I know damn well the ship can be powered up just fine even without a full gravity generation system fixed. Even an auxiliary microgravity would work for now; it's not the optimal solution, but one which will allow safe movement without me bouncing around the walls. The only really critical thing I have to say about Doors OS is how much it's willing to 'complain' about the least thing going wrong, or even to 'notify' the user of something which has happened.

Well ... I suppose ... better than never being told what's going on? Hmm. Have to think about this, for a while.

One, this indicates I'm not ready to leave this crappy dockyard or this crappy world or even its crappy star system ― until I'm damn sure things work enough to get me to Paradise Moon. Two, even if this ship were ready, it's just me ― so the microgravity in only certain spaces allows me movement, but would be hell to pay if operating on auxiliary power for a whole crew. Three, eh I forget, do I really need to consider so far? Oh I know. Three; a person could sometimes work around the Doors OS complaint dialogs to get other things to work instead, which was some of the training I was given while under the collar. Almost makes me feel guilty for crunching half a million credits worth of those doohickeys. Almost.

"List any other malfunctions and warnings which could be generally required to know before operating the vessel."

Here, the little form returned to being a genderless being with the neutral voice. It spat out a stream of errors and warning at rapid speed, all overlapping too ― a flaw of this particular AI model ― which no human alive could handle at once. But I am not human; I have an ability to focus within a few seconds to 'split' many overlapping sounds into their component parts ... but oh boy does my head hurt afterward.

If the ship had the energy reserves, I would have rather spent it to have a paper copy printed. Oh fuck ― I have this data tablet; why didn't I hook it up to the computer network? Well I will, now. There; I see the list of errors the AI has just spat out like garbage. Aah, headaches.

As the last headache subsided, I nodded and turned to the work, heading back out into the hall. Thirty items in the list; at least in an initial scan. Half of these items were truly so minor, they'd be done in a few hour's time, but could really wait until later if at all. A third of the total was more serious, but could still be worked around. And one sixth ― five items ― were serious matters; only two of which were more than I could handle on my own.

First. A cracked engine housing ... yeah no, I don't know how to fix it, or even why it would be left like this. Except Gunderton probably thought I'd be calling him ... at any second now. So then ... do I buy any more used ships from him, ever again? Eh-

Second. A software configuration permanently shunting power away from the 'Environmental Control' equipment ... may be a problem, if I take on more people. Crew, passengers, visitors ... hey it could happen, if I turn this thing into a mobile gambling den or something. And also keep my mind and mouth in check. I always did like a little strip poker too, getting the guys to lose their shirts in a game, in promise of some sweet action if I should lose-

But for this second major problem, I do know a thing or two about programming, and working with configurations. Just my kind of work for the moment.

I'm not breathing hard or anything; the air inside this vessel is fine enough for my purposes. Yes a vampire does breathe; but only at such a lowered respiration rate, maybe three breaths a minute, half as many heart beats in the same time, and we're good ― unless we get worked up over something, or someone. And when we go dormant, we can even slow our hearts and breaths down further. But for now, for the air in this ship, I feel fine, and can feel this for a long while yet. But even so, I do like to not have stale air ... when I do breathe-

---

I cannot say the answer to this problem was so easy to be found, because it might make me sound super smart, even genius level smarts. I'm not, though for almost eight centuries of life I'm not stupid, either. Still a flamboyant flighty flirty fuckable girl is what I am ... in my own head at least. But after a full hour of looking at the problem and code and tabular data, only then did I realize the problem: an 'off by one column' for the configurable data table. So stupid, who really did this-

Aah ― me. Well then maybe this truly is the same ship I had been working on, when the work contract was pulled? Because I do remember fucking around with some data sheet formulas too. Makes sense; and if the one weapon was still stashed away on the third floor behind the wall panel, hmm let me reach up into the darkness a full arm's length ... aha. It is, this really is the same ship I'd worked on. Will wonders never cease.

At least now I have a spare weapon, this little phased energy gun of an old model. Sergeant Carnes thought I stole it but I said no it was Brant ... ehehe yah well I did steal it. Sorry Brant got fired for that-

See back then, I'd been planning to escape the collar, and scamper off with this ship too, if I could have. But the company who held my working leash (figuratively or literally, make your pick) had been done with me, because in my quirky 'you cannot trust me while I have a collar on' kind of way, I managed to screw with their heads so far they couldn't handle me. And so they let me go back to Solitary.

