Roty stepped back after moving a wire for the sixth time, “Wha’ ah weh gettin’ wrong?”

Plank looked up from where he worked on a case for the console, “We’ll get it, eventually.”

For the hundredth time Ryan said, “I’ll get some more parts when we go back. Christiane is almost done making the cargo hauler for Mini Luna so I can bring back more stuff this time.”

Roty blew at her short bangs, “It’d be done by now, if she hadn’t been cryin’ over what Mayu said about booze.”

Plank sighed, “I’m still sad about that too.”

Ryan had never been a big drinker, but he sympathized with Christiane and Plank, “I can’t believe it took Mayu promising to get booze to work on us to help. I’ve seen the scans of our brains and even though I don’t know about that stuff, I don’t see it happening.”

Roty went back to her wiring, “This is so stupid. Mayu has bettah things ta do.”

Ryan suddenly felt the need for a distraction, “I’m going to move closer to the space station. Maybe something happened since?”

Roty grunted in reply.

Ryan turned on a hologram and jumped to about where they could see their departure, “Let’s see, it’s been two hours and eighteen minutes since we left, and light travels this fast… So we should jump here…”

Ryan jumped to where he thought they could catch them picking up Mini Luna.

Plank moved away from the unfinished computer case, “I don’t see anything happening.”

Roty looked up again and showed only mild interest.

Plank looked at the blobs of ships and the fuzzy shape of the space station, “I think I’m going to finish fixing your sensor when we’re done with this computer.”

Roty glanced at Plank, “Have fun cuttin’ off pieces of hull to get ta tha outside stuff.”

Ryan saw them appear next to the station and highlighted them, “Okay, here we are.”

Roty and Plank looked back to the hologram.

Roty squinted, then sighed, “Mehbeh, Ah’ll help ya.”

Plank leaned in, “Yes, that’s us.”

Luna disappeared and they were too far away to see Mini Luna.

Plank straightened back up and smiled, “We got in and out fast.”

Roty turned back to the console parts, “Ah’ll let yeh two get back to watchin’ broken alien ships.”

Plank chuckled, “Yes, I’ll…”

Flashes of light appeared from each alien ship and space station.

Ryan wasn’t sure what happened, “Uh, guys.”

Plank’s face showed he’d seen it too, “Did they…”

Roty looked up, “What?”

The light dissipated, allowing Ryan to see where the ships were again, “Uh, everything’s gone. The ships. The space station.”

Plank’s face went from jovial to concern, “They blew up?”

Roty ran to the hologram, “Wha’ do yeh mean, they blew up!”

It was still hard to see, so Ryan moved about five light minutes away, “I moved us closer.”

At this distance, the dissipating debris glittered in the system’s star’s light.

Roty clenched her fists, “They blew up right after we left…”

Plank scowled, “Everything got vaporised. Was it the Slashers?”

Ryan moved them six light hours away, “We should hurry and send Mini Luna back to see if there’s anything left.”

Roty rubbed her left temple, “Somethin’s wrong.”

Plank nodded, “Yeah. They could have destroyed the ships and station any time they wanted, but they waited for us to leave.”

Ryan thought to the element 115 and looked at the alien computer, “Maybe they wanted us to do something?”

Plank gave a slow nod, then looked at the console, “Like get this?”

Roty looked the console over, “Why would they wan’ us ta get this?”

Plank didn’t look sure, “Maybe to help us? No… why would they blow everything up if they were?”

Ryan opened a channel to Mayu and Christiane, “Guys, the aliens just blew up.”

Christiane jumped up and cut her hand on a piece of jagged metal, then swore several times about aliens.

Mayu turned away from a hologram of Plank’s you know what, “Mr. Ryan, I will go to the others.”

Mayu easily arrived before Christiane and joined Roty as she grumbled over the console.

Christiane stomped into the room a little while later, “I’m done! I don’t care if we get back home! Let’s just fix Luna and shoot the buggers!”

Roty Ignored Christiane.

Mayu chewed on her lip as she regarded Christiane, “Eto…”

Plank stepped away from the hologram as it replayed a slow motion recording of the destruction of the aliens, “Shoot what? They have a cloaking device or ability.”

Christiane slammed her fist on the door frame, “We open the wormhole again and shoot ‘em as they come out! That’s how!”

Plank seemed impressed, “The Plank thinks that would work!”

