayu.”

Christiane got up from her chair, “What happened?”

Ryan had an idea but wasn’t sure, “Me and Mayu have a lot to talk about, so could you wait for Plank to wake up?”

Christiane shrugged, “Sure.” She then looked down at her nakedness, “Gonna get dressed first. No tellin’ what he’ll do if he sees me like this.”

Roty stopped drying herself off, “Yeh, Ah’ll do tha’ too. See yeh in a few, Mayu, Luna.”

Mayu gave a slight bow, “Yes.”

Ryan opened the door, “Meet in the med bay. I’ll call you when it’s time.”

Christiane waved and left the room.

Roty rubbed her left temple and shook her head before leaving.

Ryan closed the door behind Roty, “Mayu, they’re okay! They didn’t lose their memories!”

Mayu looked troubled, “Yes, I am happy, but the scans showed everything in their minds gone. They should not remember.”

Ryan wasn’t sure why, but, “Maybe something else brought their memories back? I mean, these tubes didn’t make our memories from nothing. Maybe?”

Mayu walked to Plank’s tube, “What if our memories are fake? Is my husband real? Aya?”

For some reason, deep down, Ryan knew the answer, “I think so.”

Mayu turned around and leaned against the tube, “Mr. Ryan, I want to… have… have… believe my family is real. Even if not... we are real now.”

“Mayu, if… if your family, if my family, if they’re not real… Maybe… Maybe we can be a family.”

Mayu looked up and gave Ryan’s camera a sad smile, “I like that thinking. I can be the older sister.”

“I gave birth to everyone so I guess I’m the mom. Christiane and Roty are twins that always fight with each other, and Plank is… is....”

Mayu faced Plank’s tube again, “The funny uncle?” She turned back to Ryan’s camera, “Who is the father?”

Ryan knew this was coming, “Oh, Luna, the ship is the mother. I am the father. I mean, the ship made you and I’m the one that helped.”

Mayu shook her head, “You are Ryan and Luna. Mind Ryan, body Luna.”

Ryan liked that idea, “Mind, Ryan. Body, Luna. Huh.”

Mayu smiled and turned back to Planks tube, “Plank is waking soon.”

Ryan was glad the other two weren’t there to hear that conversation, “Yeah, Big Sis Mayu.”

Mayu shook her head, “I am your daughter, so… Little Mayu.”

“Okay… Little Mayu.”

There was less than a minute until Plank woke up, so Ryan checked on the other two, and saw they were in their rooms resting.

“It’s time,” Ryan said, and opened Plank’s tube.

Mayu grabbed the last of the towels she’d brought.

Plank groaned, “I…” He sat up and looked around the room before focusing on Mayu, “Am I in the hospital? I… my head…”

Mayu glanced at Ryan’s camera, a confused look on her face.

Mayu held out the towel, “Mr. Plank, how do you feel?”

Plank took the towel, then looked down and appeared to try to remember something, “My head feels heavy and I had a horrible dream. I was trapped on a ship with some crazy people on a spaceship of all places. I acted crazy too, so they’d leave me alone, and...” His eyes widened and he looked at Mayu again, “Mayu,” he looked at the camera, “Ryan. So it wasn’t a dream.” He swore. “Please don’t tell the other two.”

Mayu looked like she hadn’t understood what he said.

Ryan wasn’t sure how to take this, “Why?”

Plank put his face in his hands and took a deep breath before looking back up, “I… when I woke up here the first time, the first thing I heard was some swearing and yelling, and… well… I like feisty women, but I… well, there’s a reason I’m forty-two and single.”

Mayu studied Plank, “Forty-two?”

Ryan thought back to how old Plank said he’d been at first, “You said you were twenty-five.”

Plank nodded, “Yeah… Everyone looks so young and I didn’t want to be the old man of the group.”

Ryan wondered about something else, “What’s up with the whole ‘I am The Plank’ thing?”

Plank looked away, “That… The Plank was my nickname from my college drinking days and I get kinda dumb when I’m drunk so I sorta made it into a persona over the years. I thought it would be funny and get the ladies. This… the, uhh… well… you saw the results. I was so embarrassed I kinda kept it up because… well… you know how it goes…”

“I kinda think it’s funny sometimes. Just sometimes,” Ryan said.

Mayu furrowed her brow, “The Plank is a lie?”