Solitary. A time of peace ... for the first few days of being alone. And then after, it settles in as to how alone a vamp really could feel. None to talk to, tease, cajole, bend to my teasing whims. No connection to anyone, anything, no video feeds to the outside; only a slot in a door and plate of food passed in every third day. If even that. And then I started singing those morose or moody or fatalistic tunes, letting my voice reverberate down the halls.

Solitary is where I also gained another super secret ability ― having gone to another world and back, in no time flat. When the Solitary guardsman here got tired of my singing all the death dirges and put a bullet in my head because he knew I'd regenerate in a day, the loony goddess of the other world thought I really was dead ― and 'summoned' me to be a Hero against my wishes. And so I did; became a hero in another world for it, yet another collar on my neck by the bastard king's command. Lived a life, drove the king crazy, got the collar off, saved a few things, destroyed a few more things, then ... returned to life in Solitary.

It hurt like hell, knowing I'd finally meant something to a lot of someones, and then ... ended up fucking right back here, of all places.

Analysis. Inventory. Magic affinities. Skills ― like, how to hold a club or sword or axe or spear or bow or staff ... then, how to hit where I aimed. This effort in another world was not wasted, but rather proof of my long lost humanity. I'd had someone who loved me, for me. Even had an ability to have a child. Seventeen children, just for the joy of it, plus had time to be a Hero for a whole century. I bet my descendants probably have taken over the decrepit kingdom I served, and turned it into something great by now ... or crushed the world maybe, to make their momma proud.

Yep; I still had loads of each type of weapon, nothing which fit this kind of problem. Cannot bash or slice or stab this kind of problem away. Uh do those magic items there still hold their mana potential? Eh can I-

There; this one item. Charm of the Pixie. It would bring forth a pixie or some other similar elemental creature, to be an assistant to the one who called it forth. Since my return to Solitary I'd seen I still have all that mana capacity, though a far less regen rate than on the other world, and in space it's practically nothing for having no living mana around me too. So, no walls of stone or floods of water or whirling tornadoes or roaring infernos or space-time vortices, at my beck and call ― it would be so damned cool though, if I could.

But I might just have accrued only enough mana to call forth this one last thing-

"I summon thee, dear pixie-"

"HELLO!" popped into existence, the one little chatterbox I'd nearly forgotten about. "Hi Selene! Miss me much?"

"No, not so much."

She, she pouted. So adorable.

"Hey are you-" I saw her eyes widen. "Vampire! Eek!"

"hahaha, well it's still me, Dori. I am still Selene-"

"B, but you've changed, and you're now-"

"... eh, well this is what I was, before being summoned to be a Hero in the other world. Reina seemed to think I was dead for good here, but I wasn't. You saw how I ended there, right? And now, I'm back to being a vampire, in this universe."

"R, really?" She fluttered about, circling around my whole body for a glance at the 'new me'. "Oh that's so cool. Can I see your fangs? Wait til the others hear-"

And then it dawned on her.

"I, I can't go back, can I."

"Not sure, but I think not. This artifact is kinda linked to me now too, so unless some deity has some higher obligation to perform ― why not enjoy your new existence here-"

"THIS IS CHEATING-"

Whoa; the pissed off goddess appears here, too? Dammit, so close to never seeing her again.

"YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE SENTIENT ENTITIES WITH YOU!"

"Okay, okay already, take her back with you, you freak-"

"But Mistress Reina, why was she a vampire in her former life here, then a High Elf in our world, and now back to being a vampire?"

"Do not ask, pixie."

"It's because I asked, Dori."

"But this is my point, Mistress Reina. Did you not cheat first?"

"Guh-"

"Aha, nice one Dori. Good quick thinking there." I can only sigh to the turn of events. "Still, Reina's right; I should not have brought you forth to my home universe. Dori, I am sorry but we will have to part ways for ... well forever. Goodbye, I might miss you someday-"

Aah she really is cute, when she pouts, arms crossed and holding a pose in midair. But Reina just grabbed her and popped out of existence like this.

Well.

But I've still got the charm, here in my hand; I don't know, can I still activate-

Reina reappeared, grabbed the charm, and vanished again.

Obviously not, then.

Damn.

---

"Hey any of the other seventeen deities from that life wanna fuck with my life here again? Because I'm ready to fight, if you wanna go-"

A silver line of light declared a rip in the 'verses, and a parchment fell through to the floor of this room. I picked it up, and unfurled it.