Roty looked at Plank, “If ‘The Plank’ thinks it’s a good idea, Ah’m not helpin’.”

Christiane ignored Roty, “I’m thinkin’ makin’ some bombs and openin’ the wormhole just behind ‘em. Once the Slashers start…”

Mayu walked to Christiane while she was talking and slapped her face, “Ms. Roty! We will not do that!”

Christiane looked at Mayu in shock and anger, “Did you just…”

Mayu put her hands on her hips, “It is not just you and Mr. Plank here. I get frustrated too, but I think killing the invisible enemies is too harsh.”

Christiane touched her cheek and scowled at Mayu, “But they blew up the alien stuff! We could be next!”

Plank stepped forward and lifted his hand, his index finger pointing out, “Um… I… I think they would have attacked us if they wanted to.”

Ryan remembered seeing the signs of several of the invisible aliens coming out of the wormhole, “Plank’s right. They could have easily killed us after you guys got knocked out and Luna’s systems were wacky.”

Christiane relaxed and considered something, “Ya know, you’re right.”

Roty didn’t look up from the component she worked on, “They probably need us ta get back home.”

Ryan thought back to the earlier conversation, “It’s gotta be the console. The resources would’ve been nice, but what we need most is information if we want to do anything other than run around.”

Everyone looked at the console.

Christiane sighed, “I’ll let ya get to figurin’ that out. I’m gonna go distract myself on that FTL.”

Christiane left the room.

Roty relaxed and breathed out in relief, “Short fuse, tha’ one.”

Plank chuckled, “Keeps things interesting.”

Mayu stared at the door for a moment before turning back to the other two, “Ms. Christiane is getting better. Please be patient with her, Ms. Roty.”

Roty smiled at Mayu and shook her head, “Yeh’re too good for us, Mayu.”

Plank nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, she’s even willing to stare at my junk for hours on end to fix my problem.”

Mayu looked slightly embarrassed, “Sore wa…”

Ryan felt guilty about that problem, “Sorry. That one’s my fault. Glad we can fix it, though.”

Mayu looked at Ryan’s camera, “Mr. Ryan, do you think I could design the next person? I think it will be good practice for my studies.”

Ryan didn’t see a problem with it, “Sure. Might need to bring someone that can figure out this console or help with navigation or something.”

Plank hit his fist on his hand, “I got an idea! Why don’t we have a competition! We can each design something and use them for new drones! That way we can practice before bringing someone else on board! Winner gets to design the next crew member while we let Mayu do her thing on their insides.”

Mayu smiled and nodded, “Yes, I like that idea!”

Roty seemed interested but turned back to the console, “I’ll join in, but only after we figure this thing out.”

Plank rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem irritated, “Yeah, yeah. Spoil the fun.”

Roty sighed but smiled, “Yeh. Mehbeh this competition will be a good break.”

Plank nodded in approval, “We’ve been doing nothing but work, work, work! Maybe some fun will make some of us less irritable all the time.”

Ryan wondered if they really would take a break. He had talked about it with others before, but stuff kept happening, “Sounds good. Once we get this console working again, you guys are taking a break. I can look through it while everyone does.”

Mayu crossed her arms and gave Ryan’s camera a stern look, “Ryan will rest too.”

Ryan thought about it for a second, “I’m fine. Besides, I’m not sure how I can rest other than turning everything off. I don’t think I’ve ever felt tired ever since we got fuel.”

Mayu relaxed a little, and it looked like she was thinking.

Plank shrugged, “Up to you.”

Roty seemed to realize something, “Now tha’ ya mention it, Ah’ve nevah seen ya sleep, Ryan.”

Plank seemed to realize something else, “You know, why do we even need to sleep? We’re robots, right?”

Mayu looked up from her thoughts, “I will scan myself tonight. Mr. Ryan, can you watch me?”

Sleeping was such a natural thing to Ryan, he’d never considered the crew sleeping might be a question. His not having to sleep was weirder to him, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Mayu smiled, “Thank you, Mr. Ryan.” She turned to the console, “Let us fix this so we can have free time.”

Plank stepped away from the now forgotten hologram, “I have an idea.”

Before Ryan turned off the hologram he had an idea, “K, while you guys figure that out, I’m gonna go drop Mini Luna off to check out the aliens. I’ll tell you if I find something.”