Plank nodded, “Well, mostly.” He covered his bits with the towel and got out of the tube, “Where are the other two?”

Ryan saw them still in their rooms. Roty was resting, but Christiane was banging on her moonshine still again, “In their rooms. They woke up just before you and went to their rooms to get dressed.”

Plank nodded, “What happened?”

Mayu walked to the door, “We will have a meeting in the med bay. Me and Ryan will say then.”

Plank nodded and walked to the door, “Sure.” He paused, “Please don’t tell the other two about this?”

Mayu nodded, “I will keep secrets.”

Ryan thought it was fine for now, Plank could tell them when he was ready, “Okay, but don’t wait too long.”

Plank left the room, “The Plank will think about it!”

Mayu stepped out behind him and watched him leave, “I like this Mr. Plank better.”

Ryan still didn’t know what to make of it, “If he’s telling the truth, but yeah, I like him better this way.”

Mayu stepped out the door, “I will rest in the med bay.”

Ryan wanted to give the three more time to recover, and Mayu wasn’t doing anything so, “Mayu, can you teach me more Japanese while we wait?”

Mayu nodded, then walked to the med bay and entered, “I would like that. Ryan learns fast, so it is fun.” She sat on a chair next to the island workstation across from the beds.

Ryan had never learned a second language, so he’d expected it to be hard, but had no trouble remembering anything, “I still can’t believe I remember things so easily.”

Mayu looked at the medical tools spread out on the island, “I remember how to use the tools fast too. We are robots, so I think we remember easier now.”

It made sense to Ryan, “Good, I hate studying.”

Mayu looked bemused, “Then do not go into med school.”

Ryan laughed, “Yeah, never planned on it.”

Mayu smiled, “It is hard, but interesting.”

“I bet. Anyway, I think we left off with…”

Mayu and Ryan practiced grammar for half an hour when Roty joined them.

Roty smiled at Mayu and then Ryan’s camera, “How are you two doing?”

Mayu stood up from her seat and smiled at Roty, “I am fine, thank you. Are you feeling better, Ms. Roty?”

Roty tapped her head, “Yes. My head doesn’t feel so stuffy anymore, and I can remember everything. I think.”

Mayu seemed relieved, “I am happy. Mr. Ryan and I thought you would not remember.”

Ryan felt now was an excellent time to call the other two and asked them to come.

Ryan watched Christiane get up from her bed and run out the door, “‘Bout time!”

Plank stopped the pacing he’d been doing ever since he’d entered his room, and for a moment it seemed like he didn’t want to leave, “I… I think I’ll tell them. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Roty sat on the other chair at the island, “Guess we wait for the other two now?”

Mayu nodded, “Yes.”

Roty leaned on the island, “We’ll be waiting a while, then.”

Ryan saw Christiane was already more than halfway to the med bay, “Christiane’s running, but Plank will be longer.”

Roty leaned her head on the island, “Looks like I’m trading a stuffy head for a headache.”

Mayu looked amused at Roty’s attitude, “Ms. Christiane and Ms. Roty are funny together.”

Roty scowled at Mayu, “She’s…”

Christiane burst into the room, “Ya gonna tell us how we almost died now?”

Roty groaned and pressed her face into the island.

Ryan was looking forward to telling the three what happened, “Plank’s almost here. We’ll start then.”

Christiane rolled her eyes, “He’s too dumb to understand, just start without him.”

Christiane sat on the end of the bed closest to the door.

A heavy silence descended on the room, and Mayu fidgeted uncomfortably as she glanced between the other two.

Plank entered the room, “The Plank is here!”

Roty lifted her head up, “Finally!”

Christiane slipped off the end of the bed, “Great!” She turned to Mayu, “Let’s start.”

Plank leaned against the door frame, “Yes! The Plank wants to hear what happened to The Plank!”

Mayu nodded to Ryan’s camera, then looked to the other three in turn, “Mr. Ryan and…”

Christiane raised her hand, “Luna.”

Mayu considered something, then looked back to Christiane, “Ms. Luna and I found some things about us and why opening the door injured you.”

Ryan brought up a hologram of the scans they’d done, placing each individual’s scan in front of them.

Roty’s brow furrowed, and she stood up, “What’s this? Is this really meh?”

Christiane stepped closer to her scan, “Ya sure ya scanned us right? This’s missin’ some stuff.”