• 'Dearest Selene, my lover:
• By what you have tried to do, I see how you really just want to fix this "space ship" or whatever it is, over there; but you went about it using magic from this universe. This causes an imbalance, here to there, or there to here. We cannot allow this, and I know you are intelligent and ethical enough to realize it too; so I will not bandy words about cause or effect anymore. Using those weapons with faint traces of magic in them is more or less okay, because by now the magic in them should have worn off, and any mana regen would have come from your universe, and so cannot do much more harm than their nonmagic equivalents.
• Yes we do have a solution, one which is suited as a reward for what you have done for the pantheon, which those humans of our world murdered you for doing. You did not get your proper reward before passing out of this world; at least we can give you one last boost in your new life there. Sorry it has taken so long; we honestly did not know how to contact you, until you pulled this trick just now. Why did you not try it any sooner than this, my dearest love?
• And so, the solution. One entity can pass, just one time only, from this universe and into yours, but can never come back. We offer this one a chance: your old companion Glen the Earth Golem. Glen has lasted this long, always hoping you could come back, or he could go where you are. Incredibly faithful, those golems; and you endeared him to you.
• We are capable of making him appear as an automaton or mechanical man or even a biological human in your universe; so you will not even need to pretend he is anything more than how you will identify him. He chose the latter; so he will be anatomically correct, as well, no reason but for his wish.
• Also. Did you do something to piss off Reina? She seems angry somehow. Little sis has gone off to return a pixie somewhere, is all I know. Or maybe she's still mad in how she summoned you because she wanted you to be her champion and prophet, while instead you fell into my camp and bed. Eh, she is a young goddess, she will grow out of it ... sooner or later. We all do, sooner or later. And point of fact, so have I. I do still reminisce about our time together, and watch over our descendants; but even I have moved on and chosen the current High Orc queen, oh what a babe, as my next precious one.
• Anyway ... probably be the last time in either of our existences I can ever say anything; except now I know what universe to send to, I could write more ― but I think you will respect me more and be able to move on yourself if I did not write you. Do vampires in your universe ever romance anyone? Sex okay, but romance, you know the things beyond just loving for today only? Oh do try to find out, no need to hold back, and good luck!
• Your Dearest Former Lover ... Rowney the God of Romance and Theology.'

"What the fuck is going on in these universes-"

And here I was, content to just ... return to fixing the ship, and now this happens.

Magic imbalance ― yeah okay I got it already, big fucking deal since it's fixed already. A 'reward' ― about fucking time, a century and a half late, maybe. That it's Glen, oh ... horny golem, what am I to do with him. Reina ― yeah no, still don't care yet ― except to piss her off more. Bitch.

High Orc queen? Setting your sights a little low there Rowe ― or hey, how hot looking? Would I do her if I were a guy? Or even as this?

I laugh but I wanna cry.

It's crazy.

Time passed me by. And now I get slapped in the ass for not noticing it.

"Captain, sensors report an improbable event, the appearance of a human being, just one deck below you. Your wishes, captain?"

"Hold on, let me see. Uh, what part of the deck below?"

"Immediately below you, Captain."

"Ah okay. I will go see this human."

Back tracking to the nearest stairs, I made my way slowly toward the same area as I would have been, if this were the floor above.

And the form just standing there, did nothing but stand in the same place.

"Glen?"

---

"Mistress Selene."

The golem actually answered, with my correct name even, because he remembered me. He could stand to drop the 'mistress' part.

"Oh hey. What's new?"

"Body is fixed to be like you, I look like a human now." He flexed a part down below, that big fucking thing bulged a bit then eased back to 'normal'; and I looked down there too to see what he offered.

He was sent here, no clothes. Well I'm not complaining at seeing that, as I've seen so many in seven and a half centuries (minus time in Solitary). But his- UNHOLY HELL this thing would barely fit in me ― and not without ripping out my love canal. It's a good thing I still have a vampiric regen yet, or I'd not even attempt sex with him ... but I will, pain or not.

"Hey I think you went larger than I can handle, Glen. Still have any of your other skills though, big guy?"

"Yes, a lot of Earth elemental control skills, and some new ones too. Plus the housekeeping and sewing-"

"What, did someone make you a domestic slave, again?"

"No. I took those up as a hobby."

"Hahah- oh wait, you are serious?"

"Yes, Mistress Selene."

"It's just Selene, here. The 'mistress' part was just that kingdom's method of forcing the terminology of respect. It's nice and all; but well, this is my ship-"

"Where is the water? I do not sense water beyond the ship, do not sense anything but emptiness-"

"That's because this ship is not floating in water; but in empty space."

