Sam had never seen such a marvel in all his life. Like the eye of a living being, the orb of light looked back at him as if it were aware, even though he watched it on a screen in the safety of the monitoring station.

“This is Eno?” he asked.

“No,” said the human engineer, whose name was also Sam. “This is a relay node. You see, Urim and Thummim are duplicate systems...”

Sam nodded as Sam carried on. He deciphered from the engineer’s polysyllabic speech that Urim and Thummim were in constant communication. While sharing the burden of powering the legendary Albion, they managed to avoid tripping over each other while each was ready to pick up whichever piece of the load the other dropped.

“Sorry for all the big words,” Sam said.

Sam noted that there seemed to be a correlation between the size of humans and their energy level. Sam was a slender specimen, and rather tall. Narrow girth seemed to be accompanied by hyperactivity.

“Albion is a miraculous gift,” Sam replied.

Sam shrugged. “Well, it’s definitely advanced. I wouldn’t call it miraculous, though. Anything can be done, you know. Just gotta figure out how.”

“Only things tha can happen, do.”

“Well, I’m a more charged photon kind of guy, but yeah. You probably get better info from the Director than you could from me, though. I just study theory as a hobby. I really just know how to operate the ship’s systems. You know, push this button, pull that lever. The Artifexus are the ones who study the science behind it all.”

Sam nodded. “Director Omri frequently calls the ship a miracle.”

“Oh. Well, to each their own. So uh, what do your people believe?”

“About Albion?”

“Sure. And, you know, like religion. Do you guys have any theology? Or mythology?”

“No.”

“Huh. That must make things simple.”

“No. In fact it makes things very difficult.”

“Oh. Well at least you all agree on something.”

Sam shrugged. “We still fought war after war. Only the discovery of exo species convinced us to become peaceful towards each other.”

“Yeah? Well, that’s a beautiful thing. So like, you guys don’t have any crime?”

“There are few criminals, but they are... a handful.”

“Ah. Not too many, but the ones you got are pretty bad. Your cops must be pretty tough.”

“They did their best.”

Omri finaly came into view on the screen. The vid’redic Harbinger next to her glowed like a star inside the chamber. At least, where his armor permitted. Even their renowned hardsuits had seams, however fine, and the ohr within the warrior’s breast shined out from those thin spaces.

“So uh, you know what they’re doing? You don’t gotta tell me if you don’t want to.”

Sam patted the hilt of his stun baton. “I only worry about my job.”

“Same here, buddy. That’s crazy that those psychos attacked the Director like that. Sunnuva... I just figured it out! Yeah, yeah, you’re one of your people’s cops, aren’t you?”

Sam nodded. “I was.”

“Huh. You got the bearing. I know because I got into some trouble a while back. You weren’t a beat cop then. Were you like a detective?”

He wanted to ignore the man, but he felt for him, seeing how isolated he was in this part of the ship. He understood the need for companionship, however fleeting or superficial, when one worked alone for long stretches of time.

“The worst criminals were hunted by the worst cops.”

“Wow. Were you military?”

Sam gave Sam a confused look. “No. I was a ‘cop’.”

“Right. But a lot of our cops did tours as soldiers before they got into law enforcement.”

“That’s a terrible idea. The two trades are nothing alike.”

“Well, you know, the weapons training and discipline.”

“They are nothing alike.”

“Well, okay. I mean, that’s cool. So...”

And he went on some more, asking frivolous questions that revealed very little about the character of the mamani people. Omri and Black Fountain finally left the chamber, and Sam took the opportunity to leave Sam, having been thoroughly drained of social energy.

There were a few crewmen manning equipment near the winter entry, which Sam found odd as they were not there before. He stood in plain view with his back to a wall and waited for the Director and the Harbinger, noting the absence of conversation among the crewman. When the Director entered the winter entry, the two nearest Sam became suddenly verbose, making wild gestures as they seemed to continue a previous debate. The others gathered by the door, but discreetly scattered when Black Fountain emerged.

They came after he arrived, Sam noted. It’s not them.

He felt troubled. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of how many people were trying to harm the Director.

The Harbinger shoed them away like insects. Sam noticed the big man might have been too big for his own good. All the Harbingers had some fatal flaw, doubtless because of their famed deathlessness. This one ignored his flanks, though he had three heads. It seemed that he deemed the ground behind him safe on the virtue that he had just traversed it. He had not voiced the thought to anyone, but he knew that somewhere in the underworld of the vessel, wise and unscrupulous people must be developing a way to neutralize the Harbingers.

Omri and the Ophidian ignored Sam, which he did not mind. With the vid’redic by her side, she would be as safe as she could be, so Sam hung back, watching hallways and poorly lit corners. Urim (and Sam could only assume Thummim as well) was full of such areas. The pale blue lighting failed to illuminate the walls of the many long corridors, and those corridors frequently bent and intersected, leaving many places in shadow. Also, there were catwalks and ladders aplenty, and the few surveillance cameras that still functioned were poorly placed. They clearly were installed by the crew, and not the makers of Albion.

Sam watched the flickering of holistic images disturbed. Then Omri spoke to him, but he forgot her words.

How did he get to be in this moment? Spoke to Ishtar, spoke to Sensus, spoke to Red Ten, spoke to Flea, spoke to Madam Cocteau, spoke to Holloway, spoke to Sam. Something must have caused a slip. Or perhaps Sam is more significant than he might think?

He followed Omri and Black Fountain. They left Thummim, turned right, and were heading towards Harbinger command where the General was directing the many captains in their new drills. Then Omri, alone, Black Fountain gone, images distorted. Omri was heading home to the Artifexus. She had business with the Cosmogesis Guild. Sam waited in the pregnant shadows while she spoke to a few department heads she trusted.

As she spoke to them, huddled in an incomplete circle, the each would take turns looking distrustfully at Sam. He could only make out a few scattered words. The duke… mistake… we should… take sides… pattern is a lie… the center… city of Bastion.

Bastion. Sam smiled. He stepped forward.

“I sorry,” he said, “I don’t mean to interrupt…”

“Then don’t,” said Melody. “You don’t talk, you protect.”

Sam felt angry. He took his place at the border, but he only pretended to be on the watch while the augerers spoke amongst themselves in voices now too low for anyone to hear. His anger continuing to slowly rise, he turned his face, pretending to watch the entrances to the room. A few people walked by the hallway without entering, then one came in. She was dressed like the others, only her longcoat was black.

Sam looked back to Melody, his indignance somewhat subsided. The scientists were huddled even more tightly together. Sam noted their expressions, and that Melody seemed physically agitated. Two wore faces of shock, one was weeping, the rest looked resolute. Melody slumped to the ground and the weeping one fled. Sam moved then, too late and too slow, and saw only after she had died that she had been stabbed. Her blood kept pouring out of her belly as her killers fled. Sam backed into the wall and slowly dropped to the floor.

The duke’s men never saw him. He took to the shadows when he heard them coming, and their heartbeat sensors were not nearly sensitive enough to trace him. Later he went to his apartment and took a bath, poured drinks, and watched movies he’d already seen. He was beginning to wonder if Holloway was even going to come when he realized he’d been there the entire time.

“What are you waiting for?” Sam asked.

“I like you, Sam. I’m in no rush.”

It was only a little while later that Sam felt the poison taking effect. His limbs went limp, his neck went stiff, and all he could do was stare. To anyone glancing through his window it would look like he’d flopped down on the couch to unwind after a hard day’s work.

Holloway sat next to him and took the remote from his lifeless hand and switched it to a syndicated news channel. The General was being blamed for Melody’s murder, and Salamanca was demanding that the Harbingers leave Albion. Then there were advertisements spewing propaganda about a return to Sol. There was a tag line running across the bottom of the screen: ‘All exos are welcome to come along’. It was the last thing Sam ever saw.