Plank seemed troubled, but said nothing as he glanced between the others and his scan.

Mayu glanced at Ryan’s camera and Ryan zoomed in on the ‘brain.’

Mayu pointed to the ‘brain,’ “Mr… Ms. Luna and I think this is a computer.”

Roty took a step back, “Yeh mean…”

Christiane grinned, “We’re robots!”

Mayu nodded, “Yes.” She pointed to the reactor and Ryan zoomed in on it, “This is a reactor.” She pointed to the stomach just below and in front of the reactor, “And it gets its fuel from food.”

Roty leaned in and studied the reactor, “So yeh’re tellin’ meh weh have reactors.”

Christiane looked at her arms, “Do we have guns? Please let me have guns.”

Mayu turned to Christiane and closed her eyes, sighed, then opened them again, “No, Ms. Christiane.”

Christiane didn’t look away from the hologram, “Are ya sure?”

Mayu shook her head, “Yes, Ms. Christiane.”

Ryan dismissed the zoomed out areas, “Anyone notice anything about your scans besides the missing organs and robot parts?” He brought up Mayu’s scan for the first time, “This might help.”

Christiane took one look at Mayu’s scan, then stepped away from her hologram, “I’ll let Roty figure it out.”

Roty looked at Christiane and rolled her eyes before moving next to Mayu’s hologram.

Plank walked towards Mayu’s hologram but stopped after a few steps.

Roty looked back to her hologram, then back to Mayu’s when her eyes widened in understanding, “Mayu’s shows some kind of activity!”

Mayu nodded and smiled, “Yes, Ms. Roty.”

Roty moved back to her hologram, “So somethin’ knocked out our power?”

Ryan zoomed in on the reactor, “It’s more than that. All your wiring and stuff burned out.”

Roty thought for a minute, “Weh got EMPed?”

Ryan wasn’t sure, “Maybe? But whatever happened lasted until the wormhole FTL fired. I thought EMPs were instant. Could’ve shot out an EMP when the door opened or the FTL fired too? Didn’t feel anything like that when the wormhole FTL fired, though.”

Roty shrugged and shook her head, “Ah’m not familiar with tha’ sorta thing.”

Christiane smiled, “I am. Had to work with hardened equipment at work. Ryan’s right. EMP happens just like that,” she snapped her fingers, “so probably not what knocked us out. ”

Roty nodded, “Sounds right. Mehbeh, tha wormhole FTL makes a strong magnetic field or some sorta alien sciencey thing weh don’t know about?”

Christiane shrugged.

Something like this was beyond Ryan, “Maybe we need a scientist?”

Roty looked torn, “Yeh, mehbeh, but weh keep messin’ up with tha’.” She looked at Mayu, “Except Mayu.”

Mayu smiled and looked embarrassed, “Thank you, Ms. Roty.”

Christiane nodded and looked at Roty and Plank, “Yeah...”

Roty looked at her body and sighed, “Better than bein’ dead, I guess, even if meh tits and butt are too big.”

Mayu seemed to consider something, “Mr. Ryan, can you show the nanites?”

Ryan did.

Mayu thought some more, “Ms. Roty, you think the nanites make us in the birthing tubes?”

Roty nodded, “Yeh. Why?”

Mayu nodded to herself, then gestured to the nanites, “Maybe the nanites can help you, Ms. Roty. They fixed you, and if they can do that and made us, maybe they can change us?”

Roty thought for a moment, then smiled, “So we get in the birthing tube and tell the nanites to change our bodies and they will?”

Christiane looked at her body, “Ya mean… I can turn back into a man? Or maybe have both bits?”

Roty and Mayu gave Christiane looks of disgust.

Plank stepped forward, “The Plank…” He looked at Mayu, then to Ryan’s camera and groaned, “I… I guess I shouldn’t keep lying to you guys.”

Roty turned to Plank. It looked like she’d seen a ghost, “Yeh… yeh mean...”

Christiane scowled and swore, “Why! Couldn’t ya have told us sooner instead of drivin’ us crazy!”

Plank looked down at his feet, “Look, when I woke up the first thing I saw and heard was someone yelling and swearing. I’m… The Plank is something I do when I want to… want to… uh… be… more assertive. It’s kinda like a sort of self hypnosis, and sometimes it’s a little too effective.”