"Space-"

"Space. Up above a world, you go up through the atmosphere, and above there is a void, no air, only the light of the star to go on forever. Other worlds around other stars. That is space. Hey I thought I told you this ... centuries ago-"

"Space."

"Oh dear I do believe I will have to teach you everything again then. Oh gods and goddesses, why could this one not have been taught before you sent him?"

"Willing to learn, plus Master Rowney said nobody there knows about these things here, so you teach me. Willing to live in this place with you, even when he said I would be without mana regen for a while."

"-anyway. Come, follow me, I have a major problem in this ship to be fixed."

---

The 'problem' was just a small one, seemingly so little in comparison to the weight of all else. A crack in the engine housing. A hairline crack, just ten centimeters in length; but any crack would be terrible, and let a catastrophe occur, sooner or later.

So technically it might hold until the next starport I go to; when BOOM it all comes apart. Not the fault of Gray's Used Ships & Salvage Dock, Incorporated, or anything Chief Liaison Denney Gunderton could have known ― they would be quick to say this, and provide my signed contract as 'proof' I had agreed to this.

I explained this state of the engine to the golem.

"-so it's all a metal housing, but also has properties of containing the violent mass reactions inside and expelling the output as a force which can propel the ship in a desired direction. This energy housing will hold for a while; but sooner or later it would not ― and then I would be in trouble. So. Think you can bond the metal where it's cracked so it appears like the rest of it?"

"It seems easy to fix. Does this universe have no mages or wizards to fix this?" Still, he placed his left hand upon the engine, and let flow his ability. Small wisps of gray and brown elements flowed, from Glen to the metal, and the crack seemed to vanish, ever so slow in pace.

"Nope, big guy; no mages, no magic practitioners at all. Well there is a weak form of it, in people 'pretending' to be mages; but nothing like what we knew of the past world."

Glen retracted the hand, and stood back. I leaned in, to examine the work.

"Hey, it looks good, maybe perfect for what it was. Now; the only question is, will it hold like it should?"

"Captain, sensors report a second improbable event-"

"What is it this time?"

"-the engine housing you are standing next to, now appears to be in perfect operating condition."

"That's okay, my friend here just fixed it."

"Selene, who are you speaking to? I do not sense any other living being here."

"Aha, Glen ― well that's another long story. See in this 'verse, man has created an artificial intelligence, something like the golems yet not, which can think and speak as they are fashioned to do so. This one is attached to this ship, and has certain oversight functions for the ship, its equipment and rooms, and the people who come aboard as crew or passengers."

"Captain, since the person who did this fix is not on the crew list and therefore I have no way of discerning technical qualifications, I recommend you bring the ship into a certified repair yard-"

"Denied. I just said this guy here fixed it, did I not? Well, then, believe me."

-captain, the procedural manual says-"

"Trust me dammit!"

Oops, I have to keep my calm too.

"Sorry for the outburst but I am the captain now, so what I say is to be believed. A proper inspection may follow at a later time; but for now I neither have the spare credits nor the time to sit at ease while someone else goes rummaging around the ship's systems. I have to start getting cargo, passengers, not to mention a crew. Um yeah I can add Glen here as my crew; Glen you okay with that? Might make things easier for a while for both of us; but if at any time you want to go somewhere on your own, you just have to tell me, and I'll let you go."

"Glen goes where Selene goes."

He flexed his dick again, causing me to think he's still such a loyal puppy like creature, plus he wants his sexual encounter to be only with me. Well I'm happy to oblige of course, but in terms of sexual mates, I'm not limiting myself to him alone either. He knows this; from the old world I'd had sometimes seven or eight lovers at a time, even while pregnant with another person's (at least half of them Rowney's) children (maybe).

"I wonder, since you are anatomically correct, are you also fertile in the human way too? Aah it doesn't matter, I cannot have children." Oops, my mind wandered, and I'd said too much out loud.

"Rowney fixed it so if the first woman I had sex with was you, you could have children, only with me."

"Guh, what?"

Well then. This makes a choice. Do I want to have children? Would that change me as a vampire, or not? From what, to what?

"... but only if performing the sexual routine within the next two of your Earth days, from the instant I appeared here."

