[Being confined in the washing module, the Cool Jacket unfortunately couldn’t witness the following]

 

Warming his bones up in the hot bath, Rattkins could finally breathe out calmly. Everything up till this point felt like being swept with a strong current, dragged deep underwater by it, and trying to swim up with not a second of rest, until all of your muscles are screaming in pain, ready to tear at any moment…

Was it finally over?

Of course not.

But the horizon looked just a little bit bright.

Here, in this small room at least, Rattkins could feel like he finally reached the surface and was greedily gasping at the precious air.

But there still were some heavy weights dangling on his legs, pulling him back down.

This bath, washing module, everything around was too high-tech.

The flat “medkit” that brought him back from the brink of death was on the whole other level. It was ridiculous enough to dismiss as a joke by Phalanx.

But what joke? Regardless if the empty plastic box contained something before or not, Rattkins physical condition is, in fact, perfect. Even an old wound got better. There is nothing capable of such perfect and instant recovery, as far as he knew. And his knowledge is vast enough to be proud of.

The colony itself was definitely not normal. Everything was too damn expensive. What even was this living module placement?

“A house”? A whole-ass house?

Rattkins remembered his young years at the Capital Space Station 3. That place was on the richer side, and the living space an average citizen could afford there was just a little bit bigger than this bathroom.

His wealth, however, was not insignificant at that time, so he remembered wrong. It was almost the same as the bathtub itself.

Here, on the other hand, not only people lived in “houses”, there were also “lawns”, “sidewalks” - everything was unnecessarily wide, taking the precious space of this colony. If Rattkins didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought this all is a set for filming some historical drama.

Even the enormous corridor he woke up in was brightly lit. It was empty though?! Why would you waste precious energy so pointlessly?

“No way? THE government?.. No, no matter how bad the war is going, they can’t be abandoning Sol at this time. Regardless, I can’t freely walk in such a place unnoticed for long. I wonder how much the brat is willing to collaborate. His implant should be the best thing to coordinate my escape”.

As no system was perfect, there were bound to be oversights. And if the young man’s claim about being able to access all the security network at will was true, finding blind spots wouldn’t be easier.

“Wait, aren’t I as good as escaped already? All that’s left is to bullshit my way through his parents. Usually, when one brings home an adult stranger, there would be no explaining your way out of this one, but… Considering how bad his chuuni affliction is, it’s probably the least of the troubles he’s causing usually. I’ll just act extremely uncomfortable about having to put up with his antics—”

Rattkins laughed, imagining how he would feel if he had a child and they would bring home a stranger, saying it’s for a school interview, while the whole local security is mobilized to find a fleeing pirate.

“My child wouldn’t do this”, — he smirked.

That’s the point. This road goes only as far as you let it to. Child is just a mirror of his parents, in one way or another, so the insane “School interview” excuse might actually work. Even if it doesn’t, there’s nothing a ton of lies and unwavering confidence couldn’t solve. At least in this peaceful environment.

Expecting good things, Rattkins finished bathing and went downstairs to partake in the dinner he was invited to.

 

* * *

Tableware clanked in a jovial mood.

Boy’s parents didn’t even ask anything about the sudden visitor and joked around with their son. The only question asked at this table was idyllic “How was school?”, despite today being Sunday.

Only one plate had its food untouched.

Rattkins just sat for a while with a blank expression, then giggled maniacally, attracting everyone’s attention. Trembling slightly, he swiped his palms over his face:

— You have one terrible taste, bro, — he shook his head, — what the hell…

— ?.. — Phalanx tilted his head, failing to grasp any semblance of sense from the pirate's words.

— Aren't these goods crazy-illegal? How did you even smuggle it through the military cordon?

Young man looked even more confused now. He looked at the food on his plate, the tableware, but couldn’t understand what Ratkins’ words were referring to.

“Huh? Why’s he using the implant now?”

Phalanx’s eyes trembled, just like they did before. This time, however, his expression only crumbled it turn:

— This is going nowhere. I don’t like not being "in the know”, so let me just read your thoughts for a bit… — the teen stood up and approached his new friend.

— Eeehh? Read my wha—

Rattkins was interrupted by a palm placed on his forehead. Despite the fact that a brain does not have the nerves necessary to “feel” things directly, a seasoned adventurer’s intuition told him that the boy's hand was messing with something inside the gray mass.

But you won't live long mingling with daring outlaws if you've not prepared against even the most exotic types of attacks - like the mental ones, targeting the inside of your head. It wasn't much of an "implant", but Rattkins had the appropriate protection installed. It was just an array of tiny plates from an extremely rare metal under your skin, but the defense it provided was perfect.

This could mean one thing and one thing only.

— YOU CURSED PEST! — Rattkins roared furiously, jumping up from the table. — You installed something in my cranium while I was out cold—

But despite his anger, he couldn't continue venting it, as the target was not listening at all.

Distracted by the shocking realization, he missed the moment of collapse, but now Phalanx was squirming on the floor, foaming at his mouth, vomiting and growling like a wild beast in turn. His eyes were not just trembling like before, the pupils were thrashing around at impossible speed, threatening to jump out from the sockets.

This insanity, however, didn't last long. In just a half a minute the stroke stopped, leaving Phalanx sprawled on the floor exhausted, breathing loudly.

Rattkins was too shocked to act, but if there was one thing he could grasp in the current situation - someone in this room wasn't confused at all.

Mother didn’t change her smiling expression at all, nor her sweet tone of voice:

— Ah. Looks like it came off.

Phalanx barely stood up, staggering like a baby deer, and looked her in the eyes. He thoroughly wiped the traces of spit and vomit from his chin with his bare hand, his gaze cold as ice.

Reading something from his son's expression, father said:

— Don’t go.

— … — with silence as good as an answer, he turned his head to the frozen Rattkins and started approaching him, with the hand reaching towards his face again.

This time, intuition wasn't just warning the pirate - it rang deafeningly loud alarms of danger.

Useless.

An implant he suspected to have in his brain restricted his movement just for a moment… and his vision was obscured by the young man's palm.

.

..

…

Phalanx's lifeless body collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.

Rattkins' eyes trembled. Despite little magnitude, the shaking was intense.

He then turned his head to the side sharply, seemingly to the wall. After starting there for a few seconds, he clicked his tongue:

— Tch, the body’s condition was monitored, they're on their way. No time to waste then.

He turned back to the still calm couple:

— I won't return.

Rattkins ran upstairs and after a minute stormed outside with a sizable backpack, disappearing into the night.

— "No system is perfect… …finding blind spots is easy", you say?