Christiane stomped to Plank, “Ya think!? Ya tried to rape me!”

Plank backed away and his face turned to anguish and he clenched his fists, “Look, I’m sorry! Why do you think I stand in the back and not say anything? I know I messed up horribly and I feel horrible that it’s taken me this long to confess. If it wasn’t for Mayu and…” He looked at Ryan’s camera, “Angel Luna, seeing me for myself when I woke up earlier I’d still be pretending.”

Christiane looked like she wanted to hit Plank, but backed away, “Look. If I weren’t so happy The Plank is gone, I’d hit ya.”

Plank relaxed a little, “Please hit me, after what I did…”

Christiane looked like she was going to take Plank up on his offer, but glanced at Mayu and Roty, “Nah. Got better things to do.”

Christiane walked back to the bed she’d last sat on and sat down, crossed her arms, and turned to her hologram and grumbled to herself angrily.

Plank looked at Roty.

Roty considered something, shook her head, then turned back to Mayu, “Learn anything else?”

Mayu nodded, “Yes, but they are not special. We can talk later.”

Ryan turned off the holograms, “I guess it’s my turn now.”

Everyone turned to his camera.

Ryan brought up a hologram of the alien base, “I moved us about two light days from the aliens. I already saw our fight from a light hour away and felt you guys should watch too when you woke up after seeing it again.”

Roty studied the hologram, “Is this it? Ah didn’t think yehr sensors couldn’t see this good from far away.”

Christiane got off the bed and studied the hologram too, “Luna’s a ship. She can record things. Right?”

Ryan brought up a recording of when he opened the door to the wormhole FTL drive, “Yeah. Didn’t realize it at first, but these cameras record everything.”

Roty didn’t look happy with the news, “What do yeh mean, everythin’?”

Ryan hadn’t been looking forward to having this conversation, “Like I said, everything.”

Christiane looked at Roty, then to Ryan’s camera, “Luna, maybe later…”

Ryan didn’t need to let Christiane finish to know what she wanted, “No. Just… no.”

Christiane raised her hands in a show of defeat, “Yeah, I thought so.”

Roty turned to Christiane and shook her head in disgust, “Yeh know wha’, Ah’m gonna ignore yeh from now on.”

Christiane gave Roty a relieved smile, “That sounds awesome. Peace and quiet for once.”

Ryan had had enough of this, “Guys, I know you had a bad start, but can you get over this hate you have for each other already?”

Roty chewed on her lip, looked at Mayu, Ryan’s camera, then to Christiane, “Ah’ll try.”

Christiane looked away from Roty, groaned, then turned back, “If Roty agrees to…” she shook her head, “Fine. I’m tired of bein’ angry all the time, anyway.”

Roty looked at her hand, squeezed it shut, opened it, then held it out to Christiane, “Deal?”

Christiane looked at Roty’s proffered hand, reached out for it, hesitated, then shook it, “Deal.”

Roty turned to Plank, “How ‘bout you? After this is over, yeh’re comin’ clean.”

Plank looked up from where he sat hunched over by the door, “Oh. Yeah. I can do that.”

Christiane gave Plank a disgusted look, but glanced at Roty, shrugged, then looked back at Plank, “I can give ya another chance.”

Mayu smiled at the exchange, “We should have done this before.”

Roty turned to Mayu and put her hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile that said she’d messed up, “Yeh, weh should have.”

Christiane turned to the video still waiting to play, “Yeah. Now, let’s watch this video.”

Roty gave Christiane an irritated look.

Everyone quieted and turned to the video.

Ryan started it.

From the distance Ryan had taken the video from, it was hard to see details, but it was still enough to tell what was going on but it hadn’t lasted long, so it was a short video.

Roty turned to the others, “Did yeh see tha bubble around tha ships?”

Christiane nodded, “Yeah. Looked like the stars moved.”

Ryan replayed the part where the bubble went up, “This was when the FTL almost stopped working. Had to red line it to even move.”

Plank stepped forward. He still looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, “They used a warp bubble to cancel out ours,” he looked to the side when he saw everyone look at him, “I think.”

Roty thought for a second, then smiled at Plank, “Yeh. Ah was thinkin’ they put up somethin’ like tha’ but wasn’t sure.”

Mayu raised her hand, “Mr. Plank, what is a… waapu bubble?”

Christiane looked at Mayu, then back to Plank, “Yeah, what Mayu said.”

Plank looked at everyone in disappointment, “None of you’ve seen Star Trek?”

Roty and Mayu shook their heads.

Plank sighed, “A warp bubble is when you bend space/time around you. If you do it right, you can travel faster than the speed of light. They’ve even proved it’s possible IRL. Just need fancy stuff like negative energy.”

Mayu raised her hand again, “What does ‘IRL’ mean?”

Christiane looked at Plank too.

Plank looked at Mayu apologetically, “Sorry, Mayu. It means, ‘In real life’.”

Mayu nodded, but still looked like she wasn’t sure.

Christiane looked like she remembered, “Oh yeah.”

Roty pointed to the video, “Can yeh do tha’ too?”

Ryan turned on the FTL and tried. A bubble appeared and he didn’t move, but from what he could tell, nothing happened, “Maybe. I’ll have to mess around a bit.”

Plank seemed like he’d gotten more confidence and moved a little closer, “Can you play the clip of when the ships started moving after you damaged the first ship?”

Ryan did.

Plank pointed to the engines on the ships, “Are these some sort of non-FTL drive? If they can’t move with their warp drive while trapping something, then they use this to move in?”

Ryan showed some closer images of the alien ships he’d gotten during the brief fight, “I noticed that.”

Roty leaned in and studied the ships, “Yeh, mehbeh.”

Christiane pointed to him in the image he’d first showed, “Luna, do ya have some secret engine like that?”

Ryan brought up his schematics and highlighted several areas, “Just these thrusters. They barely work, if at all. Haven’t had any trouble using them to turn myself, but there’s no way they’re moving us anywhere fast right now.”

Christiane swore, “I’ll fix ‘em.”

Ryan thought he had a better idea, “Might be better to rebuild the second FTL. If I could still move with just one working…”

Christiane grinned, “Then two will brush them off like they’re not even there.”

Plank turned to Christiane, “I’ll help.”

Christiane’s face turned sour, “Uh… I guess you can replace the power cables.”

Ryan felt his drone could help too, “Christiane, I can replace the power cables with the drone, let Plank help you with the engine.”

Christiane still looked sour, “Sure, whatever.”

Plank smiled, “Great! I’ve always wanted to work on a warp drive!”

Christiane walked out the room, “Just… please…” she grabbed at her hair and groaned.

Plank stopped, scratched the back of his head, then looked back at Mayu and Roty and gave them an embarrassed smile, “I probably shouldn’t talk to her for a while, should I?”

Roty nodded, “Yeh. Gonna take a while ta trust yeh.”

Plank looked down to the floor, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then looked back up, “Yeah. Even I’d hate me.”

Plank left the room.

As soon as the door closed, Mayu turned to Roty and scowled at her, “Ms. Roty, you can’t be mad when you have a secret too.”

Roty gave Mayu an awkward smile, “You mean my fake accent?”

Mayu nodded, “Yes, Ms. Roty.”

Roty shook her head, “It’s fine! It’s just an accent! It’s not like I get rapey.”

Mayu kept her gaze on Roty, “Ms. Roty, Ms. Christiane hates your accent. We also need more trust with each other.”

Roty looked away from Mayu, “Yeah. I know you’re right, Mayu, but I’m kinda attached to that accent.”

Mayu stared at Roty.

Roty’s shoulders fell in defeat, “You’re not any fun, Mayu.”

Mayu put her hand on Roty’s shoulder and smiled, “Ms. Roty, I like your accent, even if it is difficult to listen, but I tire of everyone fighting, and if it makes Ms. Christiane less angry, I think it is helpful.”

Roty gave Mayu a slight smile, “Yeah. You’re right, Mayu. I need to do better with Christiane.”

Ryan was sad Roty was going to drop her accent, “You know Roty, I like your accent. You can use it when you talk to me.”

Roty smiled at Ryan’s camera, “Ah’ll do that, Lu... Ryan.”

Ryan had an idea, “You know, Luna is a good name for a ship, and Ryan is a good name for an A.I., don’t you think?”

Roty smiled and shrugged, “Don’t yeh mean, ship and brain in a jar?”

Ryan didn’t want to think about the possibility he was that machine hybrid thing in the birthing tube, “Yeah, yeah.”

Roty looked like she got an idea and turned to Mayu, “Speaking of brains in a jar… You said you think you can use the birthing tube to change me?” She gestured to her oversized breasts, butt, and thighs, “To make these less… you know, huge.”

Mayu shook her head, “It is a guess.”

Roty turned to the door and left, “Worth trying!”

Mayu followed her, “Ms. Roty, I am not sure now is the best time.”

Roty stopped next to the tube closest to the door and Ryan opened it for her, “It’ll take days for them to rebuild that FTL drive. A few hours shouldn’t hurt.”

Roty climbed in the tube and lay down.

Ryan brought up the image of Roty he’d used to design her body, “Have at it.”

Roty pointed to her breast, “Let’s try half size.”

Half an hour of tweaking later, Roty finished adjusting her proportions, “That should do it!”

Mayu looked at the image, “Ms. Roty, that looks nice.” She pointed to the face, “Ms. Roty is keeping the face?”

Roty turned to Mayu, “Yeah. My last face wasn’t… wasn’t the most attractive, and I like this one.” She turned to Ryan’s camera, “Can weh try tha inside of meh?”

Ryan thought about bringing up Roty’s med scan but felt he could use the image he already had up.

The image changed, showing the inside of Roty.

Mayu looked slightly irritated, “Mr. Ryan, did you know about this?”

This was the first time he’d seen Mayu irritated at him, “Uh… I never thought about checking the insides of your… uh, templates.”

Roty snorted, “Luna, yeh need ta do bettah checkin’ yehr systems.”

Ryan agreed with Roty, but, “Yeah, but how was I supposed to know?”

Roty shrugged, “I guess.” She turned back to the hologram, “Ryan, can yeh add the rest of meh lady bits? Seems… seems like somethin’s missin’ without ‘em, yeh know?”

Ryan didn’t have any bits, so it was easy for him to sympathize with her, “Okay, but I’m not sure I can make them work like the real thing.”

Roty nodded, “No thanks. Ah haven’t had a period since Ah got here, and Ah don’t want them again.”

Mayu nodded in understanding.

Ryan added a fake uterus and ovaries.

Roty smiled, “That’ll do for now.” She turned to Mayu, “Maybe you can design some that work. You know, just in case later I want… You know what I mean.”

Mayu smiled, “Need to find a good man first.”

Roty shook her head, “None here,” she looked at Ryan’s camera, “sorry, Luna, uh Ryan.”

Mayu looked at Ryan’s camera, “Mr. Ry… Ms. Luna can’t be Ms. Roty’s man. Ms. Luna is our mother.”

Roty laughed for a few seconds, “Our mother!” She laughed again, “Christiane is gonna love this!”

Ryan remembered the earlier conversation with Mayu, “Mayu’s the big sister, you and Christiane are twins that are always fighting, and Plank is the weird uncle.”

Roty stopped laughing, “What, why am I Christiane’s twin and Mayu’s the older sister!? Mayu was the last one born...”

Mayu seemed like she was considering something, then shrugged, “It was a fun talk I had with Mama Luna.”

Roty started laughing again, “Mama Luna!”

Ryan still wasn’t sure how to feel about this whole Mama Luna thing, “Are we done?”

Roty laughed a little more, “Yeh, Mama Luna.”

Mayu stepped back from the tube, “Good night, little sister.”

Roty stopped laughing and huffed at Mayu, “Yeah, see you in the morning, big sis.” She turned to Ryan’s camera, “Mama Luna, yeh can close the lid now.”

Ryan closed the lid.

Mayu looked at Ryan’s camera, “Mama Luna, I will study so we can become humans again.”

Ryan wondered if it was even possible, “I’ll help with what I can.”

Mayu smiled, “Thank you, Mama Luna.”

Mayu left the birthing chamber.

Ryan felt the best he’d been since coming here. Christiane and Roty had agreed to try to be nicer to each other, and Plank wasn’t the Plank they’d thought he was.

A few hours later, this feeling turned to alarm.

He’d had his sensor trained on the alien base ever since they’d left, and he watched the eight ships as they patrolled around it.

One ship opened fire with its plasma weapons.

Ryan couldn’t see anything where it fired at.

It fired again.

The ship nearest it opened fire at something else he couldn’t see.

One of the conventional engines on the first ship exploded.

Ryan opened a channel to everyone, “Guys… I think someone is attacking the aliens.”