---

In my 'past life' ... like, when I was a really young human, in this same 'verse ― I'd wanted to date for a good long while and then eventually settle down. Every human girl did, if truth were told. Part of their gender identity, in that they had the organs to bear children, was part of their existence. I was no different, back then. Even when going on the very first date, thinking it would be a hot romance which could then lead up to something more ... or at least get the guys to quit calling me horsey ... I was half right, in that the first time changed a lot of things. Mostly in the way I could never have expected.

The world before my turning vamp did not know of vampires. That's okay, neither did I ... until faced with the results of being nibbled on the neck, and feeling a change, and then for the guy who bit me to explain what happened ... a day I'll not forget.

Still, for all of that, I'd kept my changed state a secret from my family, until ... I no longer could. They aged; I did not age. That, and so many things about human life just seemed so ... shallow, after the change. As a new vamp considers all things about life, and death, and what comes between them ― things come to light about who you are.

I wanted children; or at least an option to have them when the time was right. But being bluntly told 'you are no longer able to bear children' by the same one who did this ... no wonder I wanted to kill him. I did kill him, three times. Dammit, he came back, every time.

And then right at the twentieth year anniversary of my change, to the day in fact, it somehow became known to the whole of Earth, vampires exist. And so did a lot of other things on Earth which were only thought to be a 'fairy tale' creature. They'd been hiding, sometimes right in plain sight, just to coexist. Few humans knew of these things.

Yeah I wanted children ... but try as I might to fight the biologic constraint each time I fucked around ... still no pregnancy. I wasn't pregnant when I turned, I could not be pregnant from having sex after I'd turned. Anyway, a mortal girl pregnant at the time she'd turned would lose the foetus right away.

Next thought. Yeah children, but ... right now, at this point in my existence? I had the feeling Glen was saying, he'd make me not only able to have children, but also immediately so, pregnant. Might be nice, but also, so soon after just buying this ship and getting an old friend back ... I had to consider being settled again, in what and who I am now.

---

The ability for the vampire mind ― formerly human, but also changed to be more ― to multitask, was beneficial for this moment. While considering all those thoughts, I also had been browsing around on my data tablet, looking for other things which I could fix through this connection, and not need more. There see? Six problems already done, only by going through and accessing the ship's computer and network. Okay so admittedly half of the problems I'd just fixed, I'd also caused, so many years ago; but at least these problems gone meant less hassle later!

Yeah let's just let all the 'personal problems' pile up, until I have time to deal with them until later.

"Selene not want children right now?"

"No, big guy, um ― well it's not a 'no' for all time; only a 'no not right now', if I think it over. Um. Two days, and ... that's all?"

"Master Rowney said Selene needs time to think it over, first, then said his effect should remain for this long after I first see you again."

"TWO DAYS! It's not enough fucking time!"

"Two days are enough time for fucking, Selene; by your activities in the other world ― more than a dozen times, if you wish-"

"N, that's not ... what I meant."

I reach out, holding onto the member, just to get a feel for the thing sticking out.

It's hard, he flexes it every so often, and the tip is leaking a faint trace of some fluid that I'd know well. I can tell, Glen is ready and waiting for more contact than only my hand.

But ... in this engineering space ... maybe not the most intimate of settings, for such a deed. Hell Glen could do it anywhere; but I, yeah I'd like to be in a soft bed while thrashing around on, or under, my chosen pick of a hunk.

Glen is ... hot, is what a human girl of my youthful days would have said. Nowadays the popular girls called hot guys, 'comet'. Girlfriends saying about a hot guy, "he is so comet" as opposed to now also saying "he is so meteor" meaning a guy who's too damaged or brainfucked to touch. Like, a comet is an 'ice cool' orbiting mass or something, and a meteor is something burning up on atmospheric reentry. Oh how the lingo has changed, in so few centuries.

Twice my width at the shoulders, with his upper body mass, he'd be strong enough to hold me without crushing me, and also give me enough body mass for my fingers to hold onto, in the moment. His arms and legs so muscular too, I bet he'd be great in all the motions he might be remembering all my guys back then doing with me ... when I let him watch. For an Earth type golem, he seemed curiously watchful of sex acts.

Aah I'd been such a slut in certain ways there too. A horny elf woman (enslaved, forced to be a 'hero' for a human kingdom) who'd also had the sexual liberties to do this, too. Probably how, and why, I setup the king and his son the heir prince against each other, because they both came to me. Many times-

I could imagine all the fun sexy times with Glen, but only for this: sexy times. If I'm a captain now of a starship which might need me to be agile and capable of not being tied down ... could I would I should I maybe baby consider the bed shaking baby making.