Roty had gone back to tinkering, “Mmhm.”

Mayu nodded and joined Roty.

Plank turned back to the hologram, “Sure it’s safe?”

“Eh.”

Plank hesitated for a moment, “Well, okay.”

Plank joined Roty and Mayu at the console.

Ryan turned his attention to Christiane just as she started work on the second FTL, “I’m gonna, check the aliens. The cargo container is done, right?”

Christiane jumped at his voice and swore, “Stop doin’ that!” She relaxed a little, “Yeah, it’s mostly done. Should be fine to take out.”

She grumbled to herself about aliens and Ryan trying to scare her.

Ryan retrieved the cargo container with Mini Luna and started moving it toward the usual breach, “Oh yeah, we’re having a contest to design drones. Whoever wins gets to design our next crew member.”

Christiane stopped what she was doing and grinned, “I like the sound of that and I think I know what I want. When we startin’”

“As soon as we get the console working. The others decided we need a break, so a competition sounded fun.”

Christiane turned back to the mess of parts for the FTL drive, “I don’t mind workin’ on this, but a break would be nice.”

“Once I’m done looking over the alien’s remains, I’m gonna move us somewhere far away so the invisible aliens don’t bother us.”

Christiane gave a slight nod and started working on the FTL drive again, “Sure thing, boss. Let me know when we start.”

Mini Luna arrived at the breach and Ryan jumped Luna near the alien base, but not close enough he thought they’d hit debris.

Mini Luna shot from the breach, the cargo container nearly breaking off the arm Mini Luna held it with.

Ryan jumped Luna away. He then moved Mini Luna to where the alien space station should be and soon spotted a debris field.

The space station was much more intact than Ryan expected, if you considered being in three pieces to be intact and the side that had the ship he’d damaged completely gone. Still, it might mean some cargo containers hadn’t scattered their contents to the deep.

Ryan noticed the damaged drone they’d set adrift looked untouched and made a note to grab it on the way back.

Passing that, he headed for the section of space station he found the cargo with the rarer materials. When he arrived, he entered an opening and found the familiar hallway. The containers closest to the center of the station were barely recognizable and their contents gone, but it looked like they had shielded the further containers. He recalled that the containers containing the most common elements being near the center, considering there were more of them, with the rarer elements at the edges.

He’d wanted to get some iron, carbon, and copper, but these were among the lost containers. He guessed they would be fine finding an asteroid or getting the recycler up and running.

For now, he headed for the radioactive elements. Most of the tech didn’t use them, but it’d be nice to have them available.

A few minutes later, Roty jumped up and shouted in relief as the holographic interface of the console powered up, “Got it!”

Plank, who had been watching Roty, did a fist pump, “Yeah! The Plank and Roty make a great team!”

Roty rolled her eyes, but shook her head and grinned, “Yeh, couldn’t ‘ave done it without ya.”

Mayu put her hand on Roty’s shoulder and gave her a thumbs up, “Good job!”

Ryan felt relief and excitement, “Nice! I’m almost done getting stuff from the alien wreck. Let’s take that break after I retrieve Mini Luna and we take a quick look at whatever’s on there.”

Plank poked at what appeared to be an error message coming from the console, “Not sure if I want to wait. Not with who knows what fun things they have on here.”

Roty looked torn, “Ah want ta know too, but weh can’t even read it.”

Plank finally got the error message to go away and tried tapping on some words next to the greyed out and flashing image of the alien space station, “I’ve played enough of those untranslated Japanese games to not care about that sort of thing.”

Mayu looked interested for a second at the mention of ‘Japanese,’ then lost interest soon after the word ‘games.’

Ryan recalled the numbers he’d seen on the cargo containers and made a hologram showing them and the translation, hopefully, to the others, “I already figured out the numbers, if that helps.”

Roty looked at the numbers, “Looks just as alien as Ah’d thought they’d be.”

Mayu pointed to the first three numbers, the first single line, second two lines, and third three lines, “These are like Kanji,” she pointed to the rest that followed a pattern of increasing lines, though their arrangement seemed unusual to anything Ryan had seen, “but not these.”

Plank’s lip curled in disgust, “Urgh, Kanji are horrible. Japan needs to get rid of them already.”

Mayu looked disappointed at Plank’s comment but didn’t respond.

Roty looked between Ryan’s translation and to the console, “Can weh even translate it without hearin’ it?”

Everyone looked at each other and exchanged looks that said no one knew.

Ryan wasn’t sure, but leaned towards no, “I don’t think so. Wasn’t there that Rosetta Stone thing they needed to find before they could read Egyptian hieroglyphics? And that was with people who knew what they were doing.”

Roty nodded at hearing about the Rosetta Stone, “Yeh, Ah remembah tha’.”

A moment later Mayu seemed to remember, “Yes, I remember now.”

Plank turned back to the console, “The Plank will…”

A sphere appeared next to the console. It looked metallic, yet also alive as it pulsed and writhed like a rotting carcass filled with maggots. There was a single, enormous eye facing the console.

Ryan saw four more spheres appear in the room, surrounding the three.

Tentacles sprung from three spheres, each grabbing the person closest to them.

Mayu screamed in terror and tried to run before she got caught.

Roty swore and readied her fists, but the sphere was too fast and strong for her and pushed her fists away, while simultaneously binding her.

Plank stared dumbfounded and didn’t move to defend himself and he too was captured.

The remaining sphere creature sprung tentacles too, but the ends formed into blades.

Christiane, who was whistling to herself while working with her welding tool, jumped as two spheres appeared next to her.

Christiane swore, then lashed out with the welding tool as the sphere creatures tried to grab her.

She somehow fought off the creatures, until one brought a bladed tentacle down on her, cutting off her right arm just below the elbow and slashing into the side of her stomach, sending clear fluids from the wounds, but even with these injuries, she fought back until the sphere creatures restrained her.

Another appeared in the birthing chamber next to the tube holding Ryan’s brain and grew tentacles with the ends turning into blades. It then placed the blades next to the tube’s door.

The sphere next to the console grew tentacles and began using them to navigate the screens, moving through options with purpose.

It finally settled on a star map, after which it turned to Ryan’s camera.

Ryan didn’t know what to do. Even though he’d had plenty of time to react, it was all he could but watch as his crewmates got captured.

The creature with the bladed arms moved to Roty and held it next to her forehead, before pointing to the console.

Ryan guessed it wanted him to focus on the star map, so he zoomed in to get a better look at it.

He easily recognized the area of the galaxy they were in, but wasn’t sure what they wanted, “What do you want? Why are you attacking us?”

The sphere creature with the blades stabbed Roty in the stomach, clear fluids leaking from the wound, and pointed to the console again.

Mayu screamed and struggled against the tentacle holding her, but couldn’t break free, “Leave Ms. Roty alone!”

Roty glared at the sphere creature, and Ryan could see the tension in her eyes and face that showed she wanted to fight back.

Ryan understood the warning, “Okay… I’m looking. What do you want me to do?”

The sphere creature next to the console zoomed in and highlighted a solar system with a small white star.

“You want us to go there?”

The sphere creature with the blades moved away from Roty.

“That’s a yes. Okay.”

Ryan wasn’t sure why these sphere creatures wanted to go to this system, but he didn’t have much choice if he wanted everyone to live.

Ryan already had the star system in question in his database so he didn’t have to do anything other than enter the coordinates into the wormhole drive.

As soon as the drive started, his connection to it broke.

The sphere aliens retracted their tentacles and disappeared.

Roty grabbed at her wound, “Why don’t Ah feel nothin’?”

Mayu ran to Roty and began checking her wound, “Ms. Roty, you will be okay. They did not damage your brain.”

Plank fell to his knees and started laughing, “We almost died!”

Roty poked at her wound, “Mah brain?”

Mayu looked up and nodded, “Our bodies get destroyed, we can make new ones. Our heads get damaged or destroyed, we die.”

Roty smiled, “Whoa. So Ah can live as a head!”

Mayu shook her head, “No, we still need power, we just go to sleep until fixed. I think.”

Christiane stared at her stump that used to be her right arm for a minute before speaking, “Ryan, what the” she swore, “was that?”

“I think those were Slashers. They appeared almost as soon as we got the console working.”

Christiane swore, “Things cut my arm off, and I can see my guts!”

“Mayu said we won’t die, unless our heads get destroyed.”

“Lucky us. Good thing it don’t hurt.”

Christiane grabbed her severed arm and left the room, grumbling to herself as she went.

Ryan looked at the star map. Just why did the sphere creatures, the Slashers, want